Philanthropists gift outstanding modern and contemporary collection totalling £4 million to UK museums through the Contemporary Art Society

The Contemporary Art Society is delighted to announce one of the most important philanthropic donations in its 100 year history, which will benefit public collections across the UK for generations to come.

Well-known art collectors Eric and Jean Cass have gifted over 300 important modern and contemporary artworks from their personal collection to the Contemporary Art Society for allocation to public institutions and to support contemporary art in the UK. The gift totals over £4 million. Amassed over almost 40 years and previously housed in the interiors and gardens of ‘Bleep’, Eric and Jean Cass’s spectacular modernist Surrey home, their collection is one of the most unique and significant collections of modern and contemporary art in the country.

In 2012, the Contemporary Art Society invited seven UK-based museums to research Eric and Jean Cass’s donation and to pitch to receive clusters of works that complement or enliven their current collections. The museums proposed works by artists including Karel Appel, Michael Craig-Martin, Barbara Hepworth, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Eduardo Paolozzi, Victor Pasmore, Pablo Picasso and Niki de Saint-Phalle. Any works not appropriate for gifting to these primary museums will be sold to benefit the Contemporary Art Society’s Acquisitions scheme or will be gifted to other public collections in the UK.

The successful museums are Gallery of Modern Art (Glasgow), Hepworth Wakefield, Leeds Art Gallery, National Museum of Wales (Cardiff), Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (Edinburgh), The Royal Pavilion and Museums (Brighton) and Wolverhampton Art Gallery. The museums will exhibit the donated works in their public collections and special exhibitions from 2012 and will plan exciting programmes of associated events and talks to emphasise the magnitude of Eric and Jean Cass’s generosity.

Eric and Jean Cass said:
“When the time came for us to leave Bleep and our 365-strong collection of modern and contemporary art, we had to find a home that would love the pieces as much as we did. The Contemporary Art Society, under its Director Paul Hobson, provided the answer. It has been a big job, carried out with the same spirit that involved us in collecting in the first place.”

Paul Hobson, Director of the Contemporary Art Society, said:
“This tremendously generous gift from Eric and Jean Cass is of incalculable cultural and financial value to institutions and audiences across the UK and is an example of selfless philanthropy. Eric and Jean have built their collection with great passion, care and intelligence, always knowing that the works would in time enter public collections where the pleasure they have had privately would be shared with the widest audience nationally, now and in the future. Philanthropists who wish to benefit museums outside of London are rare and regional museums struggle to compete with the prestige of London-based institutions who tend to get the pick of the crop. It is typical of this enlightened couple that they would aspire to benefit audiences no matter where they live, recognising that artists and audiences seed their imaginations through experiencing these important local collections.”

This is another initiative that meets the Contemporary Art Society’s mission to develop public collections of contemporary art across the UK and that highlights the importance of philanthropy in the arts in the UK. For over one hundred years, the charity has gifted over 8,000 works to museums and galleries across the country, championing the development of emerging artists and ensuring that some of the best of contemporary art is available to as wide an audience as possible.

To download the press release (pdf) click here

For information on Eric and Jean Cass Gift 2012 contact:
Jenny Prytherch, Communications Manager
jenny@contemporaryartsociety.org
T. +44 (0)20 7017 8412