New V&A Director
January 13 2017
Picture: Labour Party
Extraordinary news just in that Tristram Hunt, the current Labour MP for Stoke and former Shadow Secretary of State for Education, is to become the new Director of the V&A museum. His appointment will trigger a by-election in the normally safe Labour seat, but we can leave the political machinations to others. Let's just say that if I was a Labour MP under Jeremy Corbyn's zombie leadership, I'd want to get the hell out too.
I think Hunt will be a good fit at the V&A. It's true that he has no museum experience, but we'll come onto that in a moment. There's no doubting his academic bona fides. Hunt is a historian by training, and before entering politics was a lecturer at Queen Mary University in London. His thesis and an early book were on Victorian civic pride and urban re-generation (the pre-requisite, in such a field, to know a great deal about drains and sewage gave rise to the quip - back in my own historian days - that Hunt 'knows his sh*t'). Hunt was also for a time a leading TV historian, presenting programmes on things like the English Civil War. (His role as TV's hunky historian has now been taken over by Dan Snow, who's an equally good presenter, but with better muscles.)
So, Hunt is a good and proven communicator, and a first-class brain. Many years ago, when I was running the All Party History Group in the House of Commons, he came to do a lecture for us on Engels, and was brilliant. Many will wonder though whether one can become director of a national institution like the V&A without ever having worked in a museum before. And to that I think we must say; why not? I think there's certainly room for unconventional candidates like Hunt. The point of a museum director is to be a respected leader, a public figurehead, and even an impresario. These skills are sometimes not easy to find within the museum world, especially hese days where there's an increased emphasis on management rather than scholarship. We all know of museum directors who have risen to the top having been essentially managers, and they tend to have all the charisma of a piece of carpet - which soon becomes reflected in the museum itself. Mercifully, such directors are rare.
I know of others who were in the mix to become V&A director, and I must say I'm disappointed that one in particular did not get further consideration. But I think Hunt is an excellent choice. I'm glad too to see that political opinions are no bar to being considered a national museum director, as I wrote at the time of Martin Roth's resignation following the EU referendum. The V&A has slightly suffered in the past by being too distant from the national conversation, a fact in part due to the diligent and quiet effectiveness of its recent directors. Now, in a political and economic environment where museums will need to shout louder to be heard and supported, I think Hunt's presence will be key.
There's a wider point here too, following the recent and lamentable decision in Edinburgh not to have a dedicated director of the National Gallery of Scotland. The appointment of a director is such a crucial moment in a museum's story. We will see now how energised the conversation around the V&A will be, both in the short and long term, thanks to Hunt's appointment. How terrible that the National Gallery of Scotland can no longer have the same opportunity.
Update - a quip from HUnt, as reported on Twitter by Christian May:
Asked why he was leaving Corbyn's Labour party to become a museum director, Tristram Hunt says he wants something more forward looking.
Update II - some of the culturati are enraged because Hunt has in the past questioned the abolition of entry charges for national museums. Does his selection by the V&A signal a willingness to re-consider entry charges by that institution? I think the V&A, along with places like the Imperial War Museum, felt they used to be get a better deal before free entry.
Personally, I'm in favour of it, but would like to see a more intelligent way of slicing up the free entry pie.
Update III - a reader writes:
Tristram Hunt may have the necessary skills to lead the V&A in the political world of the arts sphere in London, but it feels like a very top-down appointment. Hunt will hopefully raise the profile of the museum, and encourage major donations, but will his lack of a deep understanding and love for the collection manifest itself in minor but important ways, such as a prioritisation of the big project over the small, of modern over the traditional, and of money over thought. Will there not be a disconnect between Hunt and the curatorial staff?
Another adds:
Peculiar choice.
At least he's educated and moderately intelligent in an academic establishment sense. But has he ever managed a large staff and a multifaceted organization.
One would prefer to have someone who knows a bit about art and other cultures as well and has ties for corporate and private support which will become increasingly important.
Update IV: here's Will Gompertz's take.
