Tate has acquired two works for its national collection through its 2026 acquisition fund, bringing artists Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Luis Fernando Zapata into the collection for the first time. The announcement, dated 15 October, covers a contemporary painting shown at the London contemporary-art fair and a sculpture presented at the associated historical-art fair.
Yearwood-Dan’s Peace Unknown (2026) was acquired from Hauser & Wirth’s presentation at the London contemporary-art fair. The work measures 2.2 metres square and combines glitter, glass beads, paper, ribbon, lustred earthenware and oil on canvas. Born in London in 1994, Yearwood-Dan joins the collection with a large-scale work built from varied materials and surface treatments.
The second acquisition is Barge (1992), by Colombian artist Luis Fernando Zapata, who lived from 1951 to 1994. Made with natural pigments on hand-moulded papier-mâché, the sculpture measures 186 centimetres high, 62 centimetres wide and 10 centimetres deep. It was acquired from Galería Elvira Moreno and Alonso Garcés Galería at the associated historical-art fair.
Two distinct approaches to material
The pair brings markedly different materials and periods into the collection. Yearwood-Dan’s painting layers industrial and craft materials with oil on canvas, while Zapata’s sculpture uses pigment and shaped papier-mâché. Tate’s interim director described the works as demonstrating varied approaches to materiality, pointing to layered surfaces and the use of natural and found materials.
The purchases were made through the 2026 fund, supported by Alexander Lewis, Alexander V. Petalas and other supporters. The arrangement enables Tate to acquire works presented at the two London fairs for the national collection. It also connects the acquisitions to a wider pattern of collecting: Tate has acquired more than 180 works by over 100 artists at the London contemporary-art fair since the fair began in 2003.
Some earlier purchases are already on view. Tate Britain’s current Art Now exhibition includes two paintings by Mohammed Z Rahman acquired in 2024, while Tate Modern’s Gathering Ground display includes bark paintings by Naminapu Maymuru-White from the same year. Other recent acquisitions are displayed across Tate’s galleries, including works by Frida Orupabo, Tessa Boffin, Tourmaline, Rita Keegan and Adam Farah-Saad.
The two acquisitions also show the fund’s reach across different parts of the fair programme. One comes from a contemporary gallery presentation at the London contemporary-art fair; the other was acquired at the associated historical-art fair, where the presentation included a work made more than three decades ago. Their different materials, dates and formats place a contemporary, mixed-media painting alongside a sculpture made from natural pigments and papier-mâché.
The fund is one route by which Tate builds its holdings through purchases at the London fairs. Earlier acquisitions have been displayed in its own galleries and shared with museums and galleries elsewhere in the UK and beyond. That wider circulation is part of the collection’s public role, although the announcement does not say whether either new work will travel to another institution.
Tate intends the newly acquired works to be enjoyed by the public in its galleries and beyond. No display dates or specific venues for Peace Unknown and Barge were included in the announcement. The acquisitions add the two artists to the collection, but the announcement does not set out a timetable for when visitors will first be able to see them.
