Begging For Art

“Tate Modern, one of the most popular art galleries in the world, fears for the future. Last week the Tate organisation was forced to beg 23 artists, including David Hockney and Damien Hirst, to donate works it can no longer afford. The Tate is hopelessly outgunned by big spending foreign rivals in the acquisition of important work… The Tate estimates that, given the cuts or freezing of its government funds year after year, and inflation in market prices of as much as 1,000 per cent, the organisation’s buying power is now about 5 per cent of what it was 20 years ago.”