Lars Nittve

Lars Nittve (born 17 September 1953) is a Swedish museum director, curator, art critic and writer.^[1] He was the founding Director of Tate Modern in London;^[2] former Director of the Moderna Museet in Stockholm;^[3] the founding Director of Rooseum – Center for Contemporary Art – in Malmö, Sweden;^[4] and Director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark.^[5]

Nittve is currently the Executive Director of M+, museum for visual culture of West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.^[6]

Early life and education

Lars Nittve was born in Stockholm in 1953.^[7] He studied at the Stockholm School of Economics, and obtained an M.A. at Stockholm University.^[1] He also pursued postgraduate studies at New York University.^[1] In 2009, Nittve earned a PhD, HC, from the Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.^[8]

Career

In 1978 to 1985, Nittve served as lecturer in art history at the Stockholm University.^[9] During the same period he has been Senior Art Critic for the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Stockholm,^[10] and contributed regularly to Artforum, New York City.^[11]

From 1986 Nittve was appointed Chief Curator at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm,^[3] where he curated a large number of high-profile exhibitions – both monographic and thematic, among them "Walter De Maria",^[12] "Kandinsky and Sweden", "Hilma af Klint" ^[13] and the seminal "Implosion – a Postmodern Perspective".^[14][15] From 1990 to 1995, he served as the founding Director of Rooseum – Center for Contemporary Art – in Malmö, Sweden,^[4] where he organized the whole exhibition program, including surveys of "Susan Rothenberg",^[16] "Allan McCollum",^[17] "Sherrie Levine" ^[18] and "Andreas Gursky".^[19] In July 1995, Nittve became Director of the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebaek, Denmark,^[5] where he also curated the groundbreaking exhibition "Sunshine & Noir – Art in L.A. 1960–1997".^[20] In the spring of 1998, he was named the first Director of Tate Modern, London, which opened in May 2000 to great acclaim.^[21]

In 2001, he took up his post as Director of Moderna Museet, the national Museum of Modern Art in Stockholm.^[22] He co-curated the thematic exhibition Fashination in 2004 about the dialogue between art and fashion in the last ten years.^[23] Other exhibitions include "Time and Place: Los Angeles 1957–1968" (2008);^[24] "Anthony McCall" (2009)^[25] and most recently "Ed Ruscha: Fifty Years of Painting" (2010).^[26] During his time at the Moderna Museet, Nittve was instrumental in the fundraising effort (70 million USD) that strengthened the collection and oversaw the expansion of the institution – including The Second Museum of Our Wishes, which focuses on bringing more works by women artists into the collection,^[27][28] the creation of the innovative Renzo Piano designed Pontus Hultén Study Gallery (opened in May 2008),^[29] The American Friends of the Moderna Museet Inc. and the opening of Moderna Museet Malmö in 2009.^[30]

In the end of 2010 Nittve left his post as Director of the Moderna Museet after having served the maximum length of nine years anyone is permitted to hold the post.^[31][32]

Since January 2011, Nittve has been appointed the Executive Director of M+, the new innovative museum for visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.^[33][34]

Awards and recognition

Lars Nittve has served on the jury of numerous international prizes^[35][36][37] and has been on the board of a large number of international art organizations.^[13] He is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Art.^[13]

In 2009 he was awarded a Ph.D. H.C by Umeå University, Sweden, where he is also Professor in Art History since 2010.^[8]

In 2010, Nittve was awarded H. M. The King's Medal in gold, 12th size in the Order of the Serafim’s ribbon.^[38]

Nittve is the author of several publications on art, as well as articles in journals and catalogues in Sweden and abroad.^[39]

In 2013 he was ranked at number 73 in ArtReview Magazine's annual Power 100^[40]

External links

• Exhibition of the Modern Museum, Stockholm
• Interview with Lars Nittve (swedish)
• Lars Nittve, Lars Nittve on a swedish radiointerview (2002-07-07)

References