Augmenting our public art

Unusually for one of the ancient Cambridge colleges, Clare has a surprisingly modest art collection. Many of our portraits are 18th- or 19th-century copies of limited artistic quality, albeit of historical interest. We are all the more grateful, therefore, for the notable recent acquisitions that have greatly enhanced the College’s art collection, bringing colour and new stories to our public spaces.

Philip Hughes CBE (1954) has generously donated a set of six pictures from his ‘planets series’ to hang in the Glover Room and lobby in Lerner Court. These modern spaces are well-used by the College and external conferences alike, and have, until now, lacked appropriate artwork. Philip Hughes studied Engineering at Clare, and subsequently had a career in information technology, co-founding Logica. The company played a major role in software control systems for the European Space Agency. In 2018/2019 Philip exhibited his paintings and prints across the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt. His work is represented in numerous public collections, including The British Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, and the UK Government Collection, and the Library of Congress in Washington DC. Philip has served on the council of the Royal College of Art, the board of the Design Museum, and as Chair of the Trustees of the National Gallery.

Philip has also donated a dramatic Cornish landscape to enliven the corridor leading to the new River Room in Old Court.

Philip has also donated a dramatic Cornish landscape to enliven the corridor leading to the new River Room in Old Court.

Pictures from the ‘planets series’ by Philip Hughes CBE (1954)

Pictures from the ‘planets series’ by Philip Hughes CBE (1954)

Pictures from the ‘planets series’ by Philip Hughes CBE (1954)

Pictures from the ‘planets series’ by Philip Hughes CBE (1954)

Portrait of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr (1973, Honorary Fellow) hanging by the staircase leading down to the Buttery

Portrait of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr (1973, Honorary Fellow) hanging by the staircase leading down to the Buttery

Portrait of the Master, Loretta Minghella, in the Hall gallery.

Portrait of the Master, Loretta Minghella, in the Hall gallery.

The College has also acquired two new portraits for its permanent collection. Hanging by the staircase leading down to the Buttery and River Room, just along from the bronze bust of David Attenborough, is a striking contemporary portrait of Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr (Clare 1973, Honorary Fellow) by Kerry James Marshall. It is an exact replica of the original in the Fitzwilliam Museum. Skip Gates has recently received an Honorary Degree from the University of Cambridge and the Spingarn Medal in the USA (previous recipients of which include Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks and Maya Angelou). Marshall’s commissions include a large-scale mural for the High Line in New York City. The Royal Academy of Arts in London will host an exhibition of his work in September this year, the largest survey of his oeuvre exhibited in the UK.

Up in the Hall gallery, the magnificent portrait of Eric Ashby by Bryan Organ has recently been joined by a portrait of the current Master, Loretta Minghella (the first woman to hold the role in 700 years), by acclaimed portrait artist Wendy Barratt. Barratt was the winner of the 2023 Sky Portrait Artist of the Year, and her work has been exhibited at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters annual exhibition and the National Gallery. Her portrait of Jane Goodall hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. The Master’s portrait shows her in her stall in the College Chapel.

One of the College’s best-known historic portraits, that of Bishop Hugh Latimer by an unknown artist, is currently undergoing extensive conservation to both the canvas and frame. The work should be completed later this year, so that Latimer can take his rightful place once again in time for the College’s 700th anniversary.

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