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This Spring, The Courtauld Gallery presents two new displays of works on paper from its internationally renowned collection, running from February to May 2024. Featuring a group of new acquisitions shown for the first time and the most significant prints series by Jasper Johns, the displays coincide with the exhibition Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads (open until 27 May).
From the Baroque to Today: Recent Acquisitions of Works on Paper
Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery
23 February – 27 May 2024
This display will showcase a selection of twenty-four prints and drawings, spanning the late 17th to the early 21st centuries, acquired by The Courtauld since 2018. Nearly half of the works are by women artists with highlights including a pair of prints by Mary Cassatt (1844-1926), the first by this major Impressionist artist to be represented in the collection. Earlier works comprise an animated battle scene by the Florentine artist Giovanni Battista Foggini (1652-1725), a Roman cityscape by British watercolourist Jonathan Skelton (c.1735-1759), as well as Victorian watercolours and prints. Modern and contemporary works range from the figurative to the abstract by artists including Maliheh Afnan (1936-2016), Sir Frank Bowling (b.1934), Deanna Petherbridge (1939-2024), Susan Schwalb (b. 1944), Linda Karshan (b.1947) and Sir Grayson Perry (b.1960).
The programme of displays in the Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Drawings Gallery is generously supported by the International Music and Art Foundation, with additional support from James Bartos.
Jasper Johns: The Seasons
Project Space
28 February – 12 May 2024
Between 1984 and 1991, the pioneering American artist Jasper Johns (b.1930), focused on the theme of the four seasons and produced an ambitious and extensive body of work, including paintings, drawings and prints. The Seasons are rich and complex works, weaving together themes relating to artistic creation, the passage of time and the artist’s own biography. Most prominently, Johns’ shadow appears in each of the compositions, cast across the multi-layered imagery. Printmaking is one of Johns’ major preoccupations and this display reveals how he uses an array of techniques to create a collaging of imagery that is both evocative and mysterious.
The Courtauld was fortunate to be given this series of prints in 2016 by Barbara Bertozzi Castelli, the widow of John’s long-term dealer Leo Castelli, and is the only museum in the United Kingdom to have such a comprehensive group of these prints in its collection.
The Griffin Catalyst Exhibition: Frank Auerbach. The Charcoal Heads
Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries
Until 27 May 2024
This exhibition brings together a group of seventeen large-scale portrait heads in charcoal by Frank Auerbach (b.1931) – considered some of his early masterpieces – alongside a selection of six paintings Auerbach made of the same sitters. Produced in the 1950s and 1960s, the series of charcoal heads reveal the significance of drawing to the development of Auerbach’s practice as he found his voice as a young artist. It is the first time such a substantial group of the post-war charcoal heads have been brought together, drawn from public and private collections, including works that have rarely been exhibited before.
The exhibition’s lead sponsor is Griffin Catalyst, the civic engagement initiative of Citadel Founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin. The exhibition is supported by the Huo Family Foundation and The Garcia Family Foundation, with additional support from the Rothschild Foundation.
The Courtauld Lates: Frank Auerbach
24 May 2024
Tickets £5-14
The Courtauld Gallery will be open for late-night access until 22:30 on 24 May as part of its Courtauld Lates series – giving visitors the chance to enjoy an evening of world-class art, cocktails and music surrounded by The Courtauld’s collection of masterpieces at Somerset House. Book now: https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/the-courtauld-lates-frank-auerbach-2/
Morgan Stanley Lates at Somerset House with The Courtauld
10 April 2024. Further dates to be announced.
Free to under 25s
Taking place three times per year, The Morgan Stanley Lates celebrate and explore the best of The Courtauld and Somerset House’s cultural programmes. Now with expanded programming for 2024 this includes exhibitions, installations, talks, performances, food pop ups and more.
The Courtauld Gallery
Somerset House, Strand
London WC2R 0RN
Opening hours: 10.00 – 18.00 (last entry 17.15)
Temporary Exhibition tickets (including entry to our Permanent Collection) – Weekday tickets from £14; Weekend tickets from £16.
Friends and Under-18s go free. Other concessions available
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The Courtauld Displays Spring 2024-PRESS RELEASEMEDIA CONTACTS
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Susie Gault | susie@boltonquinn.com | +44 (0)20 7221 5000
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NOTES TO EDITORS
About The Courtauld
The Courtauld works to advance how we see and understand the visual arts, as an internationally renowned centre for the teaching and research of art history and a major public gallery. Founded by collectors and philanthropists in 1932, the organisation has been at the forefront of the study of art ever since through advanced research and conservation practice, innovative teaching, the renowned collection and inspiring exhibitions of its gallery, and engaging and accessible activities, education and events.
The Courtauld cares for one of the greatest art collections in the UK, presenting these works to the public at The Courtauld Gallery in central London, as well as through loans and partnerships. The Gallery is most famous for its iconic Impressionist and Post-Impressionist masterpieces – such as Van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère. It showcases these alongside an internationally renowned collection of works from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance through to the present day.
Academically, The Courtauld faculty is the largest community of art historians and conservators in the UK, teaching and carrying out research on subjects from creativity in late Antiquity to contemporary digital artforms – with an increasingly global focus. An independent college of the University of London, The Courtauld offers a range of degree programmes from BA to PhD in the History of Art, curating and the conservation of easel and wall paintings. Its alumni are leaders and innovators in the arts, culture and business worlds, helping to shape the global agenda for the arts and creative industries.
Founded on the belief that everyone should have the opportunity to engage with art, The Courtauld works to increase understanding of the role played by art throughout history, in all societies and across all geographies – as well as being a champion for the importance of art in the present day. This could be through exhibitions offering a chance to look closely at world-famous works; events bringing art history research to new audiences; accessible and expert short courses; digital engagement, innovative school, family and community programmes; or taking a formal qualification. The Courtauld’s ambition is to transform access to art history education by extending the horizons of what this is and ensuring as many people as possible can benefit from the tools to better understand the visual world around us.
The Courtauld is an exempt charity and relies on generous philanthropic support to achieve its mission of advancing the understanding of the visual arts of the past and present across the world through advanced research, innovative teaching, inspiring exhibitions, programmes and collections.
The collection cared for by The Courtauld Gallery is owned by the Samuel Courtauld Trust.