The Nationwide Portrait Gallery (NPG) is on the centre of a “nepotism” row following experiences {that a} photographer at present exhibiting works on the London gallery was additionally a donor to its current £41m makeover.
In late November 2024 the NPG launched Legends, a present by Zoë Legislation, a make-up artist turned photographer and the ex-wife of Andrew Legislation, the chairman and chief government of the hedge fund Caxton Associates. Zoë Legislation was beforehand a trustee of the Legislation Household Charitable Basis however, in response to the inspiration’s web site, resigned throughout her divorce from Andrew Legislation in early 2024.
As first reported by The Guardian, the previous couple’s belief was a “massive donor” to the NPG’s current three-year refurbishment challenge, Inspiring Folks. The gallery’s annual report (2023-24) outlines that it additionally acquired help from the Legislation Household Charitable Basis to increase the Legislation Images Programme, a images initiative for college students from state-sponsored colleges.
The inspiration has additionally made donations to the gallery’s studying programme and studying centre, whereas Legislation herself gifted a portrait of the Oasis singer Noel Gallagher to the NPG final yr. The quantity acquired by the gallery in donations from the Legislation Household Charitable Basis is undisclosed.
The controversy across the Legends exhibition prompted cultural advisor Maurice Davies of Cultural Associates Oxford, to remark to The Artwork Newspaper: “The scope of [museum] ethics committees maybe wants to increase to look in some element at exactly what is suitable in relation to main donors and their households… It’s a fundamental precept of public life that it’s vital to keep away from the looks of conflicts of curiosity in addition to conflicts themselves. Museum ethics committees play a precious and sometimes delicate position in deciding which potential donations must be accepted.”
Davies continued: “It may be tough for museums to answer the expectations of main donors, who might informally anticipate favours in return for his or her beneficiant reward. A routine instance in some locations is youngsters or different family of main donors being given work-experience internships in ways in which bypass the museum or gallery’s regular open and clear procedures for choosing interns, giving them an unfair benefit of their early profession.”
A former UK museum curator commenting anonymously raised a special concern. The curator alleged: “Legislation presumably had good entry to large names in popular culture, which can have been one of many causes—depart apart the donation—for doing the exhibition.”
A spokesperson for the NPG confirmed that its ethics committee was consulted concerning the donation from The Legislation Household Charitable Basis, and that it had been accepted. “[We] adopted our processes as outlined in our grants and donations coverage, that are designed to make sure due diligence through an appropriately documented course of,” a press release mentioned.
On-line, the NPG additionally states: “the UK Bribery Act 2010 requires the establishment to make sure that the receipt of a donation isn’t associated to some inappropriate benefit that be afforded to the donor, such because the award of a contract”. In the meantime, the Code of Ethics for museums revealed by the UK Museums Affiliation says that galleries ought to “keep away from any personal exercise or pursuit of a private curiosity which will battle or be perceived to battle with the general public curiosity”.
The row shines the highlight once more on how nationwide collections are funded within the UK within the face of dwindling public subsidies. The Belgian collector Alain Servais advised The Telegraph: “No person within the artwork world likes to speak about cash however the reality is that not a single solo exhibition can occur with out the help of the artist’s gallery or a sponsor.”
The Telegraph additionally experiences that Zoë Legislation: Legends was first mentioned again in 2019, beneath the gallery’s former director Nicholas Cullinan, now director of the British Museum. Legislation is credited because the photographer behind a publicity portrait of Cullinan that was distributed by the museum alongside its announcement of Cullinan’s appointment in March 2023. The picture is dated 2018.
Legislation’s web site says that she started her evolving Legends collection in 2017, “celebrating over 100 influential figures from the worlds of artwork, style, enterprise, and leisure”. Her work is on show till 2 March within the NPG’s Studio Gallery and Highlight Area.
Zoë Legislation and the Legislation Household Charitable Basis had been contacted for remark. Nicholas Cullinan declined to remark.
