Slade School of Fine Art

The Slade School of Fine Art stands in the heart of London as part of University College London. Founded in 1871 through a bequest from Felix Slade, it occupies historic premises in Gower Street. The school forms a department within UCL’s Faculty of Arts and Humanities and ranks as the UK’s top art and design institution. Its reputation rests on generations of influential teachers and students. Past faculty include Henry Tonks, Lucian Freud and Phyllida Barlow, while alumni range from Augustus John and Stanley Spencer to Paula Rego and Derek Jarman. Two early 20th-century student groups became known as the school’s ‘crises of brilliance’. More recently, the Slade Film Department, established in 1960, pioneered university-level film teaching. Visitors find a working art school with a public art museum. The UCL Art Museum displays works by past students and staff, many awarded as prizes. The Slade Centre for Electronic Media in Fine Art runs research programmes and public events on digital art. Within the college quadrangle, the studios and lecture halls continue the tradition of drawing, painting, sculpture and film.