Public Spiritedness vs. Private Passions: The Great Debate
The creation of private museums around the world is a phenomenon of the 21st century. Where once collectors tended to donate their art to public institutions, now many have created their own spaces, often with resources that the public sector cannot match. What are the motivations of such collectors? Does this mean that public spiritedness is in decline, or do these private museums enhance the cultural discourse and offer the public access to collections that they might otherwise not be able to see? Organized by Judith Pineiro, Executive Director, AAMC & AAMC Foundation and Lucy Lydon, Founder, Luce Productions. <br> <img src="https://cdn.filepicker.io/api/file/TuvACAMrRtyg3Y7HFO8G" alt="Financial Times" style="max-width:220px; height:auto"/>
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Hidde van Seggelen
Welcome by the Chairman of TEFAF Executive Committee
Jan Dalley
Moderated by Financial Times Arts Editor
Georgina Adam
Georgina Adam is a journalist and author of two books about the art market. She is a Financial Times contributor and art market editor-at-large of The Art Newspaper; her new book, 'The Rise and Rise of the Private Art Museum', will be published in London on 30 September.
Jean Claude Gandur
A Swiss citizen born in France in 1949, Jean Claude Gandur is an art collector, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He spent his childhood in Egypt before settling with his family in Switzerland. After studying law, political science and ancient history, he started a career in oil trading and founded the Addax and Oryx Group (AOG) in 1987. A successful entrepreneur, he has also built one the most impressive private art collections, hosted by the Fondation Gandur pour l’Art since 2010, and ranging from the Antiquity, modern abstract painting, the decorative arts, to ethnology and African contemporary art and of the diaspora.
Charles Saumarez Smith
Charles Saumarez Smith is a writer and art historian, who has recently published The Art Museum in Modern Times (Thames & Hudson, 2021). He was the Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London from 2007 until he stepped down in 2018 and previously Director of the National Portrait Gallery from 1994 to 2002 and Director of the National Gallery from 2002 to 2007. He is chairman of the Royal Drawing School, a trustee of the Garden Museum, Professor of Architectural History at the Royal Academy, and architectural correspondent for The Critic.