British art collection of the CAM Gulbenkian

A significant part of CAM Gulbenkian’s British art collection was formed at a pivotal moment for the UK, when the national and international expression of a specific British ‘identity’ was consciously being developed.

The FCG participated voluntarily, and perhaps also involuntarily, through decisive action in the UK following its constitution. Besides its artistic significance in thoroughly documenting influential trends in the visual arts in the UK, with clear impacts on subsequent decades, this collection is also highly relevant as a manifestation of a historical process and illustrates the specific functioning of British artistic institutions. This system worked, strategically oiled, in the 1950s and 1960s, particularly between 1955 and 1965, i.e. in the middle of the Cold War, as well as the period generally identified as that of recovery from the immediate post-war depression (1945-1955), progressing to the middle of the ‘swinging Sixties’, a decade of cultural and artistic effervescence in the UK.

CAM Gulbenkian’s modern British art collection began in 1959 – with the first acquisitions taking place in March 1960 – under the tutelage of the British Council, an institution dedicated to the international promotion of British language, culture and art, through its Fine Arts department (renamed Visual Arts) and its commission to acquire works of art for the department’s collection. One hundred (100) works of art were subsequently acquired with FCG funds, favouring young and lesser-known artists. This collection remained at the disposal of the CBB for ten years and travelled extensively, as part of its extensive international exhibition programme, exhibited in its delegations around the world.

At the same time as the British Council’s acquisitions, the FCG’s London Branch developed a vast programme of activities in the artistic field, which included grants to British institutions and acquisitions and awards to artists. Many of these artworks were acquired through municipal art galleries or those linked to universities outside London, or transferred to these organisations immediately after acquisition.

The British art collection that began in the 1960s was subsesquently housed in Lisbon in CAM after its inauguration in 1983. Recognised as a cultural asset, the collection continued to evolve after 1985 as more artworks were acquired by buyers from the London Branch, funded by CAM. Acquisitions slowed from 2000, but efforts continue to integrate British and Portuguese works, in various exhibitions showcasing CAM’s collection, an approach that continues to the present day.

Ana Vasconcelos
Curator