Category: Exhibitions
Museums to Turn Visitors into Environmental Activists
August 12 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Nick Merriman, chief executive of the Horniman Museum & Garden in South London (pictured), has penned an article for Artnet on what he thinks the role of museums should be in tackling the environmental crisis. The piece makes quite clear which camp Merriman might sit in during the recent 'What is a Museum' debate.
In his own words:
Museums are well practiced in developing exhibitions, events, and activities to engage audiences with key issues. The work of artists, in particular, brings the emotional perspective which psychological research shows is needed to prompt action. An acceleration in this work is necessary given the urgency of the climate and ecological breakdown.
____________
No doubt we all have our own perspectives on what is likely to prompt change in the way we treat our shared environment. Yet, I can't say that notions of 'prompt[ing] action' and 'acceleration' have ever come to me whilst admiring exhibitions of landscapes by the likes of Gainsborough, Turner and Towne etc. They tend to have the opposite effect.
Woburn Abbey Treasures in Greenwich
August 11 2020
Picture: RMG
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
My attention has been drawn to this very interesting exhibition that is happening now at the Queen's House in Greenwich. The Duke of Bedford has loaned several treasures from Woburn Abbey including family portraits and seventeenth century old masters.
Woburn Treasures runs until Easter 2021, is free to visit, and includes more pictures that the website seems to suggest.
York Art Gallery Exhibition by Vote
July 21 2020
Picture: York Art Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The York Art Gallery is reopening to the public on Saturday 1st August. In celebration of this occasion they are running a public vote for their new exhibition entitled Your Art Gallery which opens on 20th August.
The public are being asked to vote on 20 artworks selected from their collection and are given the opportunity to write labels for their favourite pieces. There are only 2 / 3 Old Master Paintings to choose from, which is a bit disappointing for us.
Voting ends on 29th July 2020.
London Museums Suspend Free Exhibition Entry to MA and ICOM Members
July 9 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Here is a story that is being aired on Social Media over the past few days. Several London Museums have suspended discounted or free entry to their Temporary Exhibitions for members of the Museums Association and the International Council of Museums (ICOM). So far, this includes Tate, British Museum, National Gallery, Science Museum Group, Victoria & Albert Museum & the Natural History Museum.
The suspension is temporary and is due to reduced capacity because of social distancing restrictions. Naturally, museums and galleries are also doing their best to help claw back funds lost over the three months of lockdown. Equally, if museums can no longer rely on sheer volume (pictured) to make ends meet, then we should probably expect some further changes to how entry to popular temporary exhibitions is managed.
The suspension will affect museum professionals the most, who make up the majority of members of these two bodies. As this blog often highlights, the pay in the museums sector isn't what you might often expect it to be.
ICOM UK made the following statement on their Twitter account earlier today:
Whilst we understand the simple financial basis for this decision, we feel it is somewhat reactionary & doesn't take into account the wider benefits of reciprocal entry, like secondary spend, building & exchanging professional knowledge & encouraging broader & more diverse access.
The Museums Association also made this statement on their Twitter account a few days ago:
They informed us of this decision last week, and are committed to reviewing again in early September. We understand the difficulties of reopening with limited numbers, and we look forward to them sharing their work with their many sector colleagues as soon as possible.
Many museums are still offering our members free entry and all updates to MA free entry are listed on our website.
Artemisia Interview
July 8 2020
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
As the National Gallery in London reopens today, here is an interesting interview conducted earlier in April with curator Letizia Treves on the significance of Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1654). The National Gallery's exhibition on Artemisia will still be going ahead with exact dates yet to be announced.
In fact, it is now possible to buy the exhibition catalogue through the gallery's website. A good chance to clue-up on the works of art before you get there!
Update - The exhibition will open on 3rd October 2020.
Portraying Pregnancy - Extended
July 7 2020
Picture: Tate via. Foundling Museum
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Good news that the Foundling Museum's current exhibition Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media has been extended till 23rd August 2020. The exhibition is curated by Karen Hearn and features works by the likes of Holbein, Gheeraerts (pictured), Beale, Lawrence and many others. More details on how to book tickets can be found on their website.
First Constable Retrospective in the Netherlands
July 7 2020
Picture: Haarlems Dagblad
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
On 19th September 2020 the first ever solo retrospective exhibition in the Netherlands dedicated to John Constable will open at the Teylers Museum in Haarlem.*
The exhibition will feature a vast array of drawings, watercolour and paintings loaned from collections around the world. Constable, as we know, was greatly influenced by Dutch golden age painters such as Ruisdael, Hobbema and Rembrandt.
The exhibition will run from 19th September 2020 to 31st January 2021.
* - Quite surprising fact, if true! I'm sure an AHN reader will get in touch if there was an obscure exhibition in the 1960s or 70s!
Hidden Layers on Google Arts
July 2 2020
Picture: MFA Houston
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Museum of Fine Arts in Houston has uploaded its 2018 exhibition Hidden Layers: Painting and Process in Europe, 1500–1800 onto Google Arts & Culture. The exhibition focuses on technical analysis undertaken on their collection of paintings. It includes many fascinating x-rays and infrared images that show exactly how painters created, and often modified, their artworks.
Dealer Catalogues Online
July 1 2020
Picture: Karen Taylor Fine Art
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
This time of the year is always rather exciting due to the selling exhibitions put on by the various London art dealers. I have a section of my bookshelf that contains an ever growing collection of catalogues produced for this season. These are not only aesthetically pleasing objects to have, but often contain many interesting scholarly material for future reference.
Due to our current times, many dealers publishing and promoting their catalogues online. I thought it might worth highlighting a few interesting examples.
Firstly, Karen Taylor has published an online catalogue entitled British Women Artists 1780 - 1890. It contains a selection of interesting and beautiful works by and of women artists.
Libson & Yarker have produced an online exhibition called In Studio, Academy and Field: Learning to draw in Britain 1700–1850. As always, the works and drawings on offer by the likes of Lely, Lawrence and Romney make me very envious.
Stephen Ongpin Fine Art have published their most recent catalogue entitled Drawn to Nature.
Madrid based Nicholás Cortés have published their most recent catalogue online entitled Seven Centuries of Spanish Art.
Do get in touch if you know of any other examples that deserve a mention.
Facelifts at the Mauritshuis
June 22 2020
Picture: Mauritshuis, The Hague
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Have you begun organising your 2021 diary yet? If so, this upcoming exhibition at the Mauritshuis should definitely be pencilled in.
Facelifts & make-overs is the upcoming Mauritshuis exhibition dedicated to showcasing the conservation projects undertaken by the museum's inhouse team of conservators.
As the website explains;
In Facelifts and Makeovers the most intriguing restorations of the past twenty years will be unveiled, including paintings by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Hals, Steen and Rubens, but also by some lesser-known artists such as Cornelis de Heem and Jacob Ochtervelt. Restoring centuries-old paintings appeals to the imagination. What does it involve? What can we learn from conservation treatment? What do paintings look like ‘before’ and ‘after’? And what have been the most surprising findings?
The exhibition has been postponed due to the current crisis and will run from 7 October 2021 - 9 January 2022.
National Gallery Masterpieces on Tour
June 15 2020
Picture: British Council & The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Great news for the residents of Japan. The National Gallery in London has announced that it is 61 masterpieces from its collection will go on a tour of the country. The initiative is a part of the British Council's UK in Japan 2019-2020 festival. The Tokyo leg of the exhibition will run from 18 June 2020 - 18 October 2020, and afterwards will head to Osaka from 3 November 2020 - 31 January 2021. This will include works by the likes of Vermeer, Canaletto, Van Dyck, Goya, Turner and Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers (pictured).
Some opponents have pointed out that some of the gallery's favourites will be missing when it eventually reopens to the public later this summer. The timing is a shame, but one imagines this loan was signed off and promised quite some time ago.
Torlonia Marbles to go on Display
June 12 2020
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
96 marble sculptures from the Torlonia collection will finally be unveiled to the public in Rome this September. The collection, which was amassed between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries by the Italian Torlonia family, has been hidden away since the war and opened only to experts or visiting dignitaries. The restoration of the collection has been financed by the luxury jeweller Bvlgaria.
The collection will be on display in Palazzo Caffarelli at the city's Capitoline Museums from 25 September 2020 till 27 June 2021.
Colnaghi Foundation: Black in Rembrandt's Time
June 12 2020
Video: Colnaghi Foundation
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Colnaghi Foundation have posted this interview with Stephanie Archangel, one of the curators of the exhibition Black in Rembrandt’s Time at the Rembrandt House in Amsterdam.
Van Eyck on a Plane
June 12 2020
Picture: Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Arts Newspaper has reported on the news that a rare and fragile drawing by Jan van Eyck (pictured) is to be put on public display in Dresden for the first time in ten years. The drawing will feature as part of an exhibition celebrating Dresden’s Kupferstich-Kabinett's 300th anniversary of the museum of prints and drawings.
The drawing, believed to be one of the only undisputed studies by the artist, relates to a finished oil on panel in the Kunsthistoriches Musuem, Vienna. Its fragile nature meant that it was only allowed on display for one week the last time it was exhibited in 2010.
The drawing, alongside 60 other drawings from the show, will then travel to New York for an exhibition at the Morgan Library next year.
Dresden curator Stephanie Buck is quoted:
“It will be the first time it’s ever been on a plane,” Buck says.
Titian Show Extended
May 27 2020
Picture: The National Gallery
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Good news to report. The National Gallery in London has announced on their website that their exhibition Titian: Love, Desire, Death will be extended. They haven't given the precise details yet so we must wait to see how generous they will be. The show was due to run till 14th June 2020.
The gallery's director Gabriele Finaldi posted a video on YouTube a few days ago regarding a short visit he made to the closed galleries.
Update - The gallery's upcoming Raphael exhibition has been pushed back to 2022.
Update 2 - Disappointing news that the exhibition will no longer be travelling to The National Galleries of Scotland in Edinburgh.
As their recent posts on Twitter explain:
We regret to announce that the National Galleries of Scotland exhibition Titian: Love, Desire, Death will no longer take place in Edinburgh. We are however pleased to support our partners with our loans to the remainder of this tour.
The show was planned as a highlight of our summer programme at the busiest time of the year during the Edinburgh Festival but without that context, against a backdrop of uncertainty around scheduling & visitor numbers, this project was no longer a viable proposition for us.
We understand that many will be disappointed and we are very sorry for this unfortunate cancellation. We will be in touch with those who had pre-booked tickets.
The Future of Blockbuster Exhibitions
May 27 2020
Picture: CODART
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
CODART, the international network of curators of Dutch and Flemish art, have published an interesting article on the future of blockbuster exhibitions in the age of COVID. The article comprises of three views given by curators Christi M. Klinkert (Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar), Marjorie E. Wieseman (National Gallery of Art in Washington) and Aleksandra Janiszewska (National Museum in Warsaw).
Curate an Exhibition with ArtUK
May 18 2020
Picture: ArtUK
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
ArtUK has launched an online platform for users to 'curate' their own virtual exhibitions with art works from the public collection. After you have selected your pictures you can arrange them in any way you wish with fancy blurbs and introductory pieces etc. Your results will then be shared with other users online.
Sounds like a very creative way to spend a few hours during these uncertain times.
Update - Bendor adds that he's had a go already, with an assembly of paintings that feature cheese. Just what the world needs right now.
Kauffman Show Cancelled
April 28 2020
Picture: The Royal Academy
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Royal Academy have taken the 'difficult decision' to cancel their upcoming show on the painter Angelica Kauffman RA (1741-1807). This exhibition was due to run from 27 June - 20 September 2020. The RA's upcoming Cezanne expo has been shelved too. It seems, however, that the modern performance artist Marina Abramović's exhibition has been rescheduled from 2020 till autumn 2021. A shame the same couldn't be done with Kauffman's, but I'm sure they had their reasons.
Fontainebleau cancels Autumn Exhibition
April 24 2020
Picture: Wikipedia Commons
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
La Tribune de L'Art has reported on the sad news that the Château de Fontainebleau has cancelled their upcoming exhibition on the Art of the Celebrations of the Valois Court (due to open in September 2020). This exhibition was set to be a very big affair, with many dispersed works being sourced and reunited from major museums across the world (including this marvellous tapestry from the Uffizi in Florence).
Although the coronavirus has played its part, the large deficit incurred due to closures has also been blamed for causing the cancellation.
As our current crisis continues, it seems very likely that many important future exhibitions might be called off. This tragic on many levels, including the vast amount of time these spectacles take to prepare. Exactly when will museum-goers feel safe enough to pack into rooms again to enjoy these cultural marvels I wonder?
Cranach at Compton Verney
April 18 2020
Picture: Compton Verney
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
Another of the recent exhibitions cut short by the virus was Compton Verney's excellent Cranach: Artist and Innovator. Fortunately, the gallery have uploaded a rather good video tour onto their website (which I can't upload directly here unfortunately). On the same page you'll have access to a recorded conversation with the curators organised by the Colnaghi Foundation.
Another exhibition I wish I had got to before it closed was The Foundling Museum's Portraying Pregnancy: From Holbein to Social Media curated by Karen Hearn. Curator and writer Emma Shepley has posted her review of the exhibition on Twitter.
