Tate Is Accused of Conflicts of Interest

LONDON—The Tate is embroiled in controversy about conflicts of interest in its choices of trustees, the Times (London) reports. The Turner Prize-winning artist and trustee Jeremy Deller is accused of benefiting from his association with the gallery, after he voluntarily sat out meetings where his colleagues discussed acquisitions, commissions, and an exhibition of his work at Tate Liverpool. The trustees never turned down any proposed exhibitions or acquisitions of Deller's works, according to an investigation by the art journal The Jackdaw that will be released this month. The Tate has been scrutinized regarding its trustees before, with Britain's Charity Commission ruling in 2006 that the museum had broken the law by buying art produced by serving trustees, including a £600,000 work by Chris Ofili, another Turner Prize-winner. Most major art institutions in Britain are set up as charities, and by law, trustees cannot receive monetary benefit from their charity without permission, usually from the commission. The Jackdaw investigation also mentions Melanie Clore, deputy chairman of Sotheby's Europe and co-chairman of Sotheby's Worldwide Impressionist and Modern Art, contending Clore did not declare an interest in the Tate's planned Peter Doig exhibition (Doig was a trustee from 1995 to 2000) when Sotheby's was selling some of the artist's works privately.

A Tate spokeswoman responded: "The Charity Commission has recently acknowledged that Tate has undertaken a significant review of its policies, and praised our recent work in managing potential conflicts."