"Dazzling" V&A Chanel exhibition opens
The year's biggest UK blockbuster opens to rave reviews
Also in this edition: V&A Dundee turns 5, Ofili unveils Tate Britain mural, Arts Council Collection Fund coming to Frieze, stolen van Gogh recovered in IKEA bag, Venice escapes UNESCO danger list, Tank Museum’s YouTube payday
Happy Friday.
I’m writing today to nearly 400 more of you than I did last week. That’s because in news-I-cannot-quite-believe, this newsletter has just been named one of the 33 BEST Substacks by the Observer newspaper. Yes, maxwell museums is in the top 33 of ALL THE SUBSTACKS. And there are hundreds of thousands of them.
To say it was a surprise would be an understatement. I woke up on Sunday morning to lots of pings from new subscriber notifications, and tbh they haven’t stopped since. I was thrilled then, I was thrilled when I saw it was also in the print edition, and I am thrilled right now as I type knowing that many more of you are going to be reading this. (And I PROMISE to live up to the “enjoyably gossipy digest” description which is what likely got you here!)
Without getting too Academy Awards about it — as I know most people are here for what’s below my weekly musings and quite right too — I just want to thank the Observer and the journos who I know are regular readers there, thank writer Killian Fox for including me in the round up, and most of all thank YOU reading this right now, for clicking on this email week after week. Whether you’re a new or old reader, each of you is keeping this little corner of the internet (and our collective inboxes) going. I’m looking forward to writing so many more editions for you.
Now, as always on a Friday, onto the news!
Maxwell
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Need To Know
Model exhibitions
London Fashion Week kicks off today, and two of the capital’s museums are getting in on the act (three if you include Harris Reed’s two-days early show at Tate Modern). Tomorrow sees two big fashion blockbuster exhibitions open to the public.
The V&A have unveiled their major Coco Chanel exhibition, which has enjoyed rave reviews. It sees nearly 200 outfits brought together in a version of a show that first appeared at Paris’s Palais Galliera, but in London expands on Chanel’s British influences, and includes previously unseen documents. Princess Beatrice and Naomi Campbell were some of the guests for early previews this week. The show is sold out until the new year already. (Read more)
🔗 REVIEW: Gabrielle Chanel, V&A, review: a dazzling show that doesn’t shy away from the truth
In contrast, the Design Museum’s REBEL exhibition celebrates London’s trailblazing young designers from the past 30 years. Described by the Evening Standard as an “unapologetic romp”, it’s a show that rejects the disparaging views of young people, and instead spotlights their creative talent and potential. Key items include Bjork’s infamous swan dress from the Oscars. (Read more)
Celebrations in Dundee
Happy birthday to V&A Dundee, which turns five TODAY. Artist Kate Colin has helped Scotland’s design museum celebrate by creating 500 'floating birthday wishes' written by school children for the museum’s water pools. There’ll be more celebrations this weekend, including the opening of a new permanent display on the museum’s architecture.
Also to mark the anniversary, a report was released on the economic impact of the £80 million venue in the years since it opened in 2018. It found that it had generated £304 million for the Scottish economy to date, and that it had attracted 1.7 million visitors, including 500,000 people who came to Dundee for the first time. (Although the fact that it saw 830,000 visitors in its first year show how much Covid affected numbers).
Tim Allan, Chair of V&A Dundee’s Board, said the report showed the museum was “an engine for economic development” but that the “next five years will be critical” as they continue to drive to “transform the economic, social and cultural ambition” for the city. (Read more)
News from the UK
‘Historic’ Yemen agreement | The V&A will care for, research and conserve four ancient carved funerary stones — that were found by police in an interior design shop in east London — until it is safe to return them to Yemen. That won’t be anytime soon it seems, as it’s confirmed they’ll be shown in the new V&A East Storehouse from 2025. V&A Director Tristram Hunt called it an “historic agreement” with Yemen. (Read more)
Ofili’s Grenfell mural | Tate Britain unveiled a major new mural this week — one that had been kept secret with no previous announcements that it was in the offing. It’s by Turner Prize-winning artist Chris Ofili and is a large-scale work in memory of artist Khadija Saye who was killed in the Grenfell Tower fire. It’ll stay in place for ten years. Ofili said he wanted the work to say "remember this." (Read more)
A Aye and No | When is a Raphael painting not a Raphael painting? Depends which AI tech you ask. Just weeks after one AI study proclaimed that the so-called de Brécy Tondo, currently on display at Bradford Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, is “undoubtedly” by Raphael, another has said it almost certainly isn’t. That’s clear then. And this is supposed to be the future. (Read more)
Frieze Fund | This year’s Frieze London will see the launch of the inaugural Arts Council Collection Fund. Early-career or overlooked artists will have work from the fair purchased for the national collection, thanks to cash from a group of patrons. Deborah Smith, the Collection’s Director told this newsletter the move is “a further expression of our unwavering commitment” to support UK based emerging artists and to “[display] their works across the country.” (Read more)
News from around the world
Italy | For the second time in two years, Venice has escaped being added to UNESCO’s list of world heritage sites in danger. At a meeting, experts rejected that the city was under an “increasingly urgent threat”, instead praising conservation efforts. But this drew scorn from environmentalists who also revealed that tourist beds in the city now outnumber residents. (Read more)
USA | Authorities have seized artworks by the Austrian artist Egon Schiele from three American museums following a claim they were looted during the Holocaust. The pieces were taken from the Art Institute of Chicago, the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the Allen Memorial Art Museum in Ohio. They all claim they are confident in their legal ownership of the art works. (Read more)
Netherlands | A masterpiece by van Gogh which was stolen from a Dutch Museum three years ago has been recovered. It was handed over inside a bloody pillowcase, stuffed inside a blue IKEA bag. The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring is now back in the collection of the Groninger Museum, whose Director said it “was an incredibly emotional reunion.” It really is an incredible story (Read more)
Morocco | Several Unesco World Heritage sites have been severely damaged by the recent major earthquake in Morocco. Affected sites include the 12th-century Tinmel mosque in the High Atlas Mountains, which is feared to have been almost completely destroyed. The quake also caused damage to the old city of Marrakech. (Read more)
Australia | Italian art detectives have found three stolen ancient treasures at a leading Australian university museum, including an artefact likely smuggled out of the country under piles of pasta. The Australian National University said it was working to return to the items, which include a 2,500-year-old amphora and a red fish plate connected to a smuggler who would import items in bundles of Italian food. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Another admission raise | New York’s Museum of Modern Art is raising its admission price for adults to $30. It follows FIVE other major US museums raising ticket prices to the same amount. Coincidence? (More)
It’s coming h..to Zurich | Designing the Beautiful Game, an exhibition by the Design Museum in London that explores the story of how design has pushed football to new limits, will open at Zurich’s FIFA Museum in October. (More)
Museum’s YouTube cash | Its online success is well known, but the Tank Museum in rural Dorset has revealed 25% of its £2m annual revenue comes from YOUTUBE ADS. Its channel is more popular than the Louvre and the British Museum. (More)
Bourse bad behaviour | A 'clearly intoxicated' Irish tourist was filmed (and later arrested) breaking a statue at Brussels landmark the Bourse, just one day after the building had reopened following a year’s-long €90m restoration. (More)
Museum’s final collection | The Bath Postal Museum has closed its doors after 44 years — just months after the death of its founder. The council hopes other local museums will take on the collection. (More)
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