Doris Lockhart, an influential art collector, died at age 88. Born in 1937 in Tennessee, she significantly impacted the UK contemporary art scene during the 1970s and 1980s. Collaborating with her then-husband Charles Saatchi, she introduced leading US artists and supported the Young British Artists in the 1990s. After their divorce in 1990, Lockhart continued her collecting efforts, backing artists like Damien Hirst. She was pivotal in shifting Saatchi's interests from comics to contemporary art, with notable pieces in their collection, including works by Warhol and Rauschenberg.
"It is Doris who has been credited with rechannelling Saatchi's collecting instincts from Superman comics and juke boxes to contemporary art, and the most rigorous of art at that: their first purchase, made in 1970 was a Sol LeWitt drawing."
"We were so excited about the pop artists such as Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg," Lockhart told The Sunday Times in 2017. When Tate mounted a 1982 show of 13 paintings by Julian Schnabel, 11 were lent by the Saatchis.
After she and Charles divorced in 1990, Lockhart continued collecting and curating, backing artists such as Damien Hirst and Gary Hume. In 1997 she addressed a historic jibe: 'Doris had the eye and Charles the wallet.'
Collection
[
|
...
]