The first book to focus on the V&A’s
collections from the viewpoint of private collectors, lenders and donors
Includes the first concise summary of
the museum’s major imperial collectors to be published
By 1862, just a
decade after its launch as a study collection for art and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum had become a reference resource for collectors, scholars and
art-market experts. Enriching the
V&A, the final volume in a trilogy of books on the museum’s 19th-century
history, describes how the young museum’s rapid growth in the following
decades was driven more by collectors, agents and dealers, through loans,
gifts and bequests, than by the combined expertise, acquisitions policies and
buying power of its directors and curators.
The first book to focus on the V&A’s
collections from the viewpoint of private collectors, lenders and donors
Includes the first concise summary of
the museum’s major imperial collectors to be published
By 1862, just a
decade after its launch as a study collection for art and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum had become a reference resource for collectors, scholars and
art-market experts. Enriching the
V&A, the final volume in a trilogy of books on the museum’s 19th-century
history, describes how the young museum’s rapid growth in the following
decades was driven more by collectors, agents and dealers, through loans,
gifts and bequests, than by the combined expertise, acquisitions policies and
buying power of its directors and curators.
By 1862, just a
decade after its launch as a study collection for art and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum had become a reference resource for collectors, scholars and
art-market experts. Enriching the
V&A, the final volume in a trilogy of books on the museum’s 19th-century
history, describes how the young museum’s rapid growth in the following
decades was driven more by collectors, agents and dealers, through loans,
gifts and bequests, than by the combined expertise, acquisitions policies and
buying power of its directors and curators.
The V&A soon became a collection of
collections, embodying a new age of collecting that benefitted from the
break-up of historic institutions and ancestral collections across Europe, and imperial expeditions in Asia and Africa. The industrial
revolution had created a new social class with the resources to buy from the
expanding art market, especially in the decorative arts. Many were touched by
a new moral imperative to collect for the home, however humble, and to share
their specialist knowledge and enthusiasm by lending to the new public
museums.
Enriching the V&A explores the
formative influence on the museum, and on pioneering fields of scholarship,
of the V&A’s leading Victorian and Edwardian benefactors. It also shares
uncomfortable truths about the sources of some objects from the age of
empires and shows how the meanings of things can change through the
transformation of private property into public museum collections.
Details
Pages: 176
Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Co-Publisher: V&A Publishing
Series: V&A 19th-Century Series
Publication Date: 28th October 2022
Trim Size: 22.8 x 27 cm
Illustration Note: Includes 160 colour illustrations
ISBN: 9781848226180
Reviews
'In his foreword, V&A director Tristram Hunt sees "collecting as a human impulse that everyone shares", and we can only imagine how future scholars will assess the collecting under way at the V&A now. Surely they will benefit from Julius Bryant’s landmark achievement.' – Peter Trippi, Journal of the History of Collections
‘This is a work of great insight. It is both a magisterial examination of the creation of the greatest "collection of collections", and a profound meditation on the nature of collecting itself. It is beautiful and it is thought-provoking and I loved it.’ – Edmund de Waal
'Beautifully illustrated and fully documented, Julius Bryant’s new book enriches our knowledge of the V&A by focusing on those individuals whose compulsion to collect has shaped a well loved, national institution. At the same time, the author has made a valuable contribution to the history of collecting in the long nineteenth century.' - Dr Bruce Boucher, Director, Sir John Soane's Museum
Author Bio
Julius Bryant is Keeper Emeritus of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His previous books published by Lund Humphries and the V&A in this series are: Designing the V&A: The Museum as a Work of Art (1857–1909) (2017) and Creating the V&A: Victoria and Albert's Museum (1851–1861) (2019).
Table of Contents
Foreword, Tristram Hunt; Part I: A Museum for Collectors?; Part II: Polymaths of the Graphic Arts; Part III: Collecting Overseas; Part IV: Collecting for New Museums; Part V: Collectors at Home; Part VI: Into the New Century; Notes; Acknowledgements; Further Reading; Index
Video
BGC TALK: Enriching the V&A: A Collection of Collections (1862-1914) - YouTube
By 1862, just a
decade after its launch as a study collection for art and design, the Victoria and Albert Museum had become a reference resource for collectors, scholars and
art-market experts. Enriching the
V&A, the final volume in a trilogy of books on the museum’s 19th-century
history, describes how the young museum’s rapid growth in the following
decades was driven more by collectors, agents and dealers, through loans,
gifts and bequests, than by the combined expertise, acquisitions policies and
buying power of its directors and curators.
The V&A soon became a collection of
collections, embodying a new age of collecting that benefitted from the
break-up of historic institutions and ancestral collections across Europe, and imperial expeditions in Asia and Africa. The industrial
revolution had created a new social class with the resources to buy from the
expanding art market, especially in the decorative arts. Many were touched by
a new moral imperative to collect for the home, however humble, and to share
their specialist knowledge and enthusiasm by lending to the new public
museums.
Enriching the V&A explores the
formative influence on the museum, and on pioneering fields of scholarship,
of the V&A’s leading Victorian and Edwardian benefactors. It also shares
uncomfortable truths about the sources of some objects from the age of
empires and shows how the meanings of things can change through the
transformation of private property into public museum collections.
Pages: 176
Publisher: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd
Co-Publisher: V&A Publishing
Series: V&A 19th-Century Series
Publication Date: 28th October 2022
Trim Size: 22.8 x 27 cm
Illustrations Note: Includes 160 colour illustrations
ISBN: 9781848226180
'In his foreword, V&A director Tristram Hunt sees "collecting as a human impulse that everyone shares", and we can only imagine how future scholars will assess the collecting under way at the V&A now. Surely they will benefit from Julius Bryant’s landmark achievement.' – Peter Trippi, Journal of the History of Collections
‘This is a work of great insight. It is both a magisterial examination of the creation of the greatest "collection of collections", and a profound meditation on the nature of collecting itself. It is beautiful and it is thought-provoking and I loved it.’ – Edmund de Waal
'Beautifully illustrated and fully documented, Julius Bryant’s new book enriches our knowledge of the V&A by focusing on those individuals whose compulsion to collect has shaped a well loved, national institution. At the same time, the author has made a valuable contribution to the history of collecting in the long nineteenth century.' - Dr Bruce Boucher, Director, Sir John Soane's Museum
Julius Bryant is Keeper Emeritus of the Victoria and Albert Museum. His previous books published by Lund Humphries and the V&A in this series are: Designing the V&A: The Museum as a Work of Art (1857–1909) (2017) and Creating the V&A: Victoria and Albert's Museum (1851–1861) (2019).
Foreword, Tristram Hunt; Part I: A Museum for Collectors?; Part II: Polymaths of the Graphic Arts; Part III: Collecting Overseas; Part IV: Collecting for New Museums; Part V: Collectors at Home; Part VI: Into the New Century; Notes; Acknowledgements; Further Reading; Index
BGC TALK: Enriching the V&A: A Collection of Collections (1862-1914) - YouTube
