John Rothenstein

Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein CBE (11 July 1901 – 27 February 1992) was a British arts administrator and art historian.

Contents

Biography

He was born in London in 1901, the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was loosely connected to the Bloomsbury Set. John Rothenstein studied at Oxford University, and became friends with T. E. Lawrence. He shared rooms with the novelist William Gerhardie.[1]

From 1938 to 1964 Rothenstein was director of the Tate Gallery in London.[2] Rothenstein's directorship — the longest to date — was a period of relative stagnation for the gallery, as there were few major bequests or expansions of the building. The Tate's annual purchase fund could not compete with those of US institutions, so few works of modern foreign art were added to the collection. Rothenstein was publicly dismissive of the influence of the School of Paris, stating that Picasso was over-rated and had been a critic of the Vorticists. According to Richard Cork one of Rothenstein's errors was failing to purchase Henri Matisse's The Red Studio when it was offered to the Tate Gallery for a few hundred pounds in 1941.[3] The art historian Douglas Cooper began an open campaign to have Rothenstein dismissed by the trustees; which led to an incident in which Rothenstein punched Cooper in the face.[4][5][6] In any context Rothenstein's stewardship and preservation of the collection during the war years was a major accomplishment. The Tate also began to host temporary exhibitions during this period, organised by the Arts Council of Great Britain, including a major retrospective of Picasso.

Rothenstein was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 1948 King's Birthday Honours,[7] and knighted in the 1952 New Year Honours.[8][9]

Works

References

  1. ^ Dido Davies, "William Gerhardie: A Biography"
  2. ^ London Gazette: no. 34519. p. 3725. 10 June 1938. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  3. ^ John Richardson: The Sorcerer's Apprentice: Picasso, Provence, and Douglas Cooper. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1999, ISBN 978-0226712451, p. 160
  4. ^ Archive Journeys: Tate History. Sir John Rothenstein (1938 - 1964). Did you know?
  5. ^ Rothenstein, John In: Dictionary of Art Historians. Retrieved August 21, 2010.
  6. ^ John Richardson: The Sorcerer's Apprentice. p. 158-164
  7. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38311. pp. 3373–3374. 4 June 1948. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  8. ^ London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 39421. p. 2. 28 December 1951. Retrieved 2008-10-08.
  9. ^ London Gazette: no. 39480. p. 1192. 29 February 1952. Retrieved 2008-10-08.

External links

Cultural offices
Preceded by
J.B. Manson		 Director of the Tate Gallery
1938–1964		 Succeeded by
Norman Reid
Academic offices
Preceded by
C. P. Snow		 Rector of the University of St Andrews
1964–1967		 Succeeded by
Learie Constantine
Galleries
Directors
Charles Holroyd (Keeper) · D. S. MacColl (Keeper) · Charles Aitken · J. B. Manson · John Rothenstein · Norman Reid · Alan Bowness · Nicholas Serota
Benefactors
Exhibitions
Other