Huge 42% rise in British Museum visits
Museum reclaims crown as most visited attraction in UK
Happy Friday.
Did you know, you feel better when you experience heritage? I mean of course you did, you’re reading this newsletter. I don’t need to convince you of the benefits culture.
But did you also know that you can now actually measure the wellbeing value of being near heritage in that most-universal of metrics — cold hard cash.
Yes, it’s official: living around historic sites can improve your quality of life by the value of £515 a year. Across England, that reaches a total of £29 billion.
The figures were released in a new Historic England report. Amazingly, the very presence of nearby heritage locations benefits residents’ quality of life, even if people do not participate in heritage activities.
Why heritage has this impact is still unknown, but there are theories. Mine is that heritage is humbling. It offers an environment that reminds us of the (many, incalculable) lives that have gone before us, which can make our own problems and pressures of the present feel smaller. The world will always keep turning — and we all get a few more quid for realising that. What a bargain.
Now onto the news!
— maxwell
p.s. as it’s Easter next Friday, there’ll be no newsletter I’m afraid, as I’ll be eating Malteser Bunnies all day.
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Need To Know
British Museum reclaims crown
Visits to UK attractions were up 19% in 2023 compared to the previous year, but they still collectively lag 11% behind the pre-pandemic levels.
A stonking performance by the British Museum saw their number rise 42%, seeing them claim the crown as the most visited site in the UK for the first time since Covid. A 22% rise for the Natural History Museum saw it enjoy a record breaking year for attendance and claim second spot.
Scotland’s visitor numbers were 21% up last year, and its most-visited attraction was Edinburgh’s National Museum of Scotland with an 11% year-on-year rise. In Northern Ireland, Titanic Belfast continued to top the list, and thanks to 2023 refresh it enjoyed its busiest twelve months since its opening year in 2012. St. Fagans National Museum of History was Wales’ most-attended, with a 23% increase.
Many venues are still seeing a huge shortfall on their 2019 figures however, including the Great North Museum: Hancock (still 53% down), the National Gallery (-48%), V&A Dundee (-45%), and the Royal Academy (-43%).
The figures were released by the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions. Director Bernard Donoghue said that some of the post-Covid shortfall was because some Brits had simply “got out of the habit of going to places” but that the UK was also yet to witness “the full return” of European and Chinese tourists. (Read more)
🔗 EDITORIAL: Why Scotland should be proud of attraction visitor numbers | 💬 The Scotsman
Bad dates
A humdinger scoop from the Guardian claims that three Damien Hirst animals-in-formaldehyde sculptures which are dated to the 1990s were actually made in 2017. Today a fourth — an $8m star piece from a Las Vegas casino resort — has also been uncovered.
The initial three pieces have in recent years been exhibited with 1990s dates (his Turner Prize-winning period) in galleries in Hong Kong, New York and London. However the Guardian claims they were made by Hirst’s employees at a workshop in Gloucestershire in 2017.
In response to questions from the newspaper, Hirst’s company Science Ltd said the date that he assigns to his formaldehyde works does not represent the date they were made, but when they are conceived. Hirst’s lawyers later also clarified that he did though sometimes use the date the sculptures were made.
The Oxford University Museum of Natural History displayed Cain and Abel — dated at the time as 1994 — in 2021. A spokesperson said “These dates were provided by Science Ltd, and the museum understood them to be the creation date…as per artwork label convention.”
Why this matters? Older artworks are generally going to attract higher price tags — especially if they were produced during a purple patch. Plus, curators are one of the few professions to still enjoy near-universal trust in a world where trust is shredded. Any sense the public can’t trust what they are told by museums and galleries is dangerous territory. (Read more)
🔗 COMMENT: Damien Hirst’s shark changed my life. Now he has taken a chainsaw to his glorious past | 💬 Jonathan Jones in the Guardian
V&A rewrites Iron Lady
A label at the V&A which seemed to equate Margaret Thatcher to Osama Bin Laden has been re-written.
The furore began when a visitor contacted the Telegraph Associate Editor Camilla Tominey to complain about a caption in a special display on British humour that read “the evil character in [the Punch and Judy puppet show] has shifted from the Devil to unpopular public figures including Adolf Hitler, Margaret Thatcher and Osama bin Laden, to offer contemporary villains.” Tominey agreed with the reader that it was “deeply offensive and repugnant” to bracket the former UK Prime Minister with these figures.
Culture Secretary Lucy Frazer said that she did not think it was “appropriate” either, while former Conservative party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said the “exhibition is ill-thought and mendacious.” He also said this “idiocy” raises questions about the V&A’s funding.
After a review, the V&A said it has concluded that “the original wording was open to misinterpretation.” The section has now been re-written — with Nick Clegg and Simon Cowell added. (Read more)
News from the UK
BM Lockes in | Artist Hew Locke will co-curate an exhibition with the British Museum to explore the colonial legacies of the institution’s collection. Opening in October, objects will be seen alongside new works created by Locke. Curator Isabel Seligman, said the show would encourage “conversation about how the collection came into being” and that it will be a space where “differing views are welcome.” For the BM, this really is radical. (Read more)
Mark your (2025) diaries | The 50-year career of provocative and trailblazing British artist Linder is to be marked at London’s Hayward Gallery in 2025. It’s the first ever London retrospective for the artist known for photomontages and feminism. Key works as well as previously unseen pieces and new commissions will be shown. Linder said she’s “thrilled to share a lifetime’s work,” while Hayward Director Ralph Rugoff said her output is “as arresting and compelling today as it was half a century ago.”
Gallery’s gala glitz | A private tour of Coco Chanel’s apartment was one of the lots offered in a silent auction at the National Portrait Gallery’s Gala this week. The glitzy event that raises cash for the gallery returned for the first time since the NPG’s revamp. Co-chairs Edward Enninful and Malala Yousafzai hosted, and guests included Tracey Emin, Kristin Scott Thomas and Courtney Love. (Read more)
Archer’s ACE review | Dame Mary Archer — former chair of the Science Museum Group — will lead a major government review on how Arts Council England spends public funds. It will examine if 5% cost savings can be found and will assess the “ambition and quality” of funded projects. 14 figures will sit on the review panel including Tony Butler, the executive director of Derby Museums Trust, and Nathaniel Hepburn, director of Charleston. (Read more)
News from around the world
USA 🇺🇸 | The Met has created a new position of head of provenance research, and has appointed a Sotheby’s executive to lead its increased efforts to review its collection’s history. Lucian Simmons says he wants to “cement the Met’s reputation as a leader in this field”. The Met has also created new provenance research positions in a number of departments, taking the number of employees in provenance research from six to 11. (Read more)
Gibraltar 🇬🇮 | The first major art museum to open in the small British Overseas Territory will open in autumn 2025. Fortress House will feature contemporary post-1970 art, and will be housed in the much revamped and expanded 18th-century former residence for the Governor of Gibraltar. There’ll be plenty of big names, with Louise Bourgeois, Michael Craig-Martin, Tracey Emin Lucian Freud and Antony Gormley pieces due to be displayed. (Read more)
Australia 🇦🇺 | A man has taken Tasmania’s Mona Museum to court for an installation that saw women pampered by male butlers and served champagne surrounded by fine art, while men were denied entry. He said it broke discrimination laws. Artist Kirsha Kaechele said mens’ “experience of rejection is the artwork.” She also expanded the performance to the courtroom, with 25 accompanying female supporters engaging in synchronised choreography throughout. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | The president and CEO of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Steven Knapp has blasted reports that the shock resignation of the Andy Warhol Museum Director Patrick Moore was due to controversy around his leadership and his much criticised flagship $80m project to create a Pop Art District around the museum. But Knapp said he can “assert without qualification” this was not the case and that he “stands behind Patrick’s vision for The Pop District.” (Read more)
Best of the rest
Walking on bombshells | There’s a “medium risk” of unexploded WWII bombs on the British Museum’s grounds. The assessment was revealed during the planning application to build a new energy centre for the venue. (More)
Seeking seven | The V&A must have been reading last week when I featured news of Tate’s four trustee vacancies, and Imperial War Museum’s three. Hold my beer they said: we’re looking for seven! (More)
Beard offer advice | Dame Mary Beard has called on the National Trust to “loosen up” especially if it wants to win the ‘culture wars.’ Speaking at a Trust lecture, she called for “less conservation” and less aversion to risk. (More)
Tree of strife | Many column inches have been filled over London’s new Banksy tree — even more after it was vandalised. A Camden Council spokesperson said they hope it “will now be left alone for people to enjoy.” (More)
Breaking ground | The building of the world's first museum dedicated to video game art has officially begun in Japan’s Yokohama city. Due to open in July 2027, it’ll also feature a 3,000-square-meter Art Garden. (More)
ICYMI 1 | Last week’s most read newsletter story: Mysterious monolith appears on Welsh hilltop
ICYMI 2 | Earlier this week I sent you my latest interview, with the Director of the Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam. Catch up here.
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