Full Name: Leroux, Leroux Smith
Gender: male
Date Born: unknown
Date Died: unknown
Home Country/ies: South Africa
Subject Area(s): Modern (style or period)
Career(s): curators
Overview
Assistant keeper of the Tate Museum, London; involved in “Tate Affair.” Tate director John Rothenstein met Leroux on an excursion to South Africa in 1949. He hired Leroux in 1950. Leroux leaked accusations to the British press of Rothenstein’s maltreatment of Tate staff, misappropriation of funds, and purchasing pictures at inflated prices. Prevented from responding to these allegations because of a civil servant law, Rothenstein was subjected to scandal and humiliation. Joining the condemnation was the collector and art historian Douglas Cooper, an obstreperous personality who nevertheless represented a major British private collection of modern art. Rothenstein purportedly punched Cooper at an art reception and nearly lost his job. The British newspapers dubbed the incident the “Tate Affair.”
Selected Bibliography
Leroux published no works.
Sources
Brave Day, Hideous Night: [volume 2] Autobiography, 1939-1965. London: H. Hamilton, 1966, pp. 231-373.