Doris Lockhart Saatchi, the cofounder of the Saatchi collection and gallery in London, has died. The Sorbonne-educated patron was the first wife of Charles Saatchi, and it was her who first introduced the advertising executive to art.
Meeting in 1967 and marring six years later, the pair developed one of the largest collections of US art, particularly of minimalism and Pop, in the UK. Works by Andy Warhol, Brice Marden, Cy Twomby, Donald Judd, Julian Schnabel and Agnes Martin formed the basis for their private museum when it first opened on Boundary Road in North London in 1985.
In 1988 the couple separated, Charles keeping control of the gallery and shifting his attention to the emerging Young British Artist scene with which he would eventually become synonymous.
Doris continued to collect British art – as well as lecture and contribute to various art magazines – while also developing an interest in architecture, buying original plans, models and other such paraphernalia.
