New Head for British Museum
Matthew Taylor
Marbles?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4309706,00.html
'Treasure' heads for British Museum
Fiachra Gibbons, arts correspondent
Guardian
Thursday November 29, 2001
Neil MacGregor, the popular head of the National Gallery, was finally given
the keys of the British Museum last night.
His appointment to the toughest, and most prestigious, job in the museum
world had been widely predicted, and last night there was speculation
whether he had done a deal with the government to wipe out the institution's
£3m debts, which led to swingeing cuts last month.
Mr MacGregor, often referred to as "an national treasure" for his inspired
running of the Trafalgar Square gallery for the past 15 years, was the
obvious choice to succeed Robert Anderson, who leaves next summer.
But he will take over at one of the most delicate moments in its history,
when the boost provided by its spectacular Great Court conversion is being
wiped out by a catastrophic drop in foreign visitors because of the foot and
mouth and September 11 crises.
Last night neither the government nor the National Gallery would say whether
he had demanded extra money as a condition of taking the job.
Suzanna Taverne, the BM's outgoing managing director, who was once seen as a
candidate for the top job, has accused the government of cutting its budget
by a third in real terms.
The National Gallery's chairman, Peter Scott, said Mr MacGregor had been an
"inspiring leader and a formidable force in the wider cultural community. He
has transformed the gallery, seeing through the completion of the Sainsbury
Wing and the refurbishment of the whole of the main display, and
rejuvenating the exhibitions, education and publishing programmes."
Charles Saumarez Smith, director of the adjoining National Portrait Gallery,
is the favourite to take over.
Mr MacGregor, 55, was educated at Oxford, Paris and Edinburgh ,and is the
author of a number of publications on art history and architecture
He said: "I am very honoured to be given the chance to lead the British
Museum, one of the great museums of the world. After 15 happy years at the
National Gallery, I shall greatly miss the colleagues and the pictures."
Graham Greene, chairman of the BM trustees, said: "[He] has been an
outstandingly successful director of the National Gallery and I am confident
that he will lead the British Museum with equal distinction."