Chichester's Pallant House Gallery has won Apollo Magazine's Acquisition of the Year 2021 award for a group of paintings acquired through the Arts Council administered Acceptance in Lieu scheme.
Announced last night, the annual awards celebrate outstanding work across the museums and heritage sector.
The winning collection features 175 modern and contemporary British paintings, prints and sculptures from the collection of architects MJ Long & Sir Colin St John Wilson.
R B Kitaj, The Architects, 1981, Oil on canvas, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (CREDIT LINE) Estate of R B Kitaj
The Wilson collection includes celebrated works by some of the most influential figures in modern British art, including Michael Andrews, Frank Auerbach, David Bomberg, Anthony Caro, Patrick Caulfield, Prunella Clough, Richard Hamilton, David Hockney, Howard Hodgkin, R.B. Kitaj, Eduardo Paolozzi and Colin Self.
The collection was acquired for the nation through the Acceptance in Lieu scheme and allocated to Pallant House Gallery, where it's now on display for the public to see.
The scheme enables taxpayers to transfer important works of art and heritage objects into public ownership while paying Inheritance Tax. The acceptance of the group of works settled 3,469,836 of tax.
Eduardo Paolozzi, Artificial Sun, 1964, Aluminium sculpture, Pallant House Gallery, Chichester (CREDIT LINE) Trustees of the Paolozzi Foundation
Speaking when the collection was first allocated to Pallant House Gallery, Sir Nicholas Serota, Chair of the Arts Council, yesterday said:
"I'm delighted that this outstanding collection of Pop and British figurative Art has been allocated to Pallant House Gallery. Few architects have been closer to artists than MJ Long and Sandy Wilson. Their enthusiasms and friendships are reflected in a collection that is highly personal but also a remarkable survey of some of the most important aspects of advanced British Art in the post-war period. It is especially fitting that the collection will have a permanent home in Chichester in the galleries that MJ and Sandy designed as an award-winning extension to Pallant House Gallery."