The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection is a collection of ''

objets d'art In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...

'' formed by the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

-born businessman Sir Arthur Gilbert, who made most of his fortune in the property business in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. After initially becoming interested in silver, he assembled a large collection of decorative arts, which he gave the British nation in 1996. It now has a permanent home in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. The V&A describes the objects as: "many in precious materials, and often on a small scale. It is famous for European and British masterpieces including gold and silver,

gold box Gold box may refer to: * Decorative boxes made in gold *'' Gold Box'', a series of video games of 1988 to 1992 * Gold box (phreaking), a phreaking box to create a bridge between two telephone lines {{disam ...

es, painted enamels and mosaics",these last mostly

micromosaic Micromosaics (or micro mosaics, micro-mosaics) are a special form of mosaic that uses unusually small mosaic pieces (tesserae) of glass, or in later Italian pieces an enamel-like material, to make small figurative images. Surviving ancient Roman ...

History

For decades, the collection was on display at the

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

(LACMA), and Gilbert had promised eventually to make it a permanent gift. However, he decided to give the collection to his native country, after a dispute with LACMA regarding the collection's placement and display. In 2000, it went on public display as "The Gilbert Collection" in a suite of seventeen galleries at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large Neoclassical complex situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadrangle was built on the site of a Tudor palace ("O ...

in London, the audio guide narrated by the actor

Tony Clarkin Tony Clarkin (born Anthony Michael Clarkin, 24 November 1946) is an English musician and record producer, best known as the guitarist of the rock band Magnum. He has been the sole songwriter throughout Magnum's history, writing all of the ma ...

. Formerly Private Curator to the Gilbert Collection, Jeanette Hanisee Gabriel was appointed "Honorary Curator of the Gilbert Collection" by the Gilbert Collection Trust in June 2001. The exhibition was fitted out under the supervision of the silver expert Timothy Schroder, and it continued until 27 January 2008. The space then became the Embankment Galleries, an exhibition space for contemporary art. Meanwhile, the collection was incorporated into the Victoria and Albert Museum, where a new display in rooms 70–73 opened on 30 June 2009. In early 2011, fifty objects from the collection were returned, by the provisions of a long-term loan, to LACMA.

References

External links

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection
– official page on the V&A website {{Coord, 51, 29, 48, N, 0, 10, 19, W, region:GB_scale:2000, display=title Collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum Former private collections in the United Kingdom Former private collections in the United States Decorative arts museums in England Hardstone carving Defunct museums in London 2008 disestablishments in England Los Angeles County Museum of Art