For more than half a century, Alan Bowness was a leading public figure in the art world in Britain, predominantly as writer, lecturer, curator, administrator and philanthropist. He was the first trained art historian to become Director of the Tate Gallery, in London, where he made an invaluable and lasting contribution in the relatively short time that he held the post.
Bowness was born in London in 1928, educated at University College School, London, following which he did his National Service in the Friends’ Ambulance Unit. In 1950 he went up to Downing College, Cambridge, to read modern languages. From 1953 to 1955 he studied French painting under Anthony Blunt at the Courtauld Institute of Art. In 1957 he joined its staff, teaching 19th and 20th-century art. He became, successively, Reader, Professor and, finally, Deputy Director. In his 23 years at the Courtauld he taught a generation of students, many of whom later distinguished themselves in university or museum