Art: What Martin Roth's obits shockingly left out

When I heard that Martin Roth died, I read all the obituaries I could find.  It was as if I felt that by reading accounts of his life his early death would be less shocking. He would have loved them. From the Guardian to the Independent and Telegraph and across the Atlantic, too, in the New York Times all was praise for his short reign as Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum. Nice, I guess, but for me disturbing. Not a single obituary mentioned the collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum. You know, the art and objects. It was as they do not exist. Why then would there be any discussion of Martin Roth’s role in preserving, studying, displaying and/or expanding them. The conclusion was as terrible as it was obvious: Art and objects of art don’t much matter.  A look at what they tell us does matter will follow but first:

As what is in the V&A; the reason for its creation and existence, was not thought worth a mention, there was no point in mentioning Martin Roth's relationship with those employed to maintain, study and increase it. As one does not wish to speak ill of the dead, that may have been just as well; many curators were not Martin Roth fans.  

Maybe the fact that I liked Martin Roth (see previous post) and respected what he achieved in Dresden led me to feel that the anger of V&A’s curators was off target. I reckoned that it ought to have been aimed at the Trustees. Martin did what they hired him to do; he was expected to replicate his success in Dresden. Evidently, when the Trustees were kids they all cut class on the morning their teachers explained about how you can't compare apples and pears.

At Dresden's State Art Collections, Martin Roth was an Admiral overseeing a fleet of 12 (now 15) ships. His job was not to run the State's Armory, Green Vaults;  Old Master, Modern Art, Porcelain or Folk Art collections. Each of these museums has its own Captain responsible for its contents and a staff that reports to him or her. Martin was responsible for strategy, conquests, publicity, raising money. . He revelled in it. Also, he was very good at it.  During his 10 years there he became a figure on the international culture stage; Dresden was reborn as a great culture capital. The splendor of its collections was a revelation and joy.  

When Martin came to London he worried that people might have trouble accepting him as the first German to head an important British museum.  He did not appear to have any doubts about his job description. He arrived an Admiral and that is what he remained. The result was that the V&A became a ship without a Captain; some would say it was minus an anchor, too. I had no idea until I read the obituaries that for a lot of people in the art world this did not seem to matter. Evidently, there were more important things. Consider, for a representative example, this snippet from a laudatory obit in the FT:

  “Roth’s outward-looking approach was reflected in bold plans for new outposts for the South Kensington-based museum. V&A Dundee, Scotland’s first museum of design, is due to open in 2018, and V&A East is planned for the QueenElizabeth Olympic Park in east London.”  And there was more to praise, much more:

  

 In the Guardian, the current Chairman of the V&A Trustees, Nicolas Coleridge, is quoted saying that Martin Roth raised “the international profile of the museum. Initiatives under his leadership included a presence at the Venice Biennale, the expansion of the museum to China, Dundee and east London, the founding of the V&A research unit, and the opening of restored galleries devoted to European arts and crafts of 1600-1815.”  Hurrah. Hurrah?

Yes, while Martin Roth was Director, the number of visitors rose to 3.8 million. There was such high demand to see exhibitions devoted to David Bowie and AlexanderMcQueen that the museum had to extend its opening hours--even through the night. Also no. The number of curators shrank. Acquisition budgets ditto. More cuts were promised. Talk became more bitter; the voices of staff were not heard; their concerns ignored.

Okay bitching is one of the perks of being on staff. But sometimes it is more than a ventilating system. The New York Times obituary described Martin Roth as “a path breaking curator in Britain.” Where was the editor that day? He was not a curator of any kind in Britain--nor at Dresden’s State Art Collections for that matter. The Big Picture was his department. 

In London, at lunch with Martin one day, I mentioned that V&A curators were discontented; that they felt they could not get their views across. He simply had no idea what I was talking about; what they wanted from him. They knew where he was. It was up to them to make themselves heard. I didn’t think he was being arrogant. He just didn’t get it. 

In the absence of a focus on their contents, museums become brands. The V&A, a magnificent museum is marketed; opens branches, sells franchises. Its success is measured by counting the number of feet through the door; the amount of media coverage, celebrities coming to its parties and awards of course. A successful museum director is someone who grows the brand. What's so dreadful is that this is not happening in small pockets here and there; that it is what's called trending. What so awful is that is now normal to think more about the packaging and selling of museums than what is in them.

I don't like it. I wish it would stop.