Collections Displays 2012
2012 will be the centenary of Leeds Art Collections Fund, a group of forward-thinking, civic-minded, creative and passionate people from industry, business and academia who supported, and continue to support, the visual arts in Leeds and purchase new work by contemporary artists for Leeds Art Gallery.
As such, the gallery holds one of the best collections of 20th century art outside of London and has a strong, but little known, tradition of risk taking and supporting artists. Events to commemorate the centenary will be announced in the autumn.
Contemporary Art Society: Starting Point
Starting Point, now in its second year, offers two curators the opportunity to select a small cluster of works from the collection to be installed as part of Leeds Art Gallery’s public programme in 2012. Working in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society Leeds Art Gallery invited proposals from MA curating and museum studies graduates from across the UK who have been out of full time education for no longer than two years.
As a way of responding we are asking that proposals draw on the list of works whose acquisitions have been supported by the Leeds Art Collection Fund. With over 22 submissions we are selecting proposals with works from the Leeds Art Collection Fund. The Leeds Art Collection Fund has been supporting the visual arts in Leeds since 1912 to mark their centenary Leeds Art Gallery are planning a series of special events in the gallery over the course of next year.
In 2012, the year before our own 125th birthday, we celebrate the vitally important role that the Leeds Art Collections Fund has made to Leeds Art Gallery over the last century. It is fitting that in the same year we reflect on our own collections, we are able to exhibit work that looks back over one artist’s career with Gary Hume and also look forward to new work from Fiona Rae. Leeds Art Gallery has benefited from the presence and insight of the Leeds Art Collections Fund and will continue to collect and commission new work with their support to ensure that the gallery and its collections remain nationally significant, for generations to come.