Nicholas Serota
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sir Nicholas Andrew Serota (born April 27, 1946) is a curator, and is currently Director of the Tate Gallery, the United Kingdom's national gallery of modern and British art. As such he is often involved in controversy. He was the driving force behind the creation of Tate Modern.
Contents |
[edit] Early life
Nicholas Serota, the son of Stanley and Beatrice Serota, grew up in Hampstead, North London. His father was a civil engineer and his mother a Labour Minister for Health in Harold Wilson's government, later becoming a life peer and governor of the BBC. Serota was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School and then read Economics at the University of Cambridge (Christ's), before switching to History of Art. He completed a Masters degree at the Courtauld Institute of Art under the supervision of Anthony Blunt and Anita Brookner; his thesis was on the work of J. M. W. Turner.
In 1970, he joined the Arts Council of Great Britain's Visual Arts Department as a regional exhibitions officer, and in 1973 he was made Director of the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford. There he organised an important early exhibition of work by Joseph Beuys and formed an important working relationship with Alexander "Sandy" Nairne, who would work with Serota at various points in the following years.
[edit] Whitechapel directorship
In 1976, Serota was appointed Director of the Whitechapel Gallery in London's East End. The Whitechapel was well regarded but had suffered from lack of resources, and during his Directorship it was possible to organise only a limited number of major exhibitions a year. Serota assembled at the Whitechapel a talented staff including Jenni Lomax (later Director of the Camden Arts Centre) and Susan Fergler Brades (later Director of the Hayward Gallery), and organised influential exhibitions of Carl Andre and Gerhard Richter as well as early exhibitions of then emerging artists such as Antony Gormley.
In 1980, assisted by Alexander "Sandy" Nairne , he organised a two-part exhibition of 20th Century British Sculpture, on a scale which had not been seen in the UK before. In 1981 he curated 'The New Spirit in Painting', with Norman Rosenthal for the Royal Academy. In 1984-5 Serota took the bold step of shutting down the Whitechapel for over 12 months for extensive refurbishment. The success of this was instrumental in Serota's appointment in 1988 as Director of the Tate Gallery
[edit] Tate Gallery directorship
The Tate Gallery that Serota took over was in a perilous state. The UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had declared a policy that the arts would be subject to market forces. Although the Tate Gallery received a government grant, it was not enough to provide for major purchases, especially at a time when the art market was inflated, as it was in the late 1980s. Moreover, the Tate Gallery was in need of expansion, as the existing exhibition space could show only 10% of the collection. The opening of the Clore Wing (1987) and of affiliate galleries Tate Liverpool (1988) and Tate St Ives (1993) helped to alleviate the problem.
In 1989 Serota inaugurated a programme called 'New Displays' in which the central Duveen Galleries were restored and collection works were rotated. A more ambitious programme of special exhibitions was started with 'Late Rothko' in 1988, and the Turner Prize was redefined as a showcase for emerging contemporary art (Serota as Director has a permanent place on the judging panel for the prize).
Major expansion of the Tate Gallery had been seen as inevitable for two decades. In 1993 the creation of the National Lottery made it possible to anticipate the availability of major public funding for an enlarged Gallery. In 1995 Tate received £52 Million towards the conversion of the former Bankside Power Station to create Tate Modern. The final cost was £150 million; Serota managed to secure the funds to make up the shortfall from a range of private sources. Tate Modern opened in May 2000 and quickly became a sightseeing fixture of London. As well as housing acclaimed new works by Louise Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor, the Gallery has also provided the base for successful exhibitions of Donald Judd, Picasso, Matisse and Edward Hopper.
In 1998, Serota conceived of Operation Cobalt, the secret buyback of two of Tate's paintings by J. M. W. Turner that had been stolen from a German gallery in 1994. The paintings were recovered in 2000 and 2002, resulting in a profit of several million pounds for Tate. See Frankfurt art theft (1994).
Serota was awarded a Knighthood in 2001.
[edit] Controversies
Serota has frequently been at the centre of controversy, and has accepted this as an inevitable part of his job at the Tate.
Charles Saatchi publicly stated that an offer of a major gift of works by Young British Artists was rejected by Serota. Serota responded that no such offer had ever been made.
In 2005, Serota was at the centre of a controversy over the purchase of a trustee Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room. In 2006 the Charity Commission censured the Tate for the purchase. Serota made a public apology.
The Stuckists art group, whose campaign led to the Charity Commission enquiry, have frequently been critical of Serota for his curatorial decisions, sometimes on placards in their Turner Prize demonstrations. He rejected a donation of their paintings and was accused of "snubbing one of Britain’s foremost collections",[1] the Walker Art Gallery, where the work had been on show.
[edit] Personal life
Serota's first wife was ballet dancer Angela Beveridge. They married in 1973 and had two daughters. Serota married his second wife, Teresa Gleadowe, in 1997.
[edit] See also
- Sir Nicholas Serota Makes an Acquisitions Decision (satirical painting)
[edit] External links
- Profile in The Guardian newspaper (2000)
| Preceded by Alan Bowness |
Director of Tate Gallery 1988– |
Succeeded by Current |
