DUNDEE.- The University of Dundee Museum Collections have been awarded a grant of £100,000 from the Art Fund to build a collection of art inspired by D’Arcy Thompson, the University’s first Professor of Biology.

Curator Matthew Jarron explained: “D’Arcy was a brilliant polymath whose work laid the foundations for the science of biomathematics but who also had an extraordinary influence on art and design that continues to this day. Many famous artists such as Henry Moore, Richard Hamilton and Jackson Pollock drew on his work and we’re keen to get today’s artists using his surviving collection in our Zoology Museum as a further source of inspiration. We’re absolutely delighted to have been awarded this grant, which will allow us to acquire some 20th century artworks as well as working with contemporary artists to create new pieces for our collection.”

The Museum Collections will work in partnership with various other organisations to create a programme of exhibitions and events around the project, including Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee Contemporary Arts, Dundee Science Centre and the Slade School of Fine Art in London.

The grant was awarded through the Art Fund’s RENEW programme, which gave a total of £600,000 to six UK museums in 2011 to establish new collections of art, collections which connect, in exciting and creative ways, with their existing holdings and current audiences. The University of Dundee Museum Collections is the final museum to be accepted into the scheme, which has been made possible through support from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation as part of its 50th birthday celebrations.