The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has announced that its director, Martin Roth, is to leave in the autumn after five years in post.
German-born Roth was disillusioned by the recent Brexit vote but departs the V&A on a high after the London museum scooped the Art Fund Museum of the Year award earlier this year.
Roth, who has been the director of the V&A since September 2011, has overseen a number of major developments including construction of the new Exhibition Road entrance, courtyard and gallery, which will open next year, as well as developing partnerships in Shenzhen, China; Dundee, Scotland; and with V&A East in the Queen Elizabeth Park, east London.
He has presided over critically acclaimed exhibitions such as David Bowie is and Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Last year the V&A attracted its highest ever number of visitors, which reached more than 3.4 million.
“Our recent accolade as Art Fund Museum of the Year feels like the perfect moment to draw to a close my mission in London and hand over to a new director to take the V&A forward to an exciting future,” Roth said.
“It's been an enormous privilege and tremendously exciting to lead this great museum, with its outstanding staff and collections, and I’m proud to have steered it to new successes and a period of growth and expansion, including new partnerships around the UK and internationally.”
Before joining the V&A, he was the director general of the Dresden State Art Collections, overseeing 12 museums and galleries.
After he leaves the V&A, Roth intends to devote more time to various international cultural consultancies and plans to spend more time with his family in Berlin and Vancouver.
The V&A’s board of trustees has now started the search for a new director.
German-born Roth was disillusioned by the recent Brexit vote but departs the V&A on a high after the London museum scooped the Art Fund Museum of the Year award earlier this year.
Roth, who has been the director of the V&A since September 2011, has overseen a number of major developments including construction of the new Exhibition Road entrance, courtyard and gallery, which will open next year, as well as developing partnerships in Shenzhen, China; Dundee, Scotland; and with V&A East in the Queen Elizabeth Park, east London.
He has presided over critically acclaimed exhibitions such as David Bowie is and Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty. Last year the V&A attracted its highest ever number of visitors, which reached more than 3.4 million.
“Our recent accolade as Art Fund Museum of the Year feels like the perfect moment to draw to a close my mission in London and hand over to a new director to take the V&A forward to an exciting future,” Roth said.
“It's been an enormous privilege and tremendously exciting to lead this great museum, with its outstanding staff and collections, and I’m proud to have steered it to new successes and a period of growth and expansion, including new partnerships around the UK and internationally.”
Before joining the V&A, he was the director general of the Dresden State Art Collections, overseeing 12 museums and galleries.
After he leaves the V&A, Roth intends to devote more time to various international cultural consultancies and plans to spend more time with his family in Berlin and Vancouver.
The V&A’s board of trustees has now started the search for a new director.
