Collector turns Fortnum & Mason into gallery for British art

Retail magnate turned art collector Frank Cohen has gone back to the shop floor with an exhibition of work by names including Tracey Emin and the Chapman Brothers at Fortnum & Mason.

Mr Cohen, 72, who made his fortune running a DIY chain, has lent more than 60 works to the Piccadilly store for a month. He said the idea started after he sat next to Fortnums boss Ewan Venters at a dinner for the wedding anniversary of their friend, novelist Howard Jacobson. “Fortnums is a British institution and I’ve always been a big collector of British art from the moment I had a penny in the Seventies,” Mr Cohen said.

He has not seen many of his 350 works “as they are in storage which is stupid because I love them”.

Mr Venters said he hoped customers would be captivated by the “innovative collaboration”.

The exhibition, Fortnum’s X Frank, opens today, and is timed to run alongside the Frieze art fair in October.