Major changes at V&A and National Gallery

Horsham Museum & Art Gallery Friend Rick Domas looks at dramatic changes at two of London’s major institutions. Rick will be giving a talk on July 30 to the Friends on the watercolour collection in Horsham museum.

Redesigned and Newly-hung Sainsbury Wing Opens at National Gallery

The National Gallery, after celebrating its 200th year anniversary in 2024, is now clearly facing the future with a comprehensive rehang of its exquisite artwork and a redesigned and reopened Sainsbury Wing.

The reopened Sainsbury galleries, which house Medieval and Renaissance art, follow a two-year, £85 million renovation designed by New York-based Selldorf Architects.

The Sainsbury Wing now serves as the primary entrance to the museum, and provides a considerably enlarged and brighter space in doing so. While architectural critics cite both good and bad aspects of the redesign, the good seems to outweigh the bad. For now. Let’s revisit this subject in a year or two.

The most controversy is around the rehang – some calling it ‘radical’, others calling it long overdue.

One critic in a review for Artnet News states the new presentation “feels both fresh and so obvious that it’s hard to imagine the collection wasn’t organized this way all along”.

Waldemar Januszczak, chief art critic for The Times, takes a dimmer view, stating “Instead of a satisfying three-course dinner, we have a tasting menu of little bits that delight, amuse and entertain in places but leave you hungry for something solid”.

Elsewhere, he writes “It works in bursts and no one can complain about the ingredients. What’s unclear is the recipe.” A man, who can turn a clever phrase, on a mission.

Founded in 1824, when the British government purchased 38 paintings from the estate of John Julius Angerstein, the rehang now displays 1000 works of art, approximately
400 more than before.

For me, an art lover/viewer and not an art historian, the architecture and rehang work. And shouldn’t we be challenged always in viewing art, even the masterpieces?

See what you think, but mind the crowds. London is nearing its peak tourist season, and seemingly everyone wants a peek into the new look National Gallery.

V&A Opens Vast New Storage Facility to Public

What do you think the first thing the directors of the V&A did after being told they had to move 250,000 objects, 350,000 library books and 1,000 archive items, out of deep storage at a grand but decrepit Edwardian building in west London? My guess is have a drink. Several. Several strong ones.

Well, they did it. On May 31, after more than a decade of planning, stress and plenty of G&Ts I’m sure, V&A East Storehouse (https://www.vam.ac.uk/east) opened to the public.

Located inside a former broadcasting centre for the London 2012 Olympics, in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, east London, East Storehouse is part gallery, part
research centre.

Most of East Storehouse’s collection will be on public display, but any item that is in storage —- all are logged on its website — can be brought out if a visitor wants to see it and has
booked online before their visit.

Ring fetish? You have 1,118 to fetish through. Like T-shirts? There are 361 in the collection. Have a thing for puppets? Select from among 896 puppets available for viewing.

The new “order an object” service is available online at www.vam.ac.uk/info/order-an-object.

The purpose-built space, designed by Diller Scofidio+Renfro, benefited from £63 million provided by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport towards the redevelopment of the site and the resettlement of the museum’s stores from its former storage facility, Blythe House, in Kensington.

It will be free to visit every day of the year except Christmas Day and Boxing Day.