The Art Worlds Most Powerful

ArtReview magazine's annual list of the 100 most powerful people in the contemporary art scene was published yesterday, prompting predictable modest coughs from those who found themselves near the top, and sniffy dismissals from those who had been bumped down the list or, worse, banished altogether. Though the art list confirms the overwhelming dominance of New York and London as capitals of the contemporary art scene, for the first time the most influential figure is neither American nor British. Instead, the magazine named the Frenchman François Pinault, one of the world's leading buyers, as the most powerful man in modern art. Mr Pinault's position at the very top is thanks to the private art gallery he opened in April in the Palazzo Grassi in Venice to house his some of his 2,000 pieces of contemporary art. Its first exhibition was named Where Are We Going?, after Damien Hirst's work featuring two dissected cows. The businessman, who was forced to abandon an earlier plan to build a gallery on an island in the Seine, does not merely like to collect artworks: he also owns the fashion group Gucci, Christie's auction house, the Chateau-Latour vineyard and a French first division football team, Stade Rennais. Twenty-five Britons feature in the list, the highest placed, Sir Nicholas Serota, director of Tate Modern, who is at number three, just behind Larry Gagosian, the world's leading art dealer. Despite closing his gallery on the South Bank in London, Charles Saatchi is at seven, up from 19 last year. However the artist Damien Hirst has slipped from the top position last year to number 11. For the full story - click the title Irish Art