Sir Charles Saumarez Smith is stepping down after 11 years as the secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts.
Saumarez Smith is one of the most experienced and respected cultural leaders in the UK, having been in charge of the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery before joining the academy.
He has successfully overseen the biggest project in the RA’s 250-year history, a £56m redevelopment bringing new galleries, a lecture theatre and increasing public space by 70%.
Saumarez Smith, who turns 65 in 2019, said the RA was entering a new phase of its history with a project to develop its schools and a requirement to build up its endowment. The time was right to hand on the baton, he said.
“There is never a good time to announce one’s departure, but I wanted to leave at a time of obvious strength and success,” he said.
The RA has often been seen as a difficult organisation to lead because of its history and elaborate structure. Technically, Saumarez Smith is fourth in the pecking order of authority behind the Queen, the academy’s president, and the more than 120 artists and architects who are Royal Academicians.
The president, the artist Christopher Le Brun, paid tribute to Saumarez Smith: “Charles has a natural sympathy for the painters, sculptors, printmakers and architects that make up the membership of the Royal Academy, and possesses the unique ability to move with equal authority in the worlds of art, design, scholarship, exhibitions, administration and fundraising.
“I am proud to have had him alongside me during my presidency, assisting us to renew and fully realise the potential of the modern Royal Academy. His tenure is marked by great achievement, for which the Academicians, our staff and supporters are immensely grateful.
“History is likely to judge him as the most successful of all Royal Academy secretaries.”
Saumarez Smith said he planned to leave at the end of the year before taking up a role as the senior director of the commercial gallery Blain/Southern. The search for his successor will begin in September.
After gaining a double-first in history and history of art at Cambridge University and studies at Harvard and the Warburg Institute, Saumarez Smith was set for a life in academia before joining the V&A in 1982, becoming head of research in 1990.
He was appointed director of the National Portrait Gallery in 1994 and director of the National Gallery in 2002, succeeding Neil MacGregor. He was knighted this year for his service to the arts.
