Acquisitions

Acquisitions round-up: European museums co-purchase El Anatsui sculpture from collector Uli Sigg

Woodland scene by Jan Brueghel the Elder heads to Washington DC; London’s National Portrait Gallery gets a Gainsborough via acceptance in lieu

Taxnews

UK government receives record £65m art gifts in lieu of inheritance tax

National scheme gains significance in the pandemic as "a shift away from blockbuster touring shows" will place greater importance on public collections

Startup consultant and collector George Wells gives Morehouse College a million-dollar art collection

The historically Black men’s college in Atlanta, Georgia will receive works by Mickalene Thomas, Rashid Johnson, Amy Sherald, McArthur Binion, and Ivy Haldeman

Ronald Lauder presents major gift of European arms and armour to the Met

Describing the donation as the most significant to the department in nearly 80 years, museum will rename galleries after the philanthropist

Miami Beach public votes to acquire Sanford Biggers quilt for public art collection

The city bought the piece from the local dealer David Castillo’s virtual Art Basel in Miami Beach display as part of its Legacy Purchase Program

Yuichiro Ukai’s manga monster drawing acquired by American Folk Art Museum

The 25-year-old Japanese self-taught artist’s densely layered Yokai is his first piece to enter a museum’s collection

Jaws shark installed in the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles

The museum, due to open in April 2021, has acquired the 25-foot prop model for its permanent collection

John Waters, the ‘Pope of Trash’, gives his treasures to Baltimore Museum of Art

The director and film-maker has donated around 375 works to his hometown institution—and will have a pair of restrooms named after him

Never before seen Emily Carr works go from family fireplace to Canadian museum

British Columbia brothers donate paintings their grandmothers acquired to Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

A print series of Jacob Lawrence’s earliest narrative cycle has been acquired by the Colby College Museum of Art

The screenprints are an abridged version of the artist’s 41-panel tempera series devoted to the Haitian revolutionary Toussaint L’Ouverture

The Met acquires Kent Monkman's grand diptych Mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People)

The Cree artist says the work, on view in the museum's Great Hall, reflects on the “colonial version of history” in museum collections

Baltimore Museum of Art will sell important paintings by Warhol, Still and Marden

Acting on relaxed rules, it will use the funds for collection care and salary increases as well as diverse acquisitions

Gauguin claims credit for Van Gogh’s Sunflowers: the revelations of a rediscovered manuscript

In Avant et Après—just acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery—Gauguin details his tumultuous time with Van Gogh

a blog by Martin Bailey

American Folk Art Museum announces gift of over 500 works by self-taught artists

Trove donated by collector Audrey B. Heckler includes examples of European Art Brut and works by African-American artists

Rediscovered Paul Gauguin manuscript written in his Polynesian hut reveals artist's hidden secrets

Original book with nearly 30 images has been acquired by London's Courtauld Gallery and will go on display next year

Trove of 'lost' Hokusai drawings acquired by British Museum

103 forgotten works by the renowned Japanese artist resurfaced at a Paris auction after slipping out of sight for more than 70 years

Guggenheim adopts a plan to become more inclusive and racially diverse

Initiative follows accusations by employees of entrenched racism at the New York museum

Hirshhorn to unveil two acquisitions as it reopens its sculpture garden

Museum welcomes monumental 2018 works by Huma Bhabha and Sterling Ruby

Oregon foundation acquires Judy Chicago print archive

Over 300 works chart the career of a feminist pioneer in revelatory detail

Germany boosts art acquisition budget to €3m from €500,000 to support artists and galleries

Government plans to buy 150 works to help overcome the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic

An adventure with photography: MoMA receives 300-work Gayle Greenhill Collection

The gift from the late patron’s husband will also help create a photography endowment fund through the sale of some works

Giuseppe Penone presents two big gifts of drawings to Philadelphia Museum of Art and Centre Pompidou

Arte Povera sculptor hopes that his donations of hundreds of works on paper will start a dialogue

A valentine to New York City, in a gift of 130 urban scenes by Chagall, O'Keeffe, Hockney and other artists

Philanthropic couple’s promised donation to New-York Historical Society boosts collection’s 20th-century holdings

Our mission is to be Miami’s art museum—that’s why we spent $145,000 to buy works from local galleries

Franklin Sirmans, the director of the Pérez Art Museum Miami, explains the impetus behind the Collectors Council’s largest group acquisition ever

While in lockdown, UK's Sainsbury Centre acquires major works by sculptor Elisabeth Frink

Acquisition from the artist's estate heralds a wave of works being dispersed across UK public collections

UK Science Museum group is building a coronavirus collection in response to pandemic

Other institutions reflect on ethical concerns linked to Covid-19 material

Top five museum acquisitions of the month

Our pick of the latest gifts and purchases to enter international museum collections—from £1m flower pyramids to an enigmatic portrait of a young black woman