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A collection of art books and exhibition catalogues on a table top

Hayward Gallery Art Library

A collection of 22,000 books and exhibition catalogues on modern and contemporary British and international art

The Hayward Gallery Art Library has been established since 1987, with its collection primarily focusing on research resources for curators for exhibitions.

The library has an extensive range of contemporary information on artists, architecture, critical theory, exhibitions and photographs, with a prominent international focus on modern and contemporary art.

The collection comprises 22,000 books and exhibition catalogues, which includes records of catalogues for each Hayward Gallery and Arts Council Collection exhibition from 1946 onwards. The library also has visual material such as slides, photographs and discs (audio and video), as well as press cuttings, posters, postcards and exhibition guides.

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We’re open for research visits by appointment.

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Included in the library’s collection

  • Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) catalogues and image collections, 1942 – 1993.
  • Hayward Touring exhibition and Hayward Gallery exhibition catalogues, 1968 – to date.
  • 22,000 monographs and exhibition catalogues.
  • 46 periodical and journal titles.

Other materials

For Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) (1945-1994) exhibition files and Hayward archives pre-1987, please contact the Archive of Art and Design at the V&A.

vam.ac.uk