When I read that Martin Roth, the director of the V&A, was resigning from his job because of Brexit, I sensed it was not quite true. I did not doubt the sincerity of Dr Roth’s views: he has his German generation’s horror of anything which could be presented as ‘nationalism’. It was rather that it did not make sense as a motive for leaving his post. Brexit won’t actually happen until roughly the time when Dr Roth would have left anyway, so it could not have impeded his work. Besides, the collections of the V&A are not at the slightest risk of attack for being ‘decadent’ art under the May regime.
My hunch seems to be right. It turns out that Dr Roth had decided to leave anyway — to see more of his family in Germany and Vancouver, to rest from his many arduous years of running distinguished museums, perhaps for other reasons too. He told the slightly bewildered trustees that his departure had nothing to do with Brexit. But the story acquired a life of its own. After a bit, Dr Roth became a Bremoaner hero, especially in his native Germany, where his courage in the cause of Europe has been widely lauded. Finding himself in this almost accidental eminence — rather like William Boot in Scoop — Dr Roth has decided to accept his medals in this Kulturkampf, and speaks of future ‘political’ engagement. He is already president of the Institute of Foreign Relations in Stuttgart. This week, Chris Dercon, the former head of Tate Modern, called for him to become minister of culture in Germany. Back at the V&A, staff laugh about ‘Rexit’, and look forward to welcoming a director who is interested in the collections.
This is an extract from Charles Moore’s Notes. The full article is available here.
Comments