Arts Council Collection
Arts Council Collection
Introduction The Arts Council Collection supports artists in the UK through the purchase and display of their work. Operating as a ‘museum without walls’, the Arts Council Collection is the largest national loan collection of modern and contemporary British art in the world, and includes important examples by all of the UK’s prominent artists. It is the most widely circulated of all of Britain’s national collections and can be seen in exhibitions in museums and galleries across the UK and abroad. Unique among national collections, the Arts Council Collection lends to public buildings across the UK, including schools, universities, hospitals and charitable associations. “The Arts Council Collection has made a unique and valuable contribution to the lives and careers of artists working in this country. By consistently identifying key early works by the best emerging talents it spends presciently and wisely and gives the encouragement and kudos so crucial to those struggling to make a start in a precarious profession. And that is merely the beginning. The Collection acquired my work, ‘Angel’, in 1997, since when it has been exhibited in no less than 22 different galleries the length and breadth of this country. I can’t tell you the amount of people I bump into who cite seeing this work.” Mark Wallinger, Artist
Sarah Lucas, NUD CYCLADIC 7, 2010 Purchased with the assistance of the Art Fund
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History of the Collection The Arts Council Collection began when the Arts Council of Great Britain was founded in 1946. It took over a small group of paintings from the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA) and its aim was to promote and encourage the appreciation of contemporary art through touring exhibitions. The Collection has continued to grow, acquiring innovative works each year and circulating these as widely as possible. There are now approaching 8,000 works in the Collection, including paintings, sculptures, original works on paper, prints,
The Collection includes important, often early, work by all of the the present day, including Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Victor Pasmore, David Hockney, Bridget Riley,
, Gilbert & George,
Richard Hamilton, Richard Deacon, Antony Gormley, Mark Wallinger, Peter Doig, Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Chris , Steve McQueen, Mona Hatoum, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas, Grayson Perry, Glenn Brown, Jeremy Deller, Keith Coventry and Wolfgang Tillmans. Since 1986 the Arts Council Collection has been managed by the Southbank Centre, on behalf of Arts Council England. It is now based at the Southbank Centre, London and at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
Lucian Freud, Girl in a Green Dress, 1954
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Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh VI, 1957
Bridget Riley, Movement in Squares, 1961
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Acquisitions The Collection’s acquisitions policy has always been characterised by a spirit of risk taking combined with an informed appraisal of current practice. The Collection purchases innovative work by artists living in Britain, with a focus on the work of younger and emerging artists. Acquisitions are made through a committee of six individuals: three internal and three external. The external advisers to the Acquisitions Committee, usually an artist, a writer The Collection has received support in the past from The Henry Moore Foundation and the Art Fund for particularly ambitious acquisitions.
Daniel Sinsel, Untitled, 2012
Goshka Macuga, Kabinett der Abstrakten (after El Lissitzky), 2003, at Leeds Art Gallery, 2012
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Longside Longside has been home to sculpture in the Arts Council Collection since 2003. Located within the grounds of Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the centre for sculpture at Longside enables us to extend our sculpture conservation and research programmes, and to increase public access to a sculpture collection of more than 800 works. The sculpture collection team facilitates loans across the UK and abroad to ensure that sculpture in the Arts Council Collection is accessed as widely as possible. A diverse range of exhibitions from the Collection, including displays of the most recent acquisitions, can be seen in the with Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Recent Arts Council Collection exhibitions have included Structure & Material: Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley, Karla Black (2011) and Garth Evans: An Arts Council Collection exhibition selected by Richard Deacon (2013). surveying sculpture from the 1980s, with a text by Jon Wood. Longside Gallery is also used between exhibitions for a series of study days exploring particular themes and holdings. In January 2014 we hosted a collaborative event with The Henry Moore Institute and artist John Plowman which focused exclusively on the work At the Foot of Borobudur (1976) by Charles Hewlings.
Charles Hewlings, At the Foot of Borobudur, 1976 Garth Evans, Breakdown at Longside Gallery, 2003
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Antony Gormley, Field for the British Isles, 1992. Installation at Longside Gallery, 2005. Acquired with the assistance of The Henry Moore Foundation and the Art Fund
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Roger Hiorns, Seizure, 2008/2013 “Destined to be remembered as one of the truly worthwhile and � (Jonathan Jones, The Guardian a site of pilgrimage, with thousands of people making their way closed to the public in January 2010. Faced with the demolition of the social housing block in early 2011, the piece was acquired by the Arts Council Collection, thanks to a gift by the artist, Artangel and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation through the Art Fund, with the support of The Henry Moore Foundation. The work, weighing over 31 tonnes, was successfully extracted from the property in February 2011, following meticulous planning and craned onto the back of a low loader. Seizure was subsequently transported to Yorkshire Sculpture Park where it is now presented within a concrete structure commissioned from Adam Khan Architects. On loan to Yorkshire Sculpture Park for a period of ten years, this extraordinary acquisition was enjoyed by over 28,000 visitors in 2013 alone. For opening times, please check YSP website.
Roger Hiorns, Seizure, 2008/2013 Donated by the artist, Artangel and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation through the Art Fund, with the support of The Henry Moore Foundation. Seizure was commissioned by Artangel and the Jerwood Charitable Foundation with the support of the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
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Working with Museums and Galleries Exhibition loans The Arts Council Collection is the principal source of modern and contemporary loans to museums and galleries across the UK. From 2012 to 2013 the Arts Council Collection lent 1248 works to 205 venues in the UK and abroad. Loans to UK museums and galleries are usually free of charge. Formal applications for loans should be made in writing to the Head of the Arts Council Collection at least six months in advance. To enquire about the availability of works, please contact loans@southbankcentre.co.uk A PDF of loan conditions is available from our website.
Museums and galleries partnerships The Arts Council Collection welcomes partnerships with museums and galleries in the UK. In 2012 a new partnership was launched with four major UK museums: Manchester Art Gallery; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery and Leeds Art Gallery. This partnership has been sponsored by Christie’s and has enabled the museums to work with the Collection on a wide variety of exhibitions. These have included: Enrico David and at Liverpool; Goshka Macuga: Kabinett der Abstrakten (after El Lissitzky) and Dawn Chorus: New Acquisitions at Leeds; Focal Points: Art and Photography and Sculptural Forms at Manchester; Curious Visitors at Aston Hall and For the Record at Birmingham. In addition, the Collection worked with nine National Trust properties from Cornwall to Worcester in 2012 and 2013, engaging
Collections Partnership exhibition, The Unexpected Guest, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 2012
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new audiences with contemporary art through a series of exhibitions and interventions.
Select Select is a strand of programming that invites galleries and museums to select their own exhibitions and displays from the Collection. Often curated to complement existing collections or programmes, these exhibitions vary in scale and have been programmed by galleries from Aberdeen to Penzance and from large municipal museums to small rural art centres. A modest fee is charged for these exhibitions depending on the number and complexity of loans. Recent Selects have included: Sculpture out of Landscape at The Collection, Lincoln (2012); Shortcuts and Digressions Home at the Beaney, Canterbury (2013); Surface at the Civic, Barnsley (2013); Characters at the Holburne, Bath (2014); Somewhat Abstract at Nottingham Contemporary (2014); Detached and Timeless at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter (2014); Leaping the Fence at Hestercombe (2014) and Victor Pasmore at the Hatton Gallery, Newcastle (2015).
Touring exhibitions New touring exhibitions from the Collection are launched each year and travel throughout the country. Varying from solo shows they enable the Collection to collaborate with most of the UK museums and galleries. Recent exhibitions have included: Flashback: Anish Kapoor and Flashback: Gary Hume, both of
Yinka Shonibare, Line Painting, 2003 at Dyrham Park, 2012 Select exhibition, Characters: Portraits and People from the Arts Council Collection, The Holburne Museum, Bath, 2013
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which showcased major early purchases of the artists’ work by the Collection; Transmitter/Receiver: The Persistence of Collage, a contemporary look at collage, which toured to Middlesbrough, Woking, Walsall, Lincoln, Aberystwyth and Carlisle; Structure & Material, featuring work by Claire Barclay, Becky Beasley and Karla Black, which toured to Longside Gallery, Bristol and Walsall; an exhibition of the Collection’s outstanding collection of sculpture and drawings by Henry Moore which opened at Longside before touring to Canterbury, Bath, Limerick, Birkenhead and Harewood House; Uncommon Ground: Land Art in Britain 1966 - 1979 which toured to Southampton, Cardiff, Warwick University and Longside Gallery, and The Vanity of Small Differences, Grayson Perry’s six tapestries which toured to Sunderland, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool and Leeds owners The British Council. In 2015/2016 the Collection will open Jennifer Higgie, sculpture from the 1980s and drawings of the
Uncommon Ground: Land Art in Britain from 1966 – 1979 at National Museum Wales, Cardiff 2013
Grayson Perry, The Vanity of Small Differences at Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens, 2013 Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London and British Council Collection. Gift of the artist and Victoria Miro Gallery with the support of Channel 4 Television, the Art Fund and Sfumato Foundation with additional support from AlixPartners. The 2013/14 UK tour of the tapestries is supported by the Art Fund and the Sfumato Foundation
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Gary Hume: Flashback at Leeds at City Art Gallery, 2012
Long loans The long loan scheme provides loans not just to the museum and gallery sector, but also to other public institutions such as universities, colleges, charities, libraries and hospitals. These fee is usually charged. Hayward Gallery technical teams carry out delivery and installation. For further information please contact loans@southbankcentre.co.uk
Paintings in Hospitals It is widely recognised that art displayed in hospitals can improve supports the lives of many thousands of people each year by bringing interest, warmth and colour into clinical environments which might otherwise appear cold and sterile. The Arts Council Collection has made nearly 100 works of art available to Paintings in Hospitals bringing a new selection of work by a range of contemporary artists into the health care system. Hospitals contact Paintings in Hospitals. Paintings in Hospitals
Telephone: 0207 407 3222
Floor 1
Email: mail@paintingsinhospitals.org.uk
51 Southwark Street London SE1 1RU
www.paintingsinhospitals.org.uk
Ryan Mosley, Northern Ritual, 2011. Long loan to the Royal Festival Hall, London
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Working with young people and outreach The Arts Council Collection is committed to providing educational resources for all areas of its activity’. In 2012 we display works from the Collection in their buildings. The aim was to help students develop their creativity through daily access to unique works of art and to give teaching staff greater resources. We have plans to work more closely with schools in London and Yorkshire in forthcoming years. The Collection also took part in Your Paintings: Masterpieces in Schools in 2012, and Ben Nicholson’s 1932 (bocque) was exhibited for the day at Norton Knatchbull School in Ashford, Kent where it inspired lessons from PE to music and drama.
Working with young curators The Arts Council Collection has collaborated with young curator groups in a broad range of galleries over the last few years. These have resulted in exhibitions at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull; the Courtauld Institute of Art, London; Leamington Spa Art Gallery Norwich University of the Arts.
Children at Norton Knatchbull School in Ashford, Kent, 2013
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Contact us For more information on all aspects of the Arts Council Collection and a full list of all unique works in the Collection, please visit our website at www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk London: Arts Council Collection Southbank Centre Belvedere Road London SE1 8XX General enquiries: 020 7921 0878 jill.constantine@southbankcentre.co.uk
Curators’ days
Acting Head of the Arts Council Collection ann.jones@southbankcentre.co.uk Curator
based curators. Designed as an informal forum for networking, each event has a special focus, either looking at particular areas
catherine.antoni@southbankcentre.co.uk
of professional practice or visiting new building and important exhibitions. Recent events have included visits to the National Museum Wales, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Venice
shona.connechen@southbankcentre.co.uk
Biennale, Number 10 Downing Street and Sunderland Museum and have looked at subjects from funding contemporary art with the Art Fund to Government Indemnity to social media.
Longside: Longside Gallery is located within the grounds of Yorkshire Sculpture Park Longside Gallery
Visit to No. 10 Downing Street with the Government Art Collection, 2011
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7 Longside Jebb Lane Haigh Near Barnsley S75 4BS sculpture@southbankcentre.co.uk General enquiries: 01924 830 900 Admission to Longside is free. Please see our website for opening times and directions for getting to the gallery. natalie.rudd@southbankcentre.co.uk Curator elizabeth.simpson@southbankcentre.co.uk
All works are Š artist or artists estate
Graphic Design by Catherine Nippe, www.cnippe.com
Collection Coordinator, Longside
The Arts Council Collection is based at Southbank Centre, London and at Longside, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Collection, please visit artscouncilcollection.org.uk
Where exceptional curatorial or technical support
loans@southbankcentre.co.uk
acquisitions@southbankcentre.co.uk