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the culture briefi ng
Creative
Accountancy
— Belgium’s art collectors
are discreet in the
extreme, and none more
so than the banks. Hettie
Judah tries to get to the
bottom of the corporate
quest for a perfect private
collection
Writer Hettie Judah
Photography Sarah Michielsen
@ Outlandish
As the international press fl ew over to Beijing
to visit the new Ullens Centre for Contemporary
Art last November, correspondents
expressed surprise that so large and
important a collection of works was at that
point so little known. In the UK and US, at
least, those who buy art tend to want to publicise
the fact. Serious collectors often open
specially designed annexes or host events
in which the public can view their stash in
situ, and many enjoy the high profi le that
involvement with the art world can bring.
But to Guy Ullens’ compatriots, there was
nothing particularly mysterious about the
low-fat magnate’s preference for a low profi
le. As one critic put it matter-of-factly to a
journalist from The Times; “ in Belgium our
collectors are very secretive.”
48 — THE THIRD WORD
01
" Belgian collections may
be hidden from public view,
but many of them are
bulging at the seams
with little sign
of losing their appetite
for new works. "
“Collectors here are extremely signifi cant
on a global level,” explains art advisor Augustin
Dusfrane from his discreet gallery
space in Uccle. “There has always been a
huge culture of collecting, whether Renaissance
furniture, or 20 th Century art. Ullens
started collecting Chinese art before any
Chinese collectors, it has since become very
fashionable and the market price very high.
But most collections are completely private;
they are usually not shown.”
Belgian collections may be hidden from
public view, but many of them, and those of
Belgium’s banks in particular, are bulging at
the seams with little sign of losing their appetite
for new works. Ullens’ Chinese art collection,
now housed in its own world-class gallery,
contains about 1,300 pieces. By contrast
the collection of Belgian art owned by Belgian
bank Dexia carries well over 4,500 works,
with the pick of pieces from the last 150 years
displayed in an exquisite, completely private,
gallery on the top two fl oors of its building on
Brussels’ Boulevard Pachéco Laan.
© SABAM