Prints

There are c.800 prints in the collection. Almost all are by 20th century British artists, and in this period the collection encompasses a wide range of media from etchings, mezzotints and lithographs to screenprinting and photolithographic techniques.

For the period 1900-60 the Sycamore Collection of Prints, acquired in 1990, provides good coverage of British printmaking, with fine groups of work by many leading artists such as Paul Nash, David Jones, Edward Wadsworth, Graham Sutherland and John Piper.

The Gallery also possesses an interesting group of Pop Art prints by Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, David Hockney, Joe Tilson, Patrick Caulfield and R B Kitaj from the 1960s.

The majority of prints in the collection are by artists who were working in the 1970s and early 1980s. These were acquired to stock a Picture Loan Service for the public which has now been transformed into a Loan Service for Schools, Colleges and Local Authority Officer. The more valuable items have been retained for the permanent collection.