More than 900 works of art and other objects entered public collections in the UK last year thanks to Art Fund, the non-profit organization dedicated to supporting galleries and museums across the country.
This was the main takeaway from the organization’s annual report for the financial year 2022-2023, published this week. Meanwhile, the organization has distributed £8.4m ($10.6m) in grants, including £4.5m ($5.7m) for acquisitions.
These figures mark a return to pre-pandemic benchmarks for the 120-year-old charity. In 2019, for example, the organization donated £4.7 million ($6 million) for the acquisition of some 970 works.
“It has been heartening to hear from our more than 850 partner museums and galleries that green shoots of optimism are emerging after a few difficult years,” Art Fund Director Jenny Waldman said in a statement. “As our brilliant museum colleagues navigate their post-pandemic recovery, with the added burden of the cost of living crisis, our support is needed more than ever.”
Notably, more than half of last year’s £4.5m acquisition grant budget was spent on one piece of art: that of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Portrait of Mai (1776). The historic painting, which depicts a young Tahitian man who sailed from his home country to England in 1774 with British explorer James Cook, was acquired jointly in March by the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, marking the first time that art institutions from the UK and the US have teamed up for a single purchase.
The two museums each paid about half of the estimated £50 million ($62 million) price for the work. Art Fund has awarded a £2.5 million ($3 million) grant – the largest in its history – to the NPG to help take the joint effort over the finish line.
Portrait of Mai is set to being exposed for the first time in 18 years At Newly refurbished NPG starting tomorrow June 22.
Other notable pieces that Art Fund grants have helped institutions acquire include Joseph Wright of Derby’s Self-portrait at the age of about forty (c. 1772-73), which was purchased by the Derby Museum and Art Gallery; Jananne Al-Ani Time limit (2022), taken over by the Victoria and Albert Museum; and ArrayCollective The Druthaib Ball (2021), purchased by the Ulster Museum. This last work was presented in the group Exhibition winner of the Turner Prize in 2021.
“We are delighted that Art Fund has been able to support museums and advocate for the significant additional investment they need,” Waldman added.
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