Charles Aitken (12 September 1869 – 9 August 1936) was a British art administrator and was the third Keeper 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 ...

(1911–1917) and the first Director (1917–1930).

Life and work

Charles Aitken was born at

Bishophill Bishophill is an area of central York, in England. It lies within the city walls and has been occupied since at least the Roman period. Etymology Known as "Bichill" by 1334, the name was also recorded as "Bychehill Lomelyth", "Lomelyth" being ...

, Bishophill Junior,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England, the son of Henry Martin Aitken, a surgical instrument manufacturer, and his wife, Elizabeth Atkinson. He had two elder sisters including Rosa, former student of

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

and teacher à

North London Collegiate School North London Collegiate School (NLCS) is an independent school with a day school for girls in England. Founded in Camden Town, it is now located in Edgware, in the London Borough of Harrow. Associate schools are located in South Korea, Jeju I ...

, and

Edith Aitken Edith Aitken (16 June 1861 – 2 November 1940) was a British headmistress. She was the founding head at Pretoria High School for Girls. Life Aitken was born in Bishophill, York in 1861. She was the daughter of Henry Martin Aitken, a surgical ins ...

who would becoming a leading headteacher in South Africa.Barbara E. Megson, 'Aitken, Edith (1861–1940)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 200
accessed 12 June 2017
/ref> Charles Aitken studied at New College, Oxford. He was the first Director of the

Whitechapel Art Gallery The Whitechapel Gallery is a public art gallery in Whitechapel on the north side of Whitechapel High Street, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The original building, designed by Charles Harrison Townsend, opened in 1901 as one of the ...

from 1901 to 1911, and became Keeper at the Tate Gallery in 1911. In 1917 he changed his title from "Keeper" to "Director". Sir

John Rothenstein Sir John Knewstub Maurice Rothenstein (11 July 1901 – 27 February 1992) was a British arts administrator and art historian. Biography John Rothenstein was born in London in 1901, the son of Sir William Rothenstein. The family was connect ...

described Aitken as "an ordinary man: his intelligence was relatively pedestrian, his powers of self-expression scarcely adequate". However, Rothenstein considered that the job "brought out qualities that made him a great director: clarity and firmness of purpose". Tate Britain front

When one of the greatest collections of the works of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

came on the open market, Aitken, who had no purchasing budget, put together a consortium to save it. Because of the problems caused by dark or foggy days, when the public could not see the artwork by natural light and attendants cleared the galleries due to the difficulty of proper surveillance, Aitken decided to install electric lighting. He also introduced the sale of prints, photographs and catalogues of the Collection. After Aitken commissioned

Rex Whistler Reginald John "Rex" Whistler (24 June 190518 July 1944) was a British artist, who painted murals and society portraits, and designed theatrical costumes. He was killed in action in Normandy in World War II. Whistler was the brother of poet and ...

to decorate the Tate's Refreshment Room with a mural, ''

The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats ''The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats'' is a mural by the English artist Rex Whistler (1905–1944), commissioned in 1926 and completed in 1927 at the Tate Gallery (now Tate Britain) in London. The mural was commissioned by the gallery's ina ...

'', he persuaded Sir Joseph Duveen, an influential art dealer, to finance a similar scheme. Having chosen

Morley College Morley College is a specialist adult education and further education college in London, England. The college has three main campuses, one in Waterloo on the South Bank, and two in West London namely in North Kensington and in Chelsea, the la ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for the location of the new mural, Aitken and Duveen invited

William Rothenstein Sir William Rothenstein (29 January 1872 – 14 February 1945) was an English painter, printmaker, draughtsman, lecturer, and writer on art. Emerging during the early 1890s, Rothenstein continued to make art right up until his death. Though he c ...

, the Principal 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 ...

, to submit the names and designs of six young students and ex-students to design the mural. The three chosen students were

Edward Bawden Edward Bawden, (10 March 1903 – 21 November 1989) was an English painter, illustrator and graphic artist, known for his prints, book covers, posters, and garden metalwork furniture. Bawden taught at the Royal College of Art, where he had be ...

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs and other English landsc ...

and Cyril Mahoney. The mural took them a total of two years to complete. When the art critic of ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

'' wrote an article claiming that the sculptures of

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produce ...

had been universally condemned by critics, Epstein wrote instancing the support of Aitken among other leading names in the art world. In 1909 Aitken co-founded the Modern Art Association, which in 1910 was renamed the

Contemporary Art Society The Contemporary Art Society (CAS) is an independent charity that champions the collecting of outstanding contemporary art and craft for UK museum collections. Since its founding in 1910 the organisation has donated over 10,000 works to museums ...

. Following his retirement from the position of Director in 1930, he was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in the 1931

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are prese ...

. He died on 9 August 1936.

Notes and references

External links

Portraits of Aitken
in the National Portrait Gallery
Aitken's retirement
in the National Archives
Aitken
in the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

Manuscript Collection * {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Charles 1869 births 1936 deaths British art curators Directors of the Tate galleries Alumni of New College, Oxford People from York Companions of the Order of the Bath