The Anonymous Widower

The Public Catalogue Foundation

I found a link to this organisation, when I was looking for more details on the art held by various councils, art galleries and museums in Suffolk.

This is their mission statement from their web site.

The Public Catalogue Foundation is a registered charity based in Covent Garden, London. It was set up to photograph and record all oil, acrylic and tempera paintings in publicly owned collections in the UK. This includes works in museums (both on display and in store) as well as paintings in council buildings, universities, hospitals, police stations and fire stations. It is estimated that there are some 200,000 such paintings in the UK. However, at any one time some 80% of these are hidden from public view, being either in storerooms or public buildings in official use.

The aim of The Foundation is to improve public access to these paintings by producing a series of affordable colour catalogues on a county-by-county basis. These will later go online allowing the public free access to the works they own. The benefits to the collections are considerable and include free digital images, improved records, an income stream for painting conservation and education, and improved publicity. These benefits come at no cost to the collections, many of which face severe financial constraints.

They have produced catalogues for most counties in the UK.  And they are selling the catalogues for just £15, so that they are affordable.

What a good idea!

October 4, 2010 - Posted by AnonW | World | Art, Books