V&A's Viva la diva
Also in this edition: British Museum loans Tahiti treasure, Hunterian Museum reopening date revealed, UK heritage up for UNESCO listing, Whistler's Mother heading Stateside
Happy Friday.
Firstly: Finland’s most famous art gallery the Ateneum Art Museum reopens today after a year’s closure and a full rehang of its permanent collection. If you missed it in your inbox earlier this week, you can catch up on my interview with the Ateneum Director Marja Sakari.
Secondly: some news. I’ve launched a website. Yes, your favourite museum newsletter is now a .com. maxwellmuseums.com is my new website for all the things I can’t fit into this newsletter. There’s more news, more feature articles articles, and hopefully in the fullness of time, more opinion and comment pieces from leading voices across the sector and beyond. I’ve been quietly beavering away at it for a few months and it’s my first time doing anything like it, but I am LOVING it.
And I’m pleased to say I’m already seeing successes. I’ve taught myself all about SEO (search engine optimisation) and some of my articles have begun to appear in the top 5 results for a ton of search terms relating to exhibitions such as The Rossettis at Tate Britain and DIVA at the V&A (Google diva exhibition and there I am at number 2 💪). For a while I was the top result on art exhibitions in Amsterdam in 2023 too which brought me much joy.
It’s not perfect, there’ll be bugs, and I’m still very much learning, but please check it out, read, bookmark, share and link to it (please give me that backlink juice!). And just generally enjoy the content about all things museums, art and heritage. Oh and if anyone wants to talk about SEO then hit reply to this email I am now OBSESSED.
Maxwell
Need To Know
Viva la diva
Full details of the V&A’s huge DIVA exhibition were revealed this week. There’ll be 250 objects on show, and 60 diva ‘looks’ which will feature all the hallmarks of divadom you’d expect: feathers, sparkle and a lot of drama.
Highlights include Sir Elton John’s elaborate Louis XIV-inspired outfit — complete with 2ft wig — worn to his 50th birthday party (Elton’s, not Louis’). And there’ll be Dame Shirley Bassey’s couture pink gown and diamante-studded Wellington boots worn while performing at Glastonbury in 2007. Bassey said it was “wonderful” to see “the V&A reclaiming the title.”
Kate Bailey, curator of DIVA, said that "At the heart of this exhibition is a story of iconic performers” who have “challenged the status quo.” She added that she was inspired to create the show after working on the V&A’s 2017 exhibition Opera: Passion, Power and Politics: “I found that I was focusing a lot on male composers and the canon of male composers.” (Read more)
Pacific treasure loaned to Tahiti
The British Museum (BM) has sent “one of mankind’s greatest artistic creations” on long-term loan to the Pacific — in part because it doesn’t have an appropriate gallery to display it.
The Museum of Tahiti and The Islands in French Polynesia was reopened in March after a major expansion, and it is now displaying the artwork — known as A’a — for three years.
The BM does not have a gallery dedicated to Oceania and so has not had appropriate place to display it in context, according to the Art Newspaper. It’s often been loaned out to external exhibitions as a result.
Until recently A’a was assumed to be from the 18th century, but the latest research shows that the wood dates to 1591-1647, making it among the earliest surviving Polynesian sculptures. The BM has also lent five other items to the Tahiti museum. (Read more)
Basquiat scam which fooled museum
A former auctioneer has admitted he helped create and verify 25 fake Basquiat paintings which were seized by the FBI from the gallery walls of the prestigious Orlando Museum of Art in Florida, who had remarkably staged a whole exhibition on the works believing them to be authentic.
The auctioneer saw an opportunity to make money by replicating the works of the artist who died in 1988 at the age of 27. Some were made in as little as 30 minutes. he said in a plea deal this week. Together with a sidekick, they sold the fakes on eBay, using the cover story that they were discovered hidden in an abandoned storage locker.
The works became the much heralded Heroes and Monsters exhibition at the Florida gallery, before being shut down by the FBI. The scam was only exposed when a consultant spotted a FedEx label on the back of one fake which used a typeface not introduced until 1994, six years after Basquiat’s death. (Read more)
News from the UK
Dippy Protest | Two climate activists from Just Stop Oil have been arrested after attempting to stage a protest with everyone’s favourite dinosaur skeleton Dippy the Diplodocus. The were tackled at Dippy’s new home at the Herbert Art Gallery in Coventry, and "two large bags of dry paint" were seized. (Read more)
Reopening soon | It’s been shut for six years, but London’s Hunterian Museum has finally announced its reopening date: 16 May (not much notice lads!). The £4.6 million redevelopment will unveil 10 rooms and 2,000 objects charting the history of surgery. The reopening coincides with the museum’s 210th anniversary. (Read more)
UNESCO shortlisting | Seven sites in the UK and its overseas territories are in the running to win Unesco World Heritage status. They include York city centre, Birkenhead Park and a vast iron age settlement in Shetland. They are now being put forward and supported by the government and Department of Culture to join the global heritage list. (Read more)
Museum evicted | An aviation museum in Cornwall — which counts 20 aircraft amongst its collection — has said its planned move is "in tatters" after a deadline passed to leave its current site and site owner Cornwall Council rejected pleas to extend it. The Council said the museum was not their responsibility. (Read more)
Sculpture defaced | A 200-year-old Nymph statue has been defaced with crayon at National Trust property in Worcestershire. The incident has left the NT “dismayed” after workers discovered bright blue markings all deliberately drawn over the face, arms and torso of a statue at Croome Court. Thankfully, the crayon has been removed by conservators. (Read more)
News from around the world
Belgium | Workers at the Royal Museums of Art and History in Brussels have hit out at what they describe as the “toxic” work environment at the institution, in a letter to the Belgium government. Complaints of a rule of “terror” from director Michel Draguet sparked a recent large-scale investigation, but staff have spoken out again as his post is soon due up for renewal. (Read more)
USA | One of the most famous paintings by an American artist — Whistler's Mother — will go on show in Philadelphia for the first time in 142 years. The city was the first place it was ever seen in the US, in 1881. It’s on loan from the Musée d’Orsay and is the centrepiece of the Philadelphia Art Museum’s exhibition, The Artist’s Mother: Whistler and Philadelphia. Don’t let Mr Bean know. (Read more)
USA | A small museum in Maine is offering a staggering $25,000 to anyone who finds and donates the meteorite that fell to Earth and landed in the state on April 8, 2023. The Maine Mineral and Gem Museum said they wanted the reward to be “sufficiently attractive to motivate a big search” and that “exhibiting a meteorite that actually fell in Maine would be a very attractive addition to our mix.” (Read more)
Italy | The Italian government revealed on prime-time TV that it would allow free entry to state museums and archaeological sites on three additional ‘symbolic’ days this year. They are being added to the existing programme of free visits on the first Sunday of each month. Culture minister Gennaro Sangiuliano also addressed the controversial increase in ticket prices at the Uffizi. Related? (Read more)
USA | A woman in Florida has ploughed her Rolls-Royce into a $3 million Damien Hirst sculpture — and generally caused havoc in an art couple’s garden. The driver had no memory of the events according to reports. The sculpture was first shown in Hirst’s 2017 Venice blockbuster, which was universally hated. But the events are seemingly unrelated. (Read more)
Best of the rest
Portrait Restaurant | The National Portrait Gallery’s much-loved eatery with panoramic skyline views will return when it reopens in June. There’ll also be a new late night cocktail bar.
Premier Experience | The only way to get into the Rijksmuseum’s sell-out Vermeer show is to be the President of the French Republic. Emmanuel Macron visited this week to see the Louvre’s star loans.
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