Record Wallace Collection visitors
PLUS: Trump 'fires' National Portrait Gallery boss
— In partnership with Ash Mann
Friday 06 June 2025 | news from museums, galleries, heritage and art, including:
Happy Friday.
I spent three-and-a-half hours in an exhibition the other week. While it was glorious sunshine outside.
Now you know I am of course a very frequent exhibition-goer, but even for me this level of dwell-time is (almost) unheard of. Especially when it’s sunny. I never say no to some solar tonic.
The exhibition that enthralled me was The Edwardians: Age of Elegance at the King’s Gallery, at Buckingham Palace. I bloody loved it. The show promises “the opulence and glamour of the Edwardian age” through 300 objects from the Royal Collection, which as many of you will know, is one of the world’s greatest collections not in a museum.
The show is a who’s-who of contemporary artists of the period. Frederic Leighton, Edward Burne-Jones, Rosa Bonheur, John Singer Sargent and William Morris all sit side by side. It covers the long Edwardian era, beginning while Edward and his wife Alexandra were still Prince and Princess of Wales and closing at the end of the Great War.
And there’s lots and lots of bling — from Fabergé to dazzling Cartier.
Why did I love it so much, that it kept me inside when outside was a blaze of early summer? Well I’m certainly not averse to a good chunky history exhibition. And the kings and queens of Britain’s past are always fascinating. We all know the best bit of the National Portrait Gallery is the power players of Tudor England on the top floor.
But I think what I really liked about it was that it managed to achieve what a surprisingly large numbers of shows don’t: it was thoroughly entertaining.
Yes, I learnt a lot, there was lots of history, there was academic rigour. But it was also just a joy, a pleasure to spend time in. I might even say I had fun.
One day I’ll write more on my thoughts on how museums and galleries sometimes forget that people come to exhibitions in their free time, and that sometimes that means it wouldn’t hurt to offer them a bit more of a laugh. Or at least, to maybe recognise that in a world of streaming and TikTok at our fingertips, competition for entertainment is tough.
But for now, I will just say I feel the curators at the King’s Gallery got the memo. It was a rollicking rummage through the royal archives. And a better use of time than watching the Crown. Far fewer hours involved too — no matter how long you’re in there.
Now let’s dive into the news!
maxwell
— In partnership with Ash Mann
Let’s talk about digital failure
The cultural sector is going all in on digital.
But here’s a hard truth: many digital projects by cultural organisations fail.
Many of you reading this will have first-hand experience of it.
Why do they fail? Well, an important new report has found out.
Beyond the promise by digital strategist Ash Mann has brought together survey responses, lived experience, and existing research to ask: why does this keep happening to cultural organisations?
It’s a fascinating and important read for anyone with an upcoming digital project. Which will be many of you!
Best of all, it offers SOLUTIONS.
By digging into what causes failure, the report offers six recommendations on how you can be more confident in a project’s future success. There’e even a section on what you — yes you — can do right now to avoid pitfalls in your organisation’s digital transformation.
Dive into the report and how it can help you here. It’s all totally free to access.
Top stories 🚨
Record Wallace Collection visitors
The Wallace Collection has announced record visitor figures, with the London museum welcoming half-a-million people in a single year for the first time.
Over 500,000 people came through the doors in 2024-25, beating the 487,000 welcomed in 2019-20. Speaking to this newsletter, Director Xavier Bray said the figures “reflect a real moment of momentum” for the Wallace, and that they were a result of investment “in widening our programming.”
The news comes as the museum appointed Selldorf Architects to design the multi-million-pound overhaul of its historic building. Selldorf Architects are fresh from their work re-modelling the National Gallery Sainsbury Wing, and the reopened Frick Collection.
“Visitor numbers have doubled since the early 2000s, and the building infrastructure hasn’t really kept pace with that growth” Bray told me. “We want to protect what makes the Wallace Collection so special, while creating the opportunity to welcome more people to discover Hertford House and our unique collections.”
A comprehensive fundraising campaign is being developed to realise these plans. As yet there’s no public timeframe. (Read more)
London Gallery Weekend kicks off
The biggest city-wide gallery weekend event in the world returns for its fifth edition from today. 125 galleries across London are opening across all three days, with 15 venues making their debut at the event.
Highlights include Yan Pei-Ming: Wanted at MASSIMODECARLO, which is a whole show riffing on a stolen 1952 portrait of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud, and brand new works by Cornelia Parker at Frith Street Gallery.
For the very first time, one sculptor exhibiting at London Gallery Weekend will go on to have a significant new UK exhibition if they catch the eye of visiting curators.
Thanks to a new partnership with the Henry Moore Foundation and Tia Collection, any curator that is inspired by an artist’s sculptural work at any of the participating venues across the next three days, can apply for a £20,000 grant to stage a solo show of their work at their institution. Applications open today. (Read more)
UK news 🇬🇧
Help for Hepworth 📣
The Hepworth Wakefield and Art Fund have launched an urgent public appeal to save an outstanding artwork by Dame Barbara Hepworth for the nation. The 1943 work is at risk of being lost overseas unless £3.8m can be raised to secure it for permanent public display in Wakefield, the city in which Hepworth was born and brought up. The appeal is backed by artists and creatives including Sir Antony Gormley, Jenny Eclair, Sir Anish Kapoor and Dame Rachel Whiteread. (Read more)
Tate and NPG dibs on Dobson 🖼️
The earliest known work by William Dobson — widely considered to be the first ever great British painter — has been acquired for the British nation in a joint deal between Tate and the National Portrait Gallery. The self-portrait was created in the late 1630s by the court painter to Charles I. It’s been purchased for £2.4m, which the Sunday Times art critic Waldemar Januszczak called “one of the bargains of the century.” It goes on display in the autumn. (Read more)
Hunt against Holocaust Memorial plans 🗞️
V&A Director Tristram Hunt has added his name to the growing list of critics for a planned national holocaust memorial next to Parliament in Westminster. “It’s a terribly bad idea — a massive misallocation of resources” he’s said of the £138million plans which have been mired in disagreement for years. “At the Imperial War Museum you already have these really historically rigorous Holocaust galleries telling the story with great delicacy and brilliance” he told the Times. (Read more)
In other Hepworth news… 🚨
The Hepworth Wakefield will get only the second director in its history as Simon Wallis leaves the institution after 17 years. He will fill the long-vacant role of leading London’s troubled Royal Academy, a role which has been unfilled since Axel Rüger left to head up the Frick Collection. Wallis has led the Hepworth since 2008, three years before it opened. He said he is excited to foster an “entrepreneurial spirit and reach new audiences” at the RA. (Read more)
Global news 🌎
USA 🇺🇸
Last Friday President Trump shocked the art world by saying he had fired the Director of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, in part because she is a “strong supporter” of diversity, equity and inclusion. A week later, Kim Sajet is still reporting to work as the President “has no authority to fire employees of the Smithsonian Institution.” Outraged Democrat lawmakers issued a statement saying “Should the White House require a copy of the Constitution, we would be more than happy to provide one.” (Read more)
China 🇨🇳
A domestic tourist has sparked outrage after jumping into the world-famous Terracotta Army display and damaging two of the ancient clay statues. The man launched himself into the 18ft-deep pit at the museum housing the antiques in Xi’an, and then he “pushed and pulled” the warriors and two were “damaged to varying degrees”, a statement said. Authorities then said the man was found to “suffer from mental illness.” (Read more)
France 🇫🇷
The Louvre Museum will return 258 works to the Fondation des Artistes, following a an inventory that revealed the items had been incorrectly included in its collection. The items are from the bequest of the German-born arts patron and socialite Adèle de Rothschild, and the mix-up was only discovered in 2019. Some had mistakingly been in the museum for a century, while others were only accidently acquired in the 2000s. (Read more)
News in brief 🗞️
Nandy tipped to survive
Rumours still circulate about the future of Britain’s DCMS. In a new deep-dive into the department’s troubles, allies of Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy are confident it (and their boss) will be retained. (More)
Pay what you can launched
Leeds’ Thackray Museum of Medicine has abandoned fixed entry prices, and will now offer visitors four suggested admission fees that they can choose which to plump for. (More)
Step-free South Ken slammed
Tanni Grey-Thompson has said it’s ‘shocking’ that as the V&A opens its new exhibition on design and disability, the museum and its neighbours are “inaccessible to millions of disabled people” due to non-step-free South Kensington tube station. (More)
Space gallery launching
The much-anticipated new Space gallery at the Science Museum will open on Saturday 20 September 2025 it’s confirmed. A newly-announced highlight will be the redisplay of British astronaut Helen Sharman’ spacesuit after major conservation. (More)
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Thank you for your review, I'll make sure to visit "The Edwardians: Age of Elegance" ! I could not agree more with you about museums needing to acknowledge more their visitors' presence by making their labels especially more engaging. And less like mini lectures... Because as you remark, who wants to be lectured during their free time?