Norman Reid (museum director)

Sir Norman Robert Reid (27 December, 1915–17 December, 2007) was an arts administrator and painter and was the Director of the Tate Gallery from 1964 to 1979

Early life

Born either in Edinburgh in Scotland or Dulwich in London, depending on the source, Reid was the son of a shoemaker. He was educated at Wilson's Grammar School and won a scholarship to the Edinburgh College of Art, where he studied in the late 1930s. Later, he took a degree in English at Edinburgh University Reid enlisted in 1939 in the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders at the start of Second World War, and served in Italy. He left the Army in 1946 with the rank of Major. In 1941 he married Jean Lindsay Bertram, whom he met while they were students at the Edinburgh College of Art.

Tate Gallery

Reid joined the Tate in 1946 having heard that it was under-staffed, and became the right-hand man of the then Director, John Rothenstein, becoming deputy director in 1954 and keeper in 1959. He was appointed Director when Rothenstein retired in 1964.

A much needed expansion of the Gallery, the 'North East Quadrant', was built in 1979 during Reid's directorship, vastly increasing the Tate's exhibition space. Reid also strengthened the Collection, especially in the area of early twentieth-century European art, acquiring outstanding works by artists including Pablo Picasso, Giacometti, Henri Matisse, Constantin Brancusi, Piet Mondrian, and Salvador Dalí. During Reid's Directorship the Tate staged a number of ground-breaking exhibitions, including an early presentation of Gilbert and George's Living Statues.

He also increased the Tate's earlier collections, launching a successful fund-raising drive in 1977 to acquire The Haymakers and The Reapers by George Stubbs..

The strong personal relationships he forged with artists (he himself had trained as a painter), also led to important works being donated to the Gallery. Mark Rothko's Seagram murals, and work by Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, Naum Gabo and Henry Moore were all gifted to the Tate largely as a result of the personal respect the artists had for Reid. He established the gallery's conservation department, the Exhibitions and Education department, and was involved in founding the Friends of the Tate, the American Friends of the Tate, and the charity Paintings in Hospitals.

Honours and awards

Reid was an active member of the conservation committees of the International Council of Museums (ICOM), and worked to encourage young conservators as this new profession emerged.. Reid served on numerous advisory bodies and committees. He was Secretary General of the Institute for Conservation from 1963 to 1965 and its vice-chairman in 1966. He served as the British representative on the Committee on Museums and Galleries of Modern Art (1963–1979), and was a member of the Arts Council of Great Britain Art Panel (1964–1974) and of the Institute of Contemporary Arts Advisory Panel from 1965.

He was also on the Contemporary Art Society Committee from 1965 to 1977, and served for 12 years on the British Council Fine Arts Committee, acting as its chairman from 1968 to 1975. He was a member of the Paul Mellon Centre's advisory council (1971–1978), and was a trustee of the Graham and Kathleen Sutherland Foundation from 1980 to 1985.[4]

He was awarded various honorary degrees and orders, while his own paintings are exhibited in the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.

Reid was knighted in 1970 and died in London aged 91.

Publications include:

• 'Gabo Naum, 1890-1977' by Jorn Mekert and Sir Norman Reid Pub by Annely Juda Fine Art (1990) ISBN-10: 1870280229

External links

• Obituary in The Independent
• Obituary in The Guardian
• Obituary in The Times
• Obituary in The Telegraph
• Obituary in The Scotsman
• Tate Gallery Press Release on Reid's death
• Reid in the British Library Archival Sound Recordings
• Portraits of Reid at the National Portrait Gallery