Arts Council publishes final report on art collection |
29/03/2007
The Arts Council of Northern Ireland today published the findings of its investigation into the loss of works from its art collection and Partnership Purchase Scheme during the 50 year period from 1943 to 1999. It also announced plans for the future of the 1,200 works in its £3 million art collection.
The Arts Council launched the investigation following a Northern Ireland Audit Office report, published last August which highlighted historic failings in the management of its collection.
Rois í n McDonough, Chief Executive of the Arts Council, said, “We have now completed a thorough investigation into the missing works and have established an overall loss to the public purse of a maximum total of £28,000. Although there was no issue of impropriety, the manual method of record keeping used in the past proved less than satisfactory. That was then. We have now introduced a 21 st century electronic management system under the care of a curator. I want to assure everyone that the current management has taken the appropriate steps to ensure that this will not happen again.”
The Arts Council conducted an extensive search for the missing items which had been loaned for display in public buildings throughout Northern Ireland. It has contacted existing and previous borrowers, institutions, collections and auction houses, and published the list of missing works on its website.
“It is disappointing that despite a wide ranging search, we have only been able to recover four works. However, as the scheme began in the early 1940s, we must accept that people may simply not be aware of the provenance of a painting which may have been hanging on their office wall for as long as anyone remembers. It is unlikely we will now recover more of the missing works, and must make the future security of the collection our priority”, continued Ms McDonough.
Attempts to trace a further 50 missing works of art that the Arts Council bought in partnership with other bodies, such as district councils, schools and universities, are also to be wound up. Recovery of the Arts Council’s 50 percent share on the works will minimise any loss of public money.
As detailed in the Audit Office report, the Arts Council is planning to gift its remaining collection to other bodies, particularly the museums’ sector, so that many more of the works of art can be put on display and appreciated by the general public.
Rois í n McDonough concluded, “The Arts Council’s goal over the years has been to support artists at critical stages of their careers, by buying and displaying their work in public; not to build up a museum-like art collection. We are confident that the best course of action is to work closely with the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure to ensure that, once the necessary parliamentary approval is in place, gifting of the collection happens as speedily as possible.”
Any help from the public to recover more of the missing works of art from the Arts Council’s collection will be appreciated. The list of missing works can be viewed using the links at the end of this press release.
For further information, contact Jane Morrison, Media Relations Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, T: 028 90385263, Email: jmorrison@artscouncil-ni.org
NOTES TO EDITORS:
The value of the 48 works missing from the main art collection is £20,725.
An additional 92 works required follow up action under the Partnership Purchase Scheme (PPS). This scheme ran during the 1970s and 1980s and enabled bodies to buy works in a 50% partnership with the Arts Council. The Arts Council share of the value of these works is £21,998.83 which is a combination of historic and current market value. Recovery of that 50% investment in nine key works from partners, at current market value will reduce this loss to £6,698.83.
Missing works from main collection = £20,725
Missing works from PPS = £6,698.83
Total loss to public purse = £27,423.83
The Arts Council is working with the Department of Culture Arts and Leisure on the process for gifting. This requires parliamentary approval, which DCAL will take forward.
The Arts Council has installed a museum-quality collection management system and has transferred all records to this. It has completed a full inventory of all 1,200 works in the collection.
List of works missing from main collection ( PDF or Rich Text )
List of works missing from Partnership Purchase Scheme ( PDF or Rich Text )
A sample of the Arts Council’s collection can be viewed by clicking here , this will continue to develop as artists continue to provide copyright clearance.
For further information, contact Jane Morrison, Media Relations Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, T: 028 90385263, Email: jmorrison@artscouncil-ni.org
