Tetra Pak heir Hans Rausing and his wife Julia have donated £10 million to the Royal Academy of Arts postgraduate art school — the largest such gift in its 250-year history.
The money will be used to preserve the heritage of the RA Schools and ensure it remains at the forefront of art education, the academy said today.
The couple’s donation will “ensure its success for the next 250 years”, the organisation added.
Founded in 1769, the RA Schools is Britain’s oldest art school. It offers up to 17 artists each year the opportunity to undertake a three-year postgraduate programme that remains free thanks to its supporters. Alumni include JMW Turner, John Constable, Sir John Soane and William Blake, to 20th-century artists John Hoyland, Richard Hamilton and Sir Anthony Caro.
The donation will go towards a renewal project, beginning in 2021, that will create a campus with increased space for studios, including a new suite of workshops in Burlington Gardens.
The historic Sydney Smirke studios, Cast Corridor and Life Room, built in 1870, will be restored. A new suite of technical workshops will be created to support technologies and a new RA Schools Library. The architecture studio will be renewed and the layout improved. Following the donation, the RA Schools buildings will be called The Julia and Hans Rausing Campus.
In a statement, the Rausings said: “The RA Schools have produced some of the world’s most famous artists since their inception 250 years ago.
“It was founded to develop the brightest young artists based on merit.
“The RA Schools remain free and independent today and our gift allows for the restoration of the fabric of the building and its survival for future generations of artists.”
