Michael Liversidge Library Donation

The cataloguing of the Michael Liversidge library donation is now complete. The collection of over a hundred books and exhibition catalogues was donated to the Centre in 2018 by the late Michael John Howard Liversidge FSA (1947–2021). Liversidge taught art history at the University of Bristol from 1970 until 2006, becoming emeritus dean of arts in 2006, and elected visiting professor in art history at the University of Buckingham in 2018.

The collection relates chiefly to Canadian painting – from Confederation in 1867 to 1939 – covering the period beginning with the Anglo-Canadian and Quebecois artists, who were primarily influenced by British and French models respectively, through to the expression of distinctively Canadian identities in painting with the Group of Seven and their contemporaries from the 1910s onwards. The collection reflects the concentration of Canadian art at the time on landscape and urban scenes that defined emerging ideas visualising Canada as a new nation, as well as Canadian artists' connections with Britain, Europe and America.

Prior to the acquisition, the Centre had very few books on Canadian art and artists; this donation is a result of the library’s increased emphasis on collecting material relating to British art in its widest possible contexts, particularly within the histories of empire, imperialism and decolonisation.

For more information on this collection, see the library and photographic archive catalogue.