Private Collectors and the Public Institution: In Conversation with Philip Hoffman
- Ollie Gerlach
- Jun 22, 2021
- 7 min read
Updated: Mar 29
Philip Hoffman is Founder and CEO of the Fine Art Group, which focusses on art advisory, investment, and philanthropy. At 33 he became the youngest member of KPMG’s Management Board and later served as its Deputy CEO of Europe. He also worked for Christie’s for 12 years. He regularly comments on the art market in the international press.
The Frick Collection is widely regarded as one of New York’s finest galleries. From the interiors of Vermeer to the forests of Fragonard, any enthusiast, collector or museumgoer would envy its collection. Around 300,000 people visit the collection each year, and in 2019 they saw shows on Giambattista Tiepolo’s Milanese frescoes and on French faience masterpieces.[1] It is easy to forget, though, that the Frick has depended on private collectors since its inception. There would be no Frick Museum without Mr and Mrs Frick, just as there would be no Courtauld Gallery without Samuel Courtauld, and no Kettle’s Yard without Jim and Helen Ede. Museums should remember that private collectors will facilitate their survival in times of trial and tribulation.
In conversation with Philip Hoffman, founder and CEO of the Fine Art Group, this article explores the ways in which the private collector supports the public institution.[2] Hoffman recalls how his clients work with public institutions: they send art around the globe, fund exhibitions, and make gifts to their beloved galleries. Although the idea is counterintuitive, public museums must continue to connect, engage, and communicate with private collectors. Loaning and philanthropy have never been more imperative for ensuring the permanency of our institutions. Collectors and museums are not ‘Romulus and Remus’, as the art world has come to believe. There are, it appears, two spaces on the Capitoline Hill. Our culture benefits from the presence of both collector and institution.
The Fine Art Group manages 140 different collections in 28 countries. From ‘Australia to Chile’ and from ‘New York to London’ its collectors invest in, assemble and donate art. Naturally, some motivations and ambitions are unique to the collector. Personal collections are a store of both monetary and social capital. Moreover, for many, buying art is an investment strategy, since art assets generally rise in value. It is tempting to believe that these objectives go against the public interest. The collector’s ambition to own seems at odds with the institution’s ambition to exhibit, display, and educate. Private collections seem covert rather than overt, isolated rather than accessible. Private is consistently considered ‘versus’ the public.
