Art collectors Eric and Jean Cass “have been supporters of Niki de Saint Phalle ever since they bought their first work from a gallery in Ostend in 1976,” says the Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow (GoMA), and the esteemed collectors’ recent donation of more than 300 important modern and contemporary artworks to the Contemporary Art Society “for allocation to public institutions and to support contemporary art in the UK” included many of Niki’s works. In 2012, the Contemporary Art Society put that gift’s intention into action by inviting seven UK-based museums to research the donation and pitch for “clusters of works that complement or enliven their current collections.”
In that context, the Gallery of Modern Art Glasgow received 14 major works by Niki de Saint Phalle, as well as a number of collectable ephemera, drawings and personal letters. Now those works are slated for exhibition at GoMA, beginning on 16 November 2012.
“We are incredibly excited to have been given these unique and wonderful works by Niki de Saint Phalle,” says Ben Harman, Curator of Contemporary Art for Glasgow Museums. “This act of extraordinary generosity by Eric and Jean Cass will create the largest assembly of the artist’s work at any public collection in the UK.” The “unprecedented gift” will be enjoyed “by generations of local, national, and international visitors to Glasgow,” added Harman. Learn more about the exhibition.