Gilbert Collection

The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Collection is a collection of objets d'art formed by the English-born businessman Sir Arthur Gilbert, who made most of his fortune in the property business in California. After initially becoming interested in silver, he assembled a large collection of decorative art, which he gave the British nation in 1996. It now has a permanent home in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

History

For decades, the collection was on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Sir Arthur 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 in Somerset House in London. The exhibition was fitted out under the supervision of the silver expert Timothy Schroder, and continued until 27 January 2008. The space 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.