Press Releases

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales awarded the Richard Hamilton Acquisiton Prize in New York

Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales was yesterday (Thursday, 3 November 2016) presented the Richard Hamilton Acquisiton Prize at The International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA) Print Fair in New York, providing $10,000 for the acquisition of one or more prints from any period.

Amgueddfa Cymru is only the second museum from the UK to be awarded the prize, which is named after the acclaimed artist Richard Hamilton, the British pioneer of Pop art, and sponsored by Champion & Partners. The Prize has previously been awarded to the Cincinnati Art Museum (2015), the Portland Art Museum (2014), the British Museum (2013) and the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2012).

The award, established in 2012, provides up to $10,000 to support a museum acquisition at the IFPDA Print Fair of one or more prints from any period with the caveat of the acquisition needing to be finalized before the close of the fair.

For Amgueddfa Cymru the Prize will make a significant contribution to developing their collection.

Beth McIntyre, Senior Curator of Prints and Drawings, Amgueddfa Cymru:

“I am delighted that we have been awarded the Richard Hamilton Acquisition Prize. This prize will enable us to continue to develop the print collection and fulfil our important aim of providing access to artworks of international significance to people in Wales.” 

David Anderson, Director General, added:

“This is a real coup not only for our curator Beth McIntyre and Amgueddfa Cymru but for Wales and the UK. Yet again, we have an opportunity to demonstrate the standard of Wales’s art collection to the world and add to the richness of that collection through such a prestigious award. I must thank those responsible for selecting Amgueddfa Cymru and Champion & Partners for allowing us the opportunity to grow our important collection of fine art.”

The art collection at National Museum Cardiff houses around 40,000 works on paper. These comprise watercolours, drawings, prints, sketchbooks and albums. It is a broad-based collection, ranging from prints by Rembrandt and Picasso to watercolours by Cézanne and Turner and drawings by Burne-Jones and David Nash.