BREAKING: British Museum drops BP
Oil giant BP’s sponsorship has officially ended after 27 years
Hello.
We start with major breaking news this evening — oil giant BP’s sponsorship of the British Museum has officially ended after 27 years. The Guardian’s Esther Addley reports that the newspaper has seen admissions from the museum (via Freedom of Information) that confirm that no further exhibitions or other activities are being sponsored by BP, and “there are no other contracts or agreements in effect between the museum and BP”. The report calls it an “almost complete retreat of the fossil fuel giant from the British arts world.” Campaigners hailed the development as a “massive victory.” Now that’s what you call a scoop!
Before we move on to other big news from the past seven days, I just want to say a massive THANK YOU to each and every one of you who donated to this newsletter after last week’s edition. I am truly humbled by your willingness to support me and the future of maxwell museums. Your huge generosity is a massive help, and a massive boost to ensure this little corner of the museum world can continue.
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Maxwell
Need To Know
Museum apology
The Natural History Museum (NHM) has issued an apology for hosting a populist-right political event for an organisation accused of far-right policies against immigration, climate action and LGBTQ+ rights.
To recap: the UK’s most-visited museum hosted the conference dinner for National Conservatism, a political think tank championed by some in government and the governing Tory party, but which critics argue is a divisive, far-right movement. Hosting the dinner was seen as clashing with the museum’s own stated ethical values concerning inclusion and climate action.
After a short early defence that stated the NHM “hires rooms in our building to hosts for a range of events” that doesn’t equate to endorsement, the Executive Board has now, two weeks later, issued a full apology. They say they are “horrified and saddened to see hateful rhetoric being expressed at a private event” and that they “utterly abhor the statements made [at the conference].” They go on to say they should have called out and rejected rhetoric in a tweet which “minimised the horrors of the Holocaust” and which used an image of the museum’s star object, the skeleton of Hope the Whale.
The apology, posted on the museum’s blog but not on social media, goes on to say the the event should not have been hosted there, but that “a genuine mistake” meant usual processes were not followed. No mention of what those processes were though. (Read more)
Jewish Museum to close
The Jewish Museum in London, Britain’s leading showcase of the Jewish culture and heritage, is to close indefinitely citing huge financial losses. It now plans to sell its current Camden home to try to secure its long-term future.
The museum has faced financial difficulty for years, made worse by the pandemic and subsequent global rising costs. Records show it was losing half a million pounds annually, and that its 2022 revenue was just a third of what it was pre-Covid. In May 2020 the museum received a bailout of almost £1 million from Arts Council England (ACE), which went on to award it 'National Portfolio’ status last November, with a further grant of £220,000 a year until 2026.
Its collection will now go into storage while a move to a new, more suitable location is developed. But Nick Viner, the chairman of the museum’s trustees, said: “Realistically, it could be three-to-five years” before the museum is able to reopen its doors in a new home. (Read more)
Sotheby’s snap up Breuer building
Auction house Sotheby’s has bought the Whitney Museum of American Art’s iconic Breuer building on NYC’s Madison Avenue, and will move its headquarters there from 2025. The purchase price has been reported as $100 million (£80 million).
Under Sotheby’s, the Breuer will include gallery and exhibition space as well as an auction salesroom. An architect will reimagine the building’s interior but Sotheby’s said it was “committed to preserving the integrity of what’s loved about the building,” including the lobby. Charles F. Stewart, Sotheby’s chief executive, called the Breuer building “a once in a lifetime opportunity that we couldn’t pass up.”
The fate of the Breuer building has been unknown since the Whitney moved to Manhattan’s meatpacking district in 2015. It was subsequently leased to the Met Museum for six years, before the Frick collection moved in while its own home was renovated. The Frick will vacate next year. (Read more)
News from the UK
Sudden closure | The University of Brighton has immediately closed the city’s Centre for Contemporary Art in a move described by the gallery’s director as “out of the blue”. All programming has now been canned, including a planned show by Turner Prize-winner Helen Cammock due this summer. The university said they “need to focus on…core business.” (Read more)
Urgent appeal | London’s Foundling Museum is at risk of shutting unless it can raise nearly £5 million to secure its future. The museum’s 25-year custodianship of the former Foundling Hospital building and collection ends in 2027, but it must pay the charity Coram this new cash by September in order to extend this for 999 years. Could the museum’s patron the Princess of Wales help? (Read more)
Restitution rules | The National Trust is in the process of forming its own policy on restitution, the organisation’s Chair has revealed. Speaking at the Hay Festival, René Olivieri said the Trust was considering its approach to colonial-era objects after receiving official guidance last summer. The focus is thought to be on 1,000 items in Powis Castle, brought back to Britain by Clive of India. (Read more)
Charleston expansion | East Sussex’s town of Lewes will get two new exhibitions on the Bloomsbury Group this autumn, in a move that is hoped will pave the way for a permanent display. The shows — including one on Bloomsbury Group fashions — are the initiative of nearby Charleston, the former home of Vanessa Bell and now an arts centre. Nathaniel Hepburn, Charleston Director , says the National Portrait Gallery, Tate and the V&A have “all written letters of support for the establishment of a permanent Bloomsbury gallery” in Lewes. (Read more)
Flaming Nora | Flaming June, one of British art’s most romantic paintings, is returning home to the house where the image was first conceived almost 130 years ago. The first version of the world-famous work that Frederick Leighton painted in 1894 has unexpectedly been donated to the the recently restored Leighton House museum, where the artist lived. While the full canvas is in the collection of the Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico, this early study will be a big draw when it goes on show next week. (Read more)
News from around the world
USA | A new Manhattan museum dedicated to China's 1989 suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations around Tiananmen Square opens today. The June 4th Memorial Museum is the only such permanent exhibition in the world, following the 2021 closure of a similar museum in Hong Kong under pressure from authorities. (Read more)
Italy | State-run museums in Italy are to raise their admission prices in order to fund flood relief efforts. Last week, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni approved a €2 billion aid package funded in part by a €1 museum admission price hike from June 15 to September 15. It comes after deadly flooding hit the country, particularly the Emilia-Romagna region and its rich cultural heritage. (Read more)
USA | 186 works by the late Pop artist Roy Lichtenstein will be donated to four American museums (and one in Vienna) to mark the centenary of the artist’s birth this October. The items will be gifted to institutions “which [have] a history of sharing Lichtenstein’s work with the public” and include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum. (Read more)
UAE | A pair of ancient ornamental pillars have been reunited after nearly 250 years on the occasion of the 50-year anniversary of the UAE’s diplomatic relationship with the Republic of Malta. The ancient works date to the 3rd or 2nd century BC, and are being displayed together at Louvre Abu Dhabi, for the first time since 1782. (Read more)
Best of the rest
🔗 Work by Phyllida Barlow and Isamu Noguchi will lead this month’s 12th edition of Sculpture in the City, which sees a free outdoor art trail installed in London’s financial district.
🔗 Tens of thousands of sunflowers have been handed out today — including to Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands — to mark 50 years of Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum. 200 drones will perform a light show tonight.
🔗 A sculpture made for the 1951 Festival of Britain but lost ever since has been rediscovered in a garden, and acquired by the Museum of London.
🔗 A busy week for Tracey Emin as she tells the Hay Festival that Keir Starmer has no edge, and she tries to apply to lead the PR and Marketing at Margate’s Turner Contemporary.
— This is the 19th newsletter I’ve sent you this year. That works out at over 75 hours of work for me (or 9.5 working days in total). If you're able to donate, I really would be incredibly grateful.