Tate pays £400,000 for a hatstand

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A hatstand called Foot by Luciano Fabro

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At £400,857 it is probably one of the world's most expensive hatstands - and one of the most useless.

The blue 'topless' hatstand, which is almost ten feet tall, is made of bronze, silk, perspex and steel, yet has nowhere to hook a coat on it.

But the Tate Modern art gallery still deemed Foot by artist Luciano Fabro worthy of the asking price - funded by taxpayers and lottery grants.

For that sum, the gallery also got another of artworks - the Clotheshanger Of The North, a confusing hanging of material, copper and velcro.

The Tate has revealed for the first time how much it spent on each acquisition during the last two years for all of its galleries.

The money was spent on art for the Tate collection and covers the flagship gallery Tate Modern as well as the Tate Britain in London, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives.

The list published yesterday disclosed that the Tate has bought more than 500 works for a total of £ 12.6million since 2004.

Of this £9.6million came from outside sources including the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund. The rest is public funds.

The list includes more than £250,000 for six pieces of expletive-ridden art by Emin and £139,815 for several works by the artist Michelangelo Pistoletto, including a misshapen bed made of iron, foam, cotton and plywood.

Tate also spent £102,006 on a nineminute film called How I Became A Ramblin' Man by Rodney Graham in which the artist sings dressed up as a cowboy.

The gallery also paid £84,709 for two pieces by Argentine artist Victor Grippo. Energy Of A Potato is a potato connected to an electric meter with wires while Tables of Work And Reflection consists of seven wooden tables inscribed in chalk and marker pen with lights hanging over them.

It has previously published a total figure, but was criticised by the Charities Commission earlier this year when it bought a piece from controversial artist Chris Ofili for an ' undisclosed amount' when he was a trustee.

It spent £600,000 on The Upper Room, an installation by Ofili partly made with elephant dung. The incident sparked a storm over artisttrusteesbenefiting from the sale of their work to the gallery.

A Charity Commission inquiry concluded the Tate's 'conflict of interest policies' were not in line with established good practice. The full list disclosed yesterday will do little to restore its credibility over what it spends its money on.

Charles Thomson, a co-founder of the Stuckists, who promote traditional art, said: 'Now we know why the Tate has been so reluctant to tell anyone how they're spending our money.'

David Lee, editor of The Jackdaw, a leading art magazine, added: 'What interests me is that they claimed to be broke. They're constantly moaning about having no money and yet they've been able to buy 500 works - when 80 per cent of the collection is not on display but in store.'

Unveiling its annual report today, Tate Britain said it had a record 1.7 million visitors in 2005. Tate Modern saw a drop in visitors to 3.9million in 2005 from 4.4million in 2004 - but is still the most successful modern art museum in the world.

l.ballinger@dailymail.co.uk

 

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