TATE BRITAIN DIRECTOR HEADS TO LISBON TO RUN GULBENKIAN MUSEUM

The Art Newspaper, UK
March 31 2015

Penelope Curtis to put testing time in London behind her

By Javier Pes and Jose da Silva

The director of Tate Britain, Penelope Curtis, is leaving London for
Lisbon, to take charge of the Museu Calouste Gulbenkian. After a week
of speculation in the Portuguese media, the Gulbenkian foundation
confirmed Curtis’s appointment today, 31 March, making her the first
foreign director of the small but prestigious museum, which opened in
1969. Housing highlights of the 6,000-strong, collection amassed by the
Turkish-born, British-educated and largely Paris-based Armenian oil
magnate, Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-1955), works on show range
from his antiquities, Islamic art and Old Masters to Rene Lalique
jewellery–purchased so long as they were “only the best” in the
collector’s eyes. For example, Rubens’s portrait of his second wife,
Helen Fourment, once belonged to Catherine the Great. Gulbenkian bought
the painting from the Soviet government in 1930 when it was selling
works from the State Hermitage Museum to raise foreign currency.

The Gulbenkian foundation’s trustees were seeking a director
of international standing who can “work across the breadth of
the collections”. The job description also mentions “fostering
collaboration with the Centre de Arte Moderna (Cam),” which has its
own director, Isabel Carlos. In a statement, Curtis says: “I want
to keep all that is good about the museum, which I admire deeply,
while developing ways in which it can make more of its context and
position, especially in relation to the neighbouring Modern art
centre, and more widely.” The foundation’s Modern art gallery,
which is in the same parkland setting as the Gulbenkian Museum,
has a collection of Modern and contemporary Portuguese, British and
Armenian art. The Lisbon-based foundation has strong British ties,
as well as French ones, with offices in London and Paris.

Curtis, who became director of Tate Britain in 2010, oversaw the £45m
refurbishment of the gallery of historic and contemporary British
art, which was completed in 2013 and greatly improved circulation
routes and created new focal points and vistas. A chronological
installation of the collection replaced displays that were often
thematic. The combination of long-term chronological hang and smaller,
changing displays has given the gallery variety without the jarring
juxtapositions of works in different styles and from different eras
that were the hallmark of Tate Britain when it was launched in 2000.

A few of Tate Britain’s recent exhibitions have aroused the ire
of some critics, including the current show “Sculpture Victorious”
(until 25 May) of mid- to late-19th century British sculpture. The
criticism has verged on a vendetta, downplaying the merits of the
presentation of the permanent collection and well-received temporary
exhibitions, such as ones of Turner’s late works, Lowry’s cityscapes,
and a survey of British folk art. The gallery’s annual attendance has
hovered around the 1.4 million mark, compared with around 5 million
who visit Tate Modern.

Curtis has co-organised the exhibition of Barbara Hepworth’s sculpture,
which is due open this summer (24 June-25 October).

She moved to Tate Britain from the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds,
where from 1994 until 2010 she organised a series of historical and
contemporary sculpture exhibitions. In 1988, Curtis joined the new
Tate Gallery in Liverpool as exhibitions curator.