David Hockney to bring 116 iPad drawings to the Royal Academy
Plus: a Genghis Khan exhibition is off, and Facebook helps save a museum
maxwell museums friday briefing - 16 October 2020
So what tier are you in? The UK is now split into 3 tiers with various restrictions depending on the severity of the spread of coronavirus. To my London readers: happy Tier 2 Eve. It seems that even in the most strict tier - which the city of Liverpool is now in - museums are still open, and you can visit as long as you don’t mix with anyone outside your household. So my advice: if you can and you feel safe, go visit our museums. With a long and bleak winter ahead, museums and galleries will offer some solace - and some nourishment for the soul. We’re probably going to need it.
Read on for your weekly update on the best news from the world of museums. And as ever, do share it with your museum-loving friends and colleagues.
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Genghis Khan’t. An exhibition in France on Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire is halted after China demands it doesn’t use the words “Genghis Khan,” “Mongol,” or “Empire.” The Independent
The Arrival of Spring. David Hockney is coming back to the Royal Academy AGAIN with another major exhibition. Unfortunately it’s a show of his iPad drawings. Evening Standard
FB gives GBP. Facebook - not usually known for it’s arts philanthropy - has donated £1 million to help save UK’s WWII code-breaking museum at Bletchley Park. The Verge
Top marks. Five museums are named joint-winners of Art Fund Museum of the Year 2020. Congratulations to all, but I hope we can go back to single winners next year. BBC News
In more award news. The winner of the Natural History Museum’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 have been revealed by the Duchess of the Cambridge. The Mirror
David Hockney, No. 241, 30th April 2020. iPad Drawing © David Hockney. An exhibition of Hockney’s iPad drawings open at the Royal Academy next year.
Olympic spirit. 25 years after being bombed and destroyed during the war in Bosnia, a museum commemorating the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympic Games has been rebuilt and reopened. TRT World
Booker-winner’s plea. Writer Hilary Mantel has called for the skeleton of Irish 'giant' in the collection of the Hunterian Museum to go back to Ireland. The Guardian
I’d love to see this. The world’s last great private collection of classical sculpture has opened to the public in Rome. The Art Newspaper
America decides. Simone Leigh will be the first Black woman to represent the US at the Venice Biennale. New York Times
Record breaking Bard. One of only 6 copies of Shakespeare’s First Folio still in private hands has just become the most expensive work of literature ever sold at auction. Sky News
and a bonus read
It’s been three months since the UK's museums and galleries could reopen their doors after several months of lockdown. BBC News has asked how have London’s venues been coping? TL:DR not great.
I create this newsletter in my spare time. If you’ve been enjoying reading it over the past 2 years, why not buy me a digital coffee as a thank you? ☕️