The Robert Cripps Gallery
Opened in November 2021, the Robert Cripps Gallery is a dedicated exhibition space at Magdalene College, showcasing visiting exhibitions and selections from the College’s extensive art collection.
Named in honour of Mr Robert Cripps AM—an esteemed art collector, generous benefactor, and Magdalene Honorary Fellow since 2005—the Gallery plays a vital role in making art accessible to the wider community. Located within the award-winning New Library, this purpose-built space provides a setting for students, staff, and visitors to engage with art, culture, and creative ideas.
Upcoming Exhibition
Throes of the Modernist Dream: Prints by Rachel Whiteread, Grayson Perry and Sarah Morris from the Paragon Press
4 July – 30 August 2025
The Paragon Press was founded by Charles Booth-Clibborn in 1986 to encourage upcoming British and Britain-based artists to explore printmaking. Paragon places artists, typically with backgrounds in painting, sculpture, photography or video, with independent printmaking studios across the UK and Europe to experiment with techniques such as etching, lithography, and screen printing. The collaboration leads to the creation of a distinct, print-based project. Since its beginning, Paragon has published over 120 projects, ranging from single images to extended series, and has collaborated with some of the most significant artists of our time, from Jake and Dinos Chapman, George Baselitz, Richard Long and Antony Gormley, to the more recent generation of the ‘Young British Artists’ such as Damien Hurst, Gary Hume and Marc Quinn.
This exhibition introduces a selection of prints by three renowned contemporary artists and published by Paragon Press: Rachel Whiteread, Grayson Perry and Sarah Morris. The works are connected through their portrayal of modernity and the consequences of the modernist dream. Whiteread’s Demolished commemorates the cycles of urban development and decay, while Perry’s The American Dream drags us into the crises of the global present. Morris’ brightly geometric Department of Power and Water speaks to our synthetic, complex, mechanical world.
Opening Times
4 July – 30 August 2025
Open: Monday to Friday 2pm – 4pm, Saturday 2pm – 6pm
Closed: Sunday
Information for Visitors
- To access the exhibition please call in to the Porter’s Lodge on Magdalene Street
- Entrance will be to the Gallery only
- Visitors are requested not to enter other parts of the New Library
Past Exhibitions
Arthur Christopher Benson, Diarist A Centenary Exhibition
Discover the fascinating life and legacy of Arthur Christopher Benson in a centenary exhibition marking 100 years since his death. From razor-sharp diaries to Edwardian academia, this display offers a rare glimpse into one of Magdalene’s most influential figures.
Dreams of the Soul: Paintings, Prints and Textiles
Ebu Estandar, an artist from Namasia, Taiwan, discovered her passion for painting in her early twenties, drawing inspiration from her life experiences and diverse surroundings. Her work, primarily in oil on canvas, has been exhibited internationally.
Line, Edge, Shadow: drawings and sculpture
Line, Edge, Shadow: Drawings and Sculpture, presents Nigel Hall RA's acclaimed abstract sculptures and drawings. Explore Hall's exploration of form and light in both three-dimensional and two-dimensional works at the Robert Cripps Gallery.
George Mallory: Magdalene to the Mountain
A homage to the life and legacy of George Mallory (1905). Beginning with his Magdalene days, his academic, athletic, and social pursuits. Delving into his WWI experiences, his Everest expeditions and American lecture tour, culminating in a poignant commemoration of Mallory and Irvine's tragic end on...
The Perspective of the Medieval Scribe
Exhibition of Medieval Manuscripts from the libraries of Magdalene College. A unique double exhibition revealing medieval perspectives on the physical world, on other worlds, and on the creative potential of image and word with the natural world, with music and with science.
The Personality and Legacy of Fox (1923-2023)
Sir Cyril Fred Fox (1882-1967) was one of the most distinguished archaeologists to have graduated from Magdalene. 2023 is the centenary of his celebrated book The Archaeology of the Cambridge Regio. The exhibition draws Fox'e publications and other materials, to look at Fox’s personality and the...
The world according to Jiří Kolář
Jiří Kolář (1914-2002) was a prolific Czech artist across media: a poet, writer, and translator who expanded the boundaries of modern art by deconstructing the printed image and word. In re-assembling and constructing images in collage, he created often absurd commentaries on modern life and the...
Duncan Robinson In Memoriam
Duncan Robinson CBE (1943 - 2022) was a leading authority on British art from the eighteenth century onwards. He was also a well-loved Master of Magdalene College, 2002 – 2012, a highly respected teacher and a witty, engaging and very warm man. This exhibition reflects aspects of his remarkably full...
Cross-Connections: Paintings by Ruth Rix
A selection of work by Ruth Rix from sixty years of painting, shown alongside prints by her mother Helga Michie, a Kindertransport refugee from Vienna.
Will Carter - Man of Letters
An important retrospective featuring the wide-ranging portfolio of one of Cambridge’s most respected and much-loved resident artists, including many examples of his calligraphy, letter carving, printing, and typefaces.
From Southwold to Alice Springs
From Southwold to Alice Springs: Selected works from the Collection of Robert Cripps, showcased a small snapshot of the paintings, drawings and engravings acquired over many years by a remarkable collector, reflecting both his deep roots in the countryside and coast of East Anglia and his...
Fragile Planet - Watercolour Journeys into Wild Places
Fragile Planet was a major exhibition of watercolours by Cornwall’s world-renowned wilderness artist, Tony Foster. Fragile Planet - Watercolour Journeys into Wild Places, highlights the precariousness of the world’s wildernesses and endangered environments, many of which Tony visited and painted...
Everest 1921 - A Reconnaissance
Pioneering works in the history of photography! With the kind permission of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), this exhibition showcased a selection of prints of the approaches to Mount Everest, taken in 1921 and reconstructed from newly digitised fragile silver nitrate negatives.