Bryan Robertson

OBE 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 ...

(1 April 1925 – 18 November 2002) was an English curator and arts manager described by ''Studio International'' as "the greatest Director 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 ...

never had".

Biography

Robertson was born in London and educated at

Battersea Grammar School Battersea Grammar School was a Voluntary-Controlled Secondary Grammar School in South London. It was established in Battersea in 1875 by the Sir Walter St John Trust and moved to larger premises in Streatham in 1936. The school closed when it ...

.Gooding, Mel
"Robertson, Bryan Charles Francis (1925–2002)"
''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, January 2006; online edition, January 2009, accessed 3 September 2011 Unfit for military service, he became a junior editor on ''The Studio'' magazine in 1945. The art-historian and curator Kenneth Clark became a mentor, funding a year in Paris for study. In 1949 Robertson became curator at the Heffer Gallery in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge beca ...

and mounted a ground-breaking exhibition of contemporary French art at the

Fitzwilliam Museum 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 Vi ...

. Robertson became Director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery in April 1952. As curator, he created an influential programme that gave major presentations of works by

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a ho ...

Mark Rothko Mark Rothko (), born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz (russian: Ма́ркус Я́ковлевич Ротко́вич, link=no, lv, Markuss Rotkovičs, link=no; name not Anglicized until 1940; September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970), was a Lat ...

and

Robert Rauschenberg Milton Ernest "Robert" Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the Pop art movement. Rauschenberg is well known for his Combines (1954–1964), a group of artwor ...

and the 1956 exhibition '' This Is Tomorrow''."Bryan Robertson – Obituary"
''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', 19 November 2002 The Pollock exhibition created 'an absolute furore' (Robertson's own words), and police were summoned to control the crowds queuing to get in. The same happened with the Rauschenberg exhibition in 1964. He also revived interest in the work of

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...

and organised exhibitions of Turner (the first solo show of Turner since his death in 1851) and Stubbs.McNay, Michael
"Obituary: Bryan Robertson: Distinguished director who turned London's Whitechapel art gallery into a beacon of new work"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 19 November 2002 Robertson was key in promoting the careers of many emerging British artists; Anthony Caro,

David Hockney David Hockney (born 9 July 1937) is an English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer, and photographer. As an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s, he is considered one of the most influential British artists o ...

, John Hoyland,

Bridget Riley Bridget Louise Riley (born 24 April 1931) is an English painter known for her op art paintings. She lives and works in London, Cornwall and the Vaucluse in France. Early life and education Riley was born on 24 April 1931 in Norwood, London ...

, William G. Tucker, and Phillip King. Robertson placed public education at the heart of the Whitechapel programme giving space to exhibitions of work from schools. Robertson's period at the Whitechapel transformed the profile of the Gallery at a time when it did not have regular funding from the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council ...

, and he was regarded as a frontrunner to take over at the Tate Gallery in 1964 following the retirement of John Rothenstein but due to politics lost out to the Gallery's deputy director, Norman Reid. He became director of the museum of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by ...

for five years and wrote articles and monographs. Robertson sat on the Arts Council art committee between 1958 and 1961 and again from 1980 to 1984. During his second term he began working as a freelance curator and built an impressive roster of noteworthy exhibitions, including the magnificent

Raoul Dufy Raoul Dufy (; 3 June 1877 – 23 March 1953) was a French Fauvist painter. He developed a colorful, decorative style that became fashionable for designs of ceramics and textile as well as decorative schemes for public buildings. He is noted ...

show at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

(1983), an important retrospective of Ceri Richards at the Tate as well as co-curating Flowers Gallery's 1994 exhibition ''British Abstract Art Part 1: Painting''British Abstract Art, Part I : Paintings, Flowers East, London at Flowers East and Flowers East at London Fields.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Bryan 1925 births 2002 deaths English atheists English art English curators Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Battersea Grammar School