LONDON.- Two of the art world's most distinguished experts in contemporary and modern art are joining the Board of Trustees of the UK's leading independent art charity, The Art Fund. Richard Calvocoressi and James Lingwood will join the 15 strong Board charged with allocating the charity's grants, which last year totalled nearly £7million.

Richard Calvocoressi, Director of the Henry Moore Foundation and former Keeper, and then Director, of the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art (1987-2007), was originally a curator at the Tate Gallery (1979-87), where he was responsible for building up the collections of pre - and postwar European art. He also organised major exhibitions of Tinguely (1982) and Kokoschka (1986). In Scotland he acquired important international collections of dada and surrealist art from the estates of Roland Penrose and Gabrielle Keiller and was instrumental in attracting the Anthony d’Offay gift to Edinburgh and London. In 2004 the SNGMA was awarded the Gulbenkian Museum of the Year Award (now the Art Fund Prize) for its commissioning of Charles Jencks’s ‘Landform’. Richard Calvocoressi is an Expert Member of the Comité Magritte, a Member of the Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné Committee and Director of Grimsthorpe and Drummond Castle Trust. In the recent Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was awarded a CBE for services to the Arts, particularly in Scotland.

As Co-Director of Artangel and Artangel Media, James Lingwood has commissioned and produced a vast range of impressive contemporary projects from Rachel Whiteread's House and Gregor Schneider's Die Familie Schneider in the East End of London to Roni Horn's Vatnasafn/Library of Water on the West coast of Iceland as well as film and television projects such as Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and Mike Figgis' Battle of Orgreave and Douglas Gordon's Feature Film. He also curates exhibitions for museums around the world and recent exhibitions including Juan Munoz: The Voice Alone and Bernd & Hilla Becher and Robert Smithson: Field Trips. A trustee of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, James Lingwood also sits on the International Advisory Boards of the Museu de Serralves in Porto, the Atelier Calder in Saché, France, and 176 Gallery in London.

Richard Calvocoressi said: “The Art Fund’s work to enrich our artistic heritage is invaluable, and was a tremendous source of funds and support for me as a curator and Director. It’s with great enthusiasm that I now find myself on the other side of the grant giving process and I’m very much looking forward to helping museums and galleries across the UK.”

James Lingwood said: “There is no doubt that The Art Fund is playing a central part in some of the most important contemporary arts initiatives of our time. Its £5million scheme to develop the UK’s contemporary international collections, Art Fund International, is just one excellent example, and I’m delighted to have the opportunity to take part in its groundbreaking work.”

David Verey, Chair of The Art Fund, said: "I’m delighted that two such eminent figures are joining The Art Fund’s Board. The range of fascinating and important projects that we are currently involved in - from saving Rubens’s sketch of the Banqueting House ceiling to commissioning public art - makes a diversity of skills and backgrounds vital. They both bring a wealth of experience and expertise to The Art Fund and I look forward to working with them.”

Members of The Art Fund’s Board of Trustees include leaders in the fields of art, communications, and business who volunteer their time and expertise on behalf of The Art Fund. All their work is unpaid. The new trustees will join David Verey CBE (Chairman), Paul Zuckerman (Treasurer), David Barrie (Director), Dr Wendy Baron OBE FSA, Professor Michael Craig-Martin CBE RA, Christopher Lloyd CVO, Dr David Landau Hon CBE, Professor Lord Renfrew of Kaimsthorn FBA FSA, Jonathan Marsden LVO FSA, Sally Osman, Charles Sebag-Montefiore FCA FSA, Timothy Stevens OBE, Dr Deborah Swallow, Professor William Vaughan and The Hon Felicity Waley-Cohen. The combined knowledge of the Board covers art of all kinds and periods. When additional specialist knowledge is required, members of the Advisory Council and other experts may be consulted.