Tate collection gains £14m of works

(PA)

Art worth almost £14 million was added to the collection of the Tate galleries in the last year.

The 293 works include 33 paintings, 22 sculptures and 41 installations from all over the world.

The organisation now has acquisitions committees in the Middle East, Latin America and Asia and work from as far afield as Lebanon, South Korea, Cuba and Algeria has been brought into the collection.

Tate director Sir Nicholas Serota said: "This year we have taken our collection in new directions. It has been enriched through the energetic focus of our curators on acquiring works from dynamic emerging art centres across the world."

Among the work added to the collection in 2009-2010 were eight etchings by poet and artist William Blake which had been tucked inside a railway timetable.

They were found by chance and bought by the Tate, with the help of a donation from the Art Fund charity, for £441,000.

Other work, including paintings by members of the early 20th century London painters dubbed the Camden Town group, was given in lieu of inheritance tax.