Fine art

The RAF Museum Fine Art Collection is, arguably, the best collection of military aviation artwork in the United Kingdom representing the people, aircraft, equipment and ‘Service Life’ of the Royal Air Force and its predecessors, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.

The collection currently holds more than 7,000+ works in the form of paintings, drawings, posters and other printed material. There is also a small sculpture collection.

Period

The collection is particularly strong from 1920 to about 1955, though there is much First World War material, some 19th century ballooning material and a selection of post 1945 pictures. The Museum is fortunate in holding the majority of the works selected for the RAF by the War Artists Advisory Committee covering the Second World War.

Major Holdings

There are large holdings of portraits by Eric Kennington, Captain Cuthbert Orde, Elva Blacker and Sir William Rothenstein.

Printed Items

Printed items include recruitment, air display and airline advertisement posters as well as ‘fine art’ posters intended for domestic use. Cartoons and caricatures are represented by Bill Hooper of ‘Pilot Officer Prune’ fame and Fred May.

Many of the Fine Art holdings can be viewed on Navigator, the online collections database.

Information

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