Photographic Survey Schemes

Courtauld Photographic Survey

By the mid-1970s, a gradual shift away from original photography continued as the Centre purchased a higher number of images from survey schemes such as those run by the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and, in particular, the Courtauld. Established in the 1950s, the Courtauld Photographic Survey (CPS) sought to record works of art in private collections in England, Wales and Ireland and to make their existence known to scholars. Prints from the CPS were purchased by institutions worldwide, the Centre included.

Fig. 1
Courtauld photographers working on the Photographic Survey. Image courtesy of the Courtauld's Digital Media Team.

Indeed, the CPS was so significant to the Centre’s Photographic Archive that, in 1988, it entered into a new collaborative arrangement whereby “in order to keep the survey alive” the Centre provided funds directly to the initiative in exchange for the ability to influence the choice of collections to be photographed and to obtain prints for free.¹ Today in excess of 7,000 images, about 7% of the total number of photographs in the Archive, come from the CPS.

Read about Donations from Scholars →

Footnotes