The University of St Andrews teams up with the R&A in a unique collaboration

The University of St Andrews has teamed up with The R&A in a unique collaboration exploring how sport has been portrayed through art across the centuries.

For the first time, the R&A World Golf Museum will partner with the University’s renowned School of Art History to deliver a new online lecture series examining the visual culture of sport — from Ancient Greece to the modern day.

The initiative comes during a landmark year for global sport, with fans enjoying the Winter Olympics and looking ahead to major events including The Open Championship, Masters Tournament, Solheim Cup, the Tour de France and the men’s and women’s Six Nations Championship.

• St Andrews Old Course Review

Titled as a cross-disciplinary exploration, the lecture series will trace how athletic competition has been represented, idealised and critiqued in art, analysing themes of identity, nationalism, gender and spectacle through a diverse range of artworks and artefacts.

The programme will feature guided lectures from scholars at the School of Art History, professionals from the R&A World Golf Museum and invited guest speakers.

Dr Billy Rough, Lecturer in the School of Art History at the University of St Andrews, said: “It has been a wonderful opportunity to work with the R&A World Golf Museum to create this one-off lecture series and to explore the worlds of sport and art from different angles. Ultimately, sport and art are both about expression - one through the body, the other through creativity, but they meet in the same place: human passion.”

Hannah Fleming, Learning & Access Curator at the R&A World Golf Museum, added: “We are excited to be collaborating with the School of Art History on this unique project which celebrates the heritage of sporting art. Showcasing our golf collections will give attendees an understanding into the close connection the sport has with the university and the town as well as reflecting societal and stylistic changes displayed within golf course landscapes, portraits, and decorative art.”

The collaboration highlights the historic bond between St Andrews, golf and academia, offering fresh insight into how sport has both shaped — and been shaped by — visual culture throughout history.