Charles Saatchi
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Charles Saatchi, born June 10, 1943, is the co-founder of advertising agencies Saatchi and Saatchi and M&C Saatchi.
Born in Baghdad, Iraq, the son of Sephardic Jewish parents, his father was a prosperous textile manufacturer. He is the brother of Lord Saatchi (Maurice Saatchi). He is also famous for sponsoring the Young British Artists and the foundation of the Saatchi Gallery now located at County Hall in London.
Prior to establishing Saatchi & Saatchi he worked along side David Puttnam and Alan Parker. When Putnam moved into film production he commissioned a script from Saatchi but it remains unproduced.
Before his association with the Young British Artists Saatchi had been a collector of American Neo-Expressionist and Neo-Pop works. In 1989 following his divorce from his first wife Doris Saatchi and the 'discovery' of the YBAs Saatchi sold large holdings of this work principally the painter Sandro Chia. The resulting deflation of the value of Chia's work on the auction market effectively ruined the artist's career.
Saatchi has a reputation for buying an artist's work in bulk - often acquiring entire exhibitions - and extracting discounts from young artists as they recognise being brought by Saatchi will increase their appeal to collectors and dealers. While Saatchi visits hundreds of exhibitions himself he also retains an art advisor to notify him of emerging trends.
Saatchi's renown as a patron was at its peak in 1997 when part of his collection was shown at the Royal Academy as the exhibition 'Sensation'. Following this Saatchi attempted to launch a successor to the yBAs with 'New Neurotic Realism' but this did not take hold.
Following the opening of the County Hall gallery Saatchi had a public rift with Damien Hirst who felt his work was being exploited as a tourist attraction. Hirst agreed to buy back a number of his works for a fee reputed to be £9 million, many hundreds of times what they had been first purchased for.
Saatchi was said to be "absolutely devastated" when, on 24 May 2004, a fire in a storage warehouse destroyed many art works, worth millions of pounds, from the Saatchi collection. One art insurance specialist valued the lost work at £50m.
Saatchi famously never gives interviews and makes few public appearances not even attending the openings of his own exhibitions that are often glamorous events. There is one recorded interview with him from the mid-seventies that is occasionally broadcast. His speaking voice is very similar to that of the comedian David Baddiel.
He is the second husband of celebrity cook Nigella Lawson.
External links
- BBC Profile (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/newsmakers/2124645.stm)