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Description area
Dates of existence
History
Chelsea College of Art & Design has its origins in the South-Western Polytechnic, which was opened at Manresa Road, Chelsea in 1895 to provide scientific and technical education to Londoners. Day and evening classes for men and women were held in domestic economy, mathematics, engineering, natural science, art and music. Art was taught from the beginning of the Polytechnic, and included design, weaving, embroidery and electrodeposition. Instruction in design especially adapted to various industries was an early feature of teaching in art at Chelsea. The South-Western Polytechnic became Chelsea Polytechnic in 1922 and taught a growing number of registered students of the University of London.
At the beginning of the 1930s the interests of the school of art began to widen, including courses in craft training. Teaching began to cover commercial design, with courses including package design, block-printed fabrics, knotted rugs, painted furniture and typographical lay-out introduced between 1931 and 1938. Fine art courses appeared, with a sculpture department founded under the Principal, H S Williamson. Notable teachers in the School of Art have included Henry Moore, Graham Sutherland, Lawrence Gowing, Norbert Lynton and Patrick Caulfield. On 1 January 1957 the college was designated a College of Advanced Technology, and became known as Chelsea College of Science and Technology. The School of Art was separated and became independent. In 1964 the School of Art merged with the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art to create a new Chelsea School of Art in purpose built premises at Manresa Road, directly managed by London County Council. Courses were reorganised leading to the new Diploma in Art and Design in Painting and in Graphic Design and Sculpture. Under the first head of the new institution, Lawrence Gowing, an option programme was introduced encompassing workshops on experimental music, poetry, artists' books, psychoanalysis, philosophy and anthropology. A basic design course pioneered by Victor Pasmore and Richard Hamilton developed to become the basis of the College's foundation course. An MA in Fine Art was introduced in 1974.
Hammersmith College of Art and Building was founded in 1891 by Francis Hawke, with the establishment of a few evening classes to prepare students for science and art certificates. In 1904 the school was taken over by London County Council and a new building erected at Lime Grove, which opened with an extended curriculum in 1908. A trade school for girls was erected on the same site in 1914. From the outset the College had a tradition of training and education in art closely associated with the building professions and craft. A new building was opened in 1930. Hammersmith College merged with Chelsea College of Art in 1975.
In January 1986 Chelsea School of Art became a constituent college of the London Institute, formed by the Inner London Education Authority associating its art schools and specialist colleges of printing, fashion and distributive trades into a collegiate structure. In 1989 the School was renamed Chelsea College of Art & Design. New courses since 1989 include a BA in design, an MA in History and Theory of Modern Art, and an MA in the Theory and Practice of Public Art and Design for the Environment.