Shanghai breaks National Gallery record
Gallery's most popular exhibition ever is in China
Also in this edition: museums split from David Adjaye, Smithsonian director quits 4 months in, largest Holbein show in 15 years announced, Riga Biennial axed
Happy Friday.
So: how’s your Threads game?
The hottest media property in town (since the last one) has launched — and it’s already a huge success. Yes, in the fickle world of social media that means nothing (remember Clubhouse?) but this one does genuinely look like having a shot at thriving. But then, it helps to have 2.5 billion users already.
Perhaps a sign that this Twitter alternative might stick around (or that the hype had reached unprecedented heights at least) is that many museums and galleries signed up to use it on the first day. That’s not normal for an industry where late adoption is the norm. 36 hours in, I’m pretty sure that Tate is the most followed museum or gallery in the world on the platform, with 143,000 followers at time of writing. No others (from what I can see at least) are anywhere near crossing the 100k mark. Brighton Museums were the first museum I spotted posting on Threads, bang on the midnight release of the app. There are a number of big guns still AWOL however: no sign of the British Museum, the V&A or Imperial War Museums. And no museums or galleries at all from the EU, as the platform is not launched there due to privacy concerns. So that means the world’s most visited museum — the Louvre — will not be threading for a while yet.
What’s the strategy for these orgs? As ever, former RA social media manager Adam Koszary is worth following for insight into how cultural organisations can succeed on it. He posted plenty of thoughts on Twitter (ironically) but the main takeaway is “Don't just post event links with 50 hashtags” and “nobody is on Threads to hear about your exhibition.” Unfortunately, some places have already started doing just this, and it really is jarringly dull on the feed, when seen alongside the fun and buzz of day 1.
Me? Yes, you can follow me. And yes I did peak too soon.
Maxwell
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Need To Know
Sir David Adjaye steps back
Shockwaves were sent through the worlds of museums, art, architecture and design on Tuesday when the Financial Times published a year-long investigation into the conduct of architect Sir David Adjaye. In the piece, three female former employees of his architectural practice accused Adjaye of different forms of exploitation, from sexual assault and harassment to emotional abuse. Adjaye strenuously denies the allegations.
Adjaye has stepped down as a trustee of the Serpentine Gallery due to the reports. “We have accepted his resignation with immediate effect,” a spokesman for the museum said in an email to the New York Times. He’s also stepped back from the panel which awards the annual summer pavilion.
The New York Times also revealed that a representative for National Museums Liverpool, for which Adjaye is redeveloping its International Slavery Museum and Maritime Museum, said that it takes “the allegations described very seriously.” He’s removed himself from a project to design the UK’s Holocaust Memorial — and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York City, is cutting ties with Adjaye personally. The de Cordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Massachusetts, which planned to show an earthen sculpture by Adjaye this autumn, said it was “on indefinite hold.” (Read more)
National Gallery draws a crowd
The National Gallery has revealed it’s just enjoyed its most popular exhibition ever. Only, the blockbuster show wasn’t at its Trafalgar Square home, but was in fact in Shanghai.
Botticelli to Van Gogh: Masterpieces from the National Gallery, London closed at the Shanghai Museum on 7 May after a 15-week run. In that time it welcomed a mammoth 420,000 visitors, smashing the previous record which was 2011’s Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan show. That one hit 323,827 visitors in the UK capital.
The Botticelli to Van Gogh exhibition features 52 loans from the National Gallery’s permanent collection, including works by Raphael, Rembrandt, and Monet. It’s currently on show at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul and later this year will move to the Hong Kong Palace Museum. The masterpieces will return to London in time for the Gallery’s 200th birthday celebrations in May 2024. (Read more)
Top Smithsonian director out
The founding Director of the Smithsonian’s multi-million-dollar American Women’s History Museum has quit, just months after being appointed. Controversy has surrounded Nancy Yao since her appointment was announced in March. Yao cited family issues in deciding to withdraw.
The announcement comes after the completion of an investigation into how Yao had handled sexual harassment claims in her previous role as the leader of the Museum of Chinese in America. The Smithsonian has declined to reveal the findings of the investigation, and it did not detail the family issues Yao cited.
For months, Yao’s appointment has hung in the balance. She was due to start as the museum’s director on June 5, but this date became delayed for weeks amid the investigation. The women’s history museum has now appointed Melanie A. Adams, the director of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum, as interim director. The museum is due to open within ten years. (Read more)
News from the UK
Khan’s comments | Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has reiterated his belief that the UK and Greece should share the Parthenon Marbles. In an interview with Greek newspaper Ta Nea, Khan said “I obviously want Londoners to be able to see the Elgin [Parthenon] Marbles” but he thinks the parties involved should come to an arrangement. He encouraged each side to come together for progress talks over sharing “some of this stuff”. (Read more)
Retail revival | As UK high streets experience a long lingering death, the Black Country Living Museum is opening a (sort of) new one. Tomorrow sees it unveil its huge, recreated 1960s high street, complete with shops inspired by the local West Midlands area. Visitors can pop into Burgin's newsagents, butchers Marsh and Baxter and others. The development extends the museum’s timeline into living memory once more. (Read more)
Henry’s Holbeins | The largest UK exhibition of Holbein artworks in over 15 years is coming to Buckingham Palace’s Queen’s Gallery this winter. More than 100 works from King Henry VIII's court will go on show, including 40 preparatory portrait drawings alongside the resulting paintings. Curator Kate Heard says “Close examination and technical analysis has allowed us to understand more about these endlessly fascinating works.” (Read more)
Opening controversy | Young V&A’s opening week has been overshadowed by a controversial decision by V&A Director Tristram Hunt to remove a pro-trans rights poster from display, and two trans-inclusive books from the shop. Hunt told the Telegraph that “The books were [aimed at] 14 to 18 and we are [aimed at] 0 to 14 [year olds].” A spokesperson added that the poster decision “was taken as part of a wider programme that we are developing on how we present gallery content in a more considered and inclusive way for 0-14-year-olds.” (Read more)
Decade closure? | A date has been set for the closure of London’s Jewish Museum. The institution announced last month it was to shut its Camden home due to the cost of living crisis and inflation. It has now said it will welcome its final visitors on 30 July. The museum’s director says they hope to find a ‘pop-up’ location next year before finding a permanent home by….2032, the museum’s centenary. (Read more)
News from around the world
Italy | Junior culture minister and art critic Vittorio Sgarbi has caused outrage for a bizarre sexist rant. Speaking at the summer launch event of Rome's MAXXI museum, he was recorded boasting about his sexual conquests while making crude references to his genitalia. So shocking was his outburst that 44 of the MAXXI’s 49 employees wrote an open letter imploring the museum’s president to defend its values. (Read more)
USA | The New Orleans Museum of Art is facing backlash over the appointment of a white woman to be its new curator of African art. The appointment of Amanda Maples — who was previously the curator of global African arts at the North Carolina Museum of Art — saw a flood of criticism on social media. In response, the museum said it was “listening closely to feedback from New Orleans residents and the public on the appointment.” (Read more)
Latvia | Latvia’s Riga International Biennial of Contemporary Art — due to take place next month — has been cancelled at the 11th hour over to its links to Russia. “It appears that the heritage of our executive members, which includes Russian among Lithuanian and Latvian nationalities, is something too significant to overcome” organisers said in a statement. But critics had long accused the Biennial’s board of being in receipt of Russian money and influence. (Read more)
Austria | All change in Austria’s museums. American art historian Jonathan Fine will lead Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museumsverband, overseeing three major museums in the city. Meanwhile Ralph Gleis, the director of Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie, has been named as the next general director of Vienna’s Albertina museum.
Best of the rest
🔗 BREAKING NEWS | Poet and translator Yilin Wan is to sue the British Museum for copyright and moral rights infringement over unauthorised use of their work in exhibition China’s Hidden Century.
🔗 Bradford is getting £10m from the government to kick off its tenure as UK City of Culture in 2025, which will support 1,000 cultural activities over the year.
🔗 Museums and galleries in Scotland will need to pay all staff the Living Wage to apply for public funding. But there’s concerns some organisations will find this unaffordable.
🔗 Victoria Miro has announced Letting Loose, a major exhibition of Paula Rego’s work, which will focus on the artist’s transformative decade of the 1980s.
🔗 A 400-year old Jacobean manor house in west London is reopening to the public after a £6million restoration. The original decorative plaster ceiling looks INCREDIBLE.
🔗 Places of worship should look to museums and galleries to see how they’ve embraced digital technologies to allow them to engage visitors on a deeper level. Here are some ideas.*
*This is sponsored content
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