Bacon collection worth £20m could be lost to France after row between Tate and donor
FRANCIS BACON treasures could be lost to France after a row erupted between the Tate and the artist’s friend.
Canadian writer Barry Joule was a long-term friend of Bacon and was left a huge amount of his archive material after the artist died aged 82 in 1992.
Mr Joule said he had wanted the items to go to the Tate, which was the artist’s favourite gallery.
He went on to donate an estimated £20million worth of his material in 2004, including more than 1,200 sketches, photographs and documents from Bacon’s studio.
The donation, which included Bacon’s intricate oil study of the head of poet and painter William Blake, was described as one of the biggest gifts the gallery had ever received.
But now, 17 years later, Mr Joule has threatened legal action over claims he repeatedly wrote to staff at the museum to ask why they had still not displayed the works.
He is threatening to withdraw his multi-million pound gift and donate it to a French museum instead. Mr Joule told The Observer: “In 2008, the Tate held a large Bacon exhibition. Not a single item from my 2004 Tate donation was included.”
He explained the French museum, the Musée Picasso, in Paris, had displayed 80 Bacon drawings he donated. He added: “All these donated drawings were exhibited in a large Bacon/picasso painting exhibition held at the Musée Picasso in 2005.
“The Musée Picasso published a handsome separate catalogue. The exhibition was a huge success and, two years later, the French government awarded me the highly sought-after Chevalier des Ordres des Arts et des Lettres – the French equivalent of a knighthood.” He also said in an email to Maria Balshaw, the Tate’s director, which was seen by The Observer, that he was prepared to take legal action over the delay in the material being displayed.
He wrote: “If a satisfactory conclusion is not reached by October 2021 over the exhibition terms of the Tatejoule contract, I shall most seriously consider taking the legal path for resolution of this very frustratingly long outstanding troubling matter – one which clearly means I shall seek the complete return of this my 2004 Tate Francis Bacon studio donation.
“And so the matter may ultimately be decided in the courts.”
After receiving the donation in 2004, the Tate said: “Tate will undertake to study, photograph and catalogue the collection over the next three years, before displaying these items and making them available for loan.”
The gallery said in a response to The Observer: “We have proposed a meeting with Barry Joule in September.”
The Daily Telegraph contacted the Tate for a comment.