The Saatchi effect: Elton John builds gallery at home to show off his private art collection

The Saatchi effect: Elton John builds gallery at home to show off his private art collection

Several of the nation's leading collectors are planning to put their works on public view for the first time

By James Morrison, Arts and Media Correspondent


Sunday, 13 July 2003
Share Digg It del.icio.us Facebook Reddit Print Article Email Article Text Size
NormalLargeExtra Large
Encouraged by the success of Charles Saatchi's London gallery, a plethora of new "vanity museums" are being built by some of Britain's leading art collectors.


Encouraged by the success of Charles Saatchi's London gallery, a plethora of new "vanity museums" are being built by some of Britain's leading art collectors.

Sir Elton John is to build an extension to his Windsor home to put on public display his vast collection of paintings which includes seminal 20th-century artists from Picasso through Warhol to Damien Hirst.

Sir Peter Moores, the former head of Littlewoods, is about to open a £50m gallery at Compton Verney, an 18th-century Warwickshire manor designed by Robert Adam that sits in a 40-acre park landscaped by Capability Brown.

Not to be outdone, Frank Cohen, 60, the Mancunian DIY entrepreneur who in the 1970s was seen as the Saatchi of his day, is finally preparing to unveil his spoils. His collection, which covers "modern" artists from L S Lowry to the Chapman Brothers, will be made public as soon as he can find a building large enough to house it.

Meanwhile, a similar project is already under way at Crosby Hall, the elegant 15th-century mansion in Chelsea, London, that was once the home of Sir Thomas More. Here the controversial property magnate Christopher Moran is planning a gallery to showcase his extensive treasure trove of 16th- and 17th century furniture and decorative arts.

The unexpected display of beneficence is not confined solely to those who are planning to open their own private galleries. For the first time, Lord Lloyd-Webber has agreed to allow public access to his mammoth collection of Pre-Raphaelite and 20th- century art by loaning it to the Royal Academy for a three-month exhibition this autumn.

The architect Professor Colin St John Wilson, meanwhile, is about to go one step further. His collection of more than 200 works by artists as diverse as Walter Sickert and Peter Blake is to be offered on permanent loan to the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, which is constructing a new wing to contain it.

News of the array of prospective private galleries is highlighted in the latest edition of the Museums Journal, a quarterly magazine published by the Museums Association. It comes just three months after the Saatchi Gallery reopened in County Hall, the former GLC headquarters on London's South Bank, amid a frenzy of naked models and schmoozing celebrities.

Opinion is divided in the art world over the reasons for this sudden wave of philanthropy. While there are few who do not welcome the thought of these eclectic collections being made public, sceptics sense that the scale of investment being bestowed on the new galleries owes as much to vanity as it does to charity.

The collectors themselves are having none of this. Sir Peter says it has always been his aim to offer the public the chance to view the artworks and antiquities owned by his foundation, which includes one of the finest collections of Chinese bronzes in the world.

"My idea was to have a museum in the country where people can come and have a nice day out but also absorb quality art, without having to go to galleries in sweaty cities," he said, explaining his choice of location. "I was brought up in a fairly arid suburb and I found out when I was at university that there were an enormous amount of things I knew nothing about. You can't shove people through doors, but you can open them and hope they are interested in going through, and that's what we're trying to do."

Mr Cohen, who is looking at a range of potential venues for his prospective gallery, including a listed Victorian market hall and a former mill, says he too has long planned to display his collection. "The thing about this is that you can't do it when you've hardly got a collection - it takes time to build one up," he said. "I've been collecting for over 30 years but it's only in the last four or five that I've really been in a position to think about doing this."

Mr Cohen, who intends to curate his own gallery, disputes the suggestion that one of the biggest incentives for collectors to make their work public is to "offload" their security on to someone else. Prof St John Wilson is open about the fact that he has been jumpy about housing his paintings in his own home since it was broken into 20 years ago.

Mr Cohen said: "Burglars can't sell my stuff in public. Where are they going to sell them? They're interested in Rolex watches and leather jackets. If they saw a piece of contemporary art on the wall they'd leave it hanging."

Not all observers are convinced by these explanations.

Cristina Ruiz, the deputy editor of the Art Newspaper, said: "I'm sure there's an element of pride or vanity there, particularly if you've spent years collecting things.

"Also, if your collection is quite large you have to start looking at things like security and insurance. It may be, that if you've got a publicly visible place to display them you are helped by the fact that the risk is borne by the gallery. It's easier to secure, it's outside your home, so from the point of view of security you are less at risk."

Frank Cohen (DIY entrepreneur)

What he owns: Eclectic 20th-century and contemporary collection. Recent purchases include Lowry's A Father and Two Sons and the Chapman Brothers' Unholy McTrinity.

Where we can see it: Coming soon to a converted 19th-century market hall, or possibly an old mill, in Manchester.

Sir Elton John (singer-songwriter)

What he owns: Paintings by Magritte, Picasso, Bacon and Warhol, photographs by Helmut Newton and Britart works by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin and the Chapman Brothers.

Where we can see it: A new gallery to be built at Woodside, his £5m part-Georgian mansion in Windsor.

Sir Peter Moores (Littlewoods Pools heir)

What he owns: Priceless collection of Chinese bronzes dating from 1000BC, 16th- to 19th-century Neapolitan paintings and a selection of British folk art.

Where we can see it: Compton Verney, an 18th-century manor in Warwickshire, from next Easter.

Lord Lloyd-Webber (composer)

What he owns: 200 Pre-Raphaelite paintings and works by 20th-century masters, including Picasso's Angel Fernandez de Soto (left) and Canaletto's Old Horseguard's Parade.

Where we can see it: The Royal Academy in London for three months, starting in September.

Christopher Moran (property tycoon)

What he owns: Classic 16th- and 17th-century furniture from the workshops of Hardwick, and paintings including Van Dyck's St Jerome in Penitence.

Where we can see it: Crosby Hall, the 15th-century former home of Sir Thomas More in Chelsea.

Professor Colin St John Wilson (architect)

What he owns: Works by Independent Group artists and other 20th-century paintings such as Peter Blake's The 1962 Beatles, Michael Andrews's Thames: The Estuary as well as an Andrews portrait of Prof St John Wilson.

Where we can see it: A new wing of the Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex.

UK buyers make major splash in list of the world's top 200 collectors

Thirteen Britons, including David Bowie, Sir Elton John and Lord Lloyd-Webber, have made it on to the latest definitive list of the world's top 200 art buyers.

Heiress Isabel Goldsmith, Littlewoods Pools millionaire Sir Peter Moores, DIY entrepreneur Frank Cohen and the Sainsbury family are also included on the annual list, compiled by the American magazine ARTnews.

The list, now in its 13th year, contains several surprises. While few will question the inclusion of Charles Saatchi, who regularly appears on it, eyebrows are bound to be raised about the identity of the only Brit to be named in the top 10: the London-based jeweller Lawrence Graff.

Ironically, Mr Graff, whose collection includes a diamond necklace worn by the Dowager Viscountess Harcourt at King George VI's coronation, for which he paid £1.87m, once famously commented: "I like to dabble in art, but my actual hobby is my business."

Less surprising are the mentions given to Ms Goldsmith and fellow Pre-Raphaelite enthusiast Lord Lloyd-Webber, or the rock stars Bowie and Elton, whose love of 20th-century paintings is well documented.

According to the list, the single biggest buyer over the past 12 months was Sheikh Saud al-Thani of Qatar, a London-based collector with a passion for impressionism, Old Masters and Islamic antiquities.

The other British-based collectors on the list are the Syrian-born multi-millionaire Wafic Said, Sir Graham Kirkham, executive chairman of DFS Furniture, shipping magnate Sami Ofer and the businessman Jeffrey Steiner.

The "ARTnews Top 200" was the brainchild of Milton Esterow, the magazine's editor and publisher. He says it has come to be taken increasingly seriously by the collectors themselves.