What price holding on to our
art? 
Is it selfish to save great works of art from going
abroad? Is it preferable for magnificent works of art to go to a public
collection overseas, than for them to languish behind closed doors in the UK?
These are the questions being batted back and forth by Jonathan Jones on his
Guardian Blog and our director, David Barrie.
As Jonathan Jones
comments, every time a painting goes to auction we hear the same tired
debates?Why has the question of national art purchasing come down to
this timid obsession with what is already in Britain? Because our
museums have no money, that's why.?
Two current cases highlight the
issues at stake: Last week the Art Fund launched a public campaign to save JMW
Turner's magnificent watercolour, The Blue Rigi, for Tate. And now we
hear that the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam is hoping to buy a17th-century Rembrandt
portrait, privately owned in Wales for 150 years.
The difference here is
that the Rijksmuseum Museum may be helped by a special grant from the Dutch
Government. The museum is being given what Jones suggests our national gallery
ought to benefit more from money to shop around aggressively and hungrily, for
art all over the world? Should our Museums and Galleries not be given
the same opportunity to acquire works of art? In the absence of public
funds is it not time that the Government looked more seriously at ways in which
we can foster a culture of giving, through tax incentives? Add your voice to the
debate.
To read more http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/art
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