Behind the Scenes at the Museum

A Conversation with Sir Peter Bazalgette

Sir Peter Bazalgette has had a long and productive career in the arts. He is currently non-executive chairman of ITV, where we meet for a wide-ranging conversation. He has been Chairman of English National Opera and Chair of Arts Council England (2012 until 2016). He is Chair of the the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction, and author ofThe Empathy Instinct: How to Create a More Civil Society (2017). We talk about the future of the BBC (he is one of the most influential men in broadcasting), arts funding and sponsorship in an age of moral purity, making a case for the arts to government, repatriation of artefacts, the role of art post Brexit, and art in age of the internet. ► MUSIC Signature tune: Nick Vander Black Kopal - Galaxy II [https://nickvander.bandcamp.com/track/black-kopal] ► PICTURES Pictures are available on Instagram and Twitter account: @behindthemuseum ►  CREDITS This episode of Behind the Scenes at the Museum was written and presented by Tiffany Jenkins, audio recording was by Nicky Barranger. Jac Phillimore was the producer.

Cancelled! Censorship and self-censorship in the arts

Censorship of the arts is on the increase: both that imposed from above, by the state, but also from below, with artists calling for works to be taken down from display. This episode of Behind the Scenes of the Museum brings together three experts – Julia Farrington, Associate Arts Producer at Index on Censorship, artists mentor Manick Govinda, and the art critic JJ Charlesworth – to discuss the significant cases, and analyse what is going on: what is new (as compared to the old style Mary Whitehouse kind of censorship); why do institutions capitulate so easily to complaints; and what is to be done. ► PANEL Julia Farrington, [https://iara.live/about/examples-julia-farrington/] Associate Arts Producer,  Index on Censorship. Twitter: @IndexCensorship Manick Govinda [https://authory.com/ManickGovinda], Arts consultant and mentor. Twitter: @manick62 JJ Charlesworth [http://jjcharlesworth.com], Critic, Art critic, senior editor ArtReview. Twitter: @jjcharlesworth ►  CASES DISCUSSED 1.Homegrown [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/05/omar-el-khairy-and-nadia-latif-homegrown/]: commissioned by the National Youth Theatre See also, Channel 4 news report, [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/05/omar-el-khairy-and-nadia-latif-homegrown/] with an interview with the director Nadia Latif 2.Isis Threaten Sylvania , [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/05/mimsy-isis-threaten-sylvania/]the Mall Galleries 3. Saatchi Gallery covers two paintings by an artist known as SKU [https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/may/05/saatchi-covers-up-artworks-after-complaints-by-muslim-visitors] 4. Drill music removed from You Tube [https://www.dazeddigital.com/music/article/43342/1/london-police-had-forced-youtube-to-delete-over-100-uk-drill-music-videos] See also,Gang members banned from making Drill music [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2018/06/gang-members-banned-from-making-drill-music/] 5. Brett Bailey’s, Exhibit B [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/2019/05/brett-bailey-exhibit-b/] Petition: 'Withdraw the racist Exhibition "Exhibit B - The Human Zoo" [https://www.change.org/p/withdraw-the-racist-exhibition-exhibition-b-the-human-zoo] from showing at the Barbican from 23rd-27th September 2014' See also, this news report & discussion on BBC1 Sunday Morning Live, [https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x26svbs] from 28 Sept 2014. Louise Jeffries from the Barbican [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04hyy1k] on Radio 4's Front Row on why and how the Barbican cancelled Exhibit B. 6. Protests overDana Schutz's portrait of Emmett Till [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dana-schutz-painting-emmett-till-whitney-biennial-protest-897929] at the Whitney Biennial ► READ MORE Are we entering a new age of artistic censorship? [http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120524/exhibit-b-really-useful-knowledge-and-europes-art-censorship]Tiffany Jenkins New Republic Other cases, including those tackled by Julia Farrington & [https://www.indexoncensorship.org/tag/julia-farrington/]examples of institutional training to deal with sensitive subjects How the Dana Schutz Controversy—and a Year of Reckoning—Have Changed Museums Forever [https://news.artnet.com/art-world/dana-schutz-controversy-recent-protests-changed-museums-forever-1236020], Julia Halperin ► MUSIC Signature tune: Nick Vander Black Kopal - Galaxy II [https://nickvander.bandcamp.com/track/black-kopal] ► PICTURES Pictures of the artwork and clips of news reports are available on Instagram and Twitter account: @behindthemuseum ►  CREDITS This episode of Behind the Scenes at the Museum was written and presented by Tiffany Jenkins and produced by Jac Phillimore.

"I don't like that man. I must get to know him better." New York's Tenement Museum

Tiffany visits the Tenement Museum in New York with its President, Kevin Jennings. Located at 97 and 103 Orchard Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, the museum is formed from two historical tenement buildings, which were home to an estimated 15,000 immigrants from over 20 nations, between 1863 and 2011. Starting in 97 Orchard street, they discuss the aims of the Tenement Museum: is it political?; does and should the museum take sides?; the history of immigration policy; the difficulties in talking about immigration today — when society is so divided and issue so emotional — and the importance of doing so. Kevin tells us about the families who lived in these tenements: Nathalie and Julius Gumpertz who were East Prussian immigrants, who lived there in the 1870s. In 1874, after the Panic of 1873, a major economic depression, Julius left for work never to return, leaving Nathalie alone with four young children. We hear about Adolfo and Rosaria Baldizzi, who came from Sicily. Rosario arrived undocumented and illegally. She would eventually become a legal citizen of the United States. Moving on to 103 Orchard street, we hear about Kalman and Regina Epstein, who were Holocaust survivors, and among the first World War II refugees to be allowed into the United States, and their daughter Bella; whose memories helped decorate and furnish the apartment. Taking us up to the recent past, Tiffany and Kevin visit the old apartment of the Wong family. Mrs. Wong, who was from Southern China, arrived in New York from Hong Kong in 1965 with her two daughters, Yat Ping and Alison, after the Hart Cellar Act, which allowed for increased Asian immigration. Mrs Wong worked in the garment industry and in 1973 she became a citizen of the United States. ► LINKS The Tenement Museum [https://www.tenement.org] Nathalie and Julius Gumpertz [https://www.tenement.org/explore/97-orchard-street/] Adolfo and Rosaria Baldizzi [https://www.tenement.org/explore/97-orchard-street/] Kalman and Regina and Bella Epstein [https://www.tenement.org/explore/103-orchard-street/] Mrs Wong and her family [https://www.tenement.org/explore/103-orchard-street/] ► MUSIC 1) Signature music , Nick Vander - Black Kopel - Galaxy II 2) Fig Leaf Times Two, Kevin MacLeod 3) After the Ball is Over, Gerald Adams & The Variety Singers 4) Brahms Symphony No.3 in F Maj: I. Allegro Con Brio, conducted by Willem Mengelberg 5) Frogs Leg Rag, James Scott (freemusicarchive.org [http://freemusicarchive.org/]) 6) Victor Orchestra, Glow Worm (1908) 7) Guido Gialdini whistling Luigi Arditi's The Kiss (1908), public.domain domain.org [http://domain.org/]8) Tim Hart - Royalty Free Music Large Collection - Track 45 - No Words► PICTURES Pictures of the street, apartments, museum, and the families are on our Instagram and Twitter account: @behindthemuseum ►  CREDITS This episode of Behind the Scenes at the Museum was written and presented by Tiffany Jenkins, recorded by Jared Arnold, and produced by Jac Phillimore. Twitter: @BehindtheMuseum Instagram: @BehindtheMuseum

How to solve a problem like Titian's Tarquin and Lucretia: rehanging paintings in the age of #MeToo

Tiffany Jenkins goes to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge to talk to its director Luke Syson, art historian Jill Burke and Michael Savage (aka Grumpy Art Historian) about Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia, and rehanging paintings in the age of #MeToo. ► ART WORK DISCUSSED John William Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs [https://www.artuk.org/discover/artworks/hylas-and-the-nymphs-206346] Raphael’sLucretia [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/337075] Sandro Botticelli's The Story of Lucretia [https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10986] Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia [https://webapps.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/explorer/index.php?oid=656] Titian's Rape of Europa [https://www.gardnermuseum.org/experience/collection/10978] Nicholas Poussin [https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/nicolas-poussin] I Modi - The Sixteen Pleasures [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Modi] ►  PARTICIPANTS Luke Syson [https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pr/fitzwilliam-museum-announces-appointment-new-director.%20]Instagram: Luke Syson Jill Burke [https://renresearch.wordpress.com]Twitter: @jill_burke Michael Savage [http://grumpyarthistorian.blogspot.com]Twitter: @GrumpyArt Fitzwilliam Museum [https://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk] Twitter: @FitzMuseum_UK ► READ MORE On the decision to temporarily remove John William Waterhouse’s Hylas and the Nymphs [http://manchesterartgallery.org/news/presenting-the-female-body-challenging-a-victorian-fantasy/] Jill Burke on The Power of Sexual Assault in Titian’s Tarquin and Lucretia [https://renresearch.wordpress.com] Prof Mary Beard on Lucretia and the politics of sexual assault [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTauOCkvxm0] ► MUSIC Signature tune: Nick Vander Black Kopal - Galaxy II [https://nickvander.bandcamp.com/track/black-kopal] A Himitsu, Track Name: "Reminisce" @ https://soundcloud.com/a-himitsu [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fsoundcloud.com%2Fa-himitsu&redir_token=IC26TurO3qC1r3duwoBsGTl5wv58MTU3MjYyNTUzMkAxNTcyNTM5MTMy&event=video_description&v=yKi1QTRSn_Y] Original upload HERE [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbhzE..] -       Official "A Himitsu" YouTube Channel HERE [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFw...] License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/... [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fcreativecommons.org%2Flicenses%2Fby%2F3.0%2Flegalcode&redir_token=IC26TurO3qC1r3duwoBsGTl5wv58MTU3MjYyNTUzMkAxNTcyNTM5MTMy&event=video_description&v=yKi1QTRSn_Y]Music promoted by NCM https://goo.gl/fh3rEJ [https://www.youtube.com/redirect?q=https%3A%2F%2Fgoo.gl%2Ffh3rEJ&redir_token=IC26TurO3qC1r3duwoBsGTl5wv58MTU3MjYyNTUzMkAxNTcyNTM5MTMy&event=video_description&v=yKi1QTRSn_Y] ►  CREDITS This episode of Behind the Scenes at the Museum was written and presented by Tiffany Jenkins, recorded by Nicky Barranger, and produced by Jac Phillimore. Twitter: @BehindtheMuseum Instagram: @BehindtheMuseum

Vera Worth's Schiaparelli

Vera Worth was a good looking shop girl from Bristol, who followed fashion with a passion. In the 1930s, after marrying John, she scrimped and saved to buy a glamorous gown fit for a film star, and wore it to an important company dinner dance. The knockout dress and its jacket were designed by flamboyant designer to the stars, Elsa Schiaparelli. Photographs of Vera in the dress (available on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @behindthemuseum) show her looking fabulous, beaming; onlookers are smiling with pleasure and in amazement. After passing her precious garment to her granddaughter, Amanda, who showed it a good time, the ensemble was put up for auction. Vera's Schiaparelli sold at Kerry Taylor’s auction house at the end of 2018. It was bought by the philanthropist Krystyna Campbell-Pretty for the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne where it is now on show, delighting audiences for decades to come. Tiffany goes behind the scenes to discover the story of Vera Worth, and her Schiaparelli dress and jacket; the backstory of a museum object on a pedestal. She  visits Kerry Taylor auctions, Vera's granddaughter, Amanda Ellis, and speaks via Skype to Katie Somerville, Senior Curator, Fashion and Textiles, at the National Gallery of Victoria. LINKS Maison Schiaparelli [https://www.schiaparelli.com/en/21-place-vendome/the-story-of-the-house/] Kerry Taylor auctions [https://kerrytaylorauctions.com] Katie Somerville and the NGV [https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/author/katie-somerville/] Visit us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @behindthemuseum to see pictures of Vera and her Schiaparelli dress.