Established | 1895 – South-Western Polytechnic 1908 – Chelsea School of Art 1989 – Chelsea College of Art and Design 2013 – Chelsea College of Arts |
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Location | London, United Kingdom |
Campus | Millbank |
Affiliations | University of the Arts London |
Website | www.arts.ac.uk/chelsea |
Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, UK, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher education courses in fine art, graphic design, interior design, spatial design and textile design up to PhD level.
Chelsea College of Arts was originally an integral school of the South-Western Polytechnic, which 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. The South-Western Polytechnic became the Chelsea Polytechnic in 1922 and taught a growing number of registered students of the University of London.
At the beginning of the 1930s, the School of Art began to widen, including courses in craft training and commercial design from 1931. H.S Williamson, the school's appointed headmaster from 1930 to 1958, introduced sculpture shortly after World War II. Notable artists from this period were employed as teachers such as Henry Moore and Graham Sutherland. Alumni from this period included Elizabeth Frink, Edward Burra, Patrick Caulfield, Ethel Walker, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Clatworthy, John Latham and John Berger.