Throughout the UK, four in five of all oil paintings held in Art Galleries, and other public buildings, are held in storage not on view usually because there are insufficient funds and space to show them. Furthermore, very few galleries have created a complete photographic record of their paintings, let alone a comprehensive illustrated catalogue of their collections. In short, what is publicly owned is not publicly accessible.  The situation in Bristol is no different to anywhere else.

The Public Catalogue Foundation, a registered charity, is working on a project to record the complete collection of oil paintings in public ownership and to make this accessible to the public. In January 2009 a partnership with the BBC was announced with the aim of placing the entire catalogue online.  The PCF is now well over halfway through this project, having photographed nearly 110,000 paintings from over 1,600 collections.

It is now Bristol’s turn, and photographing the 600 oil paintings in the Collection at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery which started on 5 September 2011 is almost complete. Subsequently, the collections held by the Royal West of England Academy, the University and the City Council will also be photographed.

By early Autumn 2012 the photographs will appear as part of a large book catalogue, with a smaller volume containing photographs of the entire collection of oil paintings within the Bristol Museum & Art Gallery.  Individual prints will also be available for purchase.  There will be online access to the UK’s entire collection on the BBC’s site later this year.

(This item updated 15 March 2012)