The Queen and art
Plus: smashed artefacts at the Ashmolean
Hello again reader.
What a week. The UK and the rest of the world is still reeling from the death of Her Majesty the Queen, while trying to adjust to the whirlwind accession of HM King Charles III. It’s been a hell of a few days that in many ways have felt like months.
Understandably, it means news usually covered in this newsletter is scarce, as institutions across Britain have gone silent for the national period of mourning. Nearly all will be closed on Monday too, for Her Majesty’s state funeral. A particular nod of appreciation should go to Tate, who are playing an important role as hundreds of thousands of people queue to see the Queen lying in state. Tate Modern is keeping its doors open 24 hours a day so mourners have access to its toilet facilities. And Tate Britain is the official start point for the queue for those with access needs, and is similarly offering its facilities. A logistical challenge they are rising to.
I’ll see you again next week when normal service is likely resumed. But before then, I’ll be raising a glass to Her Majesty’s 70 years on Monday. Godspeed Ma’am.
Maxwell
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HM Queen Elizabeth II
It’s been a week of much reflection after the death of Elizabeth II - and the art world is no exception. Her influence and impact on the world of art, heritage and museums has been an important part of the commemorations, not least because she was the proprietor in trust of one of the world’s greatest art collections, the Royal Collection. But she also supported a huge number of arts organisations during her reign, with the Royal Academy of Arts being one of the most significant. The RA’s current chief executive explained to the Art Newspaper that they regularly reported to the Queen, and that they hoped that King Charles III would succeed her as their Royal Patron. The same piece goes on to speak to other major arts leaders on how the support from the Queen was crucial to the functioning of their organisations.
Her very image itself has also dominated our age - as the Guardian’s art critic Jonathan Jones this week explained. “From the Sex Pistols to the coins in our pockets, the Queen’s face has been everywhere” he said. And that face was painted and photographed more than 100 times in official portraits. Some of the best images captured by photographers such as Cecil Beaton and Lord Snowden were rounded up by the Guardian, while the Art Newspaper reflected on some of the best visual art creations, including very unofficial portraits such as that Sex Pistols single cover. Of course, being asked to create an official work has been a pinnacle in many artist’s careers. The Telegraph spoke to some of them, and asked them to reveal what sort of a sitter Her Majesty was really like. The piece includes an interview with Chris Levine, whose 3D portrait is one of the very best of recent years.
As we move towards the state funeral on Monday, attention is beginning to shift to how best to commemorate the monarch’s long reign in art. I wouldn’t be surprised if the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Collection Trust are contemplating that question right now - a national tour of her portraits surely can’t be far off?? In a remarkable and poignant piece of timing, the National Amy Museum in Chelsea has just unveiled a new portrait bust of Elizabeth. It depicts the late monarch as an 18-year-old when she became the first female member of the Royal Family to join the British Armed Forces as a full-time active member. Not only is it the only portrait bust in a public collection that captures her likeness during her service in the Auxiliary Territorial Service, it is surely also the first likeness of the Queen to be unveiled in a national collection since her death (albeit one commissioned a number of months ago).
One rumour over the past few years has been that there are secret plans to scrap the rotating sculptures on Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth after the Queen’s death, in order to install on it a permanent memorial to her. But the Evening Standard revealed this week that this idea is wide of the mark, and that there were “no plans” to do this. But it undoubtedly won’t be too long until a major sculpture of Her Majesty appears on the capital’s streets. Too right.
This week’s news
In what is quite possibly every museum’s worst nightmare, it’s been revealed that rare china on display at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum was smashed when the glass shelf they were sitting on collapsed. A lone student spotted the incident in an otherwise empty gallery and its occurrence only came to light because it was leaked to the Daily Mail. The museum said six priceless items were damaged and that they were now with the conservation team to be assessed. A full investigation is being carried out. Daily Mail
The first ever design exhibition by renowned artist Ai Weiwei is one of the major highlights coming in 2023 at the Design Museum. Ai Weiwei: Making Sense will see him using material culture as a meditation on value, and on histories and skills that have been ignored or erased. Also at the museum next year will be a landmark exhibition on India's traditional garment, the sari, as well as a major exhibit on the evolution of skateboarding. Creative Boom
A bonanza year of celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Picasso’s death began yesterday. Culture ministers from France and Spain both appeared before Picasso’s painting Guernica at Madrid’s Reina Sofía Museum to announce the more than 40 exhibitions and events that will be held across Europe and the US over the next 12 months. In total, the celebration will span 16 exhibitions in Spain, 12 in France, seven in the U.S., and seven more between Germany, Switzerland, Monaco, Romania, and Belgium. Institutions involved include the Prado, the Pompidou Centre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim Bilbao. The UK’s invite must have got lost in the post. ArtNet News
Masterpieces which have been cared for by the Museum of Modern Art for over 30 years are to be sold, in order to extend the New York museum’s digital reach. Works by Picasso, Renoir and Rodin will be auctioned for up to $70 million which is earmarked to expand the museum’s digital presence. The key thing however, is that these works are not actually part of MoMA’s collection, and have instead been held by a foundation set up in the name of a former TV executive and museum trustee. The works have been loaned since 1990, with the deliberate aim that in the future the museum’s leaders could decide how they best support the institution. MoMA has said visitor figures are still well below pre-pandemic levels, but that their digital reach has rocketed and so they need to expand their capacity in that area. A potential streaming service is being mooted. Wall Street Journal
And finally
As reported in this newsletter recently, the Humboldt Forum in Berlin is opening its East Wing this weekend. It means putting its Benin Bronzes on public display, some for the last time. The FT take a tour with the Director, and asks what role the museum plays in today’s world.
Tickets have just gone on sale for the reopening of the excellent Leighton House museum, which has undergone an £8 million redevelopment. You can visit again from 15 October.
Boris Johnson is the most cartooned politician in UK history according London’s Cartoon Museum, so they’re opening an exhibition on this fact next month. It’s title? This Exhibition is a WORK EVENT! Touché
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