Ruth Borchard

Ruth Borchard (1910–2000) was a British writer who created a collection of self-portraits made by 100 modern British artists, the Ruth Borchard Collection.

A notable work of Borchard's was John Stuart Mill: the Man.

Career She assisted Friedrich Hayek on John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor and later wrote John Stuart Mill: the Man, published in 1957, which was considered by R.J. Halliday to be "an amusing and perceptive account of Mill's life and personality."

Borchard Collection Borchard collected 100 self-portraits of British artists. She started out offering 10–15 guineas and then 21 guineas for artists to provide their self-portraits. Jean Cooke responded to the request saying "Dear Miss Borchard, I am not a feminist but to have only three women painters out of 91 makes rather poor odds so 21 gns it is. Are you going to come and pick up the painting?" The commission was half her usual rate. Of the total 100 self-portraits, there were only five women. In response to Borchar's request, Michael Ayrton wrote: "I will accept the 21gns and I much admire anyone who can obtain so many works for no more than that figure."

Borchard began collecting works in 1958 and by 1971 had 100 self-portraits. The British or British-based artists made self-portraits in oil, gouaches, watercolours and one was a bas relief. She wrote that "One of the greatest satisfactions of my collection: about one in three of the self-portraits were done because of my request. They would not exist but for that it makes me feel creative at one remove." The collection was shown at the 2003 British Art Fair at the Commonwealth Institute in London.

She collected works of:

Michael Ayrton Alfred Daniels Carel Weight

Published works

Books

Articles