Media centre

Notes to Editors

Contacts

For media enquiries and images please contact Gemma Briggs, Director of Marketing & Communications, Art UK on gemma.briggs@artuk.org. For any enquiries on Railway 200 contact Alan Hyde at alan.hyde@raildeliverygroup.com 

INFORMATION ABOUT THE RAILWAY 200 ARTWORKS

Collections and locations

The 200 artworks are held in 94 collections across the UK. There are also two public sculptures on the list.

The collection with the most artworks on the list is the National Railway Museum, with 48 artworks.

Breakdown of artworks and collections by UK nation:

ENGLAND – 174 artworks in 78 collections and two public sculptures

WALES – 11 artworks in 6 collections

SCOTLAND – 8 artworks in 7 collections

NORTHERN IRELAND – 7 artworks in 3 collections

Type of collections represented

The artworks are held in a variety of collections:

Railway Museums – 71 artworks in 9 collections. The largest collection is the National Railway Museum, but some smaller railway museums are represented in the list, including Crewe Heritage Centre, Midland Railway Trust, Museum of Island Railway History, Head of Steam – Darlington Railway Museum, STEAM – Museum of the Great Western Railway, Newton Abbot Town & GWR Museum, Churnet Valley Railway and Oswestry Railway Museum.

National Museums and Libraries – 18 artworks in 10 collections, including Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru / The National Library of Wales, Museum of Science and Industry, IWM (Imperial War Museums), Museum of Liverpool, National Gallery, London, Science Museum, Tate, National Museums NI, National Galleries of Scotland and Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales.

Museums and Art Galleries – 56 artworks in 56 collections. These range in size from large collections, such as Manchester Art Gallery, Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums and The Courtauld, to smaller museums, such as Bovey Tracey Heritage Trust, Island Arts Centre and Biggar Museum Trust.

Councils – 19 artworks in 9 collections, including South Somerset District Council, Ards and North Down Borough Council, Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection (Dundee City Council) and Cardiff Council.

Hospitals – 5 artworks in 4 hospitals, including Imperial Health Charity Art Collection, Royal Free Hospital, Princess of Wales Community Hospital and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board.

Universities – 7 artworks in 7 universities or educational institutions, including Coventry University, University of Essex, Royal College of Art and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Photos featured are: Passenger Express: The Symbol of Comfortable Travel (London, Midland and Scottish Railway poster artwork) by Norman Wilkinson (1878–1971). © National Railway Museum. Image credit: National Railway Museum / Science & Society Picture Library (left); Liverpool Street Station by Edward Bawden (1903–1989). © The estate of Edward Bawden. Image credit: The Higgins Bedford (centre); Euston Station: Loading the Travelling Post Office by Grace Lydia Golden (1904–1993). © Royal Mail Group Ltd. Image credit: The Postal Museum (right).

About Art UK

Art UK is an art education charity on a mission to make the art in UK public collections accessible to everyone, for enjoyment, learning and research. The organisation enables global audiences to learn about the UK’s national art collection. It does this by digitising artworks, telling the stories behind the art, creating schools learning resources and offering exciting opportunities for public interaction with art, both online and offline. Over 90% of the UK’s national art collection is not on public view, and until Art UK started its work much of this art had not been photographed. The charity's work is helping to radically change this, making what is publicly owned, publicly accessible – to anyone, anywhere. Art UK plays a major role supporting public art collections by improving their accessibility and sustainability. The platform currently shows over 430,000 artworks by 55,000 artists and is an ambitious collaboration between almost 3,500 institutions, making it one of the largest arts partnerships put together in the UK. The website is rich in story content, learning resources and public engagement opportunities. In the last 12 months over 5.4m people used the website, almost 60% from overseas. Art UK does not have an equivalent anywhere in the world. Art UK is the operating name of the Public Catalogue Foundation, a charity registered in England and Wales (1096185) and in Scotland (SC048601). For more information, please visit https://artuk.org/