Three weeks into museum lockdown and some museums and galleries are shifting their exhibition programmes online; here’s six newly-launched initiatives we’ve been enjoying this week
The Enchanted Interior
Guildhall Art Gallery, London
Courtesy Guildhall Art Gallery
A major exhibition, sadly now behind closed doors, The Enchanted Interior originally began at The Laing in Newcastle and has now moved to the apposite environment of the Guildhall who have added some of their own Victorian artworks of women depicted in enclosed, ornate interiors. Check out the bank of in -gallery images and a filmed curator tour.
http://cityoflondon.gov.uk/enchanted
Serpentine Online
Courtesy Serpentine Gallery
The Serpentine Gallery has been an impressive online offer for some time, but right now they have upped the anti with some cool digital commissions, special broadcasts, podcasts and more.
https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-online-watch-read-listen
Cranach: Artist & Innovator
Compton Verney
Photograph Jamie Woodley. Courtesy Compton Verney
The Cranach exhibition lined up by Compton Verney promised visitors a weird and wonderful affair that paired the German Renaissance painter and printmaker’s works with contemporary works that really tease out the strangeness of his art. This online version, with lots of pics, video and background essays go some way to countering the disappointment – if things should continue as they are – of missing out.
https://www.comptonverney.org.uk/cranach-artist-innovator/
Wilhelmina Barns-Graham and the Artists of St Ives
Royal West of England Academy
Courtesy RWA
In Bristol, the Royal West of England Academy’s Wilhelmina Barnes Graham exhibition was going to be a real doozy – but this no frills zoomable display of her paintings gives you a real sense of the power of her abstract canvasses. They’ve hosted them in the online shop – just in case you want to help the gallery in these troubled times by buying a print.
https://shop.rwa.org.uk/collections/wilhelmina-barns-graham-and-the-artists-of-st-ives
The Easter Story
The National Gallery
Courtesy National Gallery
At the National Gallery they are celebrating Easter online by exploring the story of the Passion, through paintings in the Collection via this lovely online exhibition page with lots of deep links to explore the paintings further.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/the-easter-story
Andy Warhol
Tate Modern
The Tate website is a wonderful rabbit hole experience anyway but now they are releasing some virtual tours of their exhibitions, starting with the Andy Warhol blockbuster, followed by Aubrey Beardsley at Tate Britain which begins its online release on April 13.
https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/andy-warhol