Moon’s heritage in danger
PLUS: Astonishing British Museum insight
Friday 17 January 2025 | news from museums, galleries, heritage and art, including:
Van Gogh Director hails visitor drop
Largest-ever Hockney exhibition announced
Queen Elizabeth unfazed by spying curator
Happy Friday.
Sometimes there are articles that come along that blow your socks off. And no, I’m not talking about the excellent content I write on maxwellmuseums.com. I’m talking about one of the most fascinating pieces on the work of museums I’ve read in years.
Yesterday the Guardian published their latest long-read, on the subject of the British Museum in 2025. A 5,000-word deep dive into Britain’s oldest public museum penned by chief culture writer Charlotte Higgins. And simply: it’s astonishing.
Why? Because I have not read such a full-bodied inside-snapshot of a major museum in a long while. Charlotte has spent months speaking to staff across the whole institution, as well as the former Director Neil MacGregor. It captures it all — the problems, the controversies, but most importantly, the reality of the remarkable (and often unseen) work the museum does day-in-day-out.
This deeply-researched long read truly reflects all the quiet but vital activities that goes on in an institution of this scale, and that in the BM’s case extends from the “Bloomsbury HQ” in London to collaboration with hundreds of partners all around the world.
One of the issues for the BM — an institution that rightly faces extensive and legitimate scrutiny — is that it hasn’t managed to navigate the new information ecosystem that now exists. It’s not been muscular enough in demonstrating the vital, collaborative and FASCINATING work it does.
One quote in Charlotte’s piece stuck out to me. Highlighting that a vacuum was created due to the museum’s silence on big issues, one trustee explained that Hartwig Fischer (director from 2016 to 2023) was a sensitive scholar, but “could never find the levers of power…no vision for the museum emerged.”
As someone who worked at the British Museum during ‘the Fischer years’, I can say this feels a very accurate description. The response to the world’s eyes was inertia. Perhaps then, it’s no surprise the museum’s new Director Nicholas Cullinan yesterday hired his own personal Special Advisor, one assumes to avoid a repeat rabbit-in-headlights end.
The British Museum has the world’s greatest minds, greatest objects and greatest stories. And while it probably hasn’t felt like it, in our now-atomised culture, the world’s attention is probably its biggest asset of all.
So here’s to the museum turning the page, the end of inertia, and a new era of shouting over and over (and over!) about what it does so well. We’ll all be watching.
maxwell
ps. if you haven’t read Charlotte’s piece yet — DO! You won't get a better snapshot of real life at the world's leading museum.
pps. don’t forget to read to the end for lots of bite-size features
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Get ready for Grayson
One of the exhibitions I am most looking forward to in 2025 is Grayson Perry’s takeover of the Wallace Collection in London. It’ll double as a birthday celebration too, as it opens on the very day Sir Grayson turns 65.
The Wallace Director promises the show will “surprise and intrigue.” So now feels like it’s a great time to gen-up on the artist, which is why I’ve picked the three best Grayson Perry books to dive deeper into his art and mind:
📙 Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Girl — a raw, funny, and deeply honest journey from a turbulent Essex childhood to discovering art, identity, and self-acceptance. [Buy]
📗 Smash Hits — with 75 vibrant works and exclusive insights, this stunning book celebrated Perry’s biggest ever UK exhibition at the National in Edinburgh in 2023. [Buy]
📘 Playing to the Gallery — a witty manifesto that demystifies contemporary art with humour and insight. [Buy]
The week’s biggest news
Van Gogh Director hails visitor drop
The Director of the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam has said suppressing the museum’s visitor figures is one of her proudest achievements in her role.
Emilie Gordenker says they have deliberately reduced attendance by 400,000, an 18% reduction from a high of 2.25 million visitors in 2017.
Speaking to the Times, Gordenker said it was an attempt to privilege visit quality over quantity. “The museum had been doing fabulously well, growing and growing and growing. Actually it had got too much.” Now, “there are no queues” she said.
In the same interview she called climate protesters who target paintings — including Van Gogh at London’s National Gallery — “disingenuous” for claiming art works are protected because they are behind glass. “It requires that the painting be removed, and any movement of a picture is a risk.” She also said their actions are now a factor in deciding future loans. (Read more)
Moon’s heritage is ‘at risk’
The latest World Monuments Fund (WMF) watch list of the heritage and historic sites most in need of protection has been revealed — and it includes the Moon, the the first time an extra-terrestrial location has been including. Apparently this isn’t an April Fools.
Its inclusion is due to the dawn of a new Space Age and the moon hosting more than 90 historic sites relating to humanity’s presence on it, including Tranquility Base where humans first set foot.
“The inclusion of the Moon underscores the universal need for proactive and cooperative strategies to protect heritage — whether on Earth or beyond — that reflect and safeguard our collective narrative” the WMF President said. (Read more)
Belfast’s Assembly Rooms is also among the 25 sites identified. One of the city’s oldest civic buildings, it is in disrepair. Campaigners want it to be the home for a new Museum of the Troubles and Peace. (Read more)
Starmer visits Auschwitz Museum
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called his visit today to the Auschwitz Memorial and Museum "utterly harrowing" and said he is determined to fight the "poison of antisemitism." He was accompanied by his wife Victoria, whose Jewish father fled Poland in the 1920s to escape the rise of Nazism in neighbouring Germany.
Starmer laid a wreath ahead of the 80th anniversary of its liberation. A global ceremony will be held at Auschwitz on 27 January — the day in 1945 Soviet troops entered the camp — attended by world leaders and HM King Charles III.
The Auschwitz Museum’s Director has banned speeches from politicians at the ceremony. Only survivors will speak, in what is likely to be the last big commemoration when many are still alive and healthy enough to travel. Piotr Cywiński, who has led the museum since 2006, said “We want to focus on the last survivors that are among us and on their history, their pain, their trauma and their way to offer us some difficult moral obligations for the present.” (Read more)
🔗 CYWIŃSKI INTERVIEW | Speeches by politicians banned at 80th anniversary of Auschwitz’s liberation
UK news 🇬🇧
Tate’s St Ives presence grows 🎨
£2.8m has been awarded to Tate to reopen one of Barbara Hepworth’s former studios in St Ives. Closed to the public for 65 years, it’ll reopen thanks to the money from the National Heritage Lottery Fund. The Grade II*-listed Palais de Danse was given to Tate in 2015. Six other projects were awarded cash from the Lottery, including an £8m grant to restore Colchester’s listed Jumbo Water Tower, making it accessible for the first time. (Read more)
Britain and Poland spotlight culture 🇵🇱
The National Portrait Gallery and the Photographers’ Gallery in London will stage exhibitions showcasing Polish arts in culture, as part of a nine-month season celebrating the links between Poland and Britain. The UK/Poland Season 2025 — initiated by the British Council — will feature over 100 events from March. The Museum of Art in Łódź will kick things off with masterpieces from the British Council Collection and the Tate. (Read more)
Museum founder celebrated 🏛
The Bowes Museum has announced a major new exhibition celebrating the 200th anniversary of its co-founder, Joséphine Bowes. It will feature works spanning 300 years, from more than 60 artists including Picasso and Grayson Perry. Vicky Sturrs, director of programmes at the museum, said Bowes was “a 19th-century innovator and tastemaker” and that that the show — opening next month — would be “reflecting on its founders’ vision.” (Read more)
Campaigners protest closure 📢
There’ll be a demonstration against the planned closure of Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall tomorrow, as a petition to save it nears 5,000 signatures. At a meeting this week, the council’s culture representative had to apologise that the museum’s staff only found out about the closure plans on Facebook. Also at the meeting it was revealed the Friends of Leeds City Museums had offered to pay for marketing to attract more visitors, but had “been refused." (Read more)
Five star art from V&A ⭐️
The V&A is to help a luxury hotel chain curate a series of art installations around the world. The museum’s first project with The Peninsula brand will be a commission for the group’s flagship Hong Kong hotel, to coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong 2025. Tim Reeve, V&A Deputy Director, hailed the multi-year collaboration as part of the museum’s “mission to champion design and creativity in all its forms, advance cultural knowledge, and inspire makers.” (Read more)
Global news 🌎
France 🇫🇷
The largest exhibition ever on the work of David Hockney will open at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris in April. It’ll feature 400 works and will take over the whole museum. The main focus will be the past 25 years of Hockney’s output. Commenting, Hockney said it “means an enormous amount because it is the largest exhibition I’ve ever had…Some of the most recent paintings I’m working on now will be included in it. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
A coalition of institutions — led by the J. Paul Getty Trust — have launched a $12 million emergency relief fund for members of the LA arts community affected by the wildfires. LACMA, Gagosian, Frieze and Qatar Museums are contributing, as are the foundations of Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg. Applications for emergency grants will open on Monday. The Getty President said people had “come together to meet the urgent needs of this community.” (Read more)
Italy 🇮🇹
A "once-in-a-century" find has been unearthed from the rubble of Pompeii, as experts reveal the discovery of a sumptuous private bathhouse, complete with hot, warm and cold rooms, exquisite artwork, and a huge plunge pool. The spa-like complex sits at the heart of a grand residence, itself only uncovered over the last two years. “This is so huge - it's probably the biggest bath complex in a Pompeiian private home” the director of the Archaeological Park of Pompeii told BBC News. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸
How broken is too broken? A lawsuit filed against the Alexander Calder Foundation by a collector alleges that the Foundation has torpedoed his ability to sell a mobile created by the artist, after deciding it was too damaged to still be viewed as a Calder work. Before their decision, the work was valued at $8 million. The owner insists the damage cited by the Calder Foundation is fictional. (Read more)
News in brief
Queen unfazed by curator spy
Queen Elizabeth II was not informed that the man who oversaw her art collection was a Soviet spy until a decade after his confession to MI5. In newly declassified documents, it’s said the Queen took it "all very calmly” when eventually told. (More)
More strikes loom in London
Security guards at the Science Museum, the V&A and the Natural History Museum will strike tomorrow until Monday in protest over “stagnant pay” from their agency employer. They’ve already taken 16 days of strike action so far. (More)
New course explains art market
Want the art market demystified for you? Well apart from reading this newsletter, you can join Art Market Minds - The Academy, an online platform that’s launching courses with the former boss of Art Basel. (More)
Cathedral closure warning
Peterborough Cathedral — which dates back 1,400 years — is warning it will become England’s first ‘part-time cathedral’ unless it can raise £300k by March. Its cash crisis means it could shut on some days, becoming the only cathedral to do so. (More)
Eyebrow-raising presidential portrait
”They go hard.” That’s how Trump’s team have described the newly released official portraits of the President-elect and JD Vance. Trump is seen scowling in his, almost certainly to echo his infamous police mugshot. (More)
👀 Last edition’s most clicked news story
Scotland’s National Galleries warns flagship attractions face closure over 'seismic' £40m funding crisis
💻 New and updated on maxwellmuseums.com
— History-making Anselm Kiefer exhibition to open at Amsterdam's Van Gogh and Stedelijk museums
— Young V&A's ancient Egypt exhibition will "fire the imagination" in 2025
🔍 The week in a number
8 million — the number of objects in the British Museum’s collection.
📊 Last week’s poll results | Do you want to read more books about art and museums in 2025?
— YES! It's my new year's resolution! 72%
— I read dozens annually already! 20%
— NO! Books are not my bag 8%
📊 This week’s poll
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