The Ruth Borchard Collection of Self-Portraits

Berwick Visual Arts is delighted to announce the opening of the Ruth Borchard Collection of Self Portraits at The Granary Gallery on Saturday 23rd March.

Between 1958 and 1971 the writer Ruth Borchard collected 100 self-portraits by British and British-based artists. With astonishing bravado she set herself a ceiling of 21 guineas to purchase each picture, irrespective of the artist’s fame and she generally succeeded.
Among the young artists spotted by Ruth early in their careers were Mario Dubsky, Peter Phillips, Patrick Procktor, along with Anthony Eyton, Anthony Green and Ken Howard.

As her collection and her confidence grew, Ruth approached artists at the height of their careers – such as Michael Ayerton, Roger Hilton, Keith Vaughn and Euan Uglow, whose portraits all feature in this new exhibition at The Granary Gallery.

Ruth Borchard died in Jerusalem in 2000, and it is to her heirs’ credit that the collection has been kept intact and able to tour the country. In 2011, a national self-portrait competition was launched to update the collection and 30 new works were acquired. A number of these feature in the exhibition at The Granary Gallery including portraits by Berwick based artist Brita Granström and renowned controversial artist Maggi Hambling.