Wendy Fisher is President of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Wendy, a trained clinical psychologist, philanthropist, and an artist herself, is a life-long supporter of the arts and is engaged with cultural institutions around the world.  Wendy divides her time between New York, London, and South Africa where she was born. Wendy was a facilitator and a resource for the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO) and overseas the Kirsh Charitable Foundation. Wendy also founded the A4 Arts Foundation, a project space in Cape Town, dedicated to widening access to the arts in Southern Africa. Wendy’s board roles include Performa, Public Art Fund, Tate International Council, and MoMA PS1. Wendy has received numerous recognitions including: the Freedom of the City of London award in recognition of her contribution to the arts. Wendy’s sculpture was featured in the London Olympic Village and Performa named her one of their Renaissance Women of 2014.

She began collecting at the age of twenty when she earned her first paycheck; her first acquisition was a work by the young, then-unknown artist William Kentridge, who was a friend she wanted to support.  Since then she has devoted herself to supporting the work of artists from the countries where she spends her time, as well as emerging, mid-career, and established artists from all over the world. 

Her tremendous and most generous donation towards the administrative and publishing costs of the Young Masters Art Prize 2019 is helping us achieve an outstanding level of execution of our not-for-profit international initiative during this 10th anniversary year.

The Artists’ Collecting Society (ACS) was set up in 2006 as a not-for-profit, Community Interest Company dedicated to the administration of the Artist’s Resale Right and copyright. 

ACS represents over 1,000 artists and artists’ estates including painters, sculptors, photographers, designers, and artists working in glass and ceramics. Their members range from well-known artists such as Frank Auerbach, Eileen Cooper, Paula Rego and Michael Craig-Martin, to estates of important artists such as Lucian Freud, Barbara Hepworth and Howard Hodgkin. They are also proud to represent artists whose work has only recently started to sell regularly on the UK secondary market such as Bambi, Leonor Antunes and Pablo Bronstein. Though its Comunity Interest Initiatives, ACS proudly supports a great variety of prizes, bursaries, community projects and charities.

Maylis Grand and her husband James have generously donated Prize money to a dedicated Ceramics Prize, a unique prize for artists working in ceramic media. Maylis is Head of Product Development for a major European perfumery chain. She is also an avid collector of ceramic art.

SoShiro explores the world for human heritage artistry as a rich and dynamic source of inspiration. We bring this artistry to life through contemporary lifestyle objects.

 The ‘antidote’ to an ever increasingly generic world, SoShiro celebrates skills, traditions and craftsmanship from different cultures through collections of furniture and accessories; drawing from a wide spectrum of artistic disciplines and through an amazing network of collaborations with emerging and established artists and – true – artisans.

 Our pieces are functional works of art that live to tell stories – bringing to life the heritage and spirit of cultural artistic endeavours – created to enrich contemporary lifestyles.

Dr Chris Blatchley is a dedicated patron of the Arts. He generously supports the Prize from 2017 and has again generously donated the money for the Young Masters Emerging Woman Artist Award (previously Emerging Woman Art Prize).

Dr Blatchley is Director of The Glass House Opticians, founder of Capital Aesthetics, and Medical Director of The London Migraine Clinic.

Art Installation Services (AIS) has many years experience of installing artwork in the public, private and commercial sectors throughout the UK and abroad.  Their technicians work with discretion, quietly and quickly though with great care and are able to work at any time during the day or night. AIS are able to arrange framing, transportation, insurance and conservation of artworks as well as project management.

The Love Art Insurance team at Brownhill Insurance Group specialise in insurance for collectors, dealers, galleries and artists as well as those associated with the art world. Being avid collectors themselves, the team appreciate the strong ties that collectors have to their prized possessions. Brownhill Insurance Group have a strong record of excellent customer service and take pride in offering expert cover and being able to offer clients competitive and comprehensive policies. The wider Brownhill family also cater for personal and business insurances.

Hogbens Dunphy’s passion is finding new ways to improve businesses. Established in 1921, they have over 90 years of success providing caring, professional accountancy for The Arts and creative industries, including galleries and public and private art institutions. The firm offers a wide range of services and specialist knowledge of the arts sector. Hogbens Dunphy provides vital accountancy advice including: preparation of projections, cash flow and business plans, arranging finance, bookkeeping tuition and implementing management procedures and systems, tax planning, and business software.

Originally from France, Dr Virginie Lerouge Knight is an artist who has spent more than 25 years living and working in Asia and currently lives in Shanghai.  Dr Lerouge Knight has exhibited extensively in China, Hong Kong and France and specializes in public art projects and installations.  She is also a performance artist, participating in several major theatre productions in both French and English, as well as co-designing and directing experimental theatre performances at the Shanghai Biennale in 2016, the Rockbund Art Museum in Shanghai for the Félix Gonzáles-Torres retrospective exhibition and the architect Tadao Ando’s exhibition at the Pearl Museum which he designed. Drawing on both her artistic and scientific background, Dr Lerouge Knight is passionate about pushing the boundaries of artistic innovation both conceptually and technically, particularly the use of new technologies and materials in the artistic process. 

Brad Blume, Collector & Patron

Director - Rudolph/Blume Collection

Lady Jill Shaw Ruddock CBE is a London-based philanthropist, author, collector of modern and contemporary ceramics and Italian modernist art, and whose charitable work focuses on the arts and quality of life for the over 50s. She was from 1985-1999 the Managing Director and Partner of the London office of the investment bank Alex Brown and Sons. She is married to Sir Paul Ruddock.