Tate Britain defends Hogarth show
Plus: Yoko Ono, Notre-Dame and “extraordinary” Roman mosaic
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Today's edition is presented with Museum Bookstore
Happy Friday museum lovers.
You’ll remember last week I mentioned that I would be visiting the newly reopened Courtauld Gallery. Well reader I did, and it really is an incredible space. You can see my Reel from my visit over on my Instagram @maxwellmuseums. I took literally hundreds of snaps so plenty more content to come - why not give me a follow?
Did you read my recent interview with the Director of the FIFA World Football Museum; this newsletter’s first interview with a non-UK museum director (I’m looking for my second if any PRs are reading, reply to this email to get in touch)? If you missed it you can catch up here.
Time for the headlines!
Maxwell
Do you love museum books? As you’re reading this, I’m guessing you do! So visit Museum Bookstore, an online store specialising in exhibition catalogues from museums across the globe. The store has thousands of titles ranging from richly illustrated books accompanying the latest shows, to collection catalogues from major museums. It’s literary catnip for museum lovers and art enthusiasts.
This week’s top story
Tate Britain’s Director has defended its current exhibition Hogarth and Europe in the face of extensive criticism of its wall labels written by contemporary commentators. The decision to include these commentaries on Hogarth’s paintings by non-curatorial figures did not go down well with UK national newspaper art critics (to put it mildly). The Art Newspaper
What did the critics say? The Sunday Times was the most damning, saying “wokeish drivel” and “fantasy readings” took up too much space and were nothing more than “thunderously unreliable” speculations (Ouch). The i said the wall panels “treats visitors like idiots” and that it was “a clumsy bit of curatorial retrofitting.” The Telegraph claimed the language in the texts was so extreme it became the “equivalent of a Twitter pile-on.” Time Out summed it up by saying “If they're so keen to point out how bad all of this is, why did they even bother?”
But Tate Britain’s chief, Alex Farquharson, hit back saying the museum “has both the confidence to provide a public platform for those conversations and the expertise to contribute to them directly.” He also said that “Hogarth emerges from this process as an even more sophisticated and influential artist than we already knew.” Which is quite possibly the most positive spin on 1-and-2-star reviews you’re ever likely to hear.
This week’s other stories
“The British Museum has never been more needed than now” said George Osborne this week, in his first public comments since becoming Chair of the Museum earlier this year. Speaking at the annual Trustee’s dinner, he went on to say that “in this fragmenting world, the British Museum is one of the very few places that can remind us of what we share.” There was also a good Peppa Pig gag. Daily Telegraph
The top prize-winning installation from the 2019 Venice Biennale is coming to Lewisham in south-east London as part of the Borough of Culture celebrations next year. It will involve using ten tonnes of sand to transform the Albany theatre into an indoor beach. Can’t wait. Evening Standard
An “extraordinary” Roman mosaic has been found in a Rutland farmer’s field. Experts say the art work is the most significant Roman mosaic find in a century. The i
Yoko Ono is selling broken cups in a box for £175 to raise funds for London’s Whitechapel Gallery. It’s actually cooler than it sounds. Evening Standard
Plans for the restoration of the fire-ravaged Notre-Dame cathedral have been leaked, and they’ve been slammed as resembling a "politically correct Disneyland." Critics have warned it risks being turned into an "experimental showroom" with its ‘themed chapels,’ light effects and ‘emotional spaces.’ It does seem a little bit…much. Daily Telegraph
Austria is back in full-lockdown due to its surging covid 19 cases. It’s going to cost the country’s museums millions of euros in lost revenue says a leading Director. It follows the closure of museums in Saxony as they try to contain the spread of the virus in the German state. It all feels very familiar. ArtNet News
Donald Trump (remember him?) does indeed own a sculpture of Mount Rushmore with his face carved onto it. It’s been pictured for the first time after long being rumoured. The Sun
And finally
Having a quiet Friday night in tonight? You’ll be able to catch the first episode of the new six-part Secrets of the Imperial War Museum series. Watch it on Channel 5 at 19:00.