Freud, Fourth Plinth and Lizzo's Flute

Plus: Emin, Energy and a LEGO Oscar

Happy Friday.

It’s October tomorrow. It’s autumn proper. The temperatures are plummeting, the days are getting rapidly shorter and - oh - Britain’s economy is collapsing all around us.

But enough of the bad news. Because at least the autumn means the return of blockbuster season for museums, galleries and art. There’s a whole heap of new stuff opening (that’s actually quite difficult to keep track of). The Korean Wave has just opened at the V&A and is top of my list of new things to visit. I was lucky enough to last night get a sneak peak of the War Games show at the Imperial War Museum ahead of its opening today. And in the coming weeks there’s major new shows on hieroglyphs at the British Museum, Surrealism at the Design Museum, and the new Turbine Hall commission at Tate. So while *gestures to all of this* it’s not great out there, we do at least have a lot to keep us art-lovers entertained.

Speaking of entertaining: there’ll be another fascinating interview from me coming your way next week. I’ve been chatting to Nick Merriman, the man who is in charge of the actual Museum of Year: the Horniman Museum and Gardens. He tells me how it feels to win the biggest museum prize in the world, which he did in the summer. Spoiler: it feels good.

Now on to this week’s news!

Maxwell

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News from the UK

Fancy Freud for a quid? The National Gallery will be offering its first ever pay-what-you-can scheme during its major Lucian Freud retrospective - but it will only be on Friday nights. If you visit the rest of the weekend, you’ll need to stump up £26. Gabriele Finaldi, the National’s Director, has said it’s in response to the cost of living crisis, and that the scheme “will enable practically anyone who wants to see the Freud centenary show to do so”. The Times

See this Freud for a quid at the National Gallery! © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2022/ Bridgeman Images

There’s a new sculpture on top of the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square (can it REALLY be two years since the ice cream appeared?!). The latest temporary work to take pride of place atop the plinth is a larger-than-life statue of Malawian Baptist preacher and pan-Africanist John Chilembwe, who fought against British colonial rule. Cast in bronze, Antelope restages a famous photograph taken in 1914 of Chilembwe standing next to British missionary John Chorley. The statue marks the first of an African in the famous London square. BBC News

But speaking of the Fourth Plinth: Antelope could actually be one of the last of the temporary commissions as there is growing momentum to install a permanent monument to Queen Elizabeth II there. MPs showed their approval for the idea in the House of Commons last week with one saying the plinth would be “ideal” for a “fitting memorial.” But others are not convinced - including former director of the National Portrait Gallery, Sandy Nairne and er, Bake Off judge Prue Leith (tbf, she actually got the Fourth Plinth initiative off the ground, no pun intended).It feels like this could become a bit of a saga. The Guardian (I want to know what you think. Vote below)

Plans for Tracey Emin’s new Margate-based art school and studio hub are progressing at pace. The new TKE Studios (named for Tracey Karima Emin) will provide workspace for 15 artists, including painters, ceramicists and sculptors. In January, up to 20 aspiring artists will join Emin’s artists’ residency scheme for an 18-month course, comprising a year of tuition and six months of preparation for a show. To fund it, she’s selling a recent work depicting her experiences of treatment for bladder cancer. It’s hoped the deeply intimate painting will raise £700,000. The Guardian

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News from around the world

The Louvre’s iconic glass pyramid is having its light switched off to save energy - for a few hours each night at least. French culture minister Rima Abdul Malak said the iconic glass entrance would no longer be lit after 11 p.m. The Chateau of Versailles will follow suit, with lights out by 22:00, an hour earlier than usual. This follows other museums across France who are desperately trying to slash energy consumption due to rocketing prices. The Musée d’Orsay and the L’Orangerie in Paris have cut energy use by 15% so far in 2022 versus 2021, mainly by changing lighting to LED bulbs. ArtNet News

A major new deal has been inked between Qatar Museums and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The government body that looks after some of Qatar’s biggest museums has given a huge cash gift to the Met which will be used for capital projects. In recognition, the New York museum will rename a gallery presenting art from the Umayyad and Abbasid periods as the Qatar Gallery. Max Hollein, director of the Met, said: “This gift is the latest instance of the longstanding relationship between our institutions, and marks the start of a broad partnership encompassing the exchange of exhibitions, programs and scholarly cooperation.” Arab News

Brad Pitt is a sculptor now. The Hollywood A-lister has debuted artwork at a surprise exhibition in Finland where he’s showing sixteen sculptures alongside Australian singer Nick Cave (this is all true btw and not an early onset fever dream). The exhibition itself in an unusual location, away from the major art centres, at the Sara Hildén Art Museum in the city of Tampere. The most surprising thing however, is that he’s rather good, with the Guardian saying he’s “an extremely impressive artist” with “finely wrought, intelligent reflections.” So there we are. ITV News

The $1 billion mega-museum being built by director George Lucas in Los Angeles has delayed its opening yet again. Construction began four years ago, and the opening had already been pushed to 2023, but it’s now slated to only be welcoming visitors from 2025. The delays to the (ludicrously titled) Lucas Museum of Narrative Art are being blamed solely on supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Hollywood Reporter

Just like Don’t Worry Darling (lol), the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has defied expectations and become a surprise hit. The museum - run by the organisation behind the Oscars - opened 12 months ago and they’ve revealed that in that time they’ve welcomed 700,000 visitors. That’s 20% above expectations. It’s not bad at all for a museum which opened four years late, 90% over budget, and during the tail-end of the pandemic. The museum is comfortably making money (partly because of this bestselling $500 LEGO Oscar), which is lucky, as returns above running costs need to go to paying off eye-watering construction debts. New York Times

Lizzo has played a 200-year-old crystal flute once owned by former President James Madison and loaned to her by the Library of Congress. I’m not sure why. The voice of a million TikToks played the delicate instrument on stage at her Washington DC leg of The Special Tour. It was escorted to the concert venue by the Capitol Police. The Library tweeted that curators “made sure it could be played without damage” and that some instruments were donated with the intention to be played. Reaction online has been very positive, although is this much different to Kim Kardashian’s donning of a Marilyn Monroe dress earlier this year for which she received a huge backlash? NPR

And finally

There’s a big ding-dong going down with those involved in a new film starring Steve Coogan and Sally Hawkins, which tells the story of the discovery of the remains of Richard III in a car park. Think Don’t Worry Darling but with historians.

I began this newsletter with all the great new shows you should see this month. I end with one you shouldn’t - at least according to Time Out. Damian Hirst’s The Currency at the Newport Street Gallery gets an absolute mauling by their art critic who calls it “stupid, lazy, arrogant, crap art.” And that’s just the first paragraph.

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