Wolfson adds two works to its art collection

Wolfson College is proud to steward an outstanding and diverse collection of paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, textiles, sculptures and ceramics. Since its foundation in the 1960s, the College has built one of Oxford’s most significant collections of modern and contemporary art, enriching the College environment for students, fellows and visitors alike.

Thanks to the generosity of alumni and friends, the collection – alongside works on loan – includes pieces by artists such as Howard Hodgkin, Ablade Glover, Bert Irvin, Christopher Le Brun, Anne Redpath and Bridget Riley.

In recent months, the collection has been further enhanced by two notable additions:

‘Luis Barragán’ (1998) by Johannes von Stumm
This striking sculpture, composed of glass, iron and granite, can be found on the staircase leading from Marble Hall towards the UCR. The work was received via the Art Fund from the estate of Dennis George Andrews.

Johannes von Stumm’s unique combination of three different materials results in startlingly original sculpture, which engages continually with risk and a defiance of accepted laws. His work joins iron, granite and glass to create abstract or reduced figurative works in which apparently conflicting materials exist in complex harmony.

‘Moon and her Cloak’ (1977) by Ken Kiff
This acrylic painting, now hanging on the western wall of the café, has been generously loaned to Wolfson by alumnus John Talbot (DPhil Archaeology, 2012).

Ken Kiff’s work spans a wide range of media and is distinguished by its dreamlike imagery and richly saturated colour. His paintings evoke mythical landscapes and imaginative encounters, often depicting ambiguous interactions between people, animals and fantastical beings. The result is work that is at once unsettling and enchanting, inviting viewers into a world of curiosity and wonder.