On first sight, it seems like the writ-large example of how women's arts are shunted to one side and underfunded, subject to an endless dialing-down of ambition until they become a weak distallate of their original intentions.
It's a pretty tall ask to fit a few thousand years of use and relevance, plus all the geographic and social connections of an ancient monument into one exhibition, even if the exhibition is at the British Museum's newest, largest, and fairly flexible exhibition space. So, how did they do? In a pleasing act of … Continue reading Ancient History Repeating: The World of Stonehenge
With the order to close museums and galleries as well as other public spaces, a little like a 16th-century closing of the playhouses against the plague which saw theatrical companies tour the provinces to maintain their revenue streams, what is there for an arts fan to do? Well... You could watch some design and architecture … Continue reading Art in the time of plague
Featured strings: Just Go Nuts, Overlooked Treasures This is my last blog entry for Artstring; I've had the most tremendous time exploring the collections at the National Gallery, Science Museum and British Museum in greater depth than I had previously, and I sincerely hope, as I mentioned in my introductory post that other museums, London and worldwide, follow suit … Continue reading Finishing on a high: personal faves and highlights
Featured String: Disability in Art & Artists Disability in artists is usually presented either as the whole of their identity, often erasing the quality of their art, or completely removed from their story, leaving only the art in its place. With this string I did my best to find artists in the collections whose biographies … Continue reading Hidden Figures: Disability in Art & Disabled Artists
Featured String: Women in Action Throughout art history, in many of the most famous works of art, women are not the actors but the subjects of artwork. They are often relegated to the position of "muse", their work in shaping their own narratives and framing their own perspectives sidelined, forgotten, misattributed, or in some cases deliberately … Continue reading ArtString: Women in Action (The Doers)
Creating the Women Artists string, I knew I'd face some hurdles.
Futureproofing: Disasters? In light of the recent and absolutely catastrophic cultural and scientific loss both to Brazil and to the world in the fire that consumed the national museum in Rio, there are a lot of questions to be raised about what the future is for museums as conservators and curators of culture to join the … Continue reading Storehouses of Knowledge or Warehouses of Risk?
Des Anges Writings 