New Manton Centre for British Art offers a global platform for our work

A major gift from the Manton Foundation to fund new hub of scholarship.

By Caroline Pepper, Trusts and Foundations Lead

Having become known for groundbreaking research and teaching across increasingly diverse fields including Europe, Asia, the Americas and the African diaspora, The Courtauld continues to deepen and widen its expertise. Funding is critical to our success, and we are delighted to announce a transformative multimillion pound gift from the Manton Foundation.

This funding comes at a time of growing international interest in British artists, from the canonical figures of the 18th century – Hogarth, Reynolds and Gainsborough – through to famous 20th century painters such as Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon and Frank Auerbach, and now encompassing accomplished contemporary artists such as Sonia Boyce, Peter Doig, Lubaina Himid, Hew Locke, Frank Bowling and Claudette Johnson. Fresh thinking and new perspectives are reinvigorating the study and research of British art, giving us an ever-expanding sense of the diversity present throughout its history.

The recent Royal Academy exhibition, Entangled Pasts 1768–now was co-curated by two of our faculty, Professor Dorothy Price and Dr Esther Chadwick, both of whom will join other colleagues to develop the work of our new Manton Centre. The show ambitiously and successfully considered historical and contemporary art’s role in the context of colonialism, empire and slavery. Its broader impact is just one illustration of how new insights into British art can support a wider public conversation about place, identity and belonging.