BIAD Plaster Cast Collection
Dates unknown
History
The Birmingham School of Art opened in 1843 as the Birmingham Government School of Design. The School developed its own collection of plaster casts for students and teachers to use. Artists and students have studied from plaster casts of original sculpture from classical antiquity and archaeology for hundreds of years. Even the Ancient Romans produced copies of earlier Greek statues for study. In the nineteenth century the teaching in Birmingham followed ‘The National Course of Instruction for Government Schools of Art in Britain’. This course focused on learning by practice and imitation. It specified the exact casts that had to be studied and copied. As art education changed in the 1960s, the use of plaster casts fell out of favour. Sadly many of the Birmingham School’s casts were destroyed.
Content
The collection is made up of 22 plaster casts of famous sculptures. They are mainly examples of Ancient sculpture, in particular sculptures from the Parthenon in Athens in Greece. There are also copies of Renaissance pieces. The exact details of when and where these plaster casts were acquired are not known. They may have been donated to the Birmingham Society of Arts c.1820 or they may be later examples from the late-nineteenth or early twentieth century. A number of the casts are very recent copies made from other casts already in the collection.
Access
You can make an appointment to view this collection. A summary collection description and a detailed list of items are available in the Archives.
Reference code: 2794 - PC