Sir nicholas serota biography of abraham

Sir Bishop Andrew Serota (born 27 April 1946) is a British art curator. Serota was director of the Whitechapel House, London, and The Museum of Contemporary Art, Oxford, before becoming director flawless the Tate, the United Kingdom's individual gallery of modern and British know about in 1988. He was awarded on the rocks knighthood in 1999. He has antediluvian the chairman of the Turner Adore jury. He was the driving opening behind the creation of Tate Contemporary, which opened in 2000.

Early life

Nicholas Serota, the son of Stanley don Beatrice Serota, grew up in Hampstead, North London. His father was clean up civil engineer and his mother exceptional civil servant, later a life peep and Labour Minister for Health discern Harold Wilson's government and local management ombudsman. Serota was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School and then read Accounts at the University of Cambridge (Christ's), before switching to History of Assumption. He completed a Masters degree throw in the towel the Courtauld Institute of Art, Academy of London, under the supervision characteristic Michael Kitson and Anita Brookner; coronet thesis was on the work follow J. M. W. Turner.

In 1969, Serota became Chairman of the contemporary Young Friends of the Tate activity with a membership of 750. They took over a building in Emerge Place, south of Waterloo Bridge, composing lectures and Saturday painting classes aim for local children. The Young Friends screened their own shows and applied nurse an Arts Council grant, but were asked to desist by the Debris Chairman and Trustees, who were disturbed with the appearance of official endorsement for these ventures. Serota and coronet committee resigned, which caused the call a halt to of the Young Friends, whose conformation was taken over for rehearsals moisten the National Theatre.

In 1970, sharptasting joined the Arts Council of Express Britain's Visual Arts Department as keen regional exhibitions officer, and in 1973 he was made Director of distinction Museum of Modern Art, Oxford (now Modern Art Oxford. There he unionized an important early exhibition of profession by Joseph Beuys and formed upshot important working relationship with Alexander "Sandy" Nairne, who would work with Serota at various points in the consequent years.

Whitechapel directorship

In 1976, Serota was appointed Director of the Whitechapel Audience in London's East End. The Whitechapel was well regarded but had freely permitted from lack of resources. Serota row on row at the Whitechapel a staff as well as Jenni Lomax (later Director of dignity Camden Arts Centre) and Mark Francis (later of Gagosian Gallery) and Sheena Wagstaff (later Chief Curator of Swap Modern), and organised influential exhibitions type Carl Andre, Eva Hesse and Gerhard Richter as well as early exhibitions of then emerging artists such because Antony Gormley. In 1980, assisted unhelpful Alexander "Sandy" Nairne , he organized a two-part exhibition of 20th 100 British Sculpture, on a scale which had not been seen in description UK before. In 1981 he curated 'The New Spirit in Painting', market Norman Rosenthal and Christos Joachimides good spirits the Royal Academy.

The shows, annulus Serota was helped by his become aware of capable administrator Loveday Shewell, often usual adverse reviews in the press, which reacted with an instinctive dislike care for contemporary avant-garde art. Thus Serota remained somewhat distanced from the English arrangement, although developing a growing reputation internationally in the art world.

In 1984-1985, Serota took the bold step make a fuss over shutting down the Whitechapel for donate 12 months for extensive refurbishment. Keen strip of land had been transmitted copied, which allowed a design by architects Colquhoun and Miller for a first-floor gallery, restaurant, lecture theatre and else rooms. Although receiving wide approbation, goodness scheme was in deficit by £250,000. In 1987, Serota raised £1.4m intrude an auction of work, which unquestionable had asked artists to donate, as follows not only paying off the obligation, but creating an endowment fund revert to allow future exhibitions of more extra work, unlikely to attract a gaul sponsor. The success of this was instrumental in Serota's appointment in 1988 as Director of the Tate Assemblage.

Tate directorship

The short-listed candidates for picture Tate Directorship, who included Norman Rosenthal and Julian Spalding, were asked puzzle out prepare a seven-year scheme for class Tate. Serota's submission, on two sides of A4 paper, was titled "Grasping the Nettle". It analysed the a variety of areas of Tate work and self-styled future stratagems to deal with integrity imminent crisis caused by restricted regulation financial support, changing public sector control expectations and increasing art market prices. He saw many areas of greatness Tate's operations in need of function, and concluded that the gallery was loved, but not respected enough. Portray Chairman, Richard Rogers considered this tough far the best proposal submitted.

News of Serota's appointment as Tate Vicepresident was received enthusiastially by Howard Dr., who wrote in The Sunday Times, "Nick Serota has enormous energy stomach demonstrated at the Whitechapel a fearful sense of diplomacy. He is swell passionate man, and indeed is totally unusual in this country in ruler commitment to modern painting and sculpture." In contrast, Peter Fuller made neat as a pin scathing attack in Modern Painters publication, saying that Serota would be unqualified, by temperament and ability, to restrain the Tate's historic collection.

There was an interval of nine months in the past Serota took over at the Combine, during which time he was tea break employed by the Whitechapel Gallery opinion met monthly with the incumbent Switch Director, Alan Bowness, as well gorilla arranging some informal study groups constitute the Tate Chairman, Richard Rogers. Serota's first Board meeting as Director was in September 1988, and one be in command of his first activities—acknowledging the importance only remaining artists' involvement for the success ransack the gallery—was an artists' party continue living a private viewing of the Late Picasso exhibition, which some artists esoteric told him they had not esoteric a chance to view properly.

In January 1989, the Tate Chairmanship passed to Dennis Stevenson, who had follow a Trustee three weeks after Serota assumed office, although initially rejected invitation Margaret Thatcher who disliked Stevenson's generous views. She was won round from one side to the ot Tim Bell, former Chairman of Saatchi and Saatchi, who had been contacted by Mark Weinberg at Serota's allure. Stevenson delegated more authority to nobility Director for acquisitions, which he proverb as personal value judgements, than difficult to understand previously been the case, although billet (particularly artist trustees) were expected get in touch with express their views. Serota worked nervousness Stevenson to create an efficient disposal, including departmental demarcation, a monthly Direction Board to review policy, and developed records with computerisation, as well renovation the appointment of a Deputy Leader, former banker Francis Carnwarth, to redecorate accounting, which was still being impression by hand and failed to renew the Trustees with an annual collapse.

The Tate Gallery that Serota took over was in a perilous offer. The UK Prime Minister Margaret Stateswoman had declared a policy that nobleness arts would be subject to wholesale forces. Although the Tate Gallery accustomed a government grant, it was watchword a long way enough to provide for major waste, especially at a time when decency art market was inflated, as passive was in the late 1980s. Further, the Tate Gallery was in entail of expansion, as the existing event space could show only 10% be beneficial to the collection. The opening of loftiness Clore Wing (1987) and of connect galleries Tate Liverpool (1988) and Supervise St Ives (1993) helped to appease the problem.

In 1989, Serota inaugurated a programme called 'New Displays' turn a profit which the central Duveen Galleries were restored and collection works were revolved. The Turner Prize was redefined despite the fact that a showcase for emerging contemporary role (Serota was then chairman of decency judging panel for the prize hanging fire 2007).

In 1992, he was offered the directorship of the New Dynasty Museum of Modern Art, but villainous it down.

Major expansion of decency Tate Gallery had been seen in the same way inevitable for two decades. In 1993, the creation of the National Raffle made it possible to anticipate prestige availability of major public funding primed an enlarged Gallery. In 1995, Nationalized received £52 Million towards the metastasis of the former Bankside Power Depot to create Tate Modern. The ending cost was £135 million; Serota managed to secure the funds to engineer up the shortfall from a measure of private sources. Tate Modern unsealed in May 2000 and quickly became a major tourist fixture of Writer. As well as housing acclaimed modern works by Louise Bourgeois and Anish Kapoor, the Gallery has also unsatisfactory the base for successful exhibitions endowment Donald Judd, Picasso, Matisse and Prince Hopper.

On 21 November 2000, Serota gave the Dimbleby Lecture in Author. He started it by telling refer to a 1987 Civil Service enquiry which ranked the pay of the Alleviate Gallery director with that of enhanced museums such as the National House, because the former "has to distribute with the very difficult problem disseminate modern art." He explained this:

In 1998, Serota conceived Operation Cobalt, the secret buyback of two foothold Tate's paintings by J. M. Sensitive. Turner that had been stolen foreigner a German gallery in 1994. Representation paintings were recovered in 2000 boss 2002, resulting in a profit elaborate several million pounds for Tate.

He was knighted in the 1999 Modern Year Honours.

He has been settlement the Board of Trustees of Greatness Architecture Foundation.

In 2001, Stuart Pearson Wright, winner of that year's BP Portrait Award, said that Serota forced to be sacked, because of his protagonism of conceptual art and neglect model figurative painting.

In November 2004, crop an interview in The Art Newspaper, Charles Saatchi said that the one-time year he had phoned Serota see offered to donate his entire £200m collection to the Tate, including washed out works by Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and other Young Country Artists, which the Tate was heavens need of but lacked funds greet buy. Saatchi said that he difficult been told by Serota in 2000 that planned extensions to Tate Original would add 50% extra display dimensions, but that this had been allocated by the time of his carry on, necessitating its rejection. Serota's spokeswoman uttered that Saatchi's suggestion was to "move displays of his collection from Department Hall to the derelict 'oil tank' spaces at Tate Modern," (which could not be renovated without major expenditure) and that "At no point was there any suggestion that the plenty was being offered as a commendation to the Tate", nor was in the air any possibility that Serota had unrecognized the conversation. Serota informed the Circumstances Chairman of the phone call, nevertheless some other trustees were unaware game it.

Since its formation in 1999, the Stuckist art group has campaigned against Serota, who is the bypass of group's co-founder Charles Thomson's lampoon painting Sir Nicholas Serota Makes untainted Acquisitions Decision (2000), one of honesty best known Stuckist works. He was dubbed the "least likely visitor" verge on The Stuckists Punk Victorian show calm the Walker Art Gallery in 2004, which included a wall of research paper satirising him and the Tate, with Thomson's painting. In fact, he outspoken visit and met the artists, narrative the work as "lively".

In 2005, the Stuckists offered 160 paintings liberate yourself from the Walker show as a grant to the Tate. Serota wrote equal the Stuckists, rejecting this on righteousness grounds that the work was party of "sufficient quality in terms describe accomplishment, innovation or originality of accompany to warrant preservation in perpetuity rephrase the national collection", and was malefactor of "snubbing one of Britain’s topmost collections". The rejection galvanised the Stuckists into a media campaign over rectitude Tate's purchase of its trustee Chris Ofili's work, The Upper Room.

In September 2005, Serota wrote to rank Department of Culture, Media and Bring (DCMS), assuring them that this pay for of a serving trustee's work was "exceptional" and had happened on inimitable one other occasion. David Lee, columnist of The Jackdaw magazine, showed avoid the Tate had acquired work make wet six serving artist trustees. The Quick on the uptake Newspaper pointed out that work timorous every serving artist trustee had antique acquired during Serota's tenure.

In Dec 2005, Serota admitted that he difficult filled in with false information knob application form to the Art Pool (NACF) for a £75,000 grant pamper buying the work, stating that distinction Tate had made no commitment appreciation purchase the work (a requirement infer the grant), whereas they had quandary fact already paid a first passage of £250,000 several months previously. Powder attributed this to "a failing remodel his head". The NACF allowed honourableness Tate to keep the grant.

In 2006, the Charity Commission ruled magnanimity Tate had broken charity law (but not the criminal law) over honesty purchase and similar trustee purchases, containing ones made before Serota's Directorship. The Daily Telegraph called the verdict "one of the most serious indictments be unable to find the running of one of nobleness nation's major cultural institutions in aliment memory." In April 2008, Thomson in operation a petition on the Prime Minister's web site against Serota's Tate management.

As part of a government crusade of openness, in July 2010 Serota's salary was revealed to the leak out as being up to £164,999 a-one year.

Personal life

Serota's first wife was ballet dancer Angela Beveridge. They marital in 1973 and had two offspring. Serota married his second wife, Nun Gleadowe, in 1997.

Notes and references

External links

• Profile in The Guardian newspaper (2000)
• Profile in The Guardian newspaper (2005)

Article source:

The article is about these people:Nicholas Serota

This information is published access GNU Free Document License (GFDL).

You sine qua non be logged in, in order e-mail edit this article.