Has a Parthenon deal been reached?
Plus: winners and losers of UK state funding, and major new Einstein museum revealed
Hello
I owe you an apology. I left a big museum-newsletter-shaped hole in your Friday inboxes over the past two weeks. An impromptu (but exciting) overseas trip caused my first absence, and an impromptu (but definitely not exciting) bout of cold caused my second. It’s one of the perils of being a one-man-band - there’s no one to cover you when you need it (although hopefully that might change one day. And oh look, here’s the link to donate to me, what’s that doing there?) But I’m back back back and raring to help you get stuck back into the news.
But before I do, I just want to highlight that today marks exactly 100 years since the the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun. On Nov. 4, 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter lucked out and discovered the burial place of the boy king. In the process, he unearthed what has undoubtedly become the world’s most famous historical object: Tutankhamun’s golden mask. When the tomb’s treasures came to the British Museum in 1972 (to mark the 50th anniversary) 1.6 million visitors came to see them, with 14 hour queues. It is by far the British Museum’s most attended exhibition ever, and likely the most popular ever in the UK. Take some time this weekend to read this wonderful deep dive looking back at this landmark show. (The photos of the queues and crowds are just wonderful). Enjoy.
Maxwell
News from the UK
Breaking news this lunchtime, as Arts Council England (ACE) announced which cultural organisations they will be funding over the next three years. ACE distributes government cash for the arts, and it will hand out £443 million annually from 2023-26, to 990 organisations (276 are joining the portfolio for the first time.) The big story from the announcement today is that many have seen their funding cut, or scrapped altogether. The English National Opera is taking the biggest hit, with all of its £12.5 million state subsidy being removed alongside a forced relocation out of London. London’s theatres have also received swinging cuts as the government directed ACE to take money out of the capital as part of its agenda towards ‘levelling up’ (I must have missed the bit where they said it was to be done by ‘levelling down’ London.) In the world of museums, there have also been some deep cuts, although it perhaps could have been worse. The University of Cambridge Museum group has seen its ACE grant halved (from £1.2m to £600k), the Serpentine Galleries is going to be down 42%, Camden Arts Centre has lost 36%, and the York Museums Trust loses 22%. But it’s not all gloom - a number of museums are getting funding for the very first time, such as the Postal Museum which will receive £150,000 per year, and the National Football Museum which will get £350,000. The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said in a statement: "Many of our world-leading cultural organisations will be left devastated by this announcement of over £50m worth of government cuts to London’s arts funding.” The Art Newspaper
It’s been a long (loooong) time coming, but it looks like we will finally see the details of the planned HUGE overhaul of the British Museum that’s been years in the making. Dubbed the Rosetta Project, it’s thought it’ll cost £1 billion, making it the UK’s most expensive museum overhaul ever. The full plan is expected to be revealed in spring 2023 after the museum’s trustees signed off the plans in the past three weeks. They’ve agreed that the galleries housing the Parthenon Sculptures and the other Greek collections will take priority after years of issues (aka leaks). Two big questions are looming though: what will happen to the Parthenon Sculptures while the work is going on (more on that below). But more fundamentally, how on earth can you raise £1 billion during what has just yesterday been forecast to be the UK’s longest ever recession? The Art Newspaper
Perhaps the answer to the first question above is already starting to emerge. This week a robot-carved marble replica of one of the Parthenon Sculptures in the collection of the British Museum was unveiled. It was made by the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA) and went on show at the Freud Museum (for some reason). But more eye-catching than the frankly rather uninspiring replica, was that the IDA’s Director said that a deal over the contested marbles HAD been agreed between the British Museum’s Chair George Osborne and the Greek ambassador to the UK, Ioannis Raptakis. “A very sensible deal has been worked out” he told the UAE-based newspaper The National, adding that “there is a fast and furious timetable for [the deal’s] conclusion.” He said he expected the return of the friezes to be implemented before the next Greek elections in 2023. While it’s unclear why the IDA Director would be privy to this information, it’s part of growing signs that there is movement with this issue. And with Greek elections taking place in July just after the details of the Rosetta Project are due, it’s definitely one to watch.
An upcoming major gallery at Manchester Museum will be curated by “ordinary folk” according to the venue’s Director. Esme Ward told the Guardian that its new South Asia gallery - made in partnership with the British Museum - is co-curated by 31 people from Manchester’s south Asian diaspora communities. “Just ordinary folk, not museum folk,” said Ward. The new gallery will open in February alongside a major revamp of the whole museum, which has been closed since October 2021 for £15 million improvement works. The Guardian
Donatello’s most famous marble sculpture is to go on display in the UK for the first time, as part of a major exhibition on the Renaissance master’s work. Donatello: Sculpting the Renaissance at the V&A will feature other previously unseen works in Britain, offering a fresh vision of the artist and his impact on the the cultural and artistic development of 15th-century Italy. The Guardian
News from around the world
A painting that had been dismissed as an imitator’s copy has been officially declared the work of Dutch old master Rembrandt. The discovery that the oil sketch Raising Jesus on the Cross was a genuine painting by Rembrandt van Rijn was made by Jeroen Giltaij, an expert art curator after spotting it in storage at the Museum Bredius in the Hague. The Times
Two Belgian climate change activists who targeted the famous Johannes Vermeer painting Girl with a Pearl Earring have been sentenced to two months in prison by the Dutch court. Reuters
The most comprehensive retrospective to date of the work of Ed Ruscha will open next year at the Museum of Modern Art. It is the first time the NYC museum has mounted a solo show of the famous pop artist. ED RUSCHA / NOW THEN will show over 250 works, including Ruscha’s only single-room installation, Chocolate Room (1970), a multi-sensory interior fully lined with paper screen-printed with chocolate paste. The Art Newspaper
Kevin Spacey is to make his first formal public appearance since being accused of sexual misconduct in 2017, at a museum. The actor will run a masterclass at Italy’s National Museum of Cinema in Turin, where he will also receive a lifetime achievement award. The museum’s president said “It is a privilege to host the masterclass of one of the greatest cinema and theater actors of our times.” Variety
I love Dan Flavin, and I love Berlin’s Hamburger Bahnhof gallery - but if I want to see his neon-green light installation on the building’s facade in all its glory, I’ll have to wait until April. It’s been switched off for six months. It’s in a move to conserve energy as Germany tries to reduce electricity consumption in response to Europe’s energy crisis. It’s the first time it’s been switched off in 26 years. The Art Newspaper
There’s going to be a new multi-million-dollar museum to Albert Einstein in Israel. The Israeli government have committed a major part of the funding, which will be built at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Einstein was one of the founders of the university and he bequeathed 85,000 documents from his archive to them. A statement said: “with cutting-edge exhibition techniques, scientific demonstrations, and original documents, the museum will present Einstein’s contributions to science.” Times of Israel
And finally
HM the King and the Queen Consort have visited the current Africa Fashion exhibition at the V&A, a visit that a leading men's designer described as a “symbolic moment.”
End of a huge era for Tate, as Francis Morris, Director of Tate Modern, is to step down. She’s been in the (almost) top job for six years, and at the gallery group for THIRTY FIVE. Now 63, she’s leaving to work on other curatorial projects and to write a book.
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