Samuel Courtauld (art collector)
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Samuel Courtauld (7 May 1876– 1 December 1947) was an English industrialist (great-nephew of textile magnate Samuel Courtauld) who is best remembered as an art collector. He founded the Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 1932 and, after a series of gifts during the 1930s, bequeathed his collection to it upon his death.
By the early 20th century, the Courtauld family business had become a major international company, having successfully developed and marketed rayon, an artificial fibre and inexpensive silk substitute. Samuel Courtauld took charge of the firm from 1908 as general manager and as chairman from 1921 to 1946.
[edit] Personal life
He became interested in art after seeing the Hugh Lane collection on exhibition at the Tate Gallery in 1917. However, his career as a collector started in 1922 following an exhibition of French art at the Burlington Fine Art Club. Courtauld was one of the first collectors to display interest in French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. During the 1920s, he assembled an extensive collection including masterpieces by Vincent Van Gogh (Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear), Édouard Manet (A Bar at the Folies-Bergère), Paul Cézanne (Montagne Sainte-Victoire) and Pierre-Auguste Renoir (La Loge). The core elements of his collection were accumulated between 1926 and 1930, though his passion dwindled somewhat following the death of his wife Elizabeth (known as Lil) in 1931.
Courtauld also created a £50,000 acquisition fund for the Tate and National galleries, helping lay the foundations of national collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
His younger brother, Stephen Courtauld, was also an arts patron and is remembered for his work on restoring Eltham Palace.
[edit] References
- Turner, Jane (1996). The Dictionary of Art. Grove, 62. ISBN 1884446000.
