Official: V&A vs Met for £2m treasure
Campaign launched to save historic artwork for UK
— In partnership with Substrakt’s Digital Works Conference
Also in this edition: British Museum | Tate Britain | People’s Palace | Fourth Plinth | Ikon Gallery | Barbican Centre | Musée d’Orsay | Lusail Museum | Art Institute of Chicago | M Shed | Jeff Koons | Historic England
Happy Friday!
This week’s review in the Guardian of Tate Britain’s new John Singer Sargent and fashion exhibition got me thinking.
If you don’t know the review I’m talking about, critic Jonathan Jones gave the show one star and said it was “horrible”. Reviews don’t get more scathing.
But I’m not starting this newsletter talking about this specific review, nor the huge amount of online reaction it generated. Nor the exhibition itself, which I haven’t seen and so for all I know might be horrible.
No I’m beginning by talking about those — thankfully rather rare — moments when you actively HATE a show. When you walk around a gallery and quickly start to realise that you are in conflict with your surroundings. Where mid-visit, or maybe even earlier, you think to yourself: what is this rubbish!?
For me, two of those moments standout: 2019’s Leonardo: Experience a Masterpiece at the National Gallery (unfathomable) and 2022’s War Games at the Imperial War Museum (empty: physically and intellectually) .
What’s my point? Well, simply that we all sometimes don’t like an exhibition, whether we are just regular punters or art critics for national newspapers. If we don’t like one it’s usually because there have been countless others that we have. That’s why we are visiting: because we believe in curated exhibitions as an art form and as entertainment. But not everything can float our boat.
I don’t think that’s a problem. Some people probably loved War Games, and I can live with that. A one-star reaction does not mean you’re not a five-star supporter of the sector. I believe we should champion everyone who cares enough to have an opinion.
And — let’s face it — Taylor Swift is the only entity on earth that doesn’t put out a dud from time to time.
Now let’s get into the news!
— maxwell
— In partnership with Substrakt’s Digital Works Conference
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Need To Know
British Museum leaks
It’s not news that the British Museum’s building is crumbling, but more details have emerged of how widespread the damage currently is. Right now there’s emergency repairs to roofs above galleries 17 (Greek Nereid monument), 19 (Athenian antiquities), 72 (Ancient Cyprus) and 92-94 (Japan), the Art Newspaper reported this week.
They also revealed that in December 2022 the museum’s ninth-century Assyrian reliefs were threatened by serious condensation, and emergency measures were required to dry them out and prevent permanent damage. The museum’s archive was also moved in 2017 due to risks of damp.
The extent of the problems were laid bare in a planning application last year, with the museum stating that urgent work is required “to mitigate water ingress which is… putting the integrity of the building and the collection at risk of significant damage.”
A museum spokesperson said “we have been open about the fact it is in need of full-scale renovation”. The future masterplan — which has been long delayed — represents “one of the most significant cultural redevelopment projects undertaken anywhere in the world” they added. (Read more)
Greece blasts the ‘frow’
Meanwhile, there’s been controversy over two of the most famous objects in the British Museum collection. Plus ca change.
Greek culture minister Dr Lina Mendoni blasted last weekend’s Erdem catwalk show as part of London Fashion Week which was held in the gallery displaying the Parthenon Sculptures. Anna Wintour and Dame Kristin Scott Thomas were in attendance.
According to Mendoni, this didn’t show enough respect to the marbles, and ‘trivialised’ and ‘insulted’ them. However it has been pointed out Mendoni was involved in permissions for fashion house Dior to carry out a joint photoshoot at the Acropolis and a catwalk show at the 2,500-year-old Panathenaic Stadium in 2021. In response Mendoni has said that the collaboration — which saw Dior pay nearly €1 million to make happen — was entirely different. Because the Dior models were “motionless.” (Read more)
Later in the week, comments were briefly turned off on an Instagram post made by the museum’s youth panel after a Chilean social media influencer encouraged his followers to spam it and call for the museum to return a Rapa Nui moai statue. There were furious accusations that this was censorship. Reader, it’s not. (Read more)
It’s official: V&A vs Met
A major £2m fundraising campaign has been officially launched to save one of the most “historically important items to have been on display at the V&A.” The stunning piece could leave the UK — because the Met Museum has bought it.
The tug-of-war between the global museums was first reported by the Art Newspaper in January — followed by this newsletter — and this week saw the long-rumoured fundraising campaign officially announced by the V&A.
The extraordinary 12th Century ivory carving Deposition from the Cross has been on long-term loan to the London museum for forty years. But last year it was bought by the Met for £2m from its private owners. The UK government has now deferred its export licence to allow the V&A to match the price and to keep it in Britain.
V&A Director Tristram Hunt said “It is vital that we return it to display, for free, for everyone, forever.” The museum has until June to raise the cash. (Read more)
News from the UK
Palace patch-up | Glasgow’s People’s Palace museum will get a £36 million upgrade, and so will close in April for three years. The much-loved venue will be completely redesigned and reimagined and people are being encouraged to visit before it shuts. Bailie Annette Christie, Chair of Glasgow Life who run the museum, said this project is “what the local community have been calling for." (Read more)
Speak now Swifties | Are you a Taylor Swift lover? Well you could be the 1 the V&A are looking for. The London museum wants someone who knows Swift all too well to become its official adviser about the star, and who will almost certainly advise on which fan-made and official memorabilia the V&A should collect. It’s one of nine new ‘Super Fan’ positions for the institution, with other experts on drag and emojis sought. (Read more)
On a pedestal | The shortlist for the next two Fourth Plinth commissions in London’s Trafalgar Square have been unveiled. An ornamental cat, a sweet potato and a bird’s nest (all giant natch) are among the contenders for the much-loved/loathed delete-as-appropriate project which has been going since 1998. To my eye, the best is Chila Burman’s fun and colourful ice cream van. Models of the shortlist are on display at the National Gallery now. (Read more)
Gallery funding axe | Birmingham’s Ikon gallery will lose all its council funding next year as the city’s bankrupt local authority tries to balance the books. Ikon currently receives £19,731 per year from the council, down from £300,000 in 2012. “We are determined to stay open and free for everyone" Ian Hyde, the gallery’s CEO said. Birmingham City Council plans to “cease funding for cultural projects” entirely. Strangely, there is no word on the future of Birmingham Museum Trust yet. (Read more)
Brutal maintenance figures | London's Barbican Centre needs £450m worth of essential works, a new report has revealed. £25m has been committed over 2023/4 and 2024/25 “to support critical health and safety needs.” But it says the arts venue has reached “the end of its economic life” and the total cost of work needed is not budgeted for. CEO Claire Spencer has said “It is not possible to run the Barbican as an arts centre if no further funding is secured.” (Read more)
News from around the world
Qatar 🇶🇦 | The (absolutely stunning) designs of Doha’s new Lusail Museum have been unveiled by ‘starcitects’ Herzog & de Meuron. The five-storey museum will be home to a vast collection of Orientalist art and will reference historic Islamic architecture. There’ll be a vast roof terrace too, overlooking the surrounding island. Construction will begin this year and will be completed by 2029. (Read more)
France 🇫🇷 | Paris’ Musée d’Orsay has revealed that its just-closed Van Gogh exhibition broke all previous attendance records. A HUGE 793,556 visitors saw the show devoted to the artist’s final months, and which heavily featured AI and VR. The record-breaking show beat previous leader Edvard Munch: A Poem of Life, Love and Death from 2022. The Van Gogh show now heads to Amsterdam. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | $25m has been gifted to the Art Institute of Chicago (AIC) to help them establish the new Bucksbaum Photography Center, which will house the museum’s Department of Photography and Media and its collection. The donation is one of the biggest sums ever allocated to photography at any US museum. The donation comes from AIC trustee Kay Bucksbaum and her family. (Read more)
Finland 🇫🇮 | A new national museum of architecture and design is planned for Helsinki after the city council pledged €60 million to the project. The Finnish state will match this funding. The new venue is slated to be situated on Helsinki's South Harbour and is expected to open no earlier than 2030. A global competition to design the new museum will be launched in April. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Figures in focus | Just who are the tiny people used in architectural drawings? Well the Soane Museum will reveal all as they look at their history in a new exhibition. Fanciful Figures opens in March. (More)
Koons’ giant leap | A Jeff Koons sculpture has become the first "authorized" artwork on the moon. It landed yesterday aboard the Odysseus spacecraft, the USA’s first moon-landing in 50 years. Fear not: terrestrial beings can buy it as an NFT. PHEW (More)
Working class culture | Historic England have announced 56 new initiatives it will fund that celebrate working class heritage. Grants up to £25,000 have been given to projects including an oral history archive of bacon factory workers. (More)
Final resting place | The toppled statue of Edward Colston has officially been acquired by Bristol’s museum collection. It will go to the city’s M Shed permanently. Councillors also voted to remove the statue’s Grade II listing. (More)
Industrial action continues | “Do the decent thing and pay up” unions implore bosses at National Museums Liverpool, as strikes — which have closed most of their venues — enter their second week, and could go on for six more. (More)
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