Now If Any Item Will Fit Into the Permanent Collection of the Leeds City Art Galleries
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~ ~ I ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ LEGACIES TO THE LEEDS ART COLLECTIONS FUND The LACF depends for its income entirely on members and supporters. Please consider leaving the LAc F a legacy in your will: it is a charitable organization and all legacies to it are exempt from Capital Transfer Tax and aggregation without limit. Bequests can take the form of a lump sum or the residue or a fraction of your estate. Some members might prefer to consider leaving works of fine or decorative art but if you contemplate doing this it would be helpful if you could please seek the advice of the Secretary who can let you know if any item will fit into the permanent collection of the Leeds City Art Galleries. The following would be a suitable form of words to send to your solicitor for inclusion in your will: 'I bequeath to the Leeds Art Collections Fund of Temple Newsam House, Leeds, a legacy of ........................free of all taxes'he Hon Solicitor of the LAc F is always very happy to advise potential benefactors. TFIB I EEos Axr co LLF etio NS F u un is one of the oldest supporting bodies for the visual arts in Great Bntain, 3 source ol regular funds tor buying works of art for the Leeds collections. Why not identify yourself with thc Art Gallery, Temple Ncwsim House and Lotherton Hall, receive your Arts Calendar free, receive invitations to all funcnons, pnvate views and organized visirs to places of interest. Membership is open to everyone on payment of a mimmum annual subscription of f I o. There is also a concessionary )oint membership for E I I and life membership for Ei 5o pcr person or Ezzs )oint. Corporate membership for organizations is Ezn If you would like to jom simply complete the form and send it with your remittance io the Hon. Secretary, Leeds Art Collections Fund, Tcmplc Newsam House, Leeds Is I I OAB. Telephone 66yI xi. President Lord Martin Fitzalan Howard; Vice President Thc Rt Hon the Earl of Harewood Leo; Trustees E. M. Arnold, Mrs S. Gilchrist, W. T. Ohver; Committee W. A. B.Brown (Chairman), F.. M. Arnold (Vice-Chairman), Dr H. R. Alpin, Councillor B. P. Atha, Mrs M. Black, Mrs D. H. Boyle, P. R. P. Chadwick, Mrs J. H. Epstone (Events Committee Assistant), Mrs M. Morris, Mrs B. Roberts; Joint Hon Treasurers E. M. Arnold, J. S. Fox; Hon Secretary C. G. Gilbert; Hon Membership Secretary Dr R. B. Welch; Hon Legal Adviser T. A. Last; Hon Excursions Secretary Mrs Audrey Warburton; Events Committee Chairman Dr J. R. Sherwin. LzlsURE sERvlcEs coMMITTEE Thc Lord Mayor; Chair Councillor B. P. Aiba; Deputy Chair Councillor T. Briggs; Councillor Miss A. D. Atkinson, Councillor M. J. Bedford, Councillor C. B.Cliff, Councillor P. Crotty, oBF., xso, Councillor Mrs I. Favell, Councillor R. D. Feldman, Councillor J. G. B. Frankland, Councillor Mrs S. M. Gill, Councillor G. P. Kirkland, Councillor R. Lund, Councillor J. B. W. Meade, Councillor A. Miller, Councillor G. Moakcs, Councillor Mrs M. Monks, IF, Councillor E. H. Morris, MBE, Councillor Mrs C. Myers. sTAFF Director ofArt Galleries Christopher Gilbert MA FMA; Principa( Keeper Anthony Wells Cole MA AMA; I'rinctpa( Keeper (Art Gal(ery and Henry Moore Centre for the Snidy of Sculpture) Terry F. Friedman BA I'Ftiiui Keeper (Art Gallery) Alexander Robertson MA AMA; Keeper (Lotherton Hall) post vacant; Keeper (Temple Neu sam) James Lomax MA AMA; Keeper (Conservation) lan Fraser; Keeper (Education) Adam White BA MA; Senior Assistant Keeper (Education) Judith Ncsbitt Mant Senior Assistant Keeper (Art Gallery) Corinne E. Miller BA AMA; Senior Assistant Keeper (Exhibitions) Nigel Walsh Beu Research Assistant (Henry Moore Centre for the Study of Sculpture) Daru Rooke Bto Curatorial Assistant post vacant; I'aintings Conservator Michael Sheppard; Technical Supervisor John Berry BA; Technical Assistant David Hudson; Administrator Christine Stokes; Secretary Denise Lawson; Clerk Typist Valeoe Jackson; Clerical Assistants Sheel Bharj, Jacqueline Wade; Manager, Craft Centre and Design Gallery Mercia Southon. NQTE Starring with the first issue published in IBAy, the entire Leeds Arts Calendar is now available on microfilm. Wnte for information or send orders direct to Xerox University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Michigan 68 Io6, usA. FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION Cat. No. TA9 (Detail) Painting r9So by Francis Bacon (b. 1909) Bought by the LACF, I9 S I BACK COVER ILLUSTRATION Cat. No. JzS Writing Cabinet by John Channon, c. ITAS —So Bought with the aid of a contribution by the LACF, I98 S This special number of the Leeds Arts Calendar, which is also appearing separately as an exhibition catalogue, has been partly funded from the Ruth Holdsworth Bequest LEEDS ARTS CALENDAR (No. I05 ~ I989) SALUTE TO THE LEEDS ART COLLECTIONS FUND AN EXHIBITION OF ACQUISITIONS z9z2.—z989 LEEDS CITY ART GALLERY 2,6 January —z z March z99o Cat. no. I43 Pierre Auguste Renoir, Apres le Bain, pastel. Acquired z943. FOREWORD The seventy-fifth anniversary of the Leeds Art Collections Fund was clearly an auspicious signpost to this major exhibition of selected additions to the City' collections made by, or with the aid of, the Fund over the years since it was founded. Such are the current pressures on the Art Gallery's exhibition spaces, not least because of the close association with the Henry Moore Sculpture Trust and the run of distinguished exhibitions that this has spawned, that we have had to wait until some two years past our true anniversary before we could take our rightful place in the Gallery. The exhibits are in the Henry Moore Gallery. This lends itself best to the fine arts, and for that reason, and also to avoid any risk to furniture pieces by moving them, most of the items are pictures or sculptures. Additionally, for the duration of the show, special stickers will be found marking all LACF items on normal display at Temple Newsam and Lotherton, and elsewhere in the Art Gallery. Often more important than an exhibition itself is the accompanying catalogue —certainly in our case, because we believe it covers every Fund-related item now in the City's collections. Its compilation has taken many hours of devoted research by the senior curatorial staff, to whom we record our grateful thanks. This uniquely valuable document will shortly form the basis of new computer records, and these in turn will lead to constant future updating of the list of acquisitions connected with the Fund. Of the 3 y6 listed, some of them multiple, as the eight Henry Moore maquettes, or the Derby porcelain Four Seasons, only fifty are items representative of the Decorative Arts: so that the selection on show reasonably fairly reflects the whole. Recently we have debated in Committee whether to change our name by including the word 'friends', or some variant, to match the fashion in organizations wishing to impress potential members with their informality and general air of welcome. But we are proud of our title, which links us to our distinguished progenitor, the National Art-Collections Fund, and we want to keep it. We do moreover give a much warmer welcome, nowadays, both to members and to outsiders, by having someone present in the Art Gallery, generally in the Members'oom, on several days each week, and recruiting has noticeably improved as a result. Forty years ago, the Fund exhibited to mark the first thirty-five years— behind the date, too, but also with good reasons? Let the omen be, not the date but the deed! Our organization is better than ever, and our membership, in the mid-6oos, certainly up on the t g g rated as 'unsatisfactory'y my predecessor of r949. We should keep progressing, and I suggest every member can take a hand in recruiting —by bringing someone to the exhibition —so as to take our numbers on towards the r,ooo mark by the end of 199o. ANTHONY BROWN Chairman INTRODUCTION After a preliminary meeting held at University House on z6 July z9zz,, the Leeds Art Collections Fund was formally inaugurated at a public assembly in the City Art Gallery on z z November z9zz. It is therefore the oldest regional supporting body for the visual arts of its kind in the country and only nine years younger than the National Art-Collections Fund founded in t9o3. Sir Michael Sadler, Vice-Chancellor of Leeds University, was elected Chairman. Frank Rutter, the Director, became Hon. Secretary —a traditional linking of offices which persists to this day. Colonel T.W. Harding, a notable local benefactor of the Arts, asserted that 'there was wealth enough in Leeds to ensure the growth of their collection of art treasures without depending on the rates'. It was not, in fact, until t936 that Leeds Corporation first provided a purchase grant. Prior to that date funds for acquisitions came either from the subscriptions of LACF members, or from the Alfred Bilbrough Bequest (z9z g) or the Harding Funds, given and bequeathed in z9z5 and I927. Constable's Vale of Dedham, bought in z93y at a cost of Zz,zoo, was only obtained by saving investment income from the Harding Fund for three years. Accord- ingly, the role played by the LACF, particularly in the purchase of contemporary British work, can hardly be exaggerated. The acquisitions policy was initially directed towards strengthening the Gallery's holding of black and white images and purchasing what at the time was known as 'decorative furniture'o make the interiors a little less bare. This is how a group of ostentatiously splendid pieces —mainly Italian baroque side tables —came to enter the collection. Frank Rutter wrote to Sir Michael Sadler in z 9z 7 pointing out 'there are moderns like Manet, Renoir, Cezanne and Toulouse Lautrec, prints by all of whom can still be obtained at quite modest prices'.