Oil sponsor ditched by Science Museum
PLUS: New British Museum Director reaffirms support from BP
— In partnership with Arts & Culture podcast
This edition also features: Japan’s UK cultural takeover | Swifties at the V&A | Royal approval for Natural History Museum’s gardens
Happy Friday.
Japan is big right now in the UK.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed but exhibitions on Japanese culture, art and design are everywhere.
There’s Dulwich Picture Gallery’s new show on the Yoshida Japanese printmaking dynasty. William Morris Gallery has the most wide-ranging exhibition ever held in Britain dedicated to Japanese folk-craft. There are TWO shows on kimonos — one at V&A Dundee and one at the Ashmolean in Oxford. More Japanese prints can be seen at the Watts Gallery in Surrey and the newly-crowned Museum of the Year Young V&A were ahead of the game by opening Japan: Myths to Manga as their debut show a year ago (and which you have only a few weeks left to see). Plus there’s Yoko Ono at Tate Modern and new Yayoi Kusama in Kensington Gardens.
No wonder then, that Japan's Emperor Naruhito and his wife had a packed schedule on their state visit to the UK last month. My feeds were full the above venues welcoming His Majesty — he even found time to meet Marc Quinn to see his bronze bonsai trees at Kew Gardens.
And he of course also managed to visit one institution who has been banging the drum for Japan’s culture in London since 2018. The Emperor took a private tour of Japan House and saw their current exhibition Design Discoveries: Towards a DESIGN MUSEUM JAPAN which looks at the country’s exemplary design through the eyes of some of Japan’s top creators.
I asked Japan House’s CEO Sam Thorne — who led His Majesty’s tour — what he thinks of Japan’s ubiquity this year. “It’s clearly resonating in so many ways right now” Sam told me. “There’s such a remarkable range of Japanese culture being presented across London this summer…I think this speaks to a resurgent interest in Japanese cultures, from the classic to the contemporary.”
Regarding the Emperor’s visit, he said he was “deeply honoured.”
“His visit underscores the importance of Japan House London as the cultural home of Japan in the UK.”
So if you can’t make it to Japan this summer — and tbh a flight is spenny — then a tour around the UK might be the next best thing.
— maxwell
P.S. This week the number of readers signed up to this newsletter sailed over 4,000. That BLOWS my MIND that so many of you are now enjoying it. Thank you so much for reading.
— You can support me, this newsletter and all my work with a small but HUGELY VALUABLE monthly donation. Giving just £6 is £1 per newsletter I send you each month. A bargain for all the value packed into each email. THANK YOU.
— In partnership with Arts & Culture podcast
What's the National Gallery's secret?
The National Gallery is having a big birthday bash this year. Their bicentenary celebrations are of a scale befitting one of the world's most famous art institutions.
But how do you keep 'the show on the road' in such a huge organisation?
Well one man whose job is to do just that is Paul Gray, the gallery's Deputy Director and Chief Operating Officer.
In an interview for the new episode of the Arts & Culture podcast, he likens it to conducting an orchestra. And he says an organisation's culture is key.
The wide-ranging chat also covers the many challenges they currently face: from the cost-of-living crisis, to climate change's very real threat to the gallery's paintings.
Paul offers valuable insight for any institution that wants to also make it to 200 years — and beyond.
Listen here — for free! — or wherever you get your podcasts.
Need To Know
Science Museum ditches Equinor
The Science Museum has cut ties with oil giant Equinor because the company was in breach of the museum’s pledge to ensure its sponsors complied with the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.
Equinor had sponsored the museum’s Wonderlab gallery since 2016 but they said in a statement the agreement had “drawn to a close at the end of their current contract term.” In a blog post, Chair Sir Tim Lawrence said “the partnership concludes… with our ongoing encouragement to Equinor to continue to raise the bar in their efforts to put in place emissions reduction targets aligned with limiting global warming to 1.5°C.” Freedom of information has revealed that sponsors in breach of climate commitments and unable to change course would be subject to gradual disengagement by the museum.
Campaigners welcomed the “seismic shift.” But many are now demanding the museum group ends ties to its other fossil fuel-linked sponsors BP and the Indian coal giant Adani Group. (Read more)
💬 OPINION | The Science Museum should not bow to climate change activists: take the oil money and be grateful to get it | Martha Gill in the Evening Standard
British Museum director backs BP
Nicholas Cullinan has asserted his firm support for taking sponsorship from BP in his first interview as Director of the British Museum.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, when asked if he’s happy for the money for the British Museum’s major refurb to come from the controversial oil giant — who last year said they would give the project £50m over 10 years — Cullinan answered with a definitive “yep.”
He elaborated that the revamp would cost “hundreds of millions” of pounds and that “it would be quite difficult to expect even the bulk of that to come from the British taxpayer.” He claimed that recent polling revealed “the majority of the British public support taking [BP’s] money because they understand that the money won’t be able to come from public finances.”
On the Parthenon Sculptures debate he said he “would hope partnership of some form is possible” with Greece, and added that collaboration — “whether it’s [with] Birmingham or Benin” — would be his focus. (Read more)
Royal approval for new gardens
The £25m, five-year overhaul of the Natural History Museum’s (NHM) gardens has been unveiled — and they’ve received a rare public endorsement from HRH the Princess of Wales.
Five acres of greenery wrapping around the South Kensington museum have been revamped into two gardens. One looks at 2.7 billion years of history of our planet through an immersive timeline of plants, rocks and animal representations. The other lets visitors discover the extraordinary wildlife on UK doorsteps today. To mark the garden's completion, a new bronze cast of the museum’s much-loved ‘Dippy’ has been unveiled, and named Fern.
The gardens are expected to be one of the most intensively studied urban nature sites globally. Director Doug Gurr said the “reimagined gardens will play a vital role in understanding how nature in our towns and cities is responding to a changing planet.”
On opening day, the NHM’s Royal Patron shared a message of support for the project — a rare public statement as she continues her treatment for cancer. The Princess hailed the “power of nature” in supporting “wellbeing” in a statement on Instagram. (Read more)
📺 WATCH | Explore the Natural History Museum new urban gardens complete with bronze dinosaur | ITV London
News from the UK
V&A & Tay 🎤 | The Swiftie superfans who will advise the V&A on the pop superstar have been unveiled. The four women aged 27-31 were selected from 1,000 applicants. The “passion” they showed for Swift was “truly astounding” according to Kate Bailey, senior curator of theatre and performance who hired them. One called the new gig beyond her “wildest dreams.” Quite what the actual point is remains unclear — although as I’m writing about it I think I answer my own question. (Read more)
Quitting culture 🏴 | The Welsh culture secretary Lesley Griffiths dramatically resigned from the government as part of a coordinated mass quitting of four ministers to force the resignation of First Minister Vaughan Gething. It worked, and he resigned within hours. Chief Whip Jane Hutt was then handed the culture brief until a new First Minister is selected. Griffiths’ final act was last week to award emergency funding to National Museum Cardiff. (Read more)
Art. Apparently 🪙 | The British Museum has slammed an artist whose actions it claims “abuses a volunteer-led service” after he stole a centuries old coin from display. Brazilian artist Ilê Sartuzi removed the 1645 coin from its display case during a demonstration by a volunteer guide and replaced it with a replica. He then put it in a donation box. He filmed the entire incident for his Goldsmiths, University of London thesis. “This is a disappointing and derivative act” a museum spokesperson said. (Read more)
“Quite magical” ✨ | An unseen self-portrait of one of the most popular northern English artists of his generation has been discovered hidden on the back of another painting. The discovery of a new work by Norman Cornish was made during preparations for an exhibition of his work alongside LS Lowry at the Bowes Museum in County Durham. The “quite magical” discovery was made on the reverse of another Cornish painting. (Read more)
News from around the world
France 🇫🇷 | With a week to go to the Opening Ceremony, the Olympic flame has arrived in Paris for the Games — and it’s toured loads of cultural venues. French street artist JR took it into the Louvre before dancer Marie-Claude Pietragalla took it past Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People and the Mona Lisa (which even I find a bit risky). The flame then toured to the Centre Pompidou and the Fondation Louis Vuitton. The images really are stunning. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | The hammer has come down on the most valuable fossil ever sold at auction. $44.6m (£34.5m) was the price for the largest and most complete stegosaurus fossil ever discovered, known as Apex. The final amount was 11 times above the estimate at Sotheby’s in NYC. It was sold to billionaire hedgefunder Ken Griffin, who intends to lend the work to an American museum according to sources. (Read more)
Netherlands 🇳🇱 | The largest ever Dutch exhibition of the sculptures of Spanish master Joan Miró will open at the Museum Beelden aan Zee in The Hague in September. The retrospective will feature 55 pieces from the grandmaster of surrealism, with many drawn from leading museum partners and public collections, including the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona and the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. (Read more)
Spain 🇪🇸 | Málaga will keep its outpost of the Centre Pompidou for another decade after the French museum signed a new agreement with the city’s authorities. Málaga city council will pay the Pompidou €29m across the decade as part of the deal. Since its inauguration in 2015, over a million visitors have visited the gallery and its stunning cube entrance. (Read more)
USA 🇺🇸 | 18 contemporary artists from seven countries will make the passenger experience of JFK International Airport’s new Terminal 6 more bearable. Scheduled to open in 2026, the $4.2 billion terminal will feature their work throughout. The art budget for T6 is $22 million and follows the positive reaction to art in new terminals at La Guardia and Newark Airports. Art is now a requirement for all private developers in new NYC airport terminals. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Vibrant Viola | Pioneering video artist Bill Viola has died at 73. His work was shown across the globe, from a Guggenheim Bilbao retrospective that saw 700,000 visitors, to the 2004 Athens Olympics. (More)
Hall’s return | The Natural History Museum's new Chair is the former BBC Director General Tony Hall. He replaces Sir Patrick Vallance who quit to join the new Labour government as a minister for science. (More)
New beginnings? | The London Transport Museum has revealed a new logo, and a new vision. The logo is a striking upgrade, but a post about the vision was all platitudes and scant in detail. Maybe like the Circle Line they’re just running late. (More)
First rate | The Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery has purchased the earliest ever photo of a US first lady. Recently discovered, the daguerreotype is of former First Lady Dolley Madison, wife of fourth president James Madison. (More)
No Computer | Today’s major global IT outage has affected museums and galleries. Online ticket sales were blocked for the National Gallery, the British Museum, National Museums of Scotland, the Courtauld and Dulwich Picture Gallery. But those were just ones I spotted! (More)
👀 Last week’s most clicked news story | Ticket sales for the National Gallery’s Van Gogh blockbuster seem…sluggish? Could it be the £28 price? (they’re not selling many today tbf)
📊 Last week’s poll results | We're halfway through the year. How many exhibitions have you visited?
0️⃣ 0% | 1️⃣ — 4️⃣ 35% | 5️⃣ — 9️⃣ 23% | 🔟 — 1️⃣4️⃣ 17% | 1️⃣5️⃣ + 26%
— You can support me, this newsletter and all my work with a small but HUGELY VALUABLE monthly donation. Giving just £6 per month is £1 per newsletter I send you each month. A bargain for all the value packed into each email. THANK YOU.
Funny: Gilbert & Sullivan's "The Mikado" was inspired by a Japanese museum exhibit in London back in the 19th century.