The British Sporting Art Trust. Note 19.

From time to time I have mentioned the British Sporting Art Trust (BSAT) in these Notes. This Note provides more information about the Trust. A short cut is to visit the website: www.bsat.co.uk

The Trust was established in 1977 by a group of individuals who felt that the absence of recognition by the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) of an important aspect of our lives and art heritage was woeful. This feeling was compounded by the realisation that a large number of our best sporting pictures were being sold and going abroad, particularly to America. This was at a time when such paintings were not thought of by their buyers as alternative investments - they valued them for what they were and and what they depicted. The Tate had a very small holding of sporting pictures that largely remained hidden in their cellars.

The Trust has been a Registered Charity (No. 274156) from the outset. The original trustees each gave £10 towards a fund, wondering about their future liability and the likely bank overdraft they might have to pay off! Often short of money, the Trust has however grown and grown with its own collection of paintings, prints and books now valued at £3M. In essence, the objectives of the Trust remain as in the first charter:

a. To form and display a representative Collection of British Sporting Art.

b. To mount loan exhibition of 20th Century sporting art.

c. To support and publish research on the subject of sporting art.

d. To sponsor young artists and students in their study of sporting art.

Through the Trust, over 50 sporting works of art have been acquired for Tate Britain, including a gift of 30 pictures from the late Mr Paul Mellon KBE and the Mrs F. Ambrose Clark Bequest. Both Mr Mellon and the husband of Mrs Ambrose Clark were enthusiastic American anglophiles who, in this way, returned some magnificent sporting pictures to Britain. Initially these pictures were displayed at the Tate, but the interest of successive Directors soon waned. To achieve the first charter objective it became imperative for the Trust to find its own home. London would have been an ideal location, but this proved far too costly. In 1986 the Trust's Vestey Gallery of Sporting Art was opened at the National Horseracing Museum at Newmarket by its Patron, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. Here there are annually changing exhibitions of some of the best sporting pictures in the country. The Gallery was enlarged to include a Print Room and Reference Library in 1991; the latter is now a valuable research aid.

In the past the Trust has mounted loan exhibitions on 2oth Century Sporting Art, as well as separate exhibitions of the work of Cecil Aldin and Lionel Edwards in London, Paris and English provincial public galleries. This summer there will be a loan exhibition of paintings and drawings by Lowes Dalbiac Luard RBA (1872-1944) at Newmarket. Among the many Trust publications An Inventory of Sporting Art on Public Display in the United Kingdom and an up-to-date Bibliography of British Sporting Artists have proved extremely useful to anyone interest in the subject. The Trust also continues to provide grants to public galleries to help them buy sporting pictures, for conservation, and to graduate and post-graduate students.

Perhaps one of the most attractive benefits to members of the Trust is the opportunity to visit private collections of sporting art in the United Kingdom and abroad. Past countries visited include America, the Irish Republic, France, Austria, Portugal, Belgium and Spain. Closer to home, the recent AGM (22 April 2009) held at the All England Tennis Club, Wimbledon, included a lunch, a visit to the Tennis Museum and a guided tour of the whole complex with an explanation of the mechanics of the new Centre Court roof. There are also invitations to private views of exhibitions and sales of sporting art.

During my 30 or so years as a member of the Trust, I have seen it develop and grow far beyond the expectations of its founders. There are now plans for a further exciting expansion at Newmarket. Visit: www.bsat.co.uk