MODERN Art Oxford has begun the search for its new director.

It comes after former director Michael Stanley was found dead in a garden of a house in Adelaide Street, Jericho, in September, aged just 37. Police did not treat his death as suspicious.

Since then the Pembroke Street gallery has been run by interim director David Thorp but his replacement is now being sought.

The gallery is looking for someone who is “creative and intellectually dynamic” to fill the £70,000-a-year post and lead it towards its 50th birthday celebrations in 2015.

Anyone interested in filling the role will also need an “outstanding knowledge and critical understanding of modern and contemporary visual art” and a “comprehensive working knowledge of the international contemporary art sector”.

Over the course of its 48- year history, directors of Modern Art Oxford have included Sir Nicholas Serota, who is now director of the Tate, and David Elliott, who went on to become director of modern art museums in Stockholm, Istanbul and Tokyo.

Applications should be sent to the gallery by 5pm on Friday, March 1.