Rosenthal quits Royal Academy after 31 years of blockbusters

· Flamboyant exhibition head to be special adviser
· His shows popularised the ancient, obscure and new

# Martin Hodgson
# The Guardian,
# Thursday January 31 2008

Sir Norman Rosenthal, the flamboyant and sometimes controversial head of exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London, is to step down after 31 years. During his time at the academy, he helped transform it into one of the world's greatest exhibition spaces with blockbuster exhibitions, including the first show to introduce Britart to a wider audience, the Monet exhibition in 1999 and the current exhibition of 19th and 20th century masterpieces from Russian collections.

He will continue planning new exhibitions as a special adviser to the RA, but will also work as a freelance curator in the UK and abroad.

"It's quite a difficult decision. I've taken it after deep consideration and there's a certain sentimental sadness attached to it," he told the Evening Standard. "The Royal Academy is being very accommodating. I'm going to be special adviser on exhibitions and, hopefully, curate some without going to the endlessly boring meetings. At the risk of sounding vain, people have begun to identify me with this place. It may be objectively, subjectively, unhealthy."

The search for a replacement will start next month. But after so many years at one of the capital's most influential institutions, Rosenthal will prove difficult to replace, said Sandy Nairn, director of the National Portrait Gallery. "I doubt whether one person could possibly fill Norman's shoes. His contribution was really exceptional, both in terms of the important work he did, but also the range of work. It's extremely unusual to find an exhibition curator who has done fantastic cutting-edge contemporary art but also arranged brilliant historical shows of both European and non-western art," he said.

Although Rosenthal has no formal qualifications in art or art history, he is credited with mounting a series of landmark shows which popularised the ancient, the obscure and the new. Admired as he is for his curatorial talent, he also gained notoriety for his abrasive personality: he once spat at a critic at an opening.

Rumours that he would leave first emerged in 2004 after Lawton Fitt became the first woman to be appointed as the RA's secretary. She resigned after a year of crises, including a bitter feud with Rosenthal. More recently, there were reports of tensions with the current chief executive, Charles Saumarez Smith, although both insist they remain on good terms .

Rosenthal, 63, played a key role in organising the RA's current blockbuster, From Russia, spending three years negotiating with Russian authorities to borrow works from their collections.