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Hayward Gallery Art Library

Opening times

We’re open for research visits by appointment.

Please send your request to [email protected]

We look forward to welcoming you to the library.

Books and Visitors at the Hayward Art Library
Hayward Art Library Credit India Roper-Evans

All the information you need to access the archive material, exhibition catalogues and art publications held by the Hayward Gallery Art Library.

About the collection

The Hayward Gallery Library has been established since 1987 with its collection primarily focusing on research resources for curators for exhibitions. The library has an extensive collection of a contemporary range of information on artists, architecture, critical theory, exhibitions and photographs, with a prominent international focus on modern and contemporary art.

The collection comprises 22,000 books and exhibition catalogues, which includes records of catalogues for each Hayward Gallery and Arts Council Collection exhibition from 1946 onwards. The library also has visual material such as slides, photographs and discs (audio and video). This also includes press cuttings, posters, postcards and exhibition guides.

Search the Catalogue

Subjects covered

Modern and contemporary British and international art: painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, architecture.

Library collections

  • Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) catalogues and image collections, 1942-1993
  • Hayward Touring exhibition and Hayward Gallery exhibition catalogues, 1968- to date
  • 22,000 monographs and exhibition catalogues
  • 46 periodical and journal titles
  • If you're looking for Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) (1945-1994) exhibition files and Hayward archives pre-1987, please contact the Archive of Art and Design (V&A)