Advertising magnate Saatchi became renowned as a patron of the arts

London - With his brother, he founded the global advertising empire Saatchi & Saatchi, but for many years he has also been interested in fine art. Former campaign author for Margaret Thatcher, Charles Saatchi is renowned as an art patron and was instrumental in the early career of controversial artist Damien Hirst. In 2010, Saatchi announced that he would dedicate his Saatchi Gallery, which he opened in London in 1985, to the British as a Museum of Contemporary Art. On Sunday, June 9, he will celebrate his seventieth birthday.
    Charles Saatchi has long cultivated an image as a mysterious figure in the background. He did not give interviews and was reluctant to be photographed. A legend developed around him as an all-powerful man who allegedly controls the fates of the best British artists with his money, capable of both launching and destroying their careers.
    Saatchi was born on June 9, 1943, in Baghdad to a Jewish family of a wealthy fabric trader. When he was six years old, the family fled Iraq from a wave of anti-Semitism to Britain. Saatchi initially tried to break into the film industry, but his screenplays were unsuccessful.
    In 1970, he and his brother Maurice founded the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, which quickly gained fame for its aggressive style. The peak of the agency's career came in the late 1970s when it became the client of the then-opposition Conservative Party. For their election battle against Labour, Saatchi devised a campaign focused on criticizing the opponent. At that time, it was the first campaign of its kind in Britain, and in 1979 the firm contributed to the victory of Margaret Thatcher and her party in the elections.
    Saatchi also devoted himself to art. Since the 1960s, he has collected art, purchasing works from American minimalist artists, for example. In 1985, he opened a gallery focused on showcasing his collections. However, Saatchi later became intrigued by the provocative creations of young artists, like Damien Hirst, and he sold most of his minimalist collection to shift his focus to contemporary British art. He not only collected it but also actively promoted it.
    In 1997, he organized a traveling exhibition of his collection entitled Sensation. Expectations were met. At the premiere in London, a painting by Marcus Harvey depicting the child murderer Myra Hindley caused a scandal. In 1999, in New York, then-mayor Rudolph Giuliani sought a way to officially shut down the scandalous display of British art.
    In 2003, Saatchi, who also devised a new artistic movement and named it neurotic realism, opened a new gallery in London featuring shocking exhibits: a shark in formaldehyde, a cow cut into 12 pieces, a severed cow's head covered in flies, and rats glued into a ball.
    In addition to exhibitions, Saatchi has sponsored a competition for young artists on BBC television, for example. Since 2003, Saatchi has been married to popular television chef Nigella Lawson, who is 16 years younger; he was previously married twice.