ABOUT US

  • Welcome to The Hyman Collection. 

     

    Our History

    The Hyman Collection was founded by Claire and James Hyman in 1996 and is based in London. Over nearly thirty years it has grown to become the most significant private collection of British photography in the world. Including its archive, it comprises over 20,000 artworks and ranges from historic documentary photographs to the diversity of the latest conceptual work by young artists.

     

    Our Mission

    The Hyman Collection is dedicated to making its extensive collection and archive of British photography accessible to a global audience through exhibitions, a comprehensive touring exhibition programme for museums and galleries, and the creation of this website as an online educational resource.

     

    Our Vision

    The Hyman Collection seeks to support and celebrate the diversity of photography in Britain from historic figures to contemporary trailblazers; to foster education and encourage engagement through wide-ranging loans and touring exhibitions; and to enrich, inspire, and cultivate a deeper appreciation for photography in Britain.

     

    Our Collection

    The Hyman Collection and archive includes over 20,000 artworks. It ranges from historic photographs, including major holdings of rare vintage works by Bill Brandt, John Deakin, Kurt Hutton and Edith Tudor Hart, through major international figures such as John Coplans and Susan Hiller, and on to the latest contemporary work by young artists working in photography, especially by women, including Heather Agyepong, Juno Calypso, Arpita Shah and Paloma Tendero.

     

    The Hyman Collection includes conceptual artists working in photography such as Helen Chadwick, Gilbert and George, Douglas Gordon, Rose Finn-Kelcey, Jo Spence and Jane and Louise Wilson. It also includes forms of documentary photography including entire series of works by Anna Fox, Karen Knorr, Daniel Meadows and Paul Seawright. 

     

    The Hyman Collection celebrates diversity and seeks to support women in photography. 

     

    Our Archives

    In seeking to preserve photographic culture in Britain, the Hyman Collection has acquired a number of photographer's estates, archives, installations, complete exhibitions, bodies of work and boxed sets.

  • Loan Requests. Please email registrar@britishphotography.org

    Press Enquiries. Please email press@hymancollection.org

    General Questions. Please email info@hymancollection.org

     

    Loans

    We have an extensive loan programme and are keen to provide access to the collection through exhibitions either curated by ourselves or others. To borrow works or to stage an exhibition of photographs from the collection please do contact us for further information.

     

    Education

    This website is intended as an educational resource. It shares information on the photographs in the Hyman Collection; gives an overview of our archives; presents essays and texts; provides links to other websites and is intended to facilitate loans to museums and public institutions.

  • DR CLAIRE HYMAN BDS FDS (Royal College of Surgeons), Diploma (TLHP), MAcadMEd Claire is an Oral Surgeon, qualifying as a...
    Claire chairing a discussion on women and activism, Photo London, 2023.

    DR CLAIRE HYMAN   BDS FDS (Royal College of Surgeons), Diploma (TLHP), MAcadMEd

    Claire is an Oral Surgeon, qualifying as a Specialist in 2000. From 2004-2020 Claire worked as an Oral Surgeon for the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust. At the start of the pandemic she was redeployment to ITU (Intensive Care) to help care for patients with Covid-19. Since 2021 she has combined working as a Specialist Oral Surgeon for Whittington Health NHS Trust with teaching surgery. At the University of Plymouth she is Module Lead for MSc students in Oral Surgery  and Undergraduate Clinical Supervisor, and at King's College London she is Clinical Lecturer in Oral Surgery. Claire is a judge for the World Food Photographer of the Year (2019-) and for Lens Culture Critics Choice (2023). Claire is the Chair of the Board of Trustees of The Centre for British Photography.

  • DR JAMES HYMAN BA (Hons.), MA, PhD, FRSA. James is an art historian and received his Masters and his PhD...
    James making the opening speech for the Communities exhibitions at the Centre for British Photography, 2023.

    DR JAMES HYMAN      BA (Hons.), MA, PhD, FRSA.

    James is an art historian and received his Masters and his PhD from the Courtauld Institute of Art (University of London). He has worked as a writer, lecturer and curator and is a leading authority on twentieth century British art, including the painters of the ”School of London”, and on British photography. His doctorate was published as The Battle for Realism. Figurative Art in Britain during the Cold War  (Yale University Press, 2001) . He is Director of James Hyman Gallery where he specialises in modern British art; a trustee of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation; and the Founding Director of the charity The Centre for British Photography. 

  • TIMELINE

    2009

    • James Hyman is one of the sponsors and judges of the National Media Museum Bursary Awards 

     

    2010

    • James Hyman is one of the sponsors and judges of the National Media Museum Bursary Awards for Photographers.

     

    2012

    • The Hyman Collection donates photographs to the charity auction held at Christies to raise funds for the Media Space at the Science Museum.

     

    2015

    • Commissions Andrew Bruce and Anna Fox to respond to the original Fluk and Law Spitting Image puppets in our collection.
    • Launch of new website, www.hymancollection.org, as an education resource, based on British photographs in the private collection of Claire and James Hyman.
    • Donates set of 34 prints by Alan Davie to the British Museum, London

     

    2017

    • James Hyman becomes a trustee of the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation.

     

    2018

    • Donates 125 historical and contemporary photographs by Britist photographers to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, USA


    2018-19

    • The Hepworth Wakefield stages Modern Nature. Photographs from the Hyman Collection

     

    2019

    • Donates 100 photographs by British photographers, past and present, to the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford, UK
    • Commissions Heather Agyepong’s new series Wish You Were Here (premiered Spring 2020).


    2020

    • At the start of the pandemic, Claire is redeployed to help with Covid-19 patients in intensive care,  while James organises one of the first Covid-19 fundraisers for the National Health Service. All artworks are donated by Claire and James Hyman and all proceeds are donated to the NHS. 
    • Claire and James set up The Hyman Foundation (Charity Commission No. 1190955) to support photography in Britain.


    2020-21

    • The Arnolfini in Bristol stages two exhibitions of works from the collection:
    • Jo Spence. From Fairy Tales to Photo Therapy. Photographs from the Hyman Collection
    • A Picture of Health. Women Photographers from the Hyman Collection


    2021

    • Oxford Photo Festival stages A Different Mirror. Women Photographers from the Hyman Collection

     

    2022

    • The Hyman Collection hosts and sponsors Fast Forward. Women in Photography Research Workshop. 
    •  James founds the new Centre for British Photography. Claire becomes Chair of Trustees. Details here

    2023
    • The Hyman Foundation opens The Centre for British Photography, a new free to enter public place to stage exhibitions and events devoted to British photography. Based on three floors in an 8,000 square foot space in Jermyn Street in Central London, the opening five exhibitions include The English at Home. 20th Century Photographs from the Hyman Collection curated by James Hyman.
    • In recognition of its new public status, The Hyman Foundation is renamed the Centre for British Photography. The charity expands its board to eight trustees.
    • Photo London at Somerset House, as part of its public programme, stages a major exhibition, curated by James Hyman entitled Writing Her Own Script. Women Photographers from the Hyman Collection.

     

    2024

    • Ben Uri Art Gallery and Museum stage Uncharted Streets: Kurt Hutton, Bill Brandt, Edith Tudor Hart, Charlie Phillips, Markéta Luskačová. Photographs from the Hyman Collection.
    • Oxford Festival of the Arts presents photographs from the Hyman Collection in Arpita Shah. Modern Muse, June-July 
    • Belfast Exposed stages two exhibitions of works from the Hyman Collection:
    • Jo Spence: A Woman's Place?, October - December 
    • Arpita Shah. Modern Muse, October- December

     

    2024-25

    • The Hyman Collection is a major lender to The 80s. Photographing Britain at Tate Britain. The thirty seven loans from the Hyman Collection include works by Anna Fox, Melanie Friend, Ken Grant, Colin Jones, Peter Kennard, Paul Seawright, and Jo Spence.

    2025

    • Loans of Bert Hardy, Ken Grant, and Jo Spence to Lives Less Ordinary: Working-Class Britain Re-seen at Two Temple Place.
    • Loan of Bill Brandt to Seeing Each Other: Portraits of Artists, Pallant House, Chichester.