A Lifetime of Collecting: The Lord Jacobs Collection

Lifelong collectors and committed patrons of the arts, Lord Anthony and Lady Evelyn Jacobs assembled an extraordinary array of paintings, sculptures and objects that together span several centuries. From their enduring passion for contemporary art to their keen pursuit of antiquities, the Jacobs’ impressive collection is defined by the juxtaposition of diverse media and styles, encouraging dialogues and tensions between individual works. Featuring significant paintings by Roy Lichtenstein, Jean Dubuffet and Morris Louis, the collection places particular focus on the shifting relationships between abstraction and Pop Art on both sides of the Atlantic. With many key pieces acquired during the 1970s and 1980s – a time when collecting contemporary art was relatively unusual in London – the works offered in the Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions reflect the couple’s pioneering taste, their international outlook and their astute curatorial vision.

Jean DeBuffet (1901-1985),Tasse de thé V (utopique) (Cup of Tea V (Utopian)). signed and dated ‘J. Dubuffet 66’ (lower right); signed, titled and dated ‘Tasse de thé V (utopique) J., Dubuffet janvier 66’ (on the reverse), vinyl paint on canvas, 51 1/8 x 31 7/8in. (130 x 81.1cm.). Painted in January 1966.

As a businessman, politician and philanthropist, who was created a life peer in 1997, Lord Jacobs’s diverse professional career was matched by his eclectic artistic interests, and his wide-ranging involvement in contemporary society was reflected in the artworks that the couple admired. Uniting the collection is the observation of everyday life: from Roy Lichtenstein’s and Ben Nicholson’s engagement with the tradition of still life painting to Dubuffet’s interest in domestic objects and the hustle and bustle of daily existence. Dubuffet’s work anticipated many of the themes of Pop Art, and the connection between paintings such as his Tasse de thé V (utopique), 1966, and Lichtenstein’s Apples, Grapes, Grapefruit, 1974, brings this lineage into focus. For artists who played with the language of mass media, such as Lichtenstein and Tom Wesselmann, their fascination with quotidian imagery transcended the content of their work to explore the methods of its production. The distinction between art and artifice was also central to the work of Morris Louis, whose unique staining technique deliberately emphasised the base materiality of the canvas. For the Jacobs, whose lives were immersed in the changing currents of business, society and politics, art grounded in contemporary reality held a strong appeal.

Morris Louis (1912-1962), Number 36. acrylic on canvas, 83 7/8 x 38 3/8in. (213 x 97.4cm.) Painted in 1962.

The Jacobs were inspired to start collecting art while living in a suburban house in north-west London. Looking to enliven their decor, they purchased L. S. Lowry’s Standing Woman, 1962, along with Modigliani’s Nu debout de profil, 1910–11, and Ben Nicholson’s Nov 51 (silver and black), 1951, on a single day in 1968. A few years later they moved to a large, modern space in Regent’s Park, which they transformed into a triplex apartment. At Lady Jacobs’s suggestion, they commissioned the innovative French designer François Catroux – whose wife Betty was a model and muse for Yves Saint Laurent – to work on the apartment’s interior. Extremely avant-garde for its time, Catroux’s contemporary open-plan design featured a spacious living area and large walls. Realising that their current collection of artworks would be lost within this new space, the Jacobs began to seek out bigger, bolder pieces to adorn their home. The American Color Field painters were their starting point: Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland and Helen Frankenthaler, as well as Lichtenstein. Over the years, the Jacobs were exposed to a number of new artists, including Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente and Julian Schnabel.

Their own carefully honed taste always lay at the heart of their collection. They were committed to the artists they admired, and regularly attended exhibitions in order to remain up-to-date with their most current work. Today, the works they acquired stand as a reflection of the Jacobs’ uncompromising eye for quality and their longstanding devotion to the art of their time.