Why these British artists are creating private museums

What unites Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George and Glenn Brown? As well as being British artists, they all, in 2024, run private museums that have displayed their own works and, in the case of Hirst and Brown, works by other artists they have in their collections as well.

So what is a private museum? Based on the book by Georgina Adams The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museumit is an institution “intended to house and display the founder’s art collection and generally lacks the ‘full services’ of a publicly funded institution,” such as curatorial and research departments.

The concept of collectors establishing museums is centuries old. The British Museum, for example, has its roots in the collection of the physicist Hans Sloane, which was then acquired for the nation in 1753. A more recent example would be the Saatchi Gallery, which opened in 1985 and, according to the Private Art Museums. Reportedly, it had the highest number of visitors of any private museum in the world in 2015, with more than 1.5 million.

The concept of artists creating their own museums, however, is a more recent trend that seems to have been started in 2015 by Damien Hirst opening the Newport Street Gallery in a much neglected corner of Vauxhall in South London. Its main purpose is to “present exhibitions of works from the Damien Hirst art collection” and has held shows by artists such as Jeff Koons and Rachel Howard. In recent years, Hirst has used the space to showcase his own work with a survey of his work in 2020-21 and his latest series of physical and NFT works showing in 2022.

The Brown Collection, created by painter Glenn Brown, is a new addition to the scene and opened in 2022. The Brown Collection has largely displayed works by Brown and is housed in an impressive four-storey building in Marylebone. The artist is very open about how it will evolve. “I’m concerned that it’s something we can play with, use as a mode of expression,” he told Artsy. “It’s a place to experiment, putting paintings, sculptures, furniture, drawings and prints from different eras to harmonize and challenge each other.”

Meanwhile, the Gilbert & George Centre, which opened last year, only shows works by the duo of artists; and in the spring of this year The Wyllieum, a new gallery celebrating the work and legacy of the late Scottish artist George Wyllie, will open in the town of Greencock.

So what is behind this rise? According to Adam, the UK lags behind Asia, North America and continental Europe in its number of private museums. According to the Private Art Museums Report, the UK is ranked seventh, with Germany, the US and Korea in the top three. This may be because the UK already has dozens of other museums, and while a new museum is always a welcome addition to the cultural scene, it may struggle to attract as many visitors.

For artists, an important factor in creating a private museum is that many have amassed a large collection of their own works and the works of other artists. Instead of relying on museum approaches, they can have full curatorial control in their own space. “Museums are limited in what they can show of an artist’s work,” said Gilbert & George. “They might do a retrospective maybe once in a lifetime. They usually put on a piece of art every three or four years, but it’s limited. So if you want to see something in-depth about our art, we need our own Center… It’s very important, and museums can’t do that.”

While the idea of ​​giving back to the community is a welcome ethos cited by almost all private museums, there may be other factors at play. For example, displaying works in a museum exhibition is likely to raise the value of the works themselves.

Galleries also support the idea. White Cube, which works with Gilbert & George, was clear that it separates its exhibition from the works of the artists with the artists of the Center. “While galleries such as White Cube tend to show new images, The Center allows Gilbert & George to display and reposition previous work and have a public space to display their art more permanently,” a gallery spokesman said. .

Gallerist Thaddaeus Ropac also works with the couple and is an advocate for artists to create their own museums: “We encourage and support our artists wholeheartedly in the realization of their foundation plans; it is a fundamental part of our role and responsibility to the artists we represent,” Ropac told Artsy. “We are usually very involved, as we encourage artists to plan and ideally carry out their plans throughout their lives, to be really sure that their foundation is a true reflection of their legacy and that the various initiatives that their foundations carry out are in accordance with their hopes for them.”

Gagosian, who represents Glenn Brown, is equally supportive: “It’s wonderful that Glenn has the opportunity to showcase his work, and indeed his curatorial skills, all year long in London,” said gallery director Hannah Freedberg . “The Brown Collection is an absolute gift to the city and we couldn’t be more supportive.”

The nature of having only one or two founders of a museum always leads to the question of what happens to the museum in the long-term future. Notable examples of collections that have persisted long after the death of their owners include the Sir John Soane Museum and the Wallace Collection, both bequeathed to the nation in 1837 and 1897, respectively, with strict guidelines intended to keep the collections in a state closely resembling their original. healing

The different approaches of private museums reflect the perspectives of their founders. The Gilbert & George Center, for example, is “managed by a Board of Trustees,” the duo said. “The Center will be dedicated to art and the program will focus on presenting exhibitions of Gilbert & George’s works of art, continuing as The Gilbert & George Centre.”