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Rooms with a view, nation's chance to see £125m art donation
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent22 Jan 2009
THE first artworks from the £125 million collection donated to the nation by London dealer Anthony d'Offay will go on show this spring.
Tate Britain and Tate Modern will display masterpieces from artists including Gilbert and George and Andy Warhol.
The works were handed over last year to the joint care of the Tate and the National Galleries of Scotland in a remarkable gesture of philanthropy.
They were given with the intention of being shared with museums and galleries across the country.
A total of 18 museums and galleries will present the first displays of work from the gift under the heading of Artist Rooms.
Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, said: "The presence of contemporary art across the UK will be dramatically transformed by the Artist Rooms tour. This new form of dynamic national collection is without precedent anywhere in the world."
Mr d'Offay, who is acting as an unpaid curator for the collection for the next few years, said he was "delighted" that works were being shown in this way.
Tate Britain will be the first to benefit from the gift by displaying Sailing Dinghy, a monumental life-size sailing boat and poem installation by artist Ian Hamilton Finlay. It can be seen from 2 March.
From April, Tate Modern will show six rooms of works by artists including German Anselm Kiefer and Americans Ed Ruscha and Warhol.
A separate display at Tate Britain will present 11 works from 1970 to 1991 by east London-based artists Gilbert and George. The displays have been supported by bodies including the Art Fund charity. David Barrie, its director, said the fund's purpose was to give people the chance to encounter great works of art.
"For more than a century, we've done this mainly by giving money to help museums and galleries buy works of art.
"But we can do other things, and although it is a new departure, our funding of this ambitious tour of exhibitions is perfectly in line with our mission."
The d'Offay collection comprises 725 works acquired over 30 years. It was one of the most important holdings of post-war and contemporary international art in private hands.
