British Museum latest + Science Museum income soars
All the latest news from the world of museums
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Also in this edition: Banksy against Glasgow museum cuts, Smithsonian head apologises, Derry Girls drive visitors, Young V&A’s first exhibition revealed
Hello
What a sorry state of affairs this week’s news about the British Museum is. If you’re yet to hear about the scandal (which tbf would be an achievement. It’s been splashed across the front pages of national newspapers two days in a row now, and the world’s TV crews have been camped out outside the museum gates. Not even Parky’s death managed to clip the story’s wings) then you can catch up below.
The story developed at breakneck speed since the British Museum issued a long and quote-filled press release to the media at 5:45pm on Wednesday evening. By lunchtime the next day, the staff member accused of theft had been named, and evidence that the sale of objects had been going on for nearly eight years had emerged.
And to further demonstrate its speed, as this newsletter went to press the Daily Telegraph reported sources who claim that last month’s announcement that the British Museum Director Hartwig Fischer would be stepping down in 2024 “was a result of the discovery of the thefts.” The paper says there are now calls for him to quit immediately. They also report that an independent investigation into the thefts has been handed correspondence dating to February 2021 in which the Museum’s Deputy Director was alerted to the thefts but no action was taken. The Mail on Sunday then backed up these claims. Then, the Sunday Times reported that the Met Police were alerted to stolen objects from the British Museum in JANUARY — but advised the museum not to go public with the information.
The news is all so shocking as it fundamentally undermines a museum’s raison d'être — to be custodians of our shared heritage for today and for future generations.
Of course, we don’t know the full facts. No one has been arrested. Yet that also means the scale of this is yet to be established. But however this plays out, we shouldn’t forget that museums and their staff — up and down the country, all over the world, and yes, at the British Museum — do remarkable things day-in-and-day-out for the public good.
We’ll end on a positive: a huge congratulations to the Lionesses for their efforts in the World Cup Final. They can come home with their heads held high. Bring on 2027!
Maxwell
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Need To Know
British Museum scandal
Two UK newspapers last week named senior curator Peter Higgs as the person alleged to be responsible for stealing priceless artefacts from the British Museum’s collection. The Museum had the previous day sent a press release revealing a member of staff had been dismissed after items — dating from between the 15th century BC and the 19th century AD — were found to be “missing, stolen or damaged.”
Hartwig Fischer, Director of the British Museum, said “The museum apologises for what has happened.” George Osborne, the Museum’s Chair, said the trustees were “extremely concerned when we learnt earlier this year that items of the collection had been stolen. We called in the police [and] imposed emergency measures to increase security.” Higgs’s son told the press that his father maintained his innocence.
The Daily Telegraph uncovered some of the items that were said to be from the collection on eBay. Items thought to be worth up to £50,000 were offered for sale for as little as £40 - including this piece of Roman jewellery. The paper also claims that items first began appearing for sale as far back as 2016, and that an expert first tipped the museum off in 2020 but no action was taken.
A spokesman for the British Museum said: “We have conducted a thorough investigation, identified the person we believe to be responsible, and that person has been dismissed. We are also taking further robust action to ensure this can never happen again. The whole question of thefts at the museum is now subject to a criminal investigation, so we cannot comment further.” (Read more)
Banksy against cuts
Trade unions are stepping up their protest against plans to slash jobs across Glasgow’s museums — including at Art Fund Museum of the Year winner the Burrell Collection.
Union Unison claims Glasgow Life — which runs the city’s museums — intends to cut 37 posts to save £1.5m. Union members took to the streets outside the city chambers on Thursday in the latest of a serious of demonstrations. Another is planned for tomorrow outside the People’s Palace. They follow similar action at the Burrell Collection and the Gallery of Modern Art — where union members received support from Banksy. The artist’s latest show is currently being held at the gallery, and a work depicting the Grim Reaper in a Dodgem with a ‘No Cuts’ sign had been placed outside the venue.
“A cut of that level is going to fundamentally change Glasgow’s museums” Brian Smith, Unison branch secretary said, adding “If the council don’t come back round the table…that means we will need to consider taking strike action.” (Read more)
Smithsonian apologises
A year’s-long investigation by the Washington Post newspaper has revealed that 255 human brains in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History were stolen from ethnic minorities as part of a plan to “demonstrate the superiority of white brains”.
“The vast majority of the remains appear to have been gathered without consent from the individuals or their families, by researchers preying on people who were hospitalized, poor, or lacked immediate relatives to identify or bury them,” wrote Washington Post reporters Nicole Dungca and Claire Healy. “Collectors, anthropologists and scientists dug up burial grounds and looted graves” they said.
The brains are part of the museum’s collection of “at least 30,700 human bones and other body parts,” one of the largest in the world but representing “an unknown number of people” the paper said. Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has apologised, and has said the museum group would aim to return the brains wherever possible. (Read more)
🔗 MORE: Revealing the Smithsonian's 'racial brain collection'
🔗 OPINION: The human remains saga should prompt the Smithsonian to excavate its past
News from the UK
Cost of living | The National Gallery’s scheme allowing visitors to major exhibitions to pay as little as £1 for entrance will be extended to September’s Frans Hals blockbuster. The ‘pay what you wish’ initiative will be in place on Friday evenings during its run. The Gallery hailed data showing more than one in five visitors using the scheme so far were visiting a fee-charging exhibition for the first time. (Read more)
Back in black | Income at the Science Museum Group has returned to pre-pandemic levels for the first time. A 17% uplift to £128 million was attributed to “stronger than expected recovery within our retail offering and corporate event income” in the group’s annual accounts. But visitors still lag — a million more last year to 3.1 million wasn’t enough to match pre-Covid’s 5.2 million average. (Read more)
Derry’s record visitors | A Derry Girls exhibition has driven record visitors to Londonderry's Tower Museum. The Derry Girls Experience opened on 3 July and in its first four weeks more than 10,000 people visited. That’s the highest number of visitors in a four-week period in the museum’s 31-year history. The display contains original sets, props and other 90s memorabilia from the TV show's three series. (Read more)
Blackpool’s new museum | Blackpool is getting a new £13 million museum to celebrate the iconic seaside town’s history. And it’ll open on 15 March 2024 — although this is years later than originally hoped. The Showtown Museum is part-funded by Blackpool Council but will be operated by a charitable trust. The trust’s new head Elizabeth Moss said Showtown would be “an incredible, interactive celebration of Blackpool and the fun and entertainment industry that made it famous.” (Read more)
Free entry questioned | A former Welsh government minister is calling for Wales’ free entry to national museums to be reconsidered, as an entry fee could “help them expand their reach”. Plaid Cymru’s Alun Ffred Jones acknowledged that charging might be "too radical", but questioned the viability of not doing so as national body Museum Wales faces financial pressures. "You have to do something. You can't just sit back” Jones said. (Read more)
News from around the world
USA | Objections to a single artwork due to be shown in an exhibition at the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum in Arizona later this year had resulted in the entire slate of five autumn exhibitions cancelled. That decision has now been reversed due to accusations it amounted to censorship by city-officials who run the gallery. It’s not clear if the artwork in question — which is critical of police brutality — will still be included. (Read more)
Australia | Sydney’s new £173 million art gallery has been open for eight months but it STILL does not have a name. The huge addition to the Art Gallery of NSW remains colloquially known as Sydney Modern, but that’s the name of the construction project which began in 2015. Newly revealed documents show that the naming process was abandoned weeks before opening, and progress has stalled due to political wrangling and conflicting advice over Indigenous language. (Read more)
USA | A $22m outdoor sculpture park at the The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky, has been announced. Dubbed The Speed Outdoors, three acres of the museum’s surrounding grounds will be transformed into public green space. It’ll feature 13 large-scale sculptures including works by artists like Zaha Hadid and Sol LeWitt, and is due to open in late 2025. It’ll be free. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Folklore and fairytales | Details of Young V&A’s first ever major exhibition have been revealed. Japan: Myths to Manga promises to take children and families on a journey through centuries of Japan's art and design history. (More)
Two-year closure | Watford Museum is closing in October for two years, so it can be relocated to the nearby Town Hall. The nearly-£2m project is being supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. (More)
Impressionist’s island visit | An exhibition celebrating 19th Century French artist Renoir and his "career-changing” visit to Guernsey will be held on the island next month. There’ll be loans from around the world. (More)
Developer plans demolition | A campaign is being launched to prevent the demolition of a modernist synagogue in Brighton and its stained glass windows, which have been likened to Picasso’s Guernica. (More)
Not slowing down | David Hockney has given an 86th birthday interview to Melvyn Bragg for Sky Arts where he vows to carry on painting well into his 90s. It airs from 28 August. (More)
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