The Prince of Wales toured the Tate Britain on Tuesday as the historic London gallery was reopened after recently undergoing an extensive refurbishment programme which included the installation of a new £32 million wing.
Prince Charles, who was joined by Icelandic pop star Bjork and fashion designer Stella McCartney at the star-studded event, extolled the virtues of an art history education as he toured the new space. The renovations mark the first significant change to the museum since it opened in 1897.
“It is encouraging to note that there are now some 70,000 art students at work in this country for whom Tate Britain must be a first port of call,” said Charles, a watercolourist himself. “What is less encouraging, perhaps, is the fact that in some secondary and primary schools less than 60p per pupil per year is spent on art materials.”
“A basic knowledge of art is still too readily dismissed by too many as a luxury that has little to do with the business of life,” said the heir to the throne, whose son Prince William has just begun an art history degree at St Andrews University. “Of course it has everything to do with the business of life. Indeed, I would go so far as to say that it is the duty of all of us to ensure that art practice and its appreciation remains an essential ingredient of the modern education we give our schoolchildren and college students.”
Prince Charles toured a new exhibition entitled Exposed: The Victorian Nude, pointing out a portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales, loaned to the Tate from his own collection.
The Tate Britain – formerly the Tate Gallery - has been given a modern new entrance and ten new exhibition halls as part of the facelift, which has received rave reviews from design critics. Five areas within the museum – which houses British art dating back to 1500 – have also been refurbished in a similar minimalist style, so as to spotlight the artwork rather than the architecture.
“I have a preference for galleries which do not try to upstage the art,” said architect John Miller. “For us the key thing has been light and space.”
When she opened the wildly popular Tate Modern gallery 18 months ago, Charles's mother, the Queen, kept her remarks considerably shorter, saying simply: “I declare Tate Modern open.” There was speculation at the time that she had a speech tucked away in her handbag, but had forgotten her reading glasses.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
