Angus Skene (died 2002) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certifi ...

, art collector and

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

-owner, notable as the founder of the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.

Biography

Skene developed an interest in contemporary art with his wife Midge while living near London, before moving to Birmingham in 1951 to work as an accountant, and latterly the Finance Officer, at the University of Birmingham. Disappointed with the support for contemporary art provided by Birmingham's main artistic institutions - Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and the

Barber Institute of Fine Arts The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham. The Grade I listed Art Deco building was designed by Robert At ...

- he became friends with a group of artists who taught on the Foundation Course at the

Birmingham School of Art The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Faculty of Arts, Design a ...

, after seeing

David Prentice David Prentice (4 July 1936 – 7 May 2014) was an English artist and former art teacher. In 1964 he was one of the four founder members of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery. Prentice's work features in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Mu ...

's solo exhibition at the RBSA in 1963, and buying Prentice's work ''Kate and the Waterlilies'' for £25. Prentice delivered Skene's painting to his house in Selly Oak strapped to the side of his Vespa and over dinner they decided to set up a venture for promoting the city's contemporary artists. Initial plans were for a "gallery without walls", and Skene purchased a set of collapsible screens to tour exhibitions to unconventional locations such as post offices and cinemas in a motorcycle sidecar. A constantly touring gallery proved impractical, however, and instead the Skenes sought a permanent home, eventually spending "a sizable chunk of a legacy" they had received renting an octagonal kiosk in the newly completed Bull Ring shopping centre for three years as the first home of the newly named Ikon Gallery. As well as financing the gallery Skene drew up the initial terms and conditions of its operation, but when the gallery opened in April 1965 its founders and decision-makers were listed as Prentice and three other artists from the School of Art -

Jesse Bruton Jesse Bruton (born 1933) is a British artist, and a founder of the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham. He gave up painting in 1972, to become a picture conservator. Bruton was born in 1933 and was educated at Birmingham College of Art, where he later ...

Sylvani Merilion Sylvani Merilion (née Smith) (4 October 1936 - 31 March 2019) was an English artist and former art teacher. In 1964 she was one of the four founder members of Birmingham's Ikon Gallery. Merilion's artworks in the 1960s featured images of astronau ...

and Robert Groves. Skene shunned the limelight and asserted that the artists had the "right of final decision on all matters to do with exhibitions, and with design of equipment, advertising material, etc." Skene's role decreased when the lease on the kiosk expired in 1967 and the gallery began to attract support from the Arts Council, but he continued to "watch from the sidelines", and gave a lecture on the gallery's foundation in 1984.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Skene, Angus Year of birth missing 2002 deaths Scottish art collectors People from Birmingham, West Midlands