Artists Donate Works to Raise £180,000 for 2009 Fundraiser

An auction and fundraiser on Tuesday 10 March raised £180,000 to mark The Contemporary Art Society's Centenary, celebrating 100 years of acquiring and commissioning contemporary art for museums throughout the UK.
 
Works were donated by over 30 artists including Damien Hirst, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Anselm Kiefer, Rebecca Horn, Cathy de Monchaux, Grayson Perry, Paula Rego and Jane and Louise Wilson. The auction was conducted by Sotheby's.

 

Over 250 leading museum directors, collectors, gallery directors and artists attended the fundraiser, which was held in the atmospheric Shunt Vaults next to London Bridge.
 
Alison Myners, Chair of the Contemporary Art Society, said: "We are enormously grateful to all the artists who so generously donated works to the auction. What a wonderful way to mark the beginning of our Centenary year."
 
Nicholas Serota, Director, Tate said: "Museums need to be able to show the art of the present as well as the heritage of the past. For a hundred years the Contemporary Art Society has led the campaign to ensure that museums across the country are able to show the achievements of living artists, whose work reflects and shapes our vision of ourselves'."
 
Founded in 1909 by a group of private philanthropists, the Contemporary Art Society has been buying works of art and donating them to British museums and galleries for nearly 100 years. It aims to support contemporary artists and ensure that important contemporary works are made available to the widest possible audiences across the country. Over its 100-year history, the Society has acquired works by artists including Picasso, Gaugin, Moore, Bacon, Caro, Gilbert & George, Tracey Emin, Grayson Perry and Mark Wallinger. This has often been the first time the work of this living artist has been given to a public collection.
 
The centenary celebrations will also include the launch of the Contemporary Art Society's Annual Award, a major commission to a contemporary artist to create a work in the context of a historical or modern museum collection.
 
Press Enquiries:
Jenny Halpern Prince, Halpern PR
Tel: +44 (0) 207 351 2888
Email: jenny@halpern.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Artists who donated works: James Aldridge, Artists Anonymous, Diann Bauer, Anver Ben Gal, Anna Bjerger, Ulla von Brandenburg, Chris Bucklow, Jake & Dinos Chapman, Ruth Claxton, Tessa Farmer, Rachel Goodyear, Damien Hirst, Andreas Hofer, Rebecca Horn, Shirazeh Houshiary, Chantal Joffe, Dorota Jurczak, Idris Khan, Anselm Kiefer, Henry Krokastis, Kate McGwire, Cathy de Monchaux, Gosha Ostresov, Grayson Perry, Paula Rego, Veronica Smirnoff, Rebecca Stevenson, Suzanne Treister, Francis Upritchard, Jane & Louise Wilson, Masaki Yada

images

 

close


close | back | pause | play |