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Three autograph letters signed (one in envelope, stamped and postmarked; with 4pp. printed Rodin Statue Fund appeal, single sheet, folded, and twice folded, for posting, again), 7pp. 8vo, Twickenham, 30 December 1900-24 April 1902. Dugald Sutherland MacColl (1859-1948), painter, was at the time of writing art critic for The Saturday Review; from 1901 to 1905 he was Editor of The Architectural Review, from 1906 to 1911 Keeper of the Tate Gallery, and from 1911 to 1924 Curator of the Wallace Collection. Laurence William Hodson (1863-1933), a Wolverhampton brewer, was an active picture collector and patron of the arts, and co-founder with C.R. Ashbee in 1898 of the Essex House Press. As art critic MacColl regrets pressure of work won't allow him to come in person to view the exhibition in Wolverhampton, but proposes to write about it, "pour encourager les autres", if Hodson were to send him the catalogue and tell him "how the thing has been worked". "I wonder," he adds, "if [William] Rothenstein sent you the circular of which I enclose a copy & which I think will interest you. There is some talk of forming a permanent association for buying modern work for the Nat. gallery, or at least making the forces in London [?] get together for some further efforts." The circular promotes the raising of £300 to buy a bronze of Auguste Rodin's St John the Baptist "to be placed in a Public Gallery, preferably South Kensington Museum", and lists an executive committee "to carry out the scheme", and a grand list of subscribers, including MacColl, who have already contributed. The appeal was successful (on 15 May 1902 MacColl attended a dinner held at the Café Royal in Rodin's honour to celebrate the addition of St John the Baptist to the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum) - so successful that MacColl, with Roger Fry and others, did indeed promote the foundation of a "permanent association" for fund-raising. The National Art-Collections Fund (today the Art Fund) was inaugurated at the Society of Antiquaries on 11 November 1903, with an opening balance of £700; Fry and MacColl were voted on to the first Executive Committee. In 1928 MacColl edited the celebratory Twenty-five Years of the National Art-Collections Fund, 1903-1928. Seller Inventory # 32M100286
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