Sir Alan Bowness
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(11 January 1928 – 1 March 2021) was a British art historian, art critic, and museum director. He was the director of the
Tate Gallery
Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...
between 1980 and 1988.
Early life
Bowness was born in
Finchley to Kathleen (née Benton) and George Bowness, a school teacher. He was educated at
University College School
("Slowly but surely")
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in Hampstead. Leaving school at the end of the war, he worked with the
Friends’ Ambulance Unit and the
Friends’ Service Council in England, Germany and Lebanon from 1946 to 1950.
From 1950 to 1953, he studied Modern Languages at
Downing College, Cambridge. From 1953 to 1955, he was a postgraduate student at the
Courtauld Institute of Art
The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...
,
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, specialising in nineteenth-century French art.
1953 to 1980
Bowness was active as an art critic in the late 1950s and early 1960s, writing for ''
The Observer
''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the ...
'', ''Arts'' (New York), ''
Art News and Review'', ''
The Times Literary Supplement
''The Times Literary Supplement'' (''TLS'') is a weekly literary review published in London by News UK, a subsidiary of News Corp.
History
The ''TLS'' first appeared in 1902 as a supplement to ''The Times'' but became a separate publication ...
'', and ''
The Burlington Magazine
''The Burlington Magazine'' is a monthly publication that covers the fine and decorative arts of all periods. Established in 1903, it is the longest running art journal in the English language. It has been published by a charitable organisation s ...
''. He became a Regional Art Officer for the
Arts Council in 1956, with responsibilities for the South West of England. In April that year, he visited
St Ives,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
, where he met artists who had settled there, including;
Barbara Hepworth,
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Background and training
Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...
,
Peter Lanyon
George Peter Lanyon (8 February 1918 – 31 August 1964) was a British painter of landscapes leaning heavily towards abstraction. Lanyon was one of the most important artists to emerge in post-war Britain. Despite his early death at the ag ...
, and
Patrick Heron
Patrick Heron (30 January 1920 – 20 March 1999) was a British abstract and figurative artist, critic, writer, and polemicist, who lived in Zennor, Cornwall.
Heron was recognised as one of the leading painters of his generation. Influenced b ...
. In 1957, Bowness married Sarah Hepworth-Nicholson, daughter of
Barbara Hepworth and
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Background and training
Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...
.
In 1957 Bowness began teaching at the Courtauld Institute of Art. He became a Reader in 1967 and a Professor in 1978. His popular book ''Modern European Art'' (1972) has been translated into French, German, Italian, and Korean.
During the 1960s, Bowness co-curated two major exhibitions of contemporary art at the Tate Gallery, London, ''54:64 Painting and Sculpture of a Decade'' (1964) (with
Lawrence Gowing
Sir Lawrence Burnett Gowing (21 April 1918 – 5 February 1991) was an English artist, writer, curator and teacher. Initially recognised as a portrait and landscape painter, he quickly rose to prominence as an art educator, writer, and eventuall ...
) and ''Recent British Painting'' (1967) (with
Norman Reid and Lilian Somerville). During the 1960s and 1970s he also curated exhibitions for the Arts Council, including ''Vincent van Gogh'' (1968), ''Rodin'' (1970), ''French Symbolist Painters'' (1972), and ''Gustave Courbet'' (1978, with
Michel Laclotte
Michel Laclotte (Saint Malo, France, 27 October 1929 – Montauban, 10 August 2021) was a French art historian and museum director, specialising in 14th and 15th century Italian and French painting.
Early life and education
Laclotte's father, ...
), as well as ''Post-Impressionism'' (
Royal Academy, London and
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1979–80). Retrospectives he curated of contemporary artists for the Tate Gallery include; ''Ivon Hitchens'' (1963), ''Jean Dubuffet'' (1966), ''Peter Lanyon'' (1968), and ''William Scott'' (1972).
Between 1960 and 1970, Bowness published complete catalogues of the sculpture of Barbara Hepworth. Following the artist’s death in 1975, Bowness ran the Hepworth Estate. In accordance with Hepworth’s wishes, he oversaw the opening of her former house and studio in St Ives as the
Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture Garden in 1976. Since 200
the Hepworth Estatehas been run by his daughter, art historian Sophie Bowness.
Tate Gallery (1980–1988)
Between 1980 and 1988 Bowness was Director of the Tate Gallery. During this time he realised the expansion of Tate’s Millbank site by creating the Clore Wing to display the work of
J.M.W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbule ...
, uniting the collection which had been divided between the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and the Tate. He instigated the creation of
Tate Liverpool
Tate Liverpool is an art gallery and museum in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and part of Tate, along with Tate St Ives, Cornwall, Tate Britain, London, and Tate Modern, London. The museum was an initiative of the Merseyside Development C ...
, which opened in May 1988. At a time when the Tate’s public grant had been capped, Bowness established patrons’ groups to fund the purchase of historic and contemporary work. The Tate’s collection of post-war American and European art grew especially substantially during this time. Bowness also began the preparations for the
Tate St Ives
Tate St Ives is an art gallery in St Ives, Cornwall, England, exhibiting work by modern British artists with links to the St Ives area. The Tate also took over management of another museum in the town, the Barbara Hepworth Museum and Sculpture ...
(opened in 1993).
The Turner Prize
The Turner Prize, named after the English painter J. M. W. Turner, is an annual prize presented to a British visual artist. Between 1991 and 2016, only artists under the age of 50 were eligible (this restriction was removed for the 2017 award). ...
was established under Bowness’s directorship in 1984 as an initiative to foster interest in contemporary British art.
Later life and honours
After retiring from the Tate, Bowness became Director of the
Henry Moore Foundation
The Henry Moore Foundation is a registered charity in England, established for education and promotion of the fine arts — in particular, to advance understanding of the works of Henry Moore. The charity was set up with a gift from the arti ...
, setting up the Henry Moore Institute in
Leeds, Yorkshire
Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
. He was made a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1976 and knighted in 1988. He was also an Honorary Fellow of the
Royal College of Art
The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...
, the Courtauld Institute of Art, and Downing College, Cambridge.
His collection of paintings by British artists, 1950–70 (Scott, Lanyon, Heron, Hilton, and others), is bequeathed to the
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge
The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard FitzWilliam, 7th Vis ...
, and his art history library to
Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library is the main research library of the University of Cambridge. It is the largest of the over 100 libraries within the university. The Library is a major scholarly resource for the members of the University of Cambri ...
.
Bowness died at his home in London on 1 March 2021, at age 93.
Publications
Bowness's publications include:
Introduction, ''Four English Middle Generation Painters: Heron / Frost / Wynter / Hilton'' (Waddington Galleries, May 1959).
Catalogue of works in J.P. Hodin, ''Barbara Hepworth'' (Lund Humphries, 1961).
''William Scott: Paintings'' (Lund Humphries, 1964).
''Henry Moore: Complete Sculpture'', vol. 2 (Lund Humphries, revised edition, 1965) to vol. 6 (Lund Humphries, 1988).
''Alan Davie'' (Lund Humphries, 1967).
''Peter Lanyon'' (Tate Gallery, 1968).
‘Vincent in England’ and catalogue, ''Vincent van Gogh'' (Hayward Gallery, 1968).
''The Complete Sculpture of Barbara Hepworth 1960–69'' (Lund Humphries, 1971).
''Gauguin'' (Phaidon, 1971).
''Modern European Art'' (Thames & Hudson, 1972).
''Ivon Hitchens'' (Lund Humphries, 1973).
''Victor Pasmore: with a catalogue raisonné of the paintings, constructions and graphics, 1926-1979'' (Thames & Hudson, 1980), with Luigi Lambertini.
''The Conditions of Success: How the Modern Artist Rises to Fame'' (Thames & Hudson, 1989), based on the Walter Neurath Memorial Lecture, 1989.
''Poetry and Painting: Baudelaire, Mallarmé, Apollinaire, and their Painter Friends'' (Clarendon Press, 1994), based on the Zaharoff Lecture for 1991–2.
‘Ten Good Years’ in ''Generation Painting 1955–65: British Art from the Collection of Sir Alan Bowness'' (The Heong Gallery at Downing College, Cambridge, 2016).
Filmed interviews
*
Trewyn Studio' (2015, dir. Helena Bonett).
*
Sir Alan Bowness speaks about 'Generation Painting 1955-65'' (2016, The Heong Gallery at Downing College, film by Jonathan Law).
*''Memories of Barbara, Ben and the St Ives Modernists'' (2017, Porthmeor Studios, St Ives).
References
History of Tate: Directors of TateDowning College entry
External links
*Six excerpts from interviews with Alan Bowness, British Library National Life Stories for Artists' Lives:
*On London galleries in the 1950s: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-london-galleries
*On abstract art and the 1954 publication Nine Abstract Artists: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-abstract-artists
*On the small art world in the 1950s, teaching and working at the Arts Council of Great Britain: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-american-abstract-expressionists
*On being shortlisted for the Tate Directorship in 1964 and Bryan Robertson: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-the-shortlist-for-the-tate-directorship
*On the role of the museum director: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-the-role-of-the-museum-director
*On Bryan Robertson and perceptions of Bowness: https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/alan-bowness-on-bryan-robertson-and-the-tate-job
*Portraits of Bowness at the National Portrait Gallery https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp143366/sir-alan-bowness
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bowness, Alan
1928 births
2021 deaths
20th-century British male writers
20th-century British non-fiction writers
21st-century English male writers
21st-century British non-fiction writers
Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art
Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge
British art critics
British curators
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Directors of the Tate galleries
English art historians
Knights Bachelor
People educated at University College School
People from Finchley