Great Teaching Collections of the 1930s: The Barber Institute of Fine Arts  and The Courtauld Institute of Art

13:30 (registration) to 16:15 on Saturday 24 January 2026

Available on campus at Vernon Square

£45 (£35 concessions- Universal/Pension credit; full-time students)

Or

Online as a recording

£10 (£5 concessions- Universal/Pension credit; full-time students). The event is provided online as a recording. The lecture recording will be sent at noon on Tuesday 27 January, or once a week on Tuesdays for those booking after the 27 January, and will be accessible for 10 days from delivery.

This study event accompanies The Courtauld Gallery’s hosting of a selection of masterpieces from the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham, while the latter is closed for refurbishment.  The Barber and The Courtauld Institutes were both founded in the same year (1932) as university galleries and their exceptional collections have always been intended to encourage both  the academic study and the public understanding of the fine arts.

This study day brings together colleagues from both institutes who are engaged in working with the collections for teaching purposes.  Together, we will probe the origins, underlying ethos, and contents of our respective collections, and use case studies from our practice to demonstrate ways of teaching with university collections to serve a wide range of audiences.

Speakers:

Robert Wenley (Deputy Director Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham); Flora Kay (Head of Learning and Public Engagement, Barber Institute of Fine Arts); Dr Chloe Nahum (Bridget Riley Art Foundation Curatorial Fellow, The Courtauld Gallery) ; Helen Higgins (Head of Learning & Oak Foundation Young People’s Programme Manager, Courtauld Institute of Art) ; Dr Anne Puetz (Head of Short Courses, Courtauld Institute of Art)