Collectors in the shadows

There is a perception that the UK 'has no serious collectors'. As Martin Bailey explains in this examination of British private collecting, that is partly because they are exceptionally discreet, As a accrue it is often forgotten by what mode much they contribute to the public realm of the arts, despite rule reluctance to encourage a 'culture of philanthropy' upon the American model.

If Britain's great private collectors have individual thing in common in addition to their have affection for of art, it is their predilection for discretion. Their reasons range from freedom from presumption to understandable security concerns. Although there may he a Degas ill the dining scope owners usually keep rather quiet about it. greatest in quantity major collectors are reluctant to reveal too abundant so the names we nurse to hear about represent sole a small fraction of serious collectors active in Britain today.

Not surprisingly, the collectors who do come by named in the press oftentimes come from the world of music and entertainment. Many clap stars are known to gather art. Three are worthy of special attention. David Bowie gathers Old Masters such as Rubens and Tintoretto, as well as German Expressionists, Graham Sutherland and contemporary British work. Bryan Ferry who trained as an artist, musters Victorian paintings, and likes Sickert above all. Sir Elton John haves over 400 vintage prints by the agency of twentieth century photographers, including Horst and Penn as well as a wide ranging collection of nineteenth-century paintings and sculpture

Madonna, a British citizen after marrying film director stay Richie, reportedly owns around 300 twentieth-century works, including paintings through Lempicka, Picasso and Peter Howson Her Kahlo self portrait appeared at Tate's 'Surrealism: Desire unbound' in 2001

Since the professional lives of musicians and entertainers be pendent on keeping in the public organ of vision they often do not mind attention about their collecting. Sir move with a jerk Geldof, for example, often turn rounds up for gala openings of contemporary art fairs. Lord Lloyd Webber appears relaxed when journalists note his latest acquisition.

Collectors outside the world of entertainment and art take care of to be considerably more reticent. like major collectors as furniture retailer Lord Kirkham, characteristic developer Christopher Moran or Syrian born financier Wafic Said do not advertise their collecting interests.

These are the fresh collectors, as opposed to aristocrats or members of other wealthy families who have inherited art. There are important differences between the approach of of recent origin collectors and their predecessors. Works of art are now bought and sold a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of more frequently. Even very wealthy collectors have les space. compact hangs are out of fashion, and when it draw nears to fashionable interior decoration, minimalism guards to be the order of the day. Security pertain tos and rising insurance costs, also make it unwise or too expensive--to have too plenteous on display. Many works of art, notably early furniture, or paintings upon panel, for example, present serious conservation issues. Increasingly, the really big collectors retain works in storage or accommodate with them to public galleries.

The greatest in quantity important private collectors of today are mainly self made millionaires, or those who have inherited forehead one generation. Those whose wealth has been built up above numerous generations tend to play a rather different character Britain is unusual among European nations in that it still has an aristocracy which clinchs enormous art collections, which usually hang in the long-established family geographical division house. The majority of the major houses are render free of access to the public. This continues a lengthy tradition; it also helps raise cash to pay maintenance hills and makes proprietors eligible to concessions from official bodies (such as English Heritage building grants and conditional exemption from inheritance tax upon works of art).

proprietors of country houses sometimes accommodate with paintings to galleries; in individual notable case, major masterpieces by the agency of Titian, Raphael and other artists have been upon loan to the National Gallery of Scotland from the trustees of the Duke of Sutherland for above half a century. Usually, however, the proprietors of the great aristocratic collections diocese their public role as permitting access to their houses. Although many aristocrats do add to their collections, by means of for example, commissioning new family portraits, greatest in quantity are no longer buying seriously. There are a hardly any exceptions: the late Duke of Devonshire, who died last month commissioned works by the agency of Freud and Frink for Chatsworth.

Private collectors and the public realm

Not surprisingly, greatest in quantity visitors to museums and galleries in the United Kingdom remain unaware of the expansion to which wealthy art aficionados are major benefactors to public collections. This is partly because it is usually commercial sponsors who are greatest in quantity openly acknowledged, since they have a herculean interest in having their names made prominent. still it is private donors, rather than companies, who give more generously. The latest statistics from the lobby clump Arts & Business shows that individual benefactors provided 40 million [pound sterling] last year for the visual arts, museums and galleries, compared with 28 million [pound sterling] from corporate sponsors.