When you are sitting on a collection of Picasso artworks valued at $9.3 million, the question of whether to take them to auction or offer them for private sale could be a game changing one.
Regardless of one's choice, the sale outcome doesn’t usually involve giving a significant portion of the profits away.
Canadian born, British-based art collector Dr Frederick Mulder will do just that following the upcoming sale of 121 original linoleum cut print proofs by the iconic Spanish artist, Pablo Picasso.
The twist here is that Mulder has committed to donate $1 million of proceeds to the Australian non-profit organisation, The Funding Network (TFN), to help create positive social change in Australia.
A spokesperson for the Foundation told ArtsHub that the works are currently on sale, and will be dependent on when they can find a suitable buyer for the collection. Dr Mulder will be travelling to Australia in February to meet with prospective buyers, both at a private and institutional level.
'The gift to The Funding Network is contingent on the successful sale of the collection, so will the gift will be donated once the sale has been finalised,' she said.
A PORTFOLIO OF DACHSHUNDS
Named after Picasso’s beloved dachshund, The Lump Collection features 75 subjects, 22 of which are unpublished and thus extremely rare; 17 sets of working proofs; 49 working proofs and variant inkings.
Of the more than 2,200 original prints Picasso is known to have made, only 197 are linocuts. What makes them stand out within Picasso’s graphic production are their colours: large, bold, flat areas of colours.
The collection represents 25% of the linocuts made by Picasso, and is credited as one of the three most extensive and valuable collections of such works. It is important to note that these are not reproductions of Picasso’s paintings; they are original compositions that he hand cut.
‘This collection spans the entire period of Picasso’s work in this medium and the sheer number and diversity of working proofs offers a unique insight into the techniques the master artist explored in producing the colour linocuts,’ said Mulder.
‘I am thrilled to be selling this collection exclusively in Australia.’
The provenance is impeccable. Virtually the entire collection comes from the Archives Arnéra, Hidalgo Arnéra being the young printer with whom Picasso collaborated throughout his 10 years of linocutting.They have been kept in drawers for over 50 years.
Portrait de jeune Fille d’après Cranach le Jeune. II (1958), from an exceptional group of 11 working proofs and a final state of Picasso's most sought-after linocut. This ensemble of working proofs is particularly interesting because it is Picasso's most complex use of multiple linocut blocks, one for each colour, in contrast to the 'reductionist' method of making linocuts in several colours from a single block, which the artist later adopted.
Mulder is one of the world’s foremost dealers in the prints of Pablo Picasso and other Modern Masters.
He is the Founder of The Funding Network UK, based in London, and has played an integral role in helping this innovative model replicate in 15 new countries in the last four years – Australia among them.
Lisa Cotton, CEO, The Funding Network Australia said: ‘TFN is pioneering a philanthropic model that is building the capacity of the grassroots non-profit sector via live crowd funding events, skilled volunteering programs and other vital capacity building initiatives.
‘There’s no doubt, this generous donation will enable us to rapidly scale our work and deepen our impact in building the capacity of high-potential social entrepreneurs around the country,’ she said.
Over the past three years the Australian branch has assisted 130 organisations.
‘It is vital that we continue to support these small, and often unknown, organisations that are having a significant impact in our communities,’ concluded Cotton.
Read the full article in ArtsHub here.