The Spirit Now London Committee at Frieze London 2025, selecting this year’s winning works for the Acquisition Prize

Every year, collectors’ group Spirit Now London awards a prize to artworks at Frieze London to highlight the work of often-overlooked women artists, and acquire their work for an institution. Chaired by Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnere, the fourth edition of this prize saw a partnership with Frieze and the National Portrait Gallery to select the 2025 winners of the Acquisition Prize.

The winners, artists Madge Gill and Stella Snead have their selected works acquired and donated to the National Portrait Gallery.

The ‘Spirit of Giving Committee’, chaired by Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre and guided by Dr. Flavia Frigeri, Director of Collections at the National Portrait Gallery, gathered earlier this month during the Frieze opening preview to view the works in person and vote, after months of deliberation. The selection took place in the presence of Victoria Siddall, Director of the National Portrait Gallery and previous Global Director of Frieze.

The Spirit Now London committee is by-invitation only, made up of patrons, collectors and those dedicated to promoting cultural institutions, women artists and emerging artists. LUX Editor-in-Chief Darius Sanai (head of the table, back) joined the convocation over lunch at Frieze Masters

The prestigious committee is made up of some of London’s highest-ranking collectors and patrons to support women artists and cultural institutions. The 2025 Committee members were Amy Ainscough, Eva Anisko, Elizabeth Belfer, Francesca Brignone, Areti Dalacoura, Rocío de la Cuadra, Maryam Eisler, Catherine Gale, Maria Hatzistefanis, Carla du Manoir, Camilla Partridge, Laura Stock, Vanessa Mitchell Thompson and Lara Veroner.

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The award recognises two artists whose practices offer distinct perspectives on spirituality, identity, and imagination. The first is Madge Gill (1882–1961), who was a self-taught British artist known for her detailed ink drawings of female figures, often guided by what she described as a spirit named ‘Myrninerest’. While mostly painted on small postcard-sized pieces of calico, her visionary works explore themes of mysticism, femininity, and inner vision.

The selected winning piece by Madge Gill, Untitled, 1954

Stella Snead (1910–2006), is the second of the two winners. A British-born Surrealist painter and photographer whose career spanned London, New York, and India, her paintings often combined dreamlike landscapes with symbolic figures and natural forms.

Read more: The first ever Jodhpur Arts Week just opened

After relocating to India in the 1950s, Snead turned to photography, documenting rituals, festivals, and folk traditions. Both winners of the Acquisition Prize were deeply concerned with the importance of mysticism and imagination, topics often looked down upon within the reigning art historical canon.

Stella Snead’s winning pieces, titled Portraits of Leonora Carrington, 1978

Stella Snead, Portraits of Leonora Carrington, 1978

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Some of Spirit Now’s London members during a meeting to decide the shortlist for the 2024 Prize, ahead of Frieze

An art prize awarded by some of London’s leading art collectors, in collaboration with Frieze Art Fair and the University of Cambridge, has announced Bambou Gili, Asemahle and Shafei Xia as its 2024 winners. Taya Suleyman reports

Bambou Gili, Asemahle Ntlonti, and Shafei Xia are the winners of the Spirit Now London Acquisition Prize announced at Frieze London. The prize, which celebrates emerging female artists of the age of 40 or below in collaboration with The Women’s Art Collection, was awarded by sixteen members from the Spirit of Giving Committee chaired by Marie-Laurie de Clermont-Tonnerre, founder and director of Spirit Now London, alongside Harriet Loffler, curator of The Women’s Art Collection.

Bambou Gili, announced as one of the winners, is known for her surreal, figurative oil paintings that reference art historical compositions but through a contemporaneous lens that employs esoteric tonal palettes. Reflecting on contemporary life, friendships, and interiority, Gili creates an imagined community of affection and care. With a palette of blues, greens, and turquoise, Legally Stev (2024) reflects Gili’s interest in observing intimate moments from afar.

Gili’s latest oil painting for Frieze, Legally Stev (2024), portrays a close confidante of the artist in a moment of quiet repose, capturing an intimate sense of rest and reflection

Asemahle Ntlonti took home the prize for her deeply expressive paintings, which emerge from building up and stripping away material. Her ancestral homeland in the Eastern Cape of South Africa is a source of inspiration as her work is filled with nostalgia and longing, painting cracked, mud-veined surfaces that evoke the land’s deep emotional resonance. Her paintings become a poignant inquiry into ancestry, history, and the search for belonging.

Working directly on the floor to fully engage her body in the process, Ntlonti gradually builds her pieces by instinctively layering and removing material as seen in this painting Uhambo (2024)

Multi-media artist, Shafei Xia was also named a winner. Drawing from the bold, sensual style of Japanese shunga and 19th-century Chinese erotic paintings, Xia explores the complex dimensions of love—its passion, jealousy, and even violence—through a lens of elegance and refinement. Her work celebrates female creativity, championing its diversity in all its forms.

Xia’s Fight and the Party (2024), watercolour on sandal paper, evokes a delicate balance between tension and harmony, capturing the intricacies of power dynamics, playfulness, and emotional intensity

A new chapter unfolds for the winners, whose works will soon be acquired and donated to The Women’s Art Collection at Murray Edwards College at The University of Cambridge, which aims to provide a platform for female artists in response to the ongoing underrepresentation of women in museums. Their work will join a collection of over 600 works, including those by notable artists such as Barbara Hepworth, Tracey Emin, and Lubaina Himid.

Within the realm of art and philanthropy, Spirit Now London is an exclusive international community comprised of art patrons, collectors, and friends. The organisation aims to support cultural institutions, promote women and emerging artists, as well as providing financial support for art exhibitions.

Members gain private access to exhibitions, intimate art events, and discussions that encourage thoughtful explorations of contemporary creativity. By facilitating connections among art lovers and cultural visionaries, Spirit Now London seeks to foster a vibrant community that champions emerging talent, enriches the cultural dialogue, and reshapes the narratives of contemporary art.

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The Hepworth Wakefield Museum which will acquire the work of the winner of the second edition of the Spirit Now London Acquisition Prize, supporting young female artists

Now in its second year, the Spirit Now London Acquisition Prize in partnership with Frieze London, brings together and celebrates young female artists offering them a chance to be recognised by leading art institutions

While contemporary women artists are commanding increasing investment and attention, the global art market remains under the sway of male creators. Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre’s Spirit Now London is aiming to keep women in the art world’s spotlight.

Created in 2015, Spirit Now London is a philanthropic community of patrons and collectors aiming to support emerging artists and cultural institutions, with a focus on the work of female artists. Last year, they allocated a £40,000 grant to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to acquire works from the Spotlight section of Frieze Masters; Sylvia Snowden was the artist selected, with her work Brown – Yo II becoming part of the museum’s permanent collection.

Sylvia Snowden, Brown – Yo II, c. 1978. Courtesy the Artist and Franklin Parrasch Gallery. Photo by Michael Adair

The Prize’s second edition is being held this year and aims to recognise and celebrate the outstanding achievements of women artists under 40, allowing one female artist exhibiting at the fair the unique opportunity to have her work acquired and donated to The Hepworth Wakefield’s permanent collection. The Hepworth Wakefield is a publicly funded modern and contemporary art museum located in West Yorkshire, established in 2011 and designed by London-based architect Sir David Chipperfield. The museum draws inspiration from the legacy of renowned 20th-century sculptor Barbara Hepworth, and remains committed to showcasing the works of other talented women artists.

Eva Langret, Artistic Director at Frieze London, said the fair was “honoured to be partnering with Spirit Now London,” also commenting that: “gender parity in the arts is an important conversation, as despite perceived progress, women artists remain underrepresented and undervalued throughout galleries, museums and auction houses.”

Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, founder of Spirit Now London

Headed by Marie-Laure de Clermont-Tonnerre, founder of Spirit Now London, the 2023 Jury is composed of Laura Smith, Director of Collection & Exhibitions at The Hepworth Wakefield; Simon Wallis, Director of The Hepworth Wakefield; and “The Spirit of Giving” Committee, featuring 16 international women, art patrons and collectors, active members from the Spirit Now London community.

The winning artist will be announced on 11th October

Find out more: spiritnowlondon.com