Kettle's Yard facts for kids
The cottages which comprise the main house of Kettle's Yard
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| Location | Cambridge |
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| Collections | art collections |
| Visitors | 231,941 (2019) |
| Founder | Jim Ede |
| Owner | University of Cambridge |
| University of Cambridge Museums | |
Kettle's Yard is a special art gallery and house located in Cambridge, England. It is a place where you can see amazing art and also explore a unique home. The current director of Kettle's Yard is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and the gallery were closed for a while to get bigger and better. They reopened in February 2018.
Contents
Discovering Kettle's Yard
Kettle's Yard House and Gallery is found on the west side of Castle Street. It sits between Northampton Street and St Peter's Church.
The Story of the House
This place was once the home of Jim Ede and his wife Helen. They moved to Cambridge in 1956. With help from Winton Aldridge, they turned four small cottages into one very unique house. Jim Ede wanted a special place to show his collection of early 20th-century art.
He loved sharing his art with others. Every afternoon, Jim Ede would have an 'open house'. He would give personal tours of his collection to anyone who visited, especially students.
Becoming Part of the University
In 1966, Jim Ede gave his house and art collection to the University of Cambridge. He and his wife continued to live there until 1973. Today, the house is kept just as the Edes left it. This makes it a very relaxed place to enjoy the art and even listen to live music.
In 1970, the house got bigger. A new art gallery was added in a modern style. This part was designed by Leslie Martin.
Big Changes and Reopening
Kettle's Yard closed for a major building project in June 2015. This project added a new four-floor education area. It also made the exhibition galleries better. There was a new entrance and a café too.
Jamie Fobert Architects helped with these gentle additions. They made sure visitors had better support services. This included a new courtyard and a welcome area, plus a new shop. The project cost £11,000,000. Some of the money came from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England. The inside of the original house was not changed at all.
While Kettle's Yard was closed, some of its art was shown elsewhere. You could see parts of the collection at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. Some pieces were also at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings.
Kettle's Yard is part of a group called the University of Cambridge Museums.
Amazing Art Collection
The art you see at Kettle's Yard is part of its permanent collection. These are paintings, sculptures, and other objects that Jim Ede collected. He often collected art from artists he knew or worked with. This means the collection mostly features British avant-garde art. This type of art was new and experimental in the first half of the 20th century.
The artist Ian Hamilton Finlay once described Jim Ede's way of mixing art and everyday objects. He called it "the Louvre of the pebble" on an inscribed stone. This shows how special and unique the collection is.
Here are some famous artists whose works you can find at Kettle's Yard:
- Constantin Brâncuși
- William Congdon
- Helen Frankenthaler
- Henri Gaudier-Brzeska
- Ian Hamilton Finlay
- Barbara Hepworth
- David Jones
- Joan Miró
- Henry Moore
- Ben Nicholson
- David Peace
- Winifred Nicholson
- Alfred Wallis
- Christopher Wood
See Also
- Primavera Gallery on King's Parade, which has held art shows at Kettle's Yard.
- Wysing Arts Centre, a place for art research and development near Cambridge.
