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Sainsbury Wing contractors find 1990 letter from donor


Work on foyer reveals John Sainsbury’s note buried in extension to London’s National Gallery

John Sainsbury is critical in the letter of the American post-Modernist architect Robert Venturi and his professional partner and wife Denise Scott Brown for inserting two large false columns in the gallery’s foyer that served no structural purpose. John Sainsbury argued that sightlines should be as unencumbered as possible, thinking the extra columns would conceal the entrance to the lecture theatre and temporary exhibition galleries, confusing the visitor.” MacGregor ultimately concluded in the late 1980s that the false columns were acceptable: “Although there were drawbacks, Venturi had a coherent idea of the organic link between entrance hall, staircase and main galleries.

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