Image: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd © British Council
What is the British Council Collection?
The British Council Collection is made up of artworks by British artists. Our policy is to buy works by artists early in their careers, so we have a number of extraordinary works from the mid-20th Century by Lucian Freud, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Ben Nicholson amongst others. We try to buy artworks which demonstrate the very best in contemporary British practice in all medias, from painting and sculpture to printmaking, photography, installation and new media.
The British Council Collection is one of the hardest working collections of contemporary art in the world. Artworks travel extensively, sometimes touring for several years at a time, from country to country and across continents. Every work is therefore packed to the highest international museum standard in distinctive, specialised packing cases, built by British Council technicians. Protected in this way, the Collection, which is often referred to as a ‘Museum Without Walls’, is able to safely reach a global audience through a diverse and ever-changing programme of exhibitions.