INTERVIEW: Director of Pitzhanger Manor
plus: Hokusai drawings rediscovered; and Museum "extremely compromised" by Culture Secretary's intervention
Hello and happy Thursday. It’s been quite a week or so in the world of museums, as two of the biggest and best on the planet reopened - the British Museum and the Met in New York. More on that at the end.
There’s another reopening next week too - it’s a much smaller scale but definitely one of my favourites. Pitzhanger Manor in West London will welcome visitors again, as well as some titans of British art as William Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress will be calling the gallery home for a few months. I speak to Pitzhanger’s Director for this week’s interview.
As ever, do please share this newsletter with any museum-loving friends or colleagues. And tips and donations via the ‘buy me a coffee’ link below are hugely welcome.
Let’s dive in.
P.S. the eagle-eyed amongst you will see that capital letters are back. Reply to this email to let me know if you’re happy to see their return!
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latest news
Geffrye controversy. The Museum of the Home in east London has said it felt “extremely compromised” after an intervention from the UK Culture Secretary. He asked them not to remove a statue of their slave-trading founder despite a consultation finding that most people wanted it taken down. Huff Post UK
Wave hello! 103 drawings by the Japanese artist Hokusai (of Great Wave fame 🌊 ) have been rediscovered after being lost for 70 years. They’ve now been acquired by the British Museum for the national collection. The Times
HB to HW! The Hepworth Wakefield is a whole decade old next year! To celebrate, there’ll be a major exhibition on….*drumroll*…..Barbara Hepworth. Who else! Wakefield Express
Into the wild. A perching primate, perishing habitats and peeking possums - the first images from the 2020 Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition are revealed by the Natural History Museum. The Mirror
Fake or Fortune? The Ashmolean Museum in Oxford might have been keeping a genuine Rembrandt painting languishing in its basement. The Guardian
Back on the box. Channel 4’s Grayson Perry's Art Club is coming back for a second series. Let’s hope the lockdown which inspired it won’t be. Telly Mix
New drawings acquired by the British Museum by Katsushika Hokusai, 1829. © The Trustees of the British Museum
Un-shrink-ing. The Sigmund Freud Museum reopens in Vienna after a €4 million expansion. The Art Newspaper
October opening. A new $58 million expansion of the Jewish Museum Frankfurt will show Anne Frank’s connection to the city. The Jerusalem Post
Cover stars. The September edition of American Vogue - the most important issue of the year - has covers painted by celebrated artists Kerry James Marshall and Jordan Casteel. Artsy
Using her loaf. A National Gallery fan missed her visits so much she recreated famous artworks at home with *checks notes* toast. An A for effort I guess. the i newspaper
interview
Icons of British art are on the move. Hogarth’s satirical series A Rake’s Progress has been the star attraction at Sir John Soane’s Museum since 1810. But it’s now returning (temporarily) to its original home, Pitzhanger Manor in West London, for the first time in two centuries. They were originally displayed in the Ealing manor when it was Soane’s country retreat (yes, Ealing used to be rural back then). This time the paintings will be placed alongside contemporary art in a new exhibition reflecting voices and issues in London today. The new show also marks the reopening of Pitzhanger after lockdown. I caught up with the Director Clare Gough to find out more.
How does reopening after lockdown feel?
It is so good to be looking to the positive again after weeks of crisis management as we dealt with the fallout from closure. We have really missed the buzz and energy of people engaging with the building and the exhibition. Pitzhanger had been open for just a year following its extensive restoration, when we had to shut our doors in March for COVID, so the excitement of reopening still feels fairly familiar!
What have been the main challenges over the past few months?
Like other museums and galleries, we lost all our admissions and commercial income on closure. With most of our staff on furlough, our small team has had to be incredibly dynamic, and we have worked hard to keep up morale without any visitors. Our challenge in preparing for re-opening has been to make sure Pitzhanger is a safe venue, but that it retains its spirit as an inspiring place to visit.
Tell us a bit about your new show ‘Hogarth: London Voices, London Lives.’ Does the pandemic give it any new relevance?
The exhibition takes a modern look at the voices and issues of living in London today, with contemporary photography, film and sound, based around the centrepiece of William Hogarth’s famous London morality tale A Rake’s Progress. We have newly created printed woodblock protest posters by Ruth Ewan, inspired by hidden narratives and social concerns raised by A Rake’s Progress: visitors can even take a poster home with them. Playwright debbie tucker green has produced a mesmerising new work for us – a triptych of images capturing moments of lives in contemporary London. We also have fascinating film and photography from the ‘Long Live Southbank’ archive, the skateboarders and activists that saved the Undercroft space at the Southbank; and a sound piece by James Fritz exposing the polarising effect of social media. The exhibition feels particularly resonant now as we reflect on life for all communities in London today after the events of the past months.
How important is it for Pitzhanger that you’re bringing A Rake’s Progress back?
We are thrilled to see A Rake’s Progress back at Pitzhanger for the first time in 200 years. The series of paintings was bought by Soane’s wife Eliza at Christie’s in 1802 for £598.10, to be hung at Pitzhanger alongside Soane’s growing collection of contemporary art and antiquities. We’ve displayed the paintings against the rich red background Soane designed for them in his Small Drawing Room – a colour that shows them off to perfection. The paintings are juxtaposed with photographs by John Riddy which record London’s urban sprawl, from housing estates to institutions such as the Soane-designed Bank of England. The paintings were modern in Soane’s time and remain provocative today.
Installation image from 'Hogarth: London Voices, London Lives' at Pitzhanger Manor & Gallery (c) Andy Stagg
The financial situation for museums and galleries is rather bleak. What's the situation with Pitzhanger?
The financial losses caused by closure have been severe. Even when we re-open the impact of social distancing means it will be many months before we can hope to break even again. In this context, the financial support we’ve received has been a lifeline: the government’s furlough job retention scheme has been invaluable, and we are enormously grateful for a recent grant from The National Lottery Heritage Fund’s Heritage Emergency Fund as well as support from patrons and supporters – big and small – all of which assists our re-opening.
What does the next year have on store for Pitzhanger?
We’ve had to re-juggle our programme given the period of closure, and are so grateful for the support of lenders and artists who have helped us achieve this. We will soon be announcing our revised exhibition plans and are excited by the range they cover, from contemporary art, collaborations with our local community and a focus on Soane’s architecture.
Finally, any friendly rivalry with Sir John Soane’s Museum to be London’s number one Soane attraction?
We are so pleased to be collaborating with the Sir John Soane Museum and very grateful for their generous loan of A Rake’s Progress. But we hope this is the first of many collaborations and are working on some fun plans. It is exciting to enable visitors to see both the similarities and differences between these two fascinating Soane homes into which he poured so much passion.
Hogarth: London Voices, London Lives opens at Pitzhanger Manor and Gallery on 10 September. Book tickets here.
what’s on
3 of the best new shows from around the globe.
Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery at the Museum of London Docklands - Unearth the mystery of the largest ever Bronze Age hoard discovered in London. Opens 11 September
Don McCullin at Tate Liverpool - The major exhibition of legendary British photographer Don McCullin moves north after it’s run at Tate Britain. Opens 16 September
Luchita Hurtado. Together Forever at Hauser and Wirth, New York, 22nd Street - Poignant posthumous exhibition of the artist who died earlier this year., with 30 works exploring the self. Opens 10 September.
and finally
The Met Museum in New York reopened at the weekend. For those of us outside the US that can’t visit due to ongoing covid restrictions, we can still visit with Vogue who went along to see what’s new.
On this side of the pond, the British Museum also reopened after its longest peacetime close. The Financial Times came along, and called it a “dizzying” and “moving experience.”
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