Samuel Courtauld forms The Courtauld Institute of Art in 1932, with Sir Robert Witt and Viscount Lee of Fareham. As one of the first art history institutions it paves the way for art history entering the academic world.
William Constable, who came from the National Gallery, fully shares the founders approach to art history and is Director for four years.
In 1934 Samuel Courtauld gives Edouard Manet’s last major painting, A Bar at the Folies-Bergère, to The Courtauld.
Viscount Lee and Samuel Courtauld arranged for scholars attached to the Warburg Institute in Hamburg to be resettled in London, following the advent of a Nazi government in Germany.
Artist, designer, critic, and art historian Roger Fry bequeaths his collection to The Courtauld following his death in 1934.
William Constable resigns as director over a disagreement about whether the courses should be restricted to postgraduates. He is replaced by Thomas Boase
The Second World War brakes out and drastically reduces The Courtauld Institute of Art’s activities – from 1941 to 1942 its student body is made up of three people.
'The Morelli-Nerli Chests' are given to The Courtauld as part of the Lee Bequest after Viscount Lee dies in 1947.
Samuel Courtauld, one of the key founders of The Courtauld, passes away in 1947.
Anthony Blunt is made Director and oversees the development of the Institute during the 1950s and until his retirement in 1974.
