Modern Art Oxford
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Modern Art Oxford is an art gallery established in 1969 at the University of Oxford. From 1969 to 2002, the gallery was known as The Museum of Modern Art, Oxford.
[edit] History
The gallery's original founders — a small group of Oxford dons — aspired to build it into a museum with a permanent collection by way of an endowment from the University; Oxford declined, leaving the gallery with a misnomer. With funding from the Arts Council of Great Britain, the gallery survived as a venue for temporary exhibitions. It was widely known as MOMA Oxford, in less than deference to its New York sister of the same name. Andrew Nairne renamed the gallery to its current monicker in 2002.
Several transitory directors oversaw the gallery until Nicholas Serota assumed the role in 1974, with Sandy Nairne serving as assistant director. David Elliott replaced Serota in 1976.
Elliott's programme focused on media then often ignored by bigger public galleries, such as photography, architecture and graphic design. Under Elliott's directorship MoMA was instrumental in developing photography exhibitions such as the Robert Doisneau Retrospective in 1992, which was and has remained the most popular show in the gallery's history. Elliott introduced up-and-coming artists from Africa, Asia and the Soviet Union, and at various times also featured major video art exhibitions; his contributions also included numerous gallery renovations. He resigned his position in 1996 to become the director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, having served the longest term of any director in the history of the gallery.
Elliott's replacement, an American named Kerry Brougher, preferred larger shows of American and European art, and, like Elliott, exhibitions focusing on film and media. In 2000, Brougher left to join the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, D.C.
He was replaced by Andrew Nairne, who renamed the gallery, coordinated additional enhancements to the building, and disposed of MOMA's substantial library of art books and catalogues which were given to Oxford Brookes University. He shifted the focus to contemporary exhibitions, which have included Tracey Emin and Stella Vine.
The gallery is located at 30 Pembroke Street in central Oxford.
