The past year has been a remarkable one for acquisitions. Tate received an unprecedented number of bequests and gifts, to the value of £63.1 million, contributing significantly to the strategy of building the Collection in all areas covered by our remit, while also reflecting a gradually expanding geographic range.
One of the most outstanding bequests ever received by Tate, thirteen paintings from Simon Sainsbury's collection, was announced in October. This major group of works includes Mr and Mrs Carter c1747–8 by Thomas Gainsborough; Nude in the Bath 1925 and The Yellow Boat c1936–8 by Pierre Bonnard; Study for a Portrait 1952 by Francis Bacon; and three works by Lucian Freud, Girl with a Kitten 1947, Boy Smoking 1950–1 and The Painter's Mother IV 1973.
A further Bacon painting, Figures in a Garden c1936, and works by Thomas Daniell and RB Kitaj were allocated by HM Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax.
At the end of 2007 Tate received a major donation of four works from Damien Hirst: an early vitrine, The Acquired Inability to Escape 1991; the sculpture Life Without You 1991; one of the first in a series of fly paintings, Who's Afraid of the Dark? 2002; and the exhibition copy of Mother and Child Divided 2007, created for the Turner Prize retrospective at Tate Britain last autumn. This is the first phase of a gift of works that Hirst has generously committed to Tate. Other artists' gifts received this year include Louise Bourgeois's Maman 1999 and Esirn Coaler 2007 by Ellen Gallagher. David Hockney also declared his intention to donate his largest ever painting, Bigger Trees near Warter 2007*.
In partnership with the National Galleries of Scotland, we also announced in February* the launch of a new collection of international contemporary art which has been created through one of the largest and most imaginative gifts ever made to museums in Britain. The 725 works of art, to be shown in 50 monographic rooms, were given by Anthony d'Offay, with the assistance of the National Heritage Memorial Fund, The Art Fund and the Scottish and UK Governments. ARTIST ROOMS will be jointly owned and managed by the National Galleries of Scotland and Tate, but will transform displays of contemporary art across the UK. Artists represented include Diane Arbus, Joseph Beuys, Gilbert & George, Anselm Kiefer, Jeff Koons and Andy Warhol.
Bruce Nauman's commission for The Unilever Series at Tate Modern, Raw Materials 2004, was added to the Collection this year with support from the American Fund and Tate Members. This was not the only piece from Tate's exhibition programme to be acquired; others were Untitled (Tate) 1992–2000 by Peter Fischli & David Weiss, and Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster's Séance de Shadow II (bleu) 1998, which was shown in the exhibition The World as a Stage.
Tate Members contributed to more than a dozen acquisitions, helping to expand the Collection with works by a range of British and international artists. These included work by the Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica (bought with additional support from the American Fund, the Latin American Acquisitions Committee and The Art Fund), Art & Language, Tacita Dean, Braco Dimitrijevic, Paul Graham, Pierre Huyghe and Eduardo Paolozzi.
Ten works were acquired with help from Tate Patrons. All works are by artists not previously represented in the Collection, such as Liam Gillick, Siobhán Hapaska, Edward Krasiński, Raqib Shaw, Bob and Roberta Smith and Keith Tyson.
The American Patrons of Tate play an invaluable role in developing the Collection. On 8 May 2007 they hosted a fundraising dinner in New York that was attended by many significant American artists. At this event the Patrons announced the donation of important works by John Currin, Ellen Gallagher, Ellsworth Kelly, Susan Rothenberg, Richard Tuttle and Terry Winters, as well as the gift of $1.6 million towards future acquisitions by contemporary artists from North and South America. The American Fund and the Latin American Acquisitions Committee continue to help expand the range of works from the Americas in our Collection, and the first purchase – Whose Utopia? 2006 by Cao Fei – was made by the Asia Pacific Acquisitions Committee. Tate's International Council also contributed to major acquisitions such as Casual Passer-By I met at 1.43pm, Venice 1976 1976 by Braco Dimitrijevic; Collectors 2006 by Francis Alÿs, and two paintings by Edward Krasiñski, Intervention 15 and Intervention 27 1975.
Jake and Dinos Chapman's acclaimed installation The Chapman Family Collection 2002 – a work consisting of 34 carved wooden objects, arranged in the manner of an ethnographic display – was bought with a significant contribution from The Art Fund, as well as help from Members and private benefactors.
Continued support was received from Outset for the Outset Frieze Special Acquisitions Fund for works including Andreas Slominski's Moulin Rouge 1998/2002 and eleven photographs by Mauro Restiffe from Empossamento 2003.
*These works will be formally accessioned into the Collection in the next financial year.
