⭐ Highligts
David Bomberg: Teaching at Borough Polytechnic (1945–1953)
Sets the scene for Bomberg’s radical pedagogy after WWII and his shift from Vorticism to expressive structure.Syllabus notes, life-room drawings and late landscapes reveal how his ‘search for the spirit in the mass’ shaped a generation.
📍 Introductory gallery
The Borough Group & Sarah Rose Collection
Paintings by founders Cliff Holden, Dorothy Mead, Edna Mann and Miles Richmond show how Bomberg’s ideas splintered into distinct voices.From constructional still lifes to charged figure studies, the Group’s 1946 formation reads like a manifesto in paint.
📍 Main gallery
From Borough to London’s Post-war Scene
Links the Borough circle to wider post-war British art—students who later fed London’s figurative revival.Timelines and catalogues connect the polytechnic life-room to later exhibitions and prizes across the 1950s–60s.
📍 Context wall / timeline
Opening Hours
Admissions
🤓 Fun Facts
David Bomberg taught evening classes at Borough Polytechnic from 1945 to 1953; his students formed the Borough Group in 1946 to exhibit under shared principles he encouraged.
Founding members represented in the Sarah Rose Collection include Cliff Holden, Dorothy Mead, Edna Mann and Miles Richmond—each developing divergent approaches from Bomberg’s emphasis on structure and mass.
The gallery’s focus is a teaching lineage: works on paper and studio studies are shown alongside finished canvases to demonstrate how Borough methods translated from life room to exhibition wall.
