Samuel Courtauld (7 May 1876 – 1 December 1947) was an English industrialist who is best remembered as an art collector. He founded The Courtauld Institute of Art in London in 1932 and, after a series of gifts during the 1930s, bequeathed his collection to the institute on his death.
By the early 20th century, the Courtauld family business had become a major international company, having successfully developed and marketed rayon, an artificial fibre and inexpensive silk substitute. Samuel Courtauld took charge of the firm from 1908 as director and as chairman from 1921 to 1946.
Personal life
Courtauld was the son of Sydney Courtauld (1840–1899) and Sarah Lucy Sharpe (1844–1906), and the great-nephew of textile magnate Samuel Courtauld. He was educated at Rugby School. After he finished school he visited Germany and France and studied textile technology to prepare to work in the family business. In 1901, he became director of one of the factories (in Halstead, Essex), then in 1908 the CEO of all plants of the company.
Courtauld provided the bulk of the finances for the founding of The Courtauld Institute of Art. His wealth came from the textile business, but on both sides of his family there were connections with the arts and traditions of patronage going back several generations. Courtauld loved pictures and wrote poems about them. On the advice of Roger Fry and others he bought French Impressionists and Cézannes and took out a lease on the best Robert Adam house in London, Home House, 20 Portman Square, in which to display them - a novel and stunning combination. His example was emulated by his younger brother Stephen, who converted the medieval ruins of Eltham Palace into an Art Deco mansion. Samuel Courtauld was the real Maecenas of the trio, and when his wife died in 1931, he made over the house in Portman Square, together with the pictures, for the use of the new institute until such time as permanent accommodation could be found for them. In the event the Portman Square house was to be the institute's home for almost sixty years.[2]
Courtauld also created a £50,000 acquisition fund for the Tate and National Gallery in London, helping lay the foundations of national collections of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art.
He declined a peerage in 1937.
Family
Samuel Courtauld married Elizabeth Theresa Frances Kelsey on 20 June 1901. The children from this marriage included Sydney Elizabeth Courtauld (1902–1954), who married the politician Rab Butler and was the mother of Richard C. Butler and Adam Butler.[3]