Emin's unflinching interviews
Plus: 3 days until museums reopen!
Well, what a week. With museums and galleries finally reopening in England and Wales on Monday, there’s been A LOT of exhibition news and reviews in the press. Literally everyone is launching or relaunching shows - it’s a visitor’s market!
One of the reasons this newsletter exists is to bring you everything you need to know from the world of art, museums and galleries, ensuring you don’t miss out. And with so much going on, missing out is easily done. So on Tuesday I’ll be sending a round-up of all the big reviews in the press of all the most important new exhibitions and things to see as museums open up - the good, the bad, and the ugly (I’m looking at you Hockney with your iPad). Keep your eyes peeled for that in your inbox but if you have a friend who might like it too, why not tell them to subscribe by using the button below.
If you’re heading out to a museum or gallery next week, then ENJOY! You deserve it. I’ll be doing the same, and you can follow my trips on my Instagram @maxwellmuseums.
All the content in this newsletter is provided to you for free. Why not buy me a digital coffee if you enjoyed it?
Tracey Emin’s exhibition alongside works by Edvard Munch reopens at the Royal Academy next week, and so she’s been doing a new round of press to promote it. But her life-threatening recent experience with cancer has made the interviews absolute must-reads: confessional, inspirational and poignant. I wholeheartedly recommend you read the Guardian interview, where she shares her unflinching self-portraits taken during cancer treatment, and speaks with great honesty about her new life with a disability. Her Evening Standard interview is also worth a read, including for interesting insights such as the fact her RA show was only extended because David Hockney agreed to move his own exhibition there to a different gallery to allow hers to stay where it is.
Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate, has spoken to the Telegraph ahead of next week’s reopening of the four galleries in the group. It’s packed with info: in the pandemic year Tate’s visitors dropped 93%, they lost £59 million in income and they spent half their £20 million reserves. Balshaw also cut 40% of the operating expenditure and axed 20% of staff to save money. They expect financial recovery to take five years. She also says interesting things about Tate’s work: that they’re “working towards a culture of compassion” and that their audience hasn’t changed enough over the past 20 years. And it looks like Tate won’t be expanding again anytime soon. Telegraph
Meanwhile, to add to Tate’s problems, a group nominated for this year’s Turner prize has heavily criticised Tate, who sponsors the award. Black Obsidian Sound System (BOSS) criticised the “exploitative practices in prize culture” and attacked the gallery over its handling of sexual harassment allegations against one of its patrons, Anthony D’Offay, as well as its response to its employees facing redundancy. The Times
And in final-Tate-news-of-the-week, Rodin is accused - in his new Tate Modern exhibition - of sexism and appropriating looted artefacts. Telegraph
David Hockney’s new artwork for Piccadilly Circus tube station has been met with, erm, a mixed response on social media it’s fair to say. But it’s been a chance for Londoner’s to fire up MS Paint for the first time in years to try their hand at their own versions. Metro
The British Museum has helped return a 2,000-year-old looted statue to Libya which is suspected to have been illegally excavated during the 2011 civil war. The Museum first became involved in 2013 when UK customs asked for help in identifying the statue which was seized by Border Force officials at Heathrow airport. The Guardian
In other British Museum news, the new exhibition on Thomas Becket opens next week (hurrah!) and two incredible loans from Sweden and Norway have been revealed. They show how widespread the impact of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s murder was across the whole of Europe. The Guardian (and if you want a sneak peak of the exhibition, see my tweet below to watch BBC London’s exclusive TV preview)
How’s this for a headline: 'Extremely rare' Winchcombe meteorite found on a driveway in the Cotswolds after dropping to Earth from a record-breaking fireball goes on display at London's Natural History Museum. Couldn’t have put it better myself. Daily Mail
Germany has reclassified its nightclubs and live events venues as "cultural institutions," granting them the same legal status as museums and opera houses. It means they get protections to make them less vulnerable to gentrification. Too right too - the UK government should follow suit. The Art Newspaper
All the content in this newsletter is provided to you for free. Why not buy me a digital coffee if you enjoyed it?