London’s National Gallery Appoints Curator to Lead Modern Art Expansion
Patrick Elliot’s appointment forms part of the institution’s £750m development project that will see its collection expand beyond 1900 for the first time. Save to My OculaThe National Gallery in London has today announced the appointment of Patrick Elliott as its first-ever curator of modern paintings.
From the end of March, Elliott will join the gallery after 36 years at the National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh, where he was chief curator of modern and contemporary art.
In a statement, Elliot described the U.K. institution as ‘the one gallery I always return to’.
‘I am very conscious of the need to collect the very best: modern paintings that can hold their own in a gallery full of Rembrandts and Titians. It’s an exciting challenge,’ he said.
The newly established role forms part of the National Gallery’s major development, Project Domani, announced last September. The landmark move will see the gallery expand its collection beyond 1900 for the first time in its 200-year history.
The expanded collection will be developed through acquisitions, institutional exchanges, gifts and long-term loans. In a statement, the gallery said this plan will make it’s home of Trafalgar Square ‘the one place in the world that presents the complete history of Western painting from Giotto to our own times’.
Through Project Domani, a new wing to house these modern works will be built, replacing the neighbouring office and hotel complex St Vincent House. The remodel is intended to connect and ‘revitalise’ the areas of Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square, and is slated to open in the early 2030s.
An international architecture competition to design the new wing is currently underway, with a final selection expected in coming months. The shortlisted practices are: Farshid Moussavi Architecture and Piercy & Company; Foster + Partners; Kengo Kuma and Associates and BDP; Renzo Piano Building Workshop and Adamson Associates; Selldorf Architects and Purcell; and Studio Seilern Architects.
Project Domani has an estimated total cost of £750 million, of which £400 million will go towards the new wing.
As of last autumn, £375 million had already been raised via donations, with two lead donors, the Crankstart Foundation and the Julia Rausing Trust, each contributing £150 million. —[O]
Main image: Courtesy © The National Gallery, London.
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