100 Years of Gifts

6 Feb - 3 May 2010
York Art Gallery
An exhibition celebrating the centenary of the Contemporary Arts Society.

Highlights from art collections across Yorkshire have been brought together for a special exhibition to mark the centenary year of the Contemporary Arts Society (CAS).
Works by artists such as David Bomberg, William Roberts, Sarah Lucas and Gillian Wearing will go on show in the exhibition to be held at York Art Gallery this February.
Sculpture, photography, painting and works on paper are all included in the show which will compare and contrast styles of contemporary art during the last 100 years.
All of the works in the exhibition have been donated by CAS to galleries across Yorkshire.

Laura Turner, curator of art at York Art Gallery, said: “For the last 100 years the Contemporary Art Society has played a vital role in shaping public collections through their support of contemporary artists. In total they have given 8,000 works to UK galleries since they began.

“This exhibition celebrates their achievements by bringing together a wide variety of works which they have given to galleries all over Yorkshire for people to enjoy. It offers the visitor is a unique chance to see some of their finest donations to the county in one place.”

There will be over 30 works on display in the exhibition, from York Art Gallery, The Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, The Mercer Art Gallery in Harrogate, Doncaster Museums and Art Gallery and Sheffield Museums Trust. It will include art from almost every decade over the last hundred years, including works by Ivon Hitchens, Nina Hamnett, Gaudier Brzeska, Bridget Riley, Jason Brooks, and Allen Jones. As well as looking at the way different works relate to each other the exhibition will also explore possible reasons why CAS donated certain works to certain galleries.

One example of this is Tacita Dean’s photographs of the Gellert Baths in Budapest, taken in 1998. These were donated to Harrogate because they are of such a high standard and also because their link to the spa town.

The exhibition will also show that although there is a great diversity in terms of stylistic techniques and approaches, there is interest across the periods in similar subject matter -for example Jacques Emile-Blanche’s painting of Sloane Street, London painted in 1903 and photographs of figures against the backdrop of shops in London, by artist Seamus Nicholson, taken in 2000.

The exhibition is part of a Centenary Programme of fellowships, events, exhibitions and publications will take place in partnership with many other museums across the UK.

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www.yorkartgallery.org.uk