National Gallery’s new name
PLUS: Tate's finances prompt concern
— In partnership with the Museum Data Service
Happy Friday.
This is the penultimate newsletter of the year! Soon it’ll be January and I’ll be looking forward, bringing you all of 2025’s highlights. But for now, let’s look back.
Here are my three favourite exhibitions of 2024, in no particular order.
— Tracey Emin: ‘I Followed You To The End’ | White Cube Bermondsey in London
40 paintings, plus two bronze sculptures — one small, one huge — made up this show of brand new work from the great British artist. The show confronted Emin's near death experience since a life changing health diagnosis, taking visitors on a journey through love and loss, mortality and rebirth. Raw, moving but ultimately hopeful — it was what art should be: making you FEEL.
— Legion: life in the Roman army | the British Museum in London
Vast, comprehensive, yet accessible, this journey through the realities of Roman military life was a treat. Although not the best show they’ve ever done and not without some minor flaws, it did represent the British Museum at its best: using all its expertise to put on an exhibition that makes you go wow, with some of the most remarkable historical objects from around the world.
— In Your Wildest Dreams. Ensor Beyond Impressionism | KMSKA in Antwerp
The biggest and best of Antwerp’s four offerings marking the 75th anniversary of the death of post-Impressionist James Ensor, this huge show displayed his work alongside some of his greatest contemporaries and inspirations including Edouard Manet, Edvard Munch and Claude Monet. One of the most thoughtfully and creatively presented art exhibitions of the year.
But, there are far more I could talk about then I can fit into this intro. If I had to pick a winner, KMSKA’s Ensor show probs just nabs the top spot. (You still have a few weeks left in order to jump on the Eurostar and see it yourself.)
Special mention should go to Amsterdam’s new National Holocaust Museum which is a remarkable new venue. But as not strictly an exhibition, it’s not on the list.
I would love to hear what your favourite shows this year were! Hit reply to this email to tell me. Let’s see if they match mine!
And before we get into the news, I’d also love to know just how many exhibitions you actually saw this year. So not just in museums, but in commercial galleries, arts centres, even outdoor shows or installations. Let me know by voting in the poll below!
— maxwell
— In partnership with the Museum Data Service
Huge "leap forward" for museums begins
It’s an unprecedented moment for Britain's museums.
Until now, it's not been possible to search the millions of objects in the UK's collections in one place.
But the solution to that problem has begun, as the Museum Data Service (MDS) is now live. Through a single platform, 3 million objects can now be searched. 2 million will be added imminently.
Art UK is the first institutional user of the service, allowing it to double the number of artworks on their platform by the year end. Its Director Andrew Ellis says this "will revolutionise our ability to research our museums." He wants museums across the country to "embrace this new frontier."
A key feature of MDS is that it's as easy for small collections to upload data as for large.
Dame Mary Beard thinks "we will look back and wonder how on earth we managed without it.”
The service is a collaboration between Art UK, Collections Trust, and the University of Leicester, with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
Now it's over to museums themselves to embrace this digital revolution — and to add their collections.
Need To Know
Sponsor rebrands National Gallery
The entirety of the National Gallery’s permanent galleries are to be renamed after a Chinese property company. When the gallery’s bicentenary rehang of the whole collection is unveiled in May, visitors will be met with the new name: C C Land: The Wonder of Art.
The gallery won’t say how much CC Land — headquartered in Hong Kong, registered in Bermuda, and owners of London’s Nine Elms development — have paid for these major naming rights, telling the Times it never discloses “commercially sensitive information”. But the gallery told this newsletter the sponsorship will last one year — until 31 May 2026.
CC Land: The Wonder of Art will follow a broadly chronological arrangement, with medieval and Renaissance pictures displayed in the revamped Sainsbury Wing, and later paintings in the older Wilkins Building. There will be dedicated rooms to major artists, with galleries focussed on Monet and Titian marking the first time the National Gallery’s works by these artists have been brought together. (Read more)
🔗 OPINION | Why can’t we fund the National Gallery without help from China? | Richard Morrison in the Times
9% funding rise “not enough”
The National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) has slammed the Scottish government’s pledge to increase its funding by 9% next year as “not enough.”
Scottish culture secretary Angus Robertson visited the gallery to highlight what he claimed would be "game-changing" new investment in culture and announced in this week’s Budget. But the NGS will have to share the £4m allocated in new funding for the ‘national collections’ with both National Museums Scotland and the National Library of Scotland.
“While a 9% revenue grant-in-aid increase may seem positive, the reality is that it is not enough” a spokesperson told the Scotsman. "The increase will be almost entirely absorbed by our staffing costs” they added, highlighting the particular effects of the UK government’s National Insurance increases on employers. "We already operate on the minimum staffing levels required to care for the national art collection…it will be increasingly challenging to reach a balanced budget” they warned. (Read more)
London Museum helps green-light skyscraper
The tallest building in Western Europe — tied with the Shard — has been approved with help from the London Museum.
A children’s ‘education space’ on the top floors of the planned 74-storey skyscraper in London’s Square Mile are part of the plans. It’ll be operated in partnership with the London Museum and (supposedly) open 7 days a week and into the evenings. The plans were approved despite major objections from Heritage England and others.
Shravan Joshi, chair of the City of London’s planning committee, said he was “particularly pleased” to work with the London Museum to create “a classroom in the sky” that would develop “another inclusive, unique visitor destination” (*eye-roll*). It’ll also feature — what else! — a viewing gallery and ‘public garden.’
This news comes just weeks after the 800 year-old Smithfield Market was abolished for good when the same City of London ditched plans to relocate it to a new site in East London. That new location was the carrot used to get traders to vacate Smithfield to make way for: the new London Museum. (Read more)
News from the UK
Financial fears 💰 | Tate has pledged to “develop a new financially sustainable business model” after being forced to enact another deficit budget for the coming year. The gallery group has had “discussions” with the DCMS about their financial position — and have obtained assurances that the government will ensure it’s kept a going concern. Trustees will now “prioritise growing self-generated income and controlling costs” but 24/25 will still see “uncertainty over [Tate’s] ability to operate in its current form.” (Read more)
Pammy’s cossie 🩱 | Pamela Anderson’s iconic red swimsuit from Baywatch is to come on loan to Britain for an exhibition on our love of swimming at the Design Museum. Splash! — opening in March — will also feature the first Olympic gold medal won by a British woman. Anderson’s bathing suit was seen by 1.1 billion people globally in the show’s heyday, and will be loaned by Germany’s BikiniARTmuseum. (Read more)
Where Is Lorraine? 📺 | A portrait of TV icon Lorraine Kelly has gone on display in Edinburgh after being commissioned by the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) from the winner of the latest Sky Portrait Artist of the Year competition. Brogan Bertie won the annual prize, and their commission is now part of Scotland’s national collection. Deputy Director of Portraiture at NGS, Imogen Gibbon said it was a “spectacular addition. (Read more)
More closures ❌ | Staff are reported to be distraught at the news that Leeds City Council plans to permanently close Abbey House Museum in Kirkstall. One staff member told the Yorkshire Evening Post that “everyone’s distraught. It’s still raw.” The Council needs to make over £100m in savings, and they also plan to introduce voluntary admission charges to the city’s other museums. Meanwhile, Shropshire Council plans to close Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery for an additional 78 days a year to save money. (Read more)
News from around the world
United States 🇺🇸 | The most expensive dinosaur fossil ever sold at auction — a stegosaurus that billionaire Kenneth C. Griffin bought this year for $44.6 million — has gone on long-term loan to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Griffin’s loan to the museum also includes funding for major research and 3D scanning of the 150m-year-old dinosaur, which is named Apex. (Read more)
United States 🇺🇸| The Judy Garland Museum in Minnesota was massively outbid in trying to buy a pair of ruby slippers from the Wizard of Oz. At auction, the slippers eventually went for $28m, becoming the most expensive entertainment memorabilia ever. But the museum did make the first ever purchase in their history at the same auction, spending $20,000 on a painting of the Wicked Witch attempting to take the slippers by local artist Bill Mack. It was a “fitting way to spend the money” they’d raised the Director said. (Read more)
France 🇫🇷 | Saudi Arabia will give €50m towards the massive refurbishment of the Centre Pompidou in Paris. The cash is pledged in a deal that will see France help develop new museums in the Gulf state, including a photography museum in Riyadh tied with the Arles National School of Photography. They will also aid restoration of Saudi heritage sites and loan works of art to their museums. (Read more)
🔗 More: Saudi Arabia and the art of generosity | Stephen Armstrong for Tortoise
United States 🇺🇸 | The Met Museum has released the planned designs for its revamped modern and contemporary wing, a $550m project that will be designed by Frida Escobedo, the first female architect to design a wing in the museum’s 154-year history. Construction on the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing — named in honour of the couple who donated $125m to the project — will begin in 2026 and be completed in 2030. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Record breaker! | Remember I reported on Ben Melham’s recent world record for most museum visits in a single day? Well it’s now been officially ratified by Guinness World Records. Congrats Ben! (More)
Four more years! | George Osborne has been reappointed to serve four more years as chair of the British Museum. He’s also admitted there’s still “some distance” from an agreement over the Parthenon Sculptures, despite speculation one was imminent. (Read more)
Buy, possums! | 250 items from the personal collection of Barry Humphries are going to auction in London. Sale items include diamante-encrusted Sydney Opera House spectacles worn by Dame Edna Everage. (More)
"Landmark achievement" | The Museum Data Service is now live. Millions of UK museum objects can be searched in one place — and Art UK is leading the way in using the "transformative" new platform.* (More)
*This is sponsored content
👀 Last week’s most clicked news story | Liverpool Street Station redesign is wrecking our heritage, says Griff Rhys Jones
📲 Catch up on the most recent edition | The truth about AI in art
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