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Contemporary British Art

Modern & Contemporary Gallery

July 18, 2026 – July 04, 2027
Michael Armitage, The Fourth Estate, 2017. Oil on Lubugo bark cloth, 78 7/8 × 130 1/4 × 2 inches (200.3 × 330.8 × 5.1 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Gift of Pamela J. Joyner and Alfred J. Giuffrida, 2025.32.1. © Michael Armitage. Photo by Peter Paul Geoffrion.
an abstract painting featuring a dark background contrasted with vibrant botanical motifs and swirling shapes
Michaela Yearwood-Dan, do what you gotta, 2022. Oil paint and ceramic on canvas, 78 1/2 × 59 inches (199.39 × 149.86 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Gift of Jason Swartz, 2024.1.1. © Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Image courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen.

Comprised of work by multiple generations of artists, Contemporary British Art illustrates the vitality, ambition, and diversity of art-making approaches found in England today. Michael Armitage, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, Thomas Houseago, and other emerging and established artists create fantastical worlds, address political subjects and current events, and explore more personal topics such as identity and intimacy. This small but diverse group underscores the Nasher Museum’s commitment to international contemporary art and represents some of the most dynamic artistic voices currently working in England.

Contemporary British Art is organized by Marshall N. Price, Chief Curator and Nancy A. Nasher and David J. Haemisegger Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art.

Artists

Michael Armitage, Sonia Boyce OBE, Charlotte Edey, Lubaina Himid CBE, Michaela Yearwood-Dan, and Lynette Yiadom-Boakye.

  • The painting depicts three young Black women, styled as dancers, gazing over a misty landscape.

    Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Blood Soaked South, 2015. Oil on linen, 98 7/16 × 78 3/4 inches (250 × 200 cm). Collection of Patricia (A.B.’77, P’06) and Thruston Morton (P’06), L.5.2016.1. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye. Image courtesy of the artist, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York and Corvi-Mora, London.

  • a wood-framed circular art piece

    Charlotte Edey, Heavy Lidded, 2023. Soft pastel on paper in Edwardian carved wood frame, 14 1/4 × 18 1/4 inches (36.2 × 46.36 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase with funds provided by Dan and Brandon McCamblau, 2023.23.1. © Charlotte Edey. Courtesy of the artist and Sea View, Los Angeles. Photo by Coley Brown, Nice Day Photo.

  • an abstract painting featuring a dark background contrasted with vibrant botanical motifs and swirling shapes

    Michaela Yearwood-Dan, do what you gotta, 2022. Oil paint and ceramic on canvas, 78 1/2 × 59 inches (199.39 × 149.86 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Gift of Jason Swartz, 2024.1.1. © Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Image courtesy of the artist and Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York and Aspen.

  • painted poster-style artwork showing a stylized portrait against a purple background with bold orange text reading “Theatre of the Divine… Demazana Fisher in Heavy Corners (For Joe)."

    Lubaina Himid CBE, Theatre of the Divine from the portfolio Great Women Artists, 2019. Digital archival print on Epson Hotpress Natural, edition 27/100, 24 × 20 inches (60.96 × 50.8 cm). Collection of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University, Durham, NC. Museum purchase, 2020.5.1. © Lubaina Himid. Image courtesy of Artspace, LLC, New York.

  • Selected Works

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