The Week UK - 28.03.2020

(Nandana) #1
ARTS 31

28 March 2020 THE WEEK

Art

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alleriesandmuseums
allovertheworldhave
takenthedecisiontoclose
theirdoors,saidAnna
PurnaKambhampatyin
Timemagazine.Butthese
suddenclosuresdon’t
necessarilymeanweneed
tospendthecoming
monthsstarvedofart.Arts
institutionsofallstripes–
fromtheTateGalleriesto
SouthKorea’sNational
MuseumofModernand
ContemporaryArt–have
beencomingupwithways
tosharetheircollections
online,andmanyofthe
world’sgreatestmuseums
havealreadycreated
platformsthatallowbrowserstovirtually
exploretheirgalleriesasiftheywerethere
intheflesh. Internetuserscansee
collectionsthat “wouldotherwiserequire
aplane ride tovisit”.

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oogleArts&Culture isagoodplace
tostart, saidShane Reiner-Rothin
TheArchitect’sNewspaper.It has
partnered with2,000globalart institutions
to opentheirvirtualdoorstothepublic.
Youcan pop intothegalleries ofthe
Muséed’OrsayinParis,pausingtotakein
Manet’sLedéjeuner surl’herbe,thenhead
totheMauritshuis (above)in TheHague
for aclose look atVermeer’sGirlwitha
PearlEarring.Whileseveralmuseums on

the website donotyet offeravirtual tour
viaGoogleStreetView,they“provide the
next bestthingthroughhigh-resolution
images of their most exemplaryartwork”.

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or atruly “immersiveexperience”,
said AimeeDawsoninThe Art
Newspaper,try thevideowalk-through
of thegalle ries in SaintPetersburg’s State
Hermitage Museum(on YouTube).It’s
a“five-hour-long cinematicjourney”,
encompassing588 works of art, including
paintingsbyRaphael, Cézanne,Goya and

Michelangelo,alongsideastellarcollection
ofancientartefacts.TheMuseoNacional
Thyssen-Bornemisza,in Madrid,was
forcedto bring its blockbusterexhibition
of Rembrandt portraitsto anearlyclose,
buthassincelaunchedanimpressive
virtualtouroftheshow.Paris’s Louvre,
meanwhile, boasts lesscomprehensive
butnonetheless fascinatingtoursofthe
gallery dedicated toancientEgypt,the
restored Galeried’Apollon,as wellas
apanoramic viewof thelong-disused
moatinitsbasement–areminder that
“themostpopular museum intheworld”
was originallybuiltasafortress.

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fferingsfromAmericanmuseums
are noless enticing,saidMaria
PuenteinUSA Today.The National
Gallery ofArtin Washington DCboasts
avirtualtourfocused onVermeerand
Dutchgenrepainters,aswellasa“brief
surveyofAmericanfashionsfrom 1 740 to
1895”. TheGettymuseumsinLosAngeles
allowyouto exploremuchof theirvast
collectionbytheme,withsectionsdevoted
to medievaldepictionsofheaven and hell,
and food intheRenaissance. Similarly,
anyone“longingfor access to New York’s
museums” won’tbe disappointed,said
Sarah Cascone onArtnet.com. Amongthe
“heavyhitters”with goodvirtual access
are TheMetropolitanMuseum of Art,
MoMA,The FrickCollectionandThe
GuggenheimMuseum.Moreintriguing
still is the chance todiscover some of the
US’s moreesotericinstitutions, suchas the
National Cowboy&WesternHeritage
Museumin Oklahoma City.

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ritishmuseums arealsowellserved,
saidMaire Rose Connoron Londonist.
TheNational Gallery’s GoogleStreet
View tourtakes in some “300 Renaissance
masterpieces”, featuring “panoramic
views”of its most celebratedgalleries.
And thoughnotwithout its faults,the
British Museumwebsite isatreasuretrove
for the internet tourist,allowingvisitors to

browseexhibitsbycentury,
continentandtheme”;each
exhibitisaccompaniedby
detailedwrittenandaudio
descriptions.Andthough
ithasbeenclosedfor
renovationssince2018,
TheCourtauldGalleryis
hostingavirtualtourthat
presentsitscollectionin
“incredibledetail”,allowing
youunfetteredaccessto
worksbySeurat,vanGogh
andModigliani.

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here’snoneedtolimit
yourselftopaintings
andsculpture,saidPoppy
GreenwoodinSpectator
Life.TheV&Awebsite,for
instance,allowsvisitorstoexplorecurrent
exhibitionsincludingexplorationsof
“stylesinthe 1 8thcenturyBritishcourt”;
traditionalIndiantextiles;and asurvey of
the “detail and symbolismof clothes ofthe
emperor’scourt inChina”. Asabonus,
you get“muchcloser totheclothes andart
thanyou wouldbe allowed toinreallife”.
Elsewhere, TheBritishLibrary isto make
someof its “morehiddentreasures”
availabletoview online,said MarkBrown

in The Guardian. Amongthe highlights
willbeanumber ofhistoricantique
globes, including an 18thcentury example
that depicts Californiaas an islandand
labelsmuch of northwesternNorth
America as “unknownparts”.

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he joyofthe internet is that it letsyou
beat thecrowds, said A.J.Willingham
on CNN.Avirtual tourofFlorence’s
Uffizi–hometoMiche langel o’sDavidand
Botticelli’sTheBirth of Venus–allows
you to skip the notoriouslylongqueues,
while thewebsite ofthe NationalMuseum
of African American HistoryandCulture
in Washington DC gives “a taste ofwhat
the museum hastooffer”, from
exhibitions on slavery to Motownand
beyond. Inshort, thereis something for
everyone. Just“plan outyourdream art
touracros sthe world” andget searching.

Virtual gallery tours: art in the age of coronavirus

With most of them shuttered, art galleries have found ways to show off their work online

©T


HE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION, NEW YORK


TheMauritshuis,TheHague:popinforavirtuallookaround
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