Courtauld Institute Receives $12 Million to Create Center for British Art

London’sCourtauld Institute of Artis set to build a new center for British art, thanks to a $12 million donation from the Manton Foundation earmarked for that purpose. The institute in a press release noted that the forthcomingManton Center for British Art—named for the US philanthropic foundation established in 1991 by Britsh American art collectors Edwin and Florence Manton—“will help secure the Courtauld’s ambition of becoming a world leader in the field of British art” and “will serve as an intellectual hub for art historians, curators, critics, artists and students nationally and internationally.”

The Courtauld’s British art specialists will help guide the development of the center and its activities. The center will open first at the institute’s Vernon Square campus before moving into purpose-designed premises at Somerset House, on a bank of the Thames. Students studying British art for their master’s degrees will be able to use it as a base, as will Courtauld Ph.D. students researching British art.

“Our new Manton Center will place British art in a global context, and aim to deliver truly world-class teaching and research in this rich, endlessly fascinating field of study,” said Courtauld director Mark Hallett in a statement. “The center will support students through a generously endowed program of scholarships, and offer a dynamic program of activities and events across the year. We are hugely grateful to the Manton Foundation for their generous gift, which will enable us to support the very best new thinking and teaching on British art for generations to come.”

The Manton Foundation is currently overseen by the Mantons’ descendants. Though the late couple resided in New York beginning in the 1930s, they retained a love of British art, donating significant amounts to London’s Tate Gallery—for which Edwin was knighted—and amassing a collection of British art, held by the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Massachusetts, that is thought to be one of the world’s best. Edwin Manton was succinct regarding the couple’s collecting, noting, “It’s better than spending your money on bottles of Scotch.”