Southampton City Art Gallery: The History of the Contemporary

11 January - 21 February 2010
Selection by Helen Simpson

21 February - 5 April 2010
Selection by Les Buckingham

Curated by Alice Workman, curator at Southampton City Art Gallery, and developed in partnership with the Centenary Programme.

Southampton City Art Gallery holds perhaps the most exceptional collection of modern and contemporary art outside of London. This is thanks to the visionary curatorship, well managed bequest funds and excellent gifts, not least from the Contemporary Art Society. Building and using a collection of this sort requires skilful and knowledgeable museum directors and curators working to generate a dynamic public programme.

To acknowledge the commitment of those who have had an influence on the collection, Alice Workman has invited seven former curators to select pieces from the collection that are, in their view, key works. These will be displayed throughout the year and will be accompanied by a programme of talks and debates.

Those participating in the programme:

Previous Directors of Southampton City Art Gallery
Stephen Snoddy, Director, New Art Gallery, Walsall
Liz Goodall, Chief Executive, North Dorset District Council
Godfrey Worsdale, Director, BALTIC, Gateshead
Margot Heller, Director, South London Gallery
Helen Simpson, Exhibitions Organiser, Museum of Fine Arts, Ghent; previously Registrar at Southampton City Art Gallery.

Advisor to Southampton City Art Gallery’s Collection Ann Gallagher, Head of Collections (British Art), Tate Britain

Previously curator of Southampton City Art Gallery Les Buckingham, Curator, Millais Gallery; York Art Gallery.

For further information on this Centenary Event email nationalprogrammes@contemporaryartsociety.org