Page 44 - Studio International - February 1965

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we have regarded as a high privilege to welcome.
We ourselves have also organized a number. but these
have been mainly retrospective exhibitions of modern
British artists. Spencer. Matthew Smith. Wyndham
Lewis. Francis Bacon and others. but for those of wider
scope the credit must go to the Arts Council.
Many people envy the director of an art gallery. They
suppose him to be continuously concerned with works
of art. Among my principal duties were. of course. those
of advising trustees-who might or might not accept
my advice-on the policies to be followed in building
up the collections. In order to perform these duties I had
to be in continuous touch with artists. collectors and
dealers both at home and abroad. and a constant
visitor to exhibitions. I was. of course. responsible for
the arrangement of the collections and the decoration of
the building. But over the years the trustees and I had
gathered a devoted. highly qualified and immensely
congenial staff; established a Conservation Department
(one of the best there is) besides a very excellent
Library. a Publications Department. a Restaurant.
the Friends of the Tate and later on a Photo­
graphic Department-none of which existed before. I
was also responsible for the smooth running of a very
large and complex organization and of its public
relations. A large part of my duties were similar. in fact.
to those of the manager of a big industrial concern.
The director of a public gallery and most particularly.
on account of its necessarily controversial acquisitions.
the director of the Tate. finds himself in a curiously
isolated. sometimes. indeed. a downright dangerous
situation. The trustees are. of course. the governing
body. but the director. owing to his longer service and
his professsional status. tends to become. in the public
mind. the gallery's representative figure. He is accord­
ingly liable to be publicly attacked over decisions. for
which he may not be responsible; he is liable to be
publicly praised for work for which the credit should go
to others. and those others may feel aggrieved. However
friendly he may be with his trustees and with his staff.
he must remain a figure somewhat apart. But I at least
know of no public position which offers such inspiring
opportunities of presenting great works of art in such a
way as to enhance their splendour and their intelligi­
bility. the opportunity of encouraging what is fine and of
frustrating what is meretricious. the opportunity of
enabling great numbers of people to take delight in
great achievements. and especially in those likely to
concern them most vividly. namely the finest achieve­
ments of their own times; the opportunity. in brief. of
helping to build a fortress for the protection. and the
projection. of some of the values that make life most
worth living. Were I able to believe that I had availed
myself. even in the most modest degree. of such
inspiring opportunities. I would be a very happy man. ■

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Edgar Degas
1834-1917
The Liule Dancer Aged Fourteen.
1880-1. Bronze with muslin skirt
and satin hair-ribbon. 39 in. high.
Bought in 1952 with the aid of a
contribution from The National
Art Collections Fund The only
one of Degas· sculptures to be
exh1b11ed in his llfeume. One of
ten works by the painter-sculptor
at the Tate
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