The Alan Woods Bequest

The Alan Woods Bequest is an outstanding collection of contemporary artworks bequeathed to the University by the late Alan Woods. It includes artists such as Ralph Rumney, Susan Hiller, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Ian Howard, Will Maclean and many of Alan's students from Duncan of Jordanstone College.

The collection is currently being catalogued and a permanent exhibition space has been set up for it in the Baxter Conference Suite, Tower Building. A series of temporary exhibitions are also underway.

Click here for information about the Cooper Gallery exhibition, October - November 2001.

Alan Woods (1956-2000)

Alan Woods was a lecturer in History and Theory in the School of Fine Art. He graduated from Cambridge University and taught in the School from 1989. Alan had a remarkably deep and broad knowledge of literature, aesthetics, visual art, photography, cinema, music and popular culture, which he generously shared with a generation of Dundee students (and, it should be said, with his colleagues, along with daily doses of unmatchable wit and good humour). Alan was a subtle and penetrating writer on art and cinema, his originality and insight expressed in a wonderfully flexible prose style that could catch every nuance of his thought. He never lost his romantic ideal that an art school should exist in a state of near-anarchy, driven by free creative work in (and beyond) the visual media, but (only seemingly a paradox), he passionately believed that knowledge of art and critical thinking were essential if a student were to make him- or herself into an artist. His wish was that the art of the past, which he loved, might be made as meaningful, inspirational and relevant to the students as the most contemporary work (in which he was equally interested).

The Collection

Alan Woods was a collector of art, of books and of music. He was a hoarder, even. Very little ever seemed to be thrown away, as anyone who ventured into his flat in Leith could testify. Walls, cupboards, surfaces were filled with works of art, books, tapes and CDs, newspapers and uncountable notes of his own, in his characteristic sloping, illegible hand. The few flat spaces were likely to be occupied by coffee cups. Alan collected over two hundred and sixty works, mostly drawings, prints, paintings and constructions. Sculptures are few, and in this respect domestic limitations of space restricted his activities. More surprisingly, perhaps, although photography was an abiding interest (some of his best writing was on photographic subjects and he was himself an avid photographer of the everyday scene wherever he went), there are not many photographic works in the collection.

In all personal collections a dispersed portrait of the collector is preserved. Together the works offer a glimpse into the person who brought them together, who chose them rather than any others, and Alan's collection in this sense (for those who knew him) is suffused with his personality, his tastes and his interests; with his life, in short. The collection that he built up in little more than ten years was not that of a wealthy man. Most are contemporary works of moderate size. For all but the last two or three years of his life (when a modest family inheritance allowed him a little more latitude) his material means for acquiring artworks were limited, but he had more than the power of money to rely on. Certainly, if he liked a work enough he would buy it if it was at all possible. He also collected, judiciously, works by students and by artists in the early stages of their careers when they were relatively inexpensive, and occasionally bought from auctions. But he had other ways to get around financial limitations, ways which help to explain the nature of the collection and the artists represented in it. His greatest assets as a collector were his gift for friendship and his special quality as a writer on art and cinema. He collected the works of friends and colleagues in the School of Fine Art. These were often the fruits of what was possibly his favourite 'deal' - to swap a catalogue essay for a work. In this way he acquired works by Edward Summerton, Jim Pattison, Will Maclean and others. Similarly, for a number of years he maintained an 'account' at Peacock Printmakers in Aberdeen which was paid in this way, enabling him to collect works by (for example) John Bellany, who had made prints there. Thirdly, he collected works by artists with whom friendships had been often been initiated by the admiration of the artists for his writings on their work. These included Ralph Rumney, Tom Phillips and R B Kitaj. Finally, his work as editor of Transcript brought him into contact with artists, which opened up new opportunities for adding to his collection. His contact with Peter Greenaway, Howard Hodgkin and Susan Hiller came through this route.

Text by Euan McArthur, School of Fine Art