Terms of Engagement: Portraits from the University of Birmingham

Some of the most respected British artists of the 20th century – including Jacob Epstein, Tom Phillips and Humphrey Ocean – have been commissioned by the University over the past 100 years to portray and honour its chancellors, vice chancellors and other leading figures.

This selection of immensely varied paintings, works on paper and sculpture explores the process of commissioning and realising portraits for an institution, and includes a filmed interview between the most recently commissioned artist, Jennifer McRae, and her sitter, Sir Dominic Cadbury. Gathered together for the first time, these sometimes surprising portraits reveal something of the character of the University as well as of the sitters.