National Art Collections Fund
Encyclopedia
The Art Fund is an independent membership-based British charity
, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as well as lobbying on behalf of museums and galleries and their users. The Fund relies on members' subscriptions and public donations for funds and does not receive funding from the government or the National Lottery
.
Since its foundation in 1903 the Fund has been involved in the acquisition of over 860,000 works of art of every kind, including many of the most famous objects in British public collections, such as Velázquez
's Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery
, Picasso
's Weeping Woman
in the Tate
collection, and the Anglo Saxon Staffordshire Hoard
and medieval Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
in the British Museum
.
The original idea for an arts charity can be traced to a lecture given by John Ruskin
in 1857 when he called for the establishment of a "great society" to save works of art for public collections and "watch over" them.
The Art Fund, then named The National Art Collections fund, was founded in 1903 in order to help museums and galleries acquire works of art. The founders of The Art Fund, who included Christiana Herringham
, D. S. MacColl
and Roger Fry
, were prompted by what they saw as the inadequacy of government funding of museums.
Art critic Frank Rutter
said it made him "boil with rage" that the Fund had spent thousands of pounds on Old Master paintings, some of which he considered of dubious merit or condition, but "would not contribute one half penny" to his appeal in 1905 to buy the first Impressionist
painting for the National Gallery
, although it welcomed the prestige of presenting the painting, Eugène Boudin
's The Entrance to Trouville Harbour, the following year. He said "the Fund's inertia and snobbish ineptitude are entirely characteristic of the art-officialdom in England."
In 2005 the Fund was caught up in the controversy surrounding the purchase by the Tate
gallery of The Upper Room by Chris Ofili
.
In 2006 it was caught out when it was discovered that the Amarna Princess
, purportedly an ancient Egyptian sculpture, was actually a forgery by Shaun Greenhalgh
.
In 2009 the Art Fund led a fundraising campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of over 3,500 gold and silver artefacts discovered in Staffordshire. Over £900,000 was raised through public donations, and the campaign received substantial funds from trusts and foundations. As a result of the campaign, the £3.3 million treasure was acquired for Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
In 2010 The Procession to Calvary by Pieter Breughel the Younger, which had been hung in Wakefield's Nostell Priory for over 200 years, came under risk of being sold on the open market. The Art Fund worked with the National Trust to raise the £2.7 million required to purchase the painting for the National Trust's art collection.
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...
, which raises funds to aid the acquisition of artworks for the nation. It gives grants and acts as a channel for many gifts and bequests, as well as lobbying on behalf of museums and galleries and their users. The Fund relies on members' subscriptions and public donations for funds and does not receive funding from the government or the National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
.
Since its foundation in 1903 the Fund has been involved in the acquisition of over 860,000 works of art of every kind, including many of the most famous objects in British public collections, such as Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
's Rokeby Venus in the National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
, Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
's Weeping Woman
The Weeping Woman
Weeping Woman , is an oil on canvas painted by Pablo Picasso in France, 1937. Picasso was intrigued with the subject, and revisited the theme numerous times that year. This painting was the final and most elaborate of the series...
in the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
collection, and the Anglo Saxon Staffordshire Hoard
Staffordshire Hoard
The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork . Discovered in a field near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England on 5 July 2009, it consists of some 3,500 items that are nearly all martial in character...
and medieval Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant
The Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant is a medieval astrolabe believed to date from 1388, and which was found in an archeological dig at the House of Agnes in Canterbury, Kent, England in 2005....
in the British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
.
History
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
in 1857 when he called for the establishment of a "great society" to save works of art for public collections and "watch over" them.
The Art Fund, then named The National Art Collections fund, was founded in 1903 in order to help museums and galleries acquire works of art. The founders of The Art Fund, who included Christiana Herringham
Christiana Herringham
Christiana Jane Herringham was a British artist, copyist and art patron. She is noted for her part in establishing the National Art Collections Fund in 1903 to help preserve Britain's artistic heritage....
, D. S. MacColl
Dugald Sutherland MacColl
Dugald Sutherland MacColl was a Scottish watercolour painter, art critic, lecturer and writer. He was keeper of the Tate gallery for five years.- Life :...
and Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
, were prompted by what they saw as the inadequacy of government funding of museums.
Art critic Frank Rutter
Frank Rutter
Francis Vane Phipson Rutter was a British art critic, curator and activist.In 1903, he became art critic for The Sunday Times, a position which he held for the rest of his life...
said it made him "boil with rage" that the Fund had spent thousands of pounds on Old Master paintings, some of which he considered of dubious merit or condition, but "would not contribute one half penny" to his appeal in 1905 to buy the first Impressionist
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
painting for the National Gallery
National Gallery, London
The National Gallery is an art museum on Trafalgar Square, London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The gallery is an exempt charity, and a non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media...
, although it welcomed the prestige of presenting the painting, Eugène Boudin
Eugène Boudin
Eugène Boudin was one of the first French landscape painters to paint outdoors.Boudin was a marine painter, and expert in the rendering of all that goes upon the sea and along its shores...
's The Entrance to Trouville Harbour, the following year. He said "the Fund's inertia and snobbish ineptitude are entirely characteristic of the art-officialdom in England."
In 2005 the Fund was caught up in the controversy surrounding the purchase by the Tate
Tate
-Places:*Tate, Georgia, a town in the United States*Tate County, Mississippi, a county in the United States*Táté, the Hungarian name for Totoi village, Sântimbru Commune, Alba County, Romania*Tate, Filipino word for States...
gallery of The Upper Room by Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili
Chris Ofili is a Turner Prize winning British painter best known for artworks referencing aspects of his Nigerian heritage, particularly his incorporation of elephant dung. He was one of the Young British Artists, and is now based in Trinidad.-Early life:Ofilli was born in Manchester. He had a...
.
In 2006 it was caught out when it was discovered that the Amarna Princess
Amarna Princess
The Amarna Princess, sometimes referred to as the "Bolton Amarna Princess", is a statue forged by British art forger Shaun Greenhalgh and sold by his father to Bolton Museum for £440,000 in 2003. Based on the Amarna art-style of ancient Egypt, the purchase of the Amarna Princess was feted as a...
, purportedly an ancient Egyptian sculpture, was actually a forgery by Shaun Greenhalgh
Shaun Greenhalgh
Shaun Greenhalgh is a British art forger. Over a seventeen-year period, between 1989 and 2006, he produced a phenomenal range of forgeries...
.
Art Fund Prize
The Art Fund sponsors the Art Fund Prize (known as the Gulbenkian Prize from 2003 through 2007), which is a £100,000 prize awarded annually to the museum or gallery that had the most imaginative, innovative or popular project during the previous year. The winners of the prize since its association with the Art Fund have been:- 2008 — Lightbox gallery and museum, WokingWokingWoking is a large town and civil parish that shares its name with the surrounding local government district, located in the west of Surrey, UK. It is part of the Greater London Urban Area and the London commuter belt, with frequent trains and a journey time of 24 minutes to Waterloo station....
- 2009 — Wedgwood Museum, Stoke-on-TrentStoke-on-TrentStoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
- 2010 — Ulster MuseumUlster MuseumThe Ulster Museum, located in the Botanic Gardens in Belfast, has around 8,000 square metres of public display space, featuring material from the collections of fine art and applied art, archaeology, ethnography, treasures from the Spanish Armada, local history, numismatics, industrial...
, BelfastBelfastBelfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly... - 2011 — A History of the World in 100 ObjectsA History of the World in 100 ObjectsA History of the World in 100 Objects was a joint project of BBC Radio 4 and the British Museum, comprising a 100-part radio series written and presented by British Museum director Neil MacGregor...
, British MuseumBritish MuseumThe British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
Fundraising campaigns
In addition to using its own funds to help museums and galleries acquire art, the Art Fund organises national fundraising campaigns to secure significant works of art that are in danger of being lost from public view.In 2009 the Art Fund led a fundraising campaign to save the Staffordshire Hoard, a collection of over 3,500 gold and silver artefacts discovered in Staffordshire. Over £900,000 was raised through public donations, and the campaign received substantial funds from trusts and foundations. As a result of the campaign, the £3.3 million treasure was acquired for Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent.
In 2010 The Procession to Calvary by Pieter Breughel the Younger, which had been hung in Wakefield's Nostell Priory for over 200 years, came under risk of being sold on the open market. The Art Fund worked with the National Trust to raise the £2.7 million required to purchase the painting for the National Trust's art collection.