Art history tattoos (ctd.)
September 13 2022
Picture: Rembrandthuis via Twitter
The Rembrandthuis museum has shared the above photo of Rembrandt fan Timothy Englisch's new tattoo, based on Rembrandt's c.1630 self-portrait etching. Fine effort.
HM the Queen in art
September 13 2022
Picture: Nev Wilson, via Twitter
The sad death of Her Majesty the Queen has given rise to some terrible artistic tributes, perhaps the greatest of which is this mural from Hounslow. Unfortunately, HMQ's reign in art, at least, was not a success, though this is more a reflection on the abilities of contemporary portraitists than her own taste. There were of course some successes early on, with for example the Annigoni. But the less said about the efforts by Lucian Freud, and even, goodness, Rolf Harris, the better. Although the former at least gave us the great Sun headline, when the portrait was unveiled; "A Travesty Your Majesty".
Baselitz on women artists
September 12 2022
In The Guardian, Jonathan Jones has interviewed Georg Baselitz, and in particular about his views on women artists:
But Baselitz’s edgy remarks can sometimes get him into scrapes. In 2013, he was quoted in Der Spiegel as saying: “Women don’t paint very well.” A couple of years later, he doubled down on that, telling the Guardian: “The market doesn’t lie. Even though the painting classes in art academies are more than 90% made up by women, it’s a fact that very few of them succeed. It’s nothing to do with education, or chances, or male gallery owners. It’s to do with something else and it’s not my job to answer why it’s so. It doesn’t just apply to painting, either, but also music.”
These words have become a millstone. So. I wonder, has he changed his mind?
On the contrary.
Baselitz is right that for too long the current contemporary art market has placed far more 'value' on male artists than female artists. It's more than a little tragic that he cannot see the underlying structural reasons for such an imbalance, and worse, for someone in his position, that he is reluctant to do anything about it. More here.
Stolen: Catching the Art Thieves
September 12 2022
Picture: BBC
There's a new series on BBC Two about art theft. The first programme is on Munch's Scream, then a Rembrandt, and then the two Tate Turners. More here.
New Vermeer discoveries
September 8 2022
Video: Rijksmuseum
Ahead of two new exhibitions on Vermeer, there have been a number of news stories about new technical analysis done on his paintings.
The first (which I missed a few weeks ago) concerns four paintings in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, summarised by Martin Baily in The Art Newspaper here, and settling some doubts about two of their paintings, Girl with a Red Hat and Girl with a Flute. The latter painting is only deemed to be 'attributed' to Vermeer. Further discoveries about these two paintings will be revealed when the NGA's exhibition, Vermeer's Secrets, opens on 8th October. (And what's the betting Girl with a Flute will be upgraded to Vermeer in full.)
The second relates to the forthcoming mega exhibition on Vermeer at the Rijksmuseum next year (10th Feb - 4th June), which will feature 27 out of his known 35 works. For this show, the Rijksmuseum have been infra-reding and x-raying their Vermeers as never before (as shown in the video above), and found previously unknown details and pentimenti, as reported by Bruno Waterfield in The Times here.
The National Trust 'Richer than ever' (ctd.)
September 7 2022
Picture: NT
The latest National Trust annual accounts have been released. Last year, I wrote that the Trust was 'richer than ever', and, after a bumper year, it's now richer than ever, again. This is undoubtedly a Good Thing. It's a reflection of the impressive effort everybody working at the Trust has put into re-opening their sites after the pandemic, as well as the public's determination to revisit country houses and outdoor spaces. But it also shows, in my view, that the Trust's senior management over-reacted to the pandemic, in sacking over 1,700 people, and restructuring what it calls its 'mansion offer'. I wrote about the restructuring plans (the ten year 'vision' document, illustrated above) at the time, here.
First, a look at the latest numbers (you can see the accounts in full here). My richer than ever description comes from what the Trust's 'total funds', which includes reserves. This year, total funds are £1.68 billion, up from £1.47 billion last year, which was already a record (you can see last year's accounts in full here). Total income was £651m, up from £507m last year, but still a little down on pre-pandemic figure of £680m from 2019. However, the Trust's preferred lead indicator of its financial health is what it calls its Operating Margin (in other words, a profit), and this year it was a record £177.5m, or 30.6%. To put that into context, in the last five years, the Operating Margin has been as follows:
2018 £111m 20.7%
2019 £112m 19.7%
2020 £131m 21.4%
2021 £94.2m 19.9%
2022 £177.5m 30.6%
This year's healthy Margin is in part due to surging visitor numbers, up 7 million on last year to a total of just over 20 million. The Trust has enjoyed stable membership numbers, and, as with last year, has some sharp fund managers working for it, seeing its reserves rise again. But having a significant effect on the Margin are staff costs, which were £257m pre-Pandemic, and last year (after those redundancies) were lower, at £218m, a saving of £39m.
The question is, however, did the Trust need to sack those 1700 people in the middle of a pandemic, and in quite a brutal fashion? The redundancies cost £22m in cash, and an unquantifiable figure in goodwill; I remember at the time hearing some really heartbreaking stories of staff not only losing their jobs, but their homes too. Trust management at the time told me they believed the pandemic would seriously impact their finances for up to three years, and they had to plan accordingly. But looking at the latest financial figures, there's no doubt the Trust could have afforded to retain its staff (by putting them on furlough), and still, once visitors flocked back post-lockdowns, have made an above average Margin.
You might say, of course, that at the time nobody knew how long the pandemic would last, which is true. And yet there's a difference between planning for an unknown, and panicking. Even as late as mid 2020, when the Trust was implementing its redundancy plan, it was clear the government's furlough scheme would be effective. I remember a conversation with a senior Trust leader where they refused to believe the furlough scheme would be extended, and even said - I was so surprised made a note of it - that they didn't want to be reliant on state funding. By late 2020 it was also clear vaccines would arrive by Spring 2021, and that planning for a return to full activities by about mid 2021 was likely. And so it proved.
In addition to job cuts, the legacy of the Trust's rushed savings plan can be seen today in numerous properties which have reduced opening times, just as the Trust's 'flexing' plan set out, all the way back in early 2020. Properties like Peckover House, which used to be open regularly throughout the year for self-guided tours, is now only open at very limited times for guided tours. Recently, on a visit to Hardwick Hall, I found one floor closed, due to a lack of volunteers. Those of us who, back in 2020, were somewhat suspicious at the speed with which the Trust unveiled its flexing plan will wonder why, after two bumper years of financial growth, these properties are not now fully accessible again. Perhaps that's what it was about all along.
I write all this as a member of the Trust, a lifelong fan, and an admirer of all those who work and volunteer there. I have no time for the misguided culture warriors at Restore Trust, who unjustly criticise the National Trust's scholars and curators. (In fact, they have helped make the situation at the National Trust worse, by taking attention away from what really matters.) I just hope the Trust learns from its mistake - and a good way to start would be by apologising to those it sacked.
'Art Detectives' in the US
September 6 2022
Picture: Ovation
The series I made for the BBC called 'Britain's Lost Masterpieces' is shown internationally under a different name, Art Detectives. The latest series is available for US viewers, for free, on Ovation here. If you're in the UK, there is one episode being shown again on the BBC iPlayer, here.
Michelangelo in action!
September 6 2022
Picture: TAN
Here's a nice story, the author James Hall has discovered in a 15th C copy of Dante's Divine Comedy a sketch (probably) of Michelangelo carving David. Hall was researching his new book, The Artist’s Studio: A Cultural History (Thames & Hudson). More here.
Winslow Homer - Force of Nature
September 6 2022
Video: National Gallery
Here's the trailer for the National Gallery's new Winslow Homer exhibition, opening 10th September (till 8th January 2023). More here.
'Censored Art Today'
September 6 2022
Picture: Lund Humphries
There's an excellent new book out on censorship in art in the age of cancel culture, written by Gareth Harris. Says the publisher:
Censored Art Today is an accessible, informed analysis of the debates raging around censorship of art and so-called ‘cancel culture’, focusing on who the censors are and why they are clamping down on forms of artistic expression worldwide. Art censorship is a centuries-old issue which appears to be on the rise in the 21st century - why is this the case?
Gareth Harris expertly analyses the different contexts in which artists, museums and curators face restrictions today.
Copies can be ordered here. Gareth has also started a regular new blog at The Art Newspaper, where he is Chief Contributing Editor, called Trigger Warning. He writes:
Along with the book I am launching the bi-monthly blog Trigger Warning, which will examine censorship cases worldwide, focusing on who the censors are and why they are clamping down on forms of artistic expression. The aim is to drill down on censorship episodes, analysing the implications for artists and the art world, and how such cases inform the debate around issues that dominate contemporary discourse.
The divide between "woke" and "anti-woke" factions is, for instance, not lessening but intensifying; this ideological chasm is complex and shifting but the fallout of censorship is often ignored (not anymore). In the course of my blog journey, I want to look at the different contexts in which artists, museums and curators face restrictions today, focusing on hot topics such as the algorithms policing art online and the narratives around problematic monuments. Unpicking the new “culture wars” is challenging but necessary.
"Diary of an Art Historian" (ctd.)
September 2 2022
Picture: DCMS/TAN
For my latest Art Newspaper column, I offer some advice to whoever is the new Secretary of State for Culture. Although, since writing it, the papers have reported that Nadine Dorries might be invited to stay on in the post. So I'm already out of date.
AI wins an art prize
September 2 2022
Picture: Arstechnica
In Colorado, an artwork created using AI was submitted to a competition, and won. This has caused some sensation online, and discussions about whether computers will destroy human artists. But before we get too carried about about Skynet taking over the Royal Academy, it's worth noting that the picture, a blend of Star Wars and Turner visiting the Alps, was essentially made by a human; yes, Jason Allen used AI to generate some of the imagery, but he put the images together, and of course oversaw the whole thing.
All these AI art productions, like the robot painting the Queen so badly, rely at the outset on human inititiation. Perhaps that explains why they're not very original.
Lavinia for the Getty
August 31 2022
Picture: Getty
The Getty has acquired a Lavinia Fontana, the Marriage Feast at Cana, from the New York based dealer Nicholas Hall. You can read more about the acquisition here on William Poundstone's blog, see Nicholas' cataloguing here, and zoom in on the painting here on the Getty's site.
Save Omai! (ctd.)
August 31 2022
Regular readers will know that Sir Joshua Reynolds' Portrait of Omai has been subject to an export bar from for some months, but with little sign a UK institution could raise the £50m required to buy the picture. Now, however, Martin Bailey in The Art Newspaper has broken the exciting news that the National Portrait Gallery is making a bid to save the picture for the UK (answering the call made by a group of art world luminaries in the FT back in June).
Back in June, I didn't think a UK institution would have the appetite, in these difficult times, to try and raise £50m for an Old Master painting. But Nick Cullinan and the NPG have proved me wrong. If they pull this off, it will be the most significant acquisition by a British institution since the National Gallery and the National Gallery of Scotland jointly bought the two 'Diana' Titians from the Duke of Sutherland in 2012 for £100m. There's no doubt in my mind the picture is worth going for, and would be a glorious addition to the new NPG when it opens again in 2023 (though, would it be easier to fundraise if the Gallery was open now?).
Where will they get the money? Martin Bailey highlights how difficult it will be (the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the normal acquisition-supporting fund, has had its budget frozen at £5m for years). Hopefully the Heritage Lottery Fund will be able to make a special grant. And really, the UK government should support it directly too, given the picture's importance - but given the cost of living crisis I can't see any Chancellor wanting to be seen diverting taxpayer's money to buy a painting of an overseas millionaire art collector.
In The Art Newspaper piece, Cullinan is mentioned as being open to the idea of working jointly with another UK institution, and the one which springs to mind of course is the next door National Gallery, which has the deepest of all UK gallery pockets (and a £200m reserve). In fact (and I don't mean this to sound as if I'm denigrating the NPG) this is in many ways a National Gallery painting. But they may be preoccupied with their Sainsbury Wing extension plans. Let's wait and see what the fundraising strategy is, but I'll certainly be supporting it, and if you can, I hope you'll consider it too.
One final word on the price - it will doubtless be mentioned by critics of the NPG's plan that the picture was sold for £10.3m in 2001, so how can it be worth £50m now? Well, the answer lies in large part that even as recently as 2001 this aspect of British history was considerably underappreciated and undervalued. We've seen a similar transformation in how works by women artists are valued and collected. 2001 seems recent, but in terms of attitudes to what makes 'great' art, it was a very long time ago.
Job opportunity!
August 31 2022
Picture: NG
The National Gallery in London are hiring a new Curator of Later Italian, Spanish and French Paintings. Salary about £63k. More details here.
New Van Dyck in Madrid?
August 30 2022
Picture: Twitter
I learn via Twitter of what appears to be a previously unknown painting by Van Dyck, which has recently been given an export ban by the Spanish government. We've only got the above photo to go on, but this Adoration of the Kings does look close to the series of very early religious pictures by Van Dyck usually dated to around 1615 (including indeed this Adoration of the Shepherds in the Courtauld). You'll notice some of the same models and Rubensian motifs, as well as the curiously small Christ child. It would date from just before the period of Van Dyck's almost miraculous emergence into fully formed artist before his 18th birthday. You can read the export documents here.
'Florida man' has fake Basquiats?
August 30 2022
Picture: NY Post
There's ongoing fallout at the Orlando Museum of Art, following an FBI raid to seize a number of allegedly fake Basquiat paintings. One was painted on some Fedex shipping cardboard not used before Basquiat died. An expert paid $60,000 to catalogue the works had doubts, and was told by the museum to 'Shut up. You took the money'. The museum has lost two directors in the last two months, according to The Art Newspaper. Worth remembering, next time someone tells you attributions in the modern art market are solid.
Sleeper alert
August 30 2022
Picture: TW Gaze
A Holy Family catalogued as 19th Century and with an estimate of £50 made £160,000 in a UK regional auction. The names Bartolomeo Schedoni and Annibale Carracci have been mentioned. The sale was reported on ITV news here.
The £1.4m doorstop (ctd.)
August 30 2022
Picture:BBC News
Back in 2016 AHN reported on the discovery in Scotland of a valuable marble bust of Sir John Gordon by Bouchardon, which was found being used as a doorstop on an industrial estate. The bust was lent to exhibitions at the Louvre and the Getty, but is now about to be sold by Highland Council, which appears to have claimed ownership of it. In 2016, it wasn't clear - as Ashmolean curator Colin Harrison pointed out to AHN - who actually owned it. The latest BBC news report on the bust, thought to be worth £1.4m, appears to confirm that nobody has settled the ownership question, but the council want to sell it anyway. Which seems like a shame.
Apologies...
August 18 2022
Sorry, I've been away this week, back Monday!
Update - further apologies! I was on a research trip last week, which took up more time than expected.* And the last two days' excitement has been the arrival of new cats. So I'll be back with a slew of AHN stories tomorrow, Tuesday 30th, and, if you're lucky, some cute kitten pics.
*for my forthcoming book on the history of British art, to be published by Elliot and Thompson in 2024.
