UK galleries gain prize works from Lucian Freud’s estate

More than 40 paintings and drawings by Frank Auerbach distributed to public collections in lieu of inheritance tax

By Anny Shaw. Web only
Published online: 04 March 2015

Frank Auerbach, Rebuilding The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, 1962. © Frank Auerbach, The Samuel Courtauld Trust, The Courtauld Gallery, London. Accepted in lieu of inheritance tax by H M Government

The Arts Council England has announced the final destination of 15 oil paintings and 29 works on paper by Frank Auerbach, which were part of Lucian Freud’s collection and offered in lieu of around £16m inheritance tax after Freud’s death in 2011.

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• • A parting gift from a friend

Following a bid for the works, the Courtauld Institute in London has won arguably the best painting, Rebuilding The Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, 1962. The work was last seen at the Courtauld in the 2009-10 exhibition, “Frank Auerbach: London Building Sites”. It will also getSummer, Tretire, 1975, in what the Courtauld describes as the “most significant additions to [its] Modern collection in over a decade”. Both works are due to go on show at the gallery on 19 March as part of a new display of Modern British art.

Elsewhere in London, the Tate, which is planning a retrospective of Auerbach’s work in October, has been allocated a single work:Mornington Crescent — Summer Morning, 2004. Auerbach moved to his first studio in nearby Camden Town in 1954 and has painted there ever since. The British Museum will receive 12 works on paper from the late 1940s and 1950s, which have been deliberately kept together as a group.

Meanwhile, the Hepworth in Wakefield will get a 1962 painting of “EOW” looking into the fire (EOW is Stella West, one of Auerbach’s models), as well as a drawing of the same subject. Glasgow Museums, the National Museum of Wales, Tyne & Wear Museums, Manchester City Galleries and the British Museum will also receive works depicting West. 

Among the most personal works are five small sketches on birthday cards and notes that Auerbach gave to Freud, which have been donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford will receive the charcoal drawing, Head of Julia, 1985-86.

Other works in Freud’s collection being donated as part of the largest ever single acceptance in lieu include an early work on paper by Picasso, which is going to the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, and a painting by John Lessore from around 1985, which goes to the Castle Museum in Norwich. 

A parting gift from a friend

The largest private collection of works by Frank Auerbach has been given to the nation in lieu of inheritance tax from Lucian Freud’s estate

By Martin Bailey. Web only
Published online: 15 May 2014

A card sent from Auerbach to Freud is part of the artist's estate tax deal

Forty-four works by Frank Auerbach have been acquired for UK public collections from the estate of his long-standing friend and fellow artist Lucian Freud. The Acceptance in Lieu deal, announced today, 15 May, covers just over £16,250,000 in estate duty, which makes it the largest-ever arrangement to pay inheritance tax with art in the 100 years of the scheme.

Auerbach and Freud met in the early 1950s and remained close until Freud’s death in 2011. Among the 15 oil paintings accepted in lieu of tax are Rebuilding the Empire Cinema, Leicester Square, 1962, and a 1964 portrait of Auerbach’s cousin, Gerda Boehm. The 29 works on paper include the charcoal drawing Head of EOW, 1956, modelled after Estella West, as well as a set of five hand-drawn cards sent by Auerbach to Freud. The bequest represents the most important private collection of work by Auerbach, who is now 83 and one of the UK’s greatest living artists. 

Highlights will be shown at Manchester Art Gallery from next week (17 May-10 August), and the full group is due to be displayed at Tate Britain this summer (25 August-2 November).

As well as the works by Auerbach, four other works on paper from Freud’s collection have been accepted in lieu, by Michael Andrews, John Lessore, Jack B. Yeats and Picasso. The Picasso is a small ink study forThe Temptation of St Anthony, 1909, which was given to Freud by Picasso’s biographer, John Richardson.

Auerbach’s art will be split into 11 groups and distributed by Arts Council England to UK public collections later this year. Works are expected to go to the main galleries in Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, and the Tate will also probably apply for a set (it already has 83 pieces by Auerbach, including prints).

Although the market value of the collection remains confidential, it is higher that the tax due and is estimated at around £23m. The Treasury sets a maximum yearly value for Acceptance in Lieu arrangements, and because of the unprecedented size of this deal, it had to be spread over two financial years.

Other works accepted in lieu of tax from Freud’s estate were announced last year: a Corot portrait went to London’s National Gallery, three Degas sculptures went to galleries in Cardiff, Liverpool and Leeds, and a Constable portrait was given to the National Gallery of Scotland. In 2012, Auerbach donated nine etchings by Freud to the Courtauld Gallery in London.