Bomberg's Racehorses, 1913, arguably the best and most famous of all the artist's drawings from his Vorticist period, and probably the only one of this calibre and time still in private hands, was bought at Sotheby's on 17th November 2004 for a six-figure sum by Ben Uri Gallery, the London Jewish Museum of Art.

Richard Cork, Art Critic of The Times and a leading Bomberg expert, has described the work:

"David Bomberg's Racehorses drawing is an outstanding example of the draughtsmanship he developed as a precocious young student at the Slade School of Art. It is the finest of a series he produced between 1912 and the following year, at a time when Bomberg and many of his fellow-students were caught up in the revolutionary fervour of pre-war avant-garde innovation in art."

Mike Hill, Director of Ben Uri Gallery, said:

"Bomberg is a key figure in the history of British art, and the work is key in terms of the artist's development. It was vital that it remained in this country and available for public exhibition. The last time this happened was in the Tate Retrospective of 1988. Other major collections were unable to put a funding package together. This was one reason why Ben Uri felt an obligation to acquire this masterpiece and add it to our already strong holding of the artist's work."

David Glasser, Chairman of the Museum, said:

"This work is perhaps Bomberg's finest achievement. It was painted in 1913 in the East End of London, just at the time when the need for a Ben Uri as a Jewish museum of art was being recognised and discussed. For Ben Uri, it was a hugely ambitious project to raise such a sum in just 14 days but when the work, which achieved a world record price in 1990, came back on the market, we mobilised the knowledge, expertise and indefatigable energy of the whole Ben Uri team. We are immensely grateful to the representatives of the HLF, The Art Fund and the MLA/V&A Purchase Grant Fund for supporting the bid with around £100,000 of public funds, which was enhanced by further substantial sums from the Julius Silman Charitable Trust and from supporters in the UK and aboard. We pay public tribute to them all for their support."

Ben Uri Gallery is Europe's only dedicated Jewish Museum of Art. It is said that a collection is judged by its finest works. Ben Uri, through the vision of its early pioneers and its current acquisition policy - featuring Mark Gertler's Rabbi & Rabbitzen, Epstein's important Bust of Jacob Kramer and now a Bomberg masterpiece - is internationally recognised as having a very fine and immensely valuable collection: a jewel equally in the British and Jewish crowns.