National Galleries receive £100 million art donation

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The National Galleries of Scotland have received hundreds of works of modern art in a single donation on a scale unprecedented in recent history.

Anthony d’Offay, one of the world’s elite art dealers, has sold almost his entire collection, thought to be worth over £125m, to the nation at a cost of £28m. It is to be jointly owned and managed by the National Galleries of Scotland and the Tate Gallery in London.

The donation is one of the largest ever to have been made in the UK and is most recently rivaled by Henry Tate’s founding benefaction of the late 19th century.

Mr d’Offay said: “Our favourite pieces are in the donation. There are very beautiful Beuys pieces given to us personally and personal works from Warhol, but everything is on loan in this world.”

The donation also includes works by Damien Hirst, Ed Ruscha, Robert Mapplethorpe, Jenny Holzer, Diane Arbus and Jeff Koons, who are among 32 artists represented in the collection of 725 paintings, drawings, sculptures and photographs.

The donation also includes a £5m endowment fund, the interest from which will be used to support young artists.

Mr d’Offay hopes the collection will help stimulate public interest in British contemporary art, among young people in particular. He said: “A lot of things were painful to part with, but the jewel for me is walking into a museum and seeing a school party there.

"Being able to share them in this way with young people is a privilege."

D’Offay has pinpointed his encounter with the Scottish National Galleries’ collections as a student at Edinburgh University as "the defining experience of my life." He went on become Europe’s preeminent postwar and modern art dealer with a famously keen eye for emergent talent.

Having played a central role in the reinvigoration of Andy Warhol’s artistic career in the 1980s, he notably patronised young British artists Rachel Whiteread and Richard Patterson in the 1990s, before his abrupt retirement in 2002 fueled rumours of plans for a donation.

The works will, in the short-term, be exhibited on a tour around England and Scotland, and displayed in 51 individual 'artist’s rooms'.

The Prime Minister has expressed his approval, saying: "Individual acts of generosity like this impact on the lives of millions, and reinforce the UK's richly deserved reputation as having a range of world-leading museums and galleries."

However, it has been suggested instead that the donation plugs a glaring gap in the nation’s art collection, and has been accepted with some relief by the art establishment. Britain’s gallery directors have been accused for several decades of failing to purchase contemporary art, leading to an embarrassing absence of 20th century works on public display in the UK.

In addition, The Sunday Times’ art critic, Waldemar Januszczak, has described the benefaction as “overhyped”. He said: “It’s not a collection that will radically change the national holdings. There was such a collection – Charles Saatchi’s collection of modern British art from the Damien Hirst era – but the Tate let it slip through their fingers.

"This is second best. There are some interesting things in it, but it isn’t going to fill the chasm.”

Further criticism has come from within the private art world. Leading London dealer Ivor Braka has described it as “the biggest loss” to the arts scene in over 20 years, claiming it will damage the dynamic reputation of London’s galleries as relevant viewing rooms and as distinct from the capital’s museums. Moreover, critics such as Jonathan Jones are now anticipating a cooling of lending relations between the Tate and New York’s MOMA.

Others have pointed to the £14 million in tax owed by Mr d’Offay and written off by the government as part of the donation agreement. It has been implied that the deal was mutually beneficial, given conditions in today’s art market. Mr d’Offay dismissed the suggestion and said: “I have no idea about tax.”

Nevertheless, a wider consensus has focused on the benefits of the donation. John Leighton, the director of the National Galleries of Scotland, said: "At a stroke, our level of ambition has been raised to a new height and there is now the potential to bring great modern art to our publics, not just in Edinburgh and London, but right across the country, from St Ives to Stromness."

He echoed comments made by the Tate’s director, Sir Nicholas Serota, who said: "A gift of this magnitude will completely transform the opportunity to experience contemporary art in the UK. Anthony d'Offay's imaginative generosity establishes a new dynamic for national collections and is without precedent anywhere in the world."

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