Exhibition Catalogue Archive

Welcome to the Archive section of the Pastel Society. We have, since our formation in 1898, saved nearly all the catalogues of Annual Exhibitions and also a mixture of other relevant and interesting documentation.

It was decided last year to digitise this resource for the benefit of the public who often direct queries to us on the activities of specific artists from all periods of our Society’s existence. This means that we no longer need to rummage through paper copies of the catalogues to answer any questions, and the process of enquiry is autonomous, speeding it up considerably.

You are welcome to look at the material and even copy it for private purposes but in any instance where you then want to share it publicly, you must make a formal request via the Pastel Society website for us to keep track of how the material is being used. In most cases we are likely to give permission with proper acknowledgement to the Pastel Society. Please bear in mind that these documents are the copyright of the Pastel Society.

The archive is arranged simply by year from 1899 to the present day. Some catalogues are missing around World Wars One and Two. 1914 is not available and 1941 – 1947 are missing. Catalogues are duplicated where there is an additional marked-up copy. We will be gradually adding further scanned material and placing it under the relevant year. For example, there are minutes of the early committee meetings for the Society and other non-London exhibition catalogues where members have shown work. We do hope you find this resource helpful and do contact us if you think that we can improve it in any way.