- 6 September 2017
Andrew Wyld (1949-2011) was 'one of the finest art dealers of his generation' specialising in eighteenth and nineteenth-century British watercolours. As a young man his only training was to look at as many works of art as possible and believed it was more important to look at and handle original works than to study photographs or reproductions in books. After his death in 2011, his friends and family decided to set up a fund in his memory; its aim is to enable students to do exactly as he did, namely to look at, and judge, works of art on paper for themselves.
The Andrew Wyld Research Support Grant is now in its third year and is an award of up to £2,000 to enable students to see and research works on paper at first hand.
One of last years recipients Lindsay Wells has recently completed her trip to the UK from the United States to view the original Flower Book illustrations of Edward Burne-Jones. During her research trip she visited the Department of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum and was able to view all thirty-eight original watercolours close up. This examination of the original paintings allowed Lindsay to strengthen her research and to see first hand that the watercolours 'were embellished with metallic paint that is not visible in reproductions'. Andrew Wyld believed in the benefits of this kind of research, something which Lindsay was able to corroborate - 'the opportunity to compare my notes on the original watercolours to their early reproductions was invaluable, particularly because it underscored the importance of the watercolour medium in augmenting the visual dynamism of each image'.
Applications for the Autumn 2017 round of Andrew Wyld Research Support Grant funding are now open and will close on 30 September, for more information please click here.
Further reading:
Spotlight on: Curatorial Research Grants
Spotlight on: Publication Grants