A number of important acquisitions in this area have been made, partly through the generosity of individuals who gave works or offered exceptional terms, and partly through the funding bodies that support Tate. Of the total value of the forty works acquired only about seven percent was met by government funds.

Among the major items was Augustus John's Dorelia Standing before a Fence, presented by Tate Members, an early full length portrait of the artist's companion dressed as a gypsy. Equally significant was Ben Nicholson's Bread, presented by the Patrons of British Art, an important early work that adds substantially to Tate's excellent Nicholson holdings. The sculpture Akua Ba, carved by Nicholson's friend John Skeaping, is both the artist's pre-eminent work and a supreme example in Britain of the response of European artists to African and other tribal art in the early twentieth century. It was secured for the national collection by the Tate Collectors Forum. Other significant sculptures acquired include: Kenneth Armitage's Pandarus (Version 8), Geoffrey Clarke's Complexities of Man and Eduardo Paolozzi's Fountain. Armitage's Pandarus is a major piece from a series of the early 1960s, a period of his work hitherto neglected in the Tate Collection. Like Armitage, Geoffrey Clarke was closely associated in the 1950s with the so-called Geometry of Fear and Complexities of Man was his major contribution to the 1952 Venice Biennale where the term was coined. Paolozzi's Fountain was made at about the same time. It is a model for a fountain commissioned for Hamburg on the strength of a major piece made for the Festival of Britain. Untitled 1958 is the first work by William Green to enter the Tate collection and an extremely rare example of his fire paintings, the techniques of which were imitated by Yves Klein and other European contemporaries. In addition to these works, Tate acquired Peter de Francia's triptych The Emigrants and a number of drawings, including the impressive Man Carrying a Child, which was a gift from the artist.

Tate was also the grateful recipient of a donation by Bernard Meadows, of six bronzes which, at a stroke, transformed the representation of his work. Other gifts included a major work by Bryan Wynter (Dark Landscape), Barbara Hepworth's Model for Sculpture for Waterloo Bridge, Alfred Wallis's Boats at Rest in Mount's Bay and a drawing related to Peter Coker's painting in the collection, The Gorse Bush. Among bequests were four works from the 1930s and 1940s by the Socialist Realist artist Clive Branson, and a drawing of St Ives by Ben Nicholson. In addition, late Pauline Vogelpoel, former Director of the Contemporary Art Society, bequeathed two important drawings, Lucian Freud's Narcissus and William Roberts's Sparring Partners. Among works allocated to Tate by the Government in lieu of inheritance tax, was John Piper's significant early relief Construction, Intersection 1934 from the estate of John and Myfanwy Piper. Such donations and bequests continue to prove essential to our ability to fulfil our remit to represent British art comprehensively within the national collection.