It is enjoyable and reassuring to hear the voices of old friends who are not currently part of our immediate world. The NGV is doing a remarkable job of keeping us connected with not only works in the collection, but also with curators – both present and past – who have provided us with countless hours of education and enjoyment. In short but illuminating ‘grabs’, you can watch and listen to Ted Gott talk about Elizabeth Thompson’s ‘The 28th Regiment at Quatre Bras‘ or Elena Taylor discuss Grace Cossington Smith or Russell Drysdale amongst others. Every day, the NGV is adding to its website and, as well as short videos, there are curatorial interviews, informative essays and virtual tours of exhibitions and gallery spaces.
Yesterday’s discussion of the contemporary relevance of Edward Hopper’s paintings reminded me that works like Drysdale’s ‘The Rabbiters’ could also resonate with our current situation: alien world, uncertainty and danger, suspicion of others, what direction to take, but also optimism based on past experience that the unknown can be conquered and we will survive – are a few of the potential feelings and meanings that this painting could evoke in an audience today. It would be interesting to hear other’s thoughts on how the NGV collection might be experienced at the moment.
Stepping outside the NGV, Wendy Saunders has directed me to two sites that are worth considering. The first is from an article in The Guardian – ‘Be your own Italian masterpiece: how people are recreating classic artworks in coronavirus quarantine’. This relates to a whimsical ‘challenge’ from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles to recreate famous artworks using three household objects. (The Getty also has a range of videos, podcasts and curatorial discussions that are an excellent resource for guides: https://www.getty.edu/art/). But examples from the ‘challenge’ include:
In a similar quirky vein, look out for the new television program featuring Turner Prize winning artist Grayson Perry who will teach viewers self-isolating at home how to make art. The new show, titled “Grayson’s Art Club,” is part of the recently announced creative programming being developed by the U.K.’s Channel 4 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wendy’s second suggestion is the blog that David Walsh is writing on the MONA website. As you would expect, he uses MONA as a springboard to discuss a range of contentious issues that are health-related and political: https://mona.net.au/blog/2020/03/covid-19-diary – not the usual fare we are receiving from art institutions.
Finally, Luise Huck has been exploring the resources at the Frick Collection in New York. Once again there is a smorgasbord of possibilities including: virtual tours, online hour long lectures (with topics ranging from Tiepolo to Manet to clothing in renaissance painting) and even a virtual book club discussion of Ali Smith’s novel ‘How to be both’: https://www.frick.org/
So many possibilities ….