Tate n : United States poet and critic (1899-1979) [syn: Allen Tate, John Orley Allen Tate]

this the UK art galleries

Tate is the United Kingdom's national museum of British and Modern Art, and is a network of four art galleries in England: Tate Britain (opened in 1897 and renamed in 2000), Tate Liverpool (1988), Tate St Ives (1993) and Tate Modern (2000), with a complementary website, Tate Online (1998).

Tate is used as the operating name for the corporate body which was established by the Museums and Galleries Act 1992 as The Board of Trustees of the Tate Gallery.

The Tate was founded in 1897 as the National Gallery of British Art. When its role was changed to include Modern Art it was renamed the Tate Gallery after Henry Tate, who had laid the foundations for the collection. The Tate Gallery was housed in a building at Millbank, London. In 2000, the Tate Gallery split its collection into four museums: Tate Britain (housed in the original building) displays the collection of British art from 1500 to the present day; Tate Modern which is also in London, houses the Tate's collection of British and International Modern and Contemporary Art from 1900 to the present day. Tate Liverpool, in Liverpool has the same purpose as Tate Modern but on a smaller scale, and Tate St Ives displays Modern and Contemporary Art by artists who have connections with the area. All four museums share the Tate Collection. One of the Tate's most publicised art events is the annual Turner Prize, which takes place at Tate Britain.

History and development

The original Tate art gallery was called the National Gallery of British Art, and was situated on Millbank, Pimlico, London on the site of the former Millbank Prison. The idea of a National Gallery of British Art was first proposed in the 1820s by Sir John Leicester, Baron de Tabley. It took a step nearer when Robert Vernon gave his collection to the National Gallery in 1847. A decade later John Sheepshanks gave his collection to the South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria & Albert Museum), known for years as the National Gallery of Art (the same title as the Tate Gallery had). Forty years later Henry Tate who was a sugar magnate and a major collector of Victorian art, offered to fund the building of the gallery to house British Art on the condition that the State pay for the site and revenue costs. Henry Tate also gifted the gallery his own collection. It was initially a collection solely of modern British art, concentrating on the works of modern—that is Victorian era—painters. It was controlled by the National Gallery until 1954.

In 1915, Hugh Lane bequeathed his collection of European Modern Art to Dublin, but controversially this went to the Tate, which expanded its collection to include foreign art and continued to acquire contemporary art. In 1926 and 1937 the art dealer and patron Joseph Duveen paid for two major expansions of the gallery building. His father had earlier paid for an extension to house the major part of the Turner Bequest, which in 1987 was transferred to a wing paid for by Sir Charles Clore. Henry Courtauld also endowed Tate with a purchase fund. By the mid 20th century it was fulfilling a dual function of showing the history of British art as well as international Modern art. In 1954 the Tate Gallery was finally separated from the National Gallery.

During the 1950s and 1960s, the visual arts department of the Arts Council of Great Britain funded and organised temporary exhibitions at the Tate Gallery including in 1966 a retrospective of Marcel Duchamp. Later the Tate began organising its own temporary exhibition programme. In 1979 with funding from a Japanese bank a large modern extension was opened that would also house larger income generating exhibitions. In 1987 the Clore Wing opened to house the major part of the Turner bequest and also provided a 200 seat auditorium. (The 'Centenary Development' in 2001 provided improved access and public amenities.)

In 1988 an outpost in the North West England opened as Tate Liverpool. This shows various works from the London Tates as well as mounting its own temporary displays. In 2007 Tate Liverpool hosted the Turner Prize, the first time this has been held outside London. This is an overture to Liverpool's being the European Capital of Culture 2008.

In 1993 another offshoot opened, Tate St Ives. It exhibits work by modern British artists, particularly those of the St Ives School. Additionally the Tate also manages the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden which opened in 1980.

• TATE ETC.

References

External links

• Tate Online — 65,000 works from the Tate Collection online, information on Tate's exhibitions and events programmes, and online learning resources.
• TATE ETC. Magazine
• Turner Worldwide - an ongoing online cataloguing of JMW Turner's work around the world.
• Turner Collection Online The online catalogue of Tate's collection of nearly 300 oil paintings and 30,000 works on paper by JMW Turner.
• Tate Gallery Records Tate's own historical records.
• Tate Podcasts Audio and video podcasts from Tate.
• Tate in Space
• Turner Museum