London
Pop star Sir Elton John has been given the official green light to build a huge private art gallery at his home in Windsor, known as Woodside. Sir Elton has now amassed more than 5,000 photographs over 15 years by artists such as David LaChapelle and Sam Taylor-Wood.
Windsor & Maidenhead council gave planning permission in June for the project which involves destroying a garage complex to make way for two new buildings connected by a glazed link to the main mansion. The larger unit is for the display of part of Sir Elton’s collection of paintings and photographs. The ancillary space will house his archive. There will also be a sculpture patio and a basement that “would house the equipment for the art gallery” according to the planning application which stressed that the new space will be used solely by Sir Elton “and his guests”.
The planning permission statement says that “no responses have been received from neighbours”. A local councillor, Malcolm Beer, raised concerns about the effect of the “grossly excessive additional area of built development in the green belt area” but the permit statement concludes that “the proposal would not result in any adverse impact” on the green belt zone.
Jane Jackson, curator of Sir Elton’s photography collection, told The Art Newspaper: “We are still two years off before the new structure will be completed. We are past full capacity for...storage of artwork, including photography, at the other locations [Sir Elton’s homes in London and Atlanta]. We are in desperate need of additional...space which this new facility will allow.”
Meanwhile, a selection of images from Sir Elton’s photography collection will go on show at the Baltic Centre in Gateshead this September in a show co-curated by Jérôme Sans, director of programmes, alongside an exhibition drawn from the Zabludowicz collection (see left). Ms Jackson said: “We are hoping to exhibit Nan Goldin’s complete Thanksgiving installation of 100 photographs there.”
Baltic director, Peter Doroshenko, is also president of the Pinchuk Art Centre in Kiev which is currently showing 148 photographs from Sir Elton’s holdings (until 12 August).
Originally appeared in The Art Newspaper as ‘Elton’s gallery gets go ahead'