An unexpected bequest has allowed York Art Gallery to press ahead with its development plans. Steve Pratt finds out more

THE brother and sister behind the £2m bequest that kickstarted York Art Gallery’s current £8m development remain something of a mystery.

Now a new exhibition, Finding The Value, not only acknowledges that gift but also uses some of the items in the collection that Peter Madsen left to York Museums Trust to create new art works.

The trust wasn’t aware of Peter Madsen.

“The first we knew was when we got a letter and cheque from his solicitor saying he’s left you this,” recalls Dr Janet Barnes, chief executive of the trust. “We had no idea he was going to leave us anything. I never met Peter, although he did write us a letter in the last weeks of his life. He was quite a quiet man and we don’t have any pictures of him.

“We know very little about Peter and his sister Karen. He was a scientist who worked in Reading. We’re in contact with one of his old colleagues. His sister worked in the medical world. She retired to York and he must have followed. They lived in separate houses.”

The bequest prompted the trust to press ahead with development plans for the art gallery, which will create 60 per cent more exhibition space and a new ceramics centre.

“We had the development in mind and had done quite a lot of thinking about it. When this money came along we thought now is the moment. Armed with £2m, we were able to seek more funding,” says Dr Barnes.

As well as the financial bequest, Peter Madsen also left his collection of paintings, prints, books and ethnographic and decorative art – too many items to keep and not all related to the current art gallery collections. “A lot of his collection was still in its wrapping. You can tell he bought a lot but didn’t display it all. We selected some pieces, so we have a capsule Madsen collection,” Dr Barnes explains.

“Some pieces were sold at auction in London to raise funds for the gallery. The remainder of the collection would have gone to local auctions but we decided to do something creative with them.

“We began asking why these items weren’t worth so much. He’d collected them over a few years, people who’d owned them originally had paid for them and a lot of effort had gone into making these objects and looking after them. So we thought perhaps we should do something a bit more active with them rather than just put them out to auction.

“What’s the value of these objects? Do we value the association with an artist or is it just to do with hard money? And with the ethnographical material, do we only value work from our own culture?”

In a bid to find answers, the trust invited artists to take away items from the collection and create new works. Five artists have made original works based on items from the Madsen collection, which are on show in the Finding The Value exhibition at York St Mary’s contemporary art space in the city centre.

“We said they could do what they liked with the items and they went, ‘Oh’ because normally you’re not even allowed to touch.

But they’ve all been very respectful. They were given freedom, although no one said we’re going to burn it and give you the ashes.

They’ve painted on them, cut them up, made them into other things and put them together,” says Dr Barnes.

Andrew Bracey chose a selection of paintings and then blanked out the human figures with abstract shapes. Alison Erika Forde found a cast of characters, including three blind mice and a tiny ceramic dog, in the collection to reimagine for new paintings.

Yvette Hawkins took a small collection of Japanese hand-bound books along with prints and paintings on Japanese rice paper.

She used silkworms to mend and preserve the books which had been damaged by insects and the decay of time.

The artwork Legacy was made by Susie MacMurray from small items that she has wrapped in gold-plated wire and packed into an old suitcase belonging to Madsen. The objects are displayed with a pair of paintings, which she has gilded with gold leaf.

Passed On, created by Simon Venus, can be seen as a eulogy to the Madsens. A kinetic sculpture, it uses an eclectic selection of objects and images drawn from the collection, which are arranged in three animated tableaux.

The majority of the works are for sale with proceeds going to York Art Gallery, which is set to reopen in the middle of next year.

  • Finding The Value continues at York St Mary’s, Castlegate, until November 2. Open daily from 10am-5pm. Admission free.