Art | Exhibitions | A National Barber Benefactor
To 21 January 2007
Education and Main Galleries
A National Barber Benefactor:
125 Years of the V&A Purchase Grant Fund
In recent years, the Barber Institute has been able to acquire some key works thanks to the generosity of the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund. Originally set up by the government in 1881 to assist fledgling regional museums in building up their collections, the Fund has helped the Barber buy eight paintings, drawings and sculptures since 1970, including Roubiliac’s Bust of Alexander Pope, Dahl’s Mother and Child by the Sea and, most recently, Percy Wyndham Lewis’s The Artist’s Wife, Froanna (pictured). In celebration of the Fund’s 125th anniversary, three of these works are currently on display in the Education Gallery, while a further four can be seen in the main galleries and print rooms — look out for the V&A Purchase Fund logo below featured pictures.