One man’s quest to see a favourite painting at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge led to a remarkable project, now known as ‘ArtUK’ (Art UK | About About), which has catalogued over 250,000 thousand oil paintings in UK public ownership since 2003. The project now moves on to sculpture. Cataloguers hunted down paintings in damp stores, clambered up dodgy ladders, unrolled masterpieces and sad tatters of canvas. I know! I was one of them. An extraordinary record has been created, which benefits from public interaction online and has become a wonderful resource for education and pleasure. What was started with a certain amount of suspicion and doubt is now an extraordinarily invaluable tool for any art historian, researcher or lover.
This event is brought to you in association with the Wellington Arts Society.
Amanda Herries read Archaeology & Anthropology at Cambridge University. From 1978-1988 she was Curator at Museum of London specialising in the decorative arts 1714 to present day, exhibitions, lectures, booklets, broadcasts. In 1988-1995 she moved with family to Japan, lecturing and writing on Oriental / Western cross-cultural and artistic influences. In 1995 she returned to the UK, fundraising for arts companies, writing, lecturing and guiding tours to Japan and of gardens and general history in Scotland. Amanda has curated an exhibition on Japanese plants and gardens in London and Edinburgh as part of Japan/British celebrations in 2001 and is currently preparing an exhibition for 2026 on the Scottish Colourist S.J. Peploe. Amanda has contributed to many publications on Japanese plant and garden influences in the West.
Image Credit: Detail of Untitled by Patrick Cush, photograph by Rachael Brenton-Rule