The Courtauld Institute of Art — based in Somerset House — is set to expand with the addition of two new gallery spaces.
Following a substantial donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the Courtauld has announced it will open what the Blavatnik Contemporary Galleries on the top floor of Somerset House's North Wing.
The galleries, says the Courtauld, "will provide a distinctive space for visitors and students to experience contemporary art through special exhibitions, commissions and events."
Founded in 1932 by philanthropist and collector Samuel Courtauld, the Courtauld is renowned for its teaching and research of art history, conservation and curation — as well as being home to such artworks as Édouard Manet's A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.
The new galleries will form part of an ambitious new campus for art students, envisaged by architects Witherford Watson Mann, and designed in collaboration with Purcell and Lawson Ward Studio. The Institute was shut between 2018 and 2021, for major modernisation works.
Says Elena Crippa, Senior Curator of Contemporary Art: Exhibitions and Projects at the Courtauld: "The new galleries will be a site of possibilities for artists to present exceptional artworks.
"These new spaces will help us connect past and present art and ideas, engage students and bring living artists to the core of our activities."
In other art news, it's just been announced that Croydon will display 30 true-to-size reproductions of masterpieces from London's National Gallery.
