35% fall in visitors at the NPG
March 5 2018
Picture: NPG
In The Art Newspaper, Martin Bailey looks at the precipitous fall in visitor numbers at both the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery in London. The latter has really suffered:
The National Gallery had 6.3 million visitors in 2016, but this fell to 5.2 million last year, a drop of 17%. The NPG did much worse, with numbers decreasing from 1.9 million to 1.3 million—a fall of 35%. The data for May to December 2017, as reported in the Times newspaper, presented an even more dismal picture, with a decline for the NPG of 42%.
What is the problem here? It would seem, if both the NG and NPG are suffering, that there may be an issue with the location. Not with where they are sited, but with the chaotic mess of Trafalgar Square, with its aggressive Yoda buskers, and the like. The effect of these is to make the National Gallery, with its already somewhat imposing edifice, a less friendly place to enter. The NPG should suffer less from this effect, since its entrance is away from the noise of the Square, but it's clearly having an impact.
That said, I'm afraid the problem at the National Portrait Gallery goes deeper than its entrance. Now, portraiture can be a hard sell - I know this from having spent over a decade actually selling portraits, in my former life as a dealer. Portraits are often seen as arts' poor relation, less noble than landscapes, religous art, or history paintings. The NPG always used to be quietly mindful of this, and counteracted it by playing to portraiture's strengths - its ability, usually through sitters, to be a vehicle for telling great biographical stories.
For some, however, this kind of individual-focused approach to art, which in the context of a national portrait gallery is also necessarily in danger of being nationalistic, is off-putting. And in its current exhibition programme, and indeed general day-to-day tenor, I get the feeling that the NPG is afraid of its own shadow. If the NPG wants to get people to come back and visit, it needs to celebrate its own collection again, and be proud of what it stands for. Trying to be an extension of Tate Modern won't work.
PS - Of course, all of this comes on top of the bizarre decision to close for a day.
PPS - I say all this with great regret, for the NPG is my favourite gallery - it's more or less responsible for much of my career.
A museum collecting crisis?
March 5 2018
I wrote a piece for the FT, looking at whether there is a 'collecting crisis' in museums. It was partly in response to the Art Fund report published recently called 'Why Collect?' I also asked whether museums should borrow more, if funds to actually buy things are tight - but might recent scandals such as the exhibition full of questioned Modigliani's in Italy make museums more cautious?
AHN warmly encourages you to click here.
New Old Master dealers
March 5 2018
COLNAGHI - TEFAF 2017 from Colnaghi on Vimeo.
Video: Tefaf, Colnaghi's 2017 stand
In the FT, Gareth Harris discusses the next generation of Old Master dealers, the shining stars of whom are the new owners of Colnaghi,Jorge Coll and Nicolás Cortés:
Coll and Cortés made their names selling Spanish Golden Age sculpture and painting to an audience inspired by the groundbreaking National Gallery 2009-10 exhibition The Sacred Made Real. They understood the appeal to a contemporary audience of the strong images of Ribera, Zurburán and El Greco, and recognised that for younger collectors familiar with prices in the contemporary art market, these works looked remarkably good value.
Since taking over Colnaghi and expanding their repertoire they have continued, in Coll’s words, “to try to open the eyes of collectors”. They host events, including “The Price Is Right” dinners during Old Master sales, to demystify the market. Their Tefaf Maastricht stand is dramatically lit — “after all, many of these works were made for churches” — and last year sculptures were hung by fishing wire as if flying. Coll believes that, “It is the role of the dealer to create a completely different value from the auctions — through research, publication, new discoveries.”
But as well as appealing to the confirmed collector, Coll, who is on the board of trustees at Tefaf, is determined also to create a new generation of gallery-goers. He has set up the not-for-profit Colnaghi Foundation, to which the gallery has donated the entire Colnaghi archive. The Foundation publishes new scholarship and has also announced a series of masterclasses, in collaboration with the Wallace Collection, which were advertised by a video starring an ingénue in a pink mackintosh. They will be attended by a group of young paying individuals, drawn from an international short list of applications, but will also then be available to watch on their website.
“We want to create art lovers: whoever loves art will not be able to stop themselves collecting,” says Coll. “And loving art is about knowledge. It is not cash and carry. You have to make a journey.”
The Mona Lisa on tour?
March 5 2018
Picture: Louvre
Zut alors! The French Culture Minister has floated the idea of sending the Mona Lisa on a tour of France. More here.
Leyster, the art dealing dog
March 5 2018
Picture: Peggy Stone
I've been meaning to mention the wonderful children's books written by Peggy Stone, partner of the New York Old Master dealer Lawrence Steigrad, and a regular exhibitor at Tefaf in Maastricht. The stories are about a runaway husky who is found in New York, and named after the Dutch artist Judith Leyster. Two books have been published, with illustrations by Ena Hodzic, and the Deputy Editor has been enjoying them greatly. More here, and you can buy them here.
Tefaf 2018
March 5 2018
Video: Galerie Antoine Laurentin
The great TEFAF fair opens in Maastricht this week. Exhibitors will now be putting the finishing touches to their stands, and preparing to undergo the nervous breakdown that is vetting. AHN wishes everyone taking part the best of luck; may you sell your entire inventory on the first day.
Above is a short video made by an exhibitor, Galerie Antoine Laurentin, which gives a brief preview of works they will be taking to the fair. I hope more exhibitors do this sort of thing in future; it's much more effective than sending out a press release.
That said, if anyone has anything exciting they'd like to share, send me some photos and I'll put it up.
Cleaning Rembrandt, in public (ctd.)
March 5 2018
Video: Tefaf
I mentioned earlier this year a project at the MFA in Boston to clean a pair of Rembrandt portraits, in public. The project was funded by TEFAF, and above is their short film about the work.
Apologies (ctd.)
March 5 2018
Picture: BG
Goodness, I've been away for an age - many apologies. I've been on the road filming the new series of Britain's Lost Masterpieces, and when not doing that I've been shovelling snow. Happily, the Deputy Editor and I did find time to make an igloo. Here she is bravely being the first to enter.
Now, I shall endeavour to catch up on all the news.
Apologies (ctd.)
February 19 2018
Sorry again for the lack of news - things are a little busy. I'm currently on a train south to London, finishing a piece for the FT's forthcoming Tefaf Maastricht supplement. Tomorrow I'm meeting the new arts minister, Michael Ellis MP, to discuss museum reproduction fees. And then on Wednesday I'm filming the first day of a new episode of Britain's Lost Masterpieces, at a top secret location.
Will post when I can. In the meantime, celebrate with me the excellent news that the Finnish National Gallery has made all their images free to use. You can read the director's faultless logic here. British museum directors, pay special attention to this bit:
It seems to be a widely shared view, both here in Finland as well as in other countries, that generous open data policies increase museums’ popularity and generate more visitors and more engaged audiences. Talking about a museum’s business policies, it’s worth considering thoroughly the transaction costs involved in licensing and distributing images, compared, for example, with selling products based on images of artworks and objects in the collections. I don’t recall hearing regrets from any museum that decided to execute a open data policy.
'Why collect?'
February 16 2018
Picture: Art Fund
The Art Fund has published an interesting report on the state of museum acquisitions in the UK, or rather the lack of them. It's written by the historian Sir David Cannadine, and is well worth reading, here. But it misses the goal a few times, and presents a more dire view of the situation than is justified. I'll write more about it soon.
Help!
February 16 2018
I'm writing a piece about private loans; what are the problems when collectors lend artworks to museums? Who gains, who loses - what risks should we be prepared to take? Are museums being used by unscrupulous colectors keen to legitimise their wares? Or are the opponents of loans killjoys who think every collector out there is a dastardly fraud?
I'd love to hear your thoughts and tales. Thanks!
Putting the 'Royal' into the Royal Academy
February 15 2018
Picture: Royal Collection
I didn't know that every two years, the leadership of the Royal Academy goes to visit the Queen, to tell her about the health of the RA. On his blog, Charles Saumarez Smith almost tells us what happened:
We were after the new Peruvian and Italian ambassadors had presented their credentials (I was accidentally mistaken for the Italian ambassador even though she is a woman). For us, the equerry was allowed to take off his sword and medals. I know that I am not allowed to report on what was said, only that the Queen has a great number of paperweights on her desk.
NPG closes for fashion show
February 15 2018
Picture: NPG
I can't quite believe the news in Martin Bailey's story (in The Art Newspaper) that the National Portrait Gallery in London is closing for a whole day, so that a fashion company (Erdem) can host an event. As Martin writes, on a Monday in February, around 5,000 people would usually visit the gallery. That'll be a lot of disappointed people on the doorstep in St Martin's Place.
The NPG say that they need the cash. That as a charity, needing to raise over 70% of their income themselves (ie, not from the government) they will need to exploit their premises for events. We are not told how much Erdem will be paying for the day (I have asked, but don't expect an answer - it'll probably be deemed 'commercially sensitive' information).
But a whole day? If the NPG's answer to difficult fundraising conditions is - close the whole place, then it is demonstrating a woeful lack of imagination, and a complete disregard for the people it serves. What is the National Portrait Gallery for? It's a public museum, with publicly owned art, funded over decades by public funds. It is our museum, not something that should be arbitrarily closed as a venue for hire. But these days (and here of course I'm going to mention image fees again) it appears the NPG is being run by a bunch of venture capitalists, desperate to squeeze as much money out of the asset they've just acquired.
It's easy to see this as a thin end of the wedge moment. The NPG may say; 'this is a one-off'. But in reality it's unlikely to be. How corrosive will be the impact on those 5,000 people who will turn up, expecting the NPG to be open, only to be told that they can't go in, because someone else has got a bigger chequebook? How many others will hear of the news, and then not plan a visit to the NPG in future, in case it's arbitrarily closed? There is a risibly small notice about the closure on the NPG's 'visit' page (above), and nothing on their homepage. It's as if they're hoping nobody's going to notice. The whole thing is pathetic; an unprecedented low from a new generation of museum bureaucrats who have lost touch with what public museums should be for.
Update - I also can't believe the trustees agreed to this. What were you thinking?
Apologies...
February 12 2018
Sorry for the lack of news - it's half term!
Fate of Van Dyck's mistress revealed at last
February 7 2018
Pictures: BG and Fondation Custodia (below)
In this month's Burlington Magazine you can read an extraordinary piece of scholarly sleuthing, on the life of Margaret Lemon, best known as Van Dyck's mistress. Until now, little has been known of her life, and nothing of her fate after Van Dyck's death. But the historian Hilary Maddicott has discovered not only that she committed suicide in 1642 (in Oxford, after the death in battle of one her lovers), but that she was well known for cross-dressing. This now explains the curious miniature of her by Samuel Cooper, below.
The other piece of good news is that the Burlington Magazine has decided to make Hilary's article free to download for a week, here. Well worth a click! (Also, if enough of us click, it might persuade the Burlington to do this more often.)
KMSKA closed until 2020
February 7 2018
Picture: via Flickr
Your annual reminder that, when renovating a museum, it's a bad idea to close the entire place; another delay has been announced to the re-opening of the KMSKA in Antwerp. It will now remain closed until 2020. It has been shut since 2011, and was due to re-open last year, then that was put back to 2019. More here.
Sotheby's NY Old Master sales (ctd.)
February 7 2018
Video: Sotheby's
I've been meaning to report on the success of Sotheby's Old Master sales in New York. The total for the week was $82.5m, more than double the same series of sales made last year. The totals were at, or exceeded, the higher estimates. I know AHNers will be tired of me saying 'the Old Master market isn't dead', so I won't go on about some of the soaraway lots (except to point you to the above video of a fine portrait of the Prince of Orange by Van Dyck, which made $2.4m). But I think it may now be time to say, 'the Old Master market is alive and kicking'. More on the results here.
'Rubens: Power of Transformation' at the Staedel (ctd.)
February 7 2018
Picture: Staedel Museum
The new Rubens exhibition in Frankfurt I mentioned earlier is now open. But if you can't go, there's an excellent online site about the show, called a 'digitorial'. I hope more museums do this.
ArtUK podcast
February 7 2018
Audio: ArtUK
Here's a new podcast series from ArtUK. This one includes the team behing Tabloid Art History.
'Civilisations' on the BBC
February 7 2018
Video: BBC
Here's a trailer for the new BBC2 series, Civilisations, which looks set to be the arts TV event of the decade. It'll be on in the Spring.
Update - there's an app too.
Update II - I'm afraid BBC trailers don't work when embedded on some browsers such as Chrome. So if you're seeing a blank space above, that's why.
