Delfina Entrecanales

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Delfina Entrecanales
Born1927 (1927)
Spain
NationalitySpanish
Occupationpatron of the arts
Known forFounder and Chairwoman Emeritus of the Delfina Foundation

Delfina Entrecanales de Azcárate CBE (born 1927) is a Spanish-born arts philanthropist established in England since she was 19 year-old. She is the Founder and Chairwoman Emeritus of the Delfina Foundation, an independent non-for-profit organisation devoted to supporting artists through a residency programme and exhibition space in London. She retired from the Board of Trustees in 2020.[1]

She was born into an affluent family, as the first child of industrialist José Entrecanales Ibarra and María de Azcárate.[2] Her father, an engineer, was the founder of the multimillion company known today as Acciona[3] and her mother came from a progressive family linked to the Institución Libre de Enseñanza.[2]

By the end of the Spanish Civil War many of her relatives were in exile and his father decided to send her abroad, away from Franco’s dictatorship.[3] She moved to Oxford to learn English and stayed at the household of a scholar and priest – who later would become the Bishop of Exeter – and his wife, who tutored her.[2] During her time in Oxford she also met her first husband, a banker, with whom she had four children.[2] One of her sons died at the age of 17 in a car accident, a tragic event that marked her life.[2][4]

When her marriage ended, after 20 years, she decided to stay in England instead of returning to Spain and became a socialite and a patron.[3] In the 1970s she bought a farm with several cottages in Little Bedwin (Wiltshire) where she hosted a number of musicians, providing them with accommodation and space to work. She first offered to his friend Robert Wyatt, of Soft Machine, the possibility to set up his recording studio at the farm while he was recovering from an accident.[5] Members of Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield and Richard Branson, among other names from the music scene, also spent some time at the farm.

Even though her intention was to keep supporting musicians, following the advice of a friend who taught at the Royal College of Art, she decided to shift her patronage activity to the visual arts after realizing that the equipment they would need was far too expensive.[6] In the meantime, she had married her second husband, Digby Squires, who was 25 years younger than her.[2] The couple stayed together for 30 years and worked together to establish the Delfina Studio Trust.[3]

Contribution to the arts[]

In 1988 the Delfina Studio Trust opened its doors at a former jeans factory in Stratford, east London.[3] Four years later, it moved to a bigger space in Bermondsey Street, a former chocolate factory that after being refurbished provided accommodation, studio rooms, a gallery and a canteen where artists could eat for £1.[3][5][7] A long list of now internationally renowned artists were supported by the Delfina Studio Trust, including , , Glenn Brown, Jane & Louise Wilson, Keith Tyson, , Mark Francis, Mark Wallinger, Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand, Tomoko Takahashi, , William Kentridge or Wim Delvoye, among many others.[2][8] Some of those artists went then to be winners or finalists of some of the most prestigious awards in the sector, including the Turner Prize.[2][5][9]

After the end of her second marriage she withdrew from her activity as a patron for some time but then in 2005, during a trip to Syria with her close friend and international human rights lawyer Mark Muller, she decided to resume her work supporting artists.[2][3][5] In 2007 the Delfina Foundation opened to the public, housed in an Edwardian building near Victoria, in central London.[3] Although initially it had a particular focus on Middle East and North of Africa artists,[10] now the work of the Foundation is not limited to any specific geographies.[11]

She then bought the house next door and combined the two properties into one unified structure, designed by London’s and Cairo-based architect Shahira Fahmy, which has space to host eight artists and also includes a library, communal kitchen, offices and an exhibition space.[7] Coinciding with the opening of the new building, the programme also shifted from a regional focus to a thematic approach,[3] starting with a pluriannual residential programme on ‘the Politics of Food’.[12] Unlike most patrons, Entrecanales is not an art collector and instead defines herself as a “collector of artists”, having supported more than 600 artists worldwide with her philanthropic work: "The one thing I want you to make clear is that I am not a collector. I collect artists, not art!".[3] Establishing a deep connection with artists is what drives her work: "Meeting inspiring people, and inspiring other people. My relationship with the artists is why I've done it; all the other things, I don't care about it. I am like a grandmother, to all of them."[9]

In recognition for her contribution to the arts, she was made a Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List in 2012,[13] the year of the Diamond Jubilee, and she was also the recipient The Prince of Wales Medal for Philanthropy in the Arts in 2013.[14] In 2016 a Spanish association of female entrepreneurs (Asociación Mujer Siglo XXI de Empresarias de Bilbao) also gave her an award for her patronage work.[2][4]

References[]

  1. ^ "Founder and Trustees". Delfina Foundation. Retrieved 2 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Nieto, Maite (2016-06-28). "Delfina Entrecanales, la gran madrina del arte". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Spence, Rachel (2013-10-11). "Delfina Entrecanales: the patron who collects artists, not art". Financial Times. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  4. ^ a b "Delfina Entrecanales: "Mi vida está marcada por la muerte de mi hijo"". abc (in Spanish). 2016-05-01. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  5. ^ a b c d "Delfina Entrecanales, la 'reina madre' del arte joven". Tendencias del Mercado del Arte. November 2015. Retrieved 1 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Delfina Entrecanales, coleccionista de artistas". Sitio web del Ministerio de Inclusión, Seguridad Social y Migraciones. Portal Carta de España (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  7. ^ a b Magazine, Wallpaper* (2014-01-31). "Studio Octopi and Shahira Fahmy design the new Delfina Foundation in London". Wallpaper*. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  8. ^ "How curator Salma Tuqan is raising the art profile of the Middle East". The National. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  9. ^ a b "How we met: Delfina Entrecanales & Mark Wallinger - 'I don't know". The Independent. 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  10. ^ "Abbas Akhavan Site Specific Work At London Delfina Foundation". Artlyst. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  11. ^ "Delfina's Thematic Programmes". Delfina Foundation.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "The Politics of Food". Delfina Foundation. Retrieved 1 October 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ Guardian Staff (2012-06-15). "Queen's birthday honours list 2012: GCB, DBE and CBE". The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
  14. ^ "Prince of Wales gives medals to 'art champions'". BBC News. 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2021-10-01.
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