Collection: Tate

Collection-level records:

• Collection overview (Cornucopia)

  Fine Art Collection

  The collection of British art dates from the 16th century to present and includes works by UK- born artists and those living and working in Britain or territories of Britain. The Tate also collects foreign art, mainly of Western Europe and North America and from 1900 to present day. A range of material has been acquired through bequests, gifts and special purchase funds and includes the original works presented by Sir Henry Tate at the end of the 19th century to form the Tate Gallery in London included J E Millais’s ‘Ophelia’ and J W Waterhouse’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’, together with other works by Lady Butler, Stanhope Forbes, Sir Edwin Landseer and Sir William Quiller Orchardson. The Robert Vernon collection, originally presented to the National Gallery in 1847 has gradually been mostly transferred to the Tate and includes paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and J M W Turner and sculptures by E H Baily and John Gibson. The Turner Bequest of 1856 is the largest collection of paintings, drawings and watercolours by JMW Turner in the world and comprises nearly 300 oil paintings and around 30,000 sketches and watercolours (including 300 sketchbooks). There are also a small number of oils, watercolours and prints, which have been acquired independently. Tate’s modern print collection includes 650 lithographs by such artists as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Graham Sutherland and John Piper, gifted by the Curwen Studio in the mid-1970s. Another major gift by Rose and Chris Prater, mainly in the 1970s featured a copy of each print made by their screenprinting company and included works by Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield and Peter Blake. The collections of British prints and drawings date from the 16th century to present day. Pre-1900 drawings are generally collected because of an association with existing paintings in the collection, but also include works that are significant in their own right. The Oppé collection contributed greatly to this part of the collection, with over 3,000 drawings, oil sketches and prints by many major and lesser-known British artists. The collection is particularly strong in 18th and 19th century works and includes watercolours by Alexander and John Robert Cozens, John Downman and Francis Towne and oils by Thomas Jones, works by John Constable, J S Cotman, George Richmond, J M W Turner and J W Inchbold. Tate Liverpool draws from the Modern and Contemporary collections of the Tate for its displays, as described below. The Tate holds a significant collection of works by Henry Moore and those of Francis Bacon such as ‘Three Studies for Figures at the Base of the Crucifixion’ 1944, ‘Figure in a Landscape’ 1945, ‘Triptych’ 1972 and ‘Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh IV’ 1957. There are also important works by internationally renowned artist Lucian Freud (‘Self Portrait’ 1946, ‘Girl with a White Dog’ 1950-1, ‘Naked Portrait’ 1972-3, ‘ Two Plants’ 1977-80 and ‘Standing by the Rags’ 1988-9). The work of sculpture Anthony Caro is represented through substantial holdings, whilst work by Paula Rego comprises two major paintings. David Hockney works comprise ‘My Parents (1977), ‘Third Love Painting’ (1960) and ‘Tea Painting in an Illusionistic Style’ (1961). A collection of 1960s abstract sculpture by David Annesley, Michael Bolus, Phillip King, Tim Scott, William Tucker, William Turnbull and Isaac Witkin was gifted in 1970 by Alistair McAlpine. Other contemporary artists represented in the collection include Patrick Heron, Terry Frost, Eduardo Paolozzi, Victor Pasmore, Davie, Kossoff, Kitaj, McCom, Hamish Fulton, Alan Charlton, Buckley, Avis Newman, John Murphy, Helen Chadwick, Rachel Whiteread, Damien Hirst and other British artists. A gift of 60 paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography made in 1996 by Janet Wolfson de Botton enhanced the contemporary collection with the addition of works by Carl Andre, Richard Artschwager, Gilbert & George, Richard Long, Cindy Sherman, Roni Horn, Gary Hume, Reinhardt Mucha and Nancy Spero, together with works by Andy Warhol (an early Electric Chair) and Bill Woodrow (Elephant 1984). Recent significant additions to the fine art collections include ‘Brighton Pierrots’ by Walter Sickert, and the sculpture of ‘Jacob and the Angel’ by Epstein. Work by Henri Gaudier-Brzeska includes the ‘Red Stone Dancer and there are also exceptional works by Stanley Spencer including ‘The Centurion’s Servant’ and ‘Double Nude Portrait’ and a good collection of paintings by Ben Nicholson. The foreign collections of paintings include exemplary works by the Great Masters including Beckmann (‘Carnival’ 1920 and ‘Prunier’ 1944), Brancusi (‘Fish’ polished bronze form), Braque, Duchamp (‘Large Glass’ – replica by Richard Hamilton and the ‘Coffee Mill’), Léger, Matisse (‘The Snail’ 1953 – a key work, ‘Portrait of Derian’, ‘Trivaux Pond’, ‘Nude Study in Blue’, ‘Standing Nude’, ‘The Inattentive Reader’, ‘Notre Dame’, ‘Studio Interior’ and other supporting works, and the complete series of ‘Backs’).), Mondrain and Picasso (‘Three Dancers’ 1925 and ‘Nude Woman in a Red Armchair’ 1932) and two exemplary works by de Chirico from the pre-war period. Key donations to the collection of international art include those from Frank Stoop and his niece Mrs A F Kessler, which included works by Cézanne, Picasso, Matisse, Modigliani and Raoul Dufy. Works pre-1920 include major Futurist works by Ball and Severini and a painting by German artist Kirchner (repainted after his Expressionist phase), together with a Max Beckmann painting from 1920 and two major works by Schmidt-Rottluff. There is also a collection of Fauve paintings including ‘Pool of London’ by Derain and reciprocal portraits of Matisse and Derain. Fauvism, together with late Cézanne effectively marks the start of the foreign art material. The collections dating from the inter-war years includes work artists such as Derain (‘The Painter and his Family’ and ‘Portrait of Madame Derain in a White Shawl’), a painting by Balthus, ‘Torso of a Young Man’ by Martini, a good group of paintings by Bonnard dating from 1915-1925, work by German artists Dix and Schad, a 1926 work by de Chirico and minor still life by Morandi and a number of portraits by Giacometti. Post-war collections include paintings by Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Dubuffet (1947 a landscape and a 1950 ‘Woman’). ‘Nude with Loaves’ by Hélion, a collection of Rothko paintings including the Seagram murals, early paintings by Newman, a collection of works by Pollock (one of the best outside North America) and a 1906s painting by de Kooning. Recent paintings (1960-1972) include works related to the Arte Povera movement in Italy of the 1960s such as those by Fabro, Penone, Kounellis and Merz. German artists of the recent period are also well represented including Beuys, Baselitz, Polke, Richter, Horn and Palermo. The collection of American art includes works by Johns, Oldenburg, Rauschenberg, Ryman, Marden and LeWitt. Pop and Minimal art are presented by a number of major works including those of Andre (‘Equivalent VIII’) and Lichtenstein (‘Whaam!’). Drawings in the collection by foreign artists are generally major works of art in their own right or major studies for works of art already in the collection. The collection includes a drawing and almost complete set of etchings by Wols, a major European abstract artist of the 1950s. Foreign prints include some early 20th century works but are primarily from the 1960s onwards. The foreign contemporary art collections include recent acquisition of works by Georg Baselitz, Ulrich Ruckriem, Gerhard Richter, Ellsworth Kelly, Janis Kounellis, Giuseppe Penone, Mario Merz and Luciano Fabro. There are also works by Winters, Lothar Baumgarten, Christian Boltanski, Anselm Kiefer, Rebecca Horn, Rosemarie Trockel, Thomas Schutte, Juan Munoz, Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman, Jeff Wall, Ashley Bickerton, Jeff Koons and also works by younger foreign artists such as Didier Vermeiren, Andrea Zittel, Matyhew Barney, Robert Gober and Tony Oursler. Sculpture dates mainly from the 20th century, but with some from earlier periods. Pre-1920 works include an important sculpture by Boccioni and one by Lehmbruch. The inter-war period includes a fine collection of sculptures by Giacometti, whilst post-war collections of 1945-1960 include sculpture by Germaine Richier, Jean Fautrier (‘Large Tragic Head’), two small sculptures by Tinguely, a major recent work by Bourgeois and a late Cubi sculpture by David Smith. Recent works from 11960-1972 include sculpture by de Kooning, Judd, Serra and Chillida.

  Subjects

  Sculpture; Paintings; Fine Art; Photography

  Photographic Collection

  The photographic collections represent work created by artists using the medium of photography. There are a number of early works, although collecting focuses on post-1990 material, rather than the modern period (i.e. post 1880). Other media such as film and video are also represented in the collection and this is an increasingly collected form of artwork.

  Subjects

  Photography

  Special collections

  Special collections are 20 groups of works acquired by gift or bequest and range from the Turner Bequest to the Frank Stoop collection of modern paintings formed during the 1920s.Later he made a gift and bequest of his whole collection in 1933, including works by Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani forming the core of the collection of international art. In 1856 Turner’s estate was settled by a decree as the ‘Turner Bequest’ of 300 oil paintings and 30,000 sketches and watercolours, including 300 sketchbooks, with a small number of works since identified as by other artists.Sir Francis Chantrey (1781 – 1841) bequeathed a fortune and asked that the income be used to buy paintings and sculpture made in Britain to establish a ‘public national collection of British fine art’. The fund is administered by the Royal Academy, and until the 1920s this was the main purchase grant for the Tate Gallery. The Contemporary Art Society, founded in 1910 to promote modern art, has presented over 5,000 works to member museums throughout Britain. The Rose and Chris Prater Gift and the Curwen Studio Gift were founding gifts of Tate’s modern print collection in the mid-1970s with 650 lithographs by such artists as Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Graham Sutherland and John Piper. E.J Power (1899 – 1993) Tate Trustee from 1968 -1975, donated works by British and foreign artists and in 1980 he gave a group of works by Barnett Newman and Dubuffet, 23 works in all, also small early work by Joseph Beuys, and 6 further works from his estate allocated in lieu of tax. Sir Henry Tate (1819-1899) started buying paintings by living British artists and he first offered these as a gift to the nation in 1889. and by 1892 Tate had finalised this offer together with the further offer to build at his own expense a gallery for British art on Millbank in 1897. The 65 works included J E Millais’s Ophelia and J W Waterhouse’s The Lady of Shalott, but also by Lady Butler, Stanhope Forbes, Sir Edwin Landseer and Sir William Quiller Orchardson. Janet Wolfson de Botton presented 60 contemporary works in 1996 including paintings, drawings, sculptures and photography by 30 artists such as Carl Andre, Richard Artschwager, Gilbert & George, Richard Long, Cindy Sherman, Roni Horn, Gary Hume, Reinhardt Mucha, Nancy Spero and an early Electric Chair by Andy Warhol and Elephant 1984 by Bill Woodrow. Alistair McAlpine (later Lord McAlpine of West Green) presented 60 recent sculptures in 1960 consisting of works by David Annesley, Michael Bolus, Phillip King, Tim Scott, William Tucker, William Turnbull and Isaac Witkin. Also separate works by Sir Sidney Nolan and other artists. Anne Kessler, niece of C Frank Stoop. Gave works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Amedeo Modigliani and Raoul Dufy. The ‘Art Fund’ was launched in 1903 has helped to acquire 400 works including J. M. Whistler’s Nocturne in Blue and Gold: Old Battersea Bridge, Piet Mondrian’s Sun, Church in Zeeland, David Smith’s Wagon II and Rebecca Horn’s Concert for Anarchy. The National Heritage Memorial Fund, established in 1980 has contributions to the purchase of Constable’s The Opening of Waterloo Bridge to Pablo Picasso’s Weeping Woman. Paul Oppé (1878-1957) collection of drawings, oil sketches and prints of over 3,000 works covering 17th to early 20th century was acquired in 1996 with strength in the 18th century including watercolours by Alexander and John Robert Cozens, John Downman and Francis Towne and oils by Thomas Jones, and 19th century works by John Constable, J S Cotman, George Richmond, J M W Turner and J W Inchbold. Patrons of British Art since 1986 has helped acquire paintings by William Blake, Spencer Gore, Sir Thomas Lawrence and C R W Nevinson, and sculptures by Thomas Woolner and Paule Vézelay. Patrons of New Art supports contemporary art through a wide range of acquisitions of work by artists including Absalon, Doris Salcedo, Bill Viola, Jeff Wall, and Rachel Whiteread. Robert Vernon presented 166 paintings and sculptures in 1847 including paintings by Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable and J M W Turner and sculptures by E H Baily and John Gibson. The Prater Gift, the majority presented in 1975, was the result of Rose and Chris Prater establishing the Kelpra Studio, and giving a copy of every print that produced including Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi, Patrick Caulfield and Peter Blake. The Tate American Fund, established in 1988 with an anonymous gift of $6 million, has acquired works by Louise Bourgeois, Philip Guston, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Ernesto Neto and Adriana Varejao. The Tate Members, founded in 1958, has given 400 including Henry Moore’s sculpture King and Queen, acquired in 1959. Henri Matisse’s The Snail in 1962, John Constable’s The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, Gawen Hamilton’s, The Du Cane and Boehm Family Group, Joseph Wright of Derby’s Vesuvius in Eruption, Stanley Spencer’s Zacharias and Elizabeth, Pablo Picasso’s Weeping Woman and Andreas Gursky’s Parliament. In lieu acquisitions include 20 paintings by J M W Turner, J E Millais’ Mariana and work by Constantin Brancusi, Francis Picabia and Barbara Hepworth.

  Archive

  The Tate Archive, established in 1969, is based on personal papers donated and the gallery’s own activities and contains over 1 million documents housed at the Hyman Kreitman Research Centre, Tate Britain. It includes personal papers, correspondence, gallery records, press cuttings, AV material, posters and printed ephemera. Archival material, of over 700 accessions, relates to British art and artists, collectors, critics, writers, galleries and institutions mainly from 1900.There is a small collection of earlier British and modern International material. There are also artists photographs, photographs of artists and installation shots, Tate exhibition installation photographs; press cuttings from major newspapers and some key periodicals are searched and mounted weekly; artist-designed posters; recordings of lectures and conferences held in Tate’s auditoria; oral history recordings of artists, particularly those relating to the National Sound Archive’s National Life Story Collection; Films and videos are donated by the artist being filmed or the Director/Producer.

  Library

  The Library covers British art from the Renaissance to present and international modern art with emphasis on fine art in the Western tradition and international contemporary art. Library includes a collection of 120,000 exhibition catalogues from museums and galleries throughout the world and is one of the largest of its type in the UK; Permanent collection catalogues from museums and galleries throughout the world and catalogues of private collections; Over 2,000 journal titles, including current subscriptions to approximately 400; artists’ bookworks from the 1960s onwards; Material on the history of Tate up to and including the creation of Tate Modern and Tate Britain; Press cuttings and catalogues of the Turner Prize from 1984; catalogues of fine art sales from major auction houses, including Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and Phillips and the holdings of modern and contemporary art is particularly strong, especially in the post-war period.

  Source: Cornucopia

  Date: Not known, but before 2015

  Licence: CC BY-NC