The Stedley Art Foundation Collection: Between Private Initiative and The Public-Private Space

Abstract

The relevance of this study is determined by the growing role of private art foundations and collections in shaping the contemporary cultural landscape and transforming traditional models of institutional representation of art. In the context of rethinking the boundaries between the private and the public, such initiatives acquire particular significance for art history, museum studies, and cultural theory. The research problem lies in the insufficient scholarly examination of private collections as hybrid institutional forms operating within the public cultural space. Existing studies tend to address either museum institutions or private collecting practices separately, without offering an integrated art-historical analysis of their interaction. The scientific novelty of the study consists in a comprehensive art-historical interpretation of the Stedley Art Foundation collection as a hybrid institutional model situated between private initiative and the public–private space. For the first time, the collection is analysed not only as an assemblage of artworks, but as a dynamic cultural mechanism that generates curatorial narratives, educational contexts, and alternative forms of public access to art. The subject of the study is the set of conceptual, curatorial, and institutional mechanisms through which the Stedley Art Foundation collection functions at the intersection of private collecting and the public cultural environment. The object of the study is the Stedley Art Foundation collection as an integral artistic and institutional phenomenon within contemporary Ukrainian art. The study aims to identify and analyse the specific features of the Stedley Art Foundation as a space in which private collecting initiative intersects with public cultural discourse. The methodological framework of the research is based on art-historical, institutional, comparative, philosophical, and axiological methods, as well as the analysis of curatorial practices, visual narratives, and empirical interview material. The study generalises and critically engages with the works of Ukrainian and international scholars and practitioners, including V. Blikhara, L. Levchuk, B. Pylypushko, V. Sakharuk, G. Poberizhna, K. Tsyhykalo, J.-C. Marcadé, and others, whose research addresses aesthetics, private collecting, institutional critique, and contemporary artistic practices. The research examines the principles of collection formation, curatorial strategies, and models of public representation implemented by the Stedley Art Foundation, with particular attention to the role of ethical and aesthetic values in shaping institutional identity. The collection is interpreted as a meaning-producing space that integrates artistic heritage, contemporary discourse, and public engagement. The study concludes that the Stedley Art Foundation represents an alternative model of an art institution in which private ownership does not limit, but rather expands the possibilities of public cultural communication. The findings demonstrate that such hybrid institutions play an increasingly important role in the development of contemporary art, the transformation of cultural landscapes, and the redefinition of the relationship between private initiative and public responsibility.