Since the Foundation’s purchase in 1993 of From my Window at Ditchling by Sir Frank Brangwyn, the Jerwood Foundation’s collection has grown steadily in stature and importance to include around two hundred British oil paintings and works on paper.
The Collection’s core areas are figurative and abstract works from between the First World War and the 1960s, and contemporary works by artists associated with Jerwood, including several winners of the Jerwood Painting Prize such as Craigie Aitchison, Maggi Hambling and Prunella Clough. The Collection includes works by well-known artists such as Sir Stanley Spencer, Lawrence Stephen Lowry, Walter Sickert and Augustus John, alongside works by artists of importance who may be less well-known to a general audience, such as Eliot Hodgkin and Dod Procter. Highlights include The Bather by Christopher Wood, Chrome and Yellow by Paul Feiler, Mainly Grey and White by Anne Redpath and a portrait by Stanley Spencer of his niece, Daphne. The Collection represents a personal rather than academic reading of Modern British Art, resulting in a selection that is accessible, surprising, and of sustained quality.
Hastings was and is a location that resonates with artists represented in the Collection, some of whom have strong links to the town, so it is a particularly appropriate location for the Gallery. The Collection continues to grow strongly with further purchases of Modern British works, together with paintings by exciting contemporary artists.
A catalogue of the oil paintings in the Jerwood Collection can be viewed online on the BBC Your Paintings website. Please click here for the Jerwood Gallery Your Paintings page.