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maxwell museums

@maxwellmuseums.bsky.social

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🟦 🚨 news + views from museums, galleries, art, exhibitions | creator of maxwell museums newsletter 📩 | + 🟨 PR at the Design Museum (own views) 🔗 https://maxwellmuseums.substack.com/

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Nov 14

🟦 i’ve been writing my museums and art newsletter for over SIX years

it was named as one of the world’s best by the Observer newspaper (i was stoked!). this year it's been featured on BBC News too

4,500+ readers trust me to keep them in-the-know!

you can join them! sign up — for FREE — here 👇

maxwell museums | Substack

News, views and interviews from the world of museums, galleries, heritage and art | One of the world's "33 best Substack newsletters" according to the Observer newspaper. Click to read maxwell museums...

maxwellmuseums.substack.com

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 2d

awful news, and sadly a growing trend it feels

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 2d

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | a raid at a national museum in Wales has seen ancient gold stolen

police are investigating a burglary at St Fagans National Museum of History, Cardiff

they believe "two suspects forced entry... where several items, including Bronze Age gold jewellery, have been stolen"

St Fagans: Bronze Age gold jewellery stolen from musuem

Police are investigating a burglary at St Fagans museum in the early hours of Monday morning.

www.bbc.co.uk

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 16d

in our chat, me and Chila discuss her just-unveiled new sculpture at Perth Art Gallery, the legacy of her pandemic-era Tate Britain installation five years on, plus loads more

subscribers will get sent the in-depth interview this Wednesday. if you're not one, sign up — for FREE — here! ⬇️

maxwell museums | Substack

maxwellmuseums.substack.com

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 16d

🟦 i've interviewed the brilliant ✨ Chila Kumari Singh Burman!✨

yes, the next interview to run in my newsletter is with the fantastic internationally-acclaimed artist, who is known for her striking neon sculptures

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Reposted by maxwell museums

Exeter City Council @exetercouncil.bsky.social · 28d

Detectives are appealing for information and witnesses after a burglary at the @rammuseum.bsky.social in Exeter.

Anyone who has information, or footage that may assist is asked to contact police on 101 or via our website quoting log 64 of 10/09/25.

More: news.exeter.gov.uk/break-in-at-...

Collage of three antique pocket watches against a black background. Left: A gold-cased pocket watch with Roman numerals and no subdials. Center: A silver-cased pocket watch with the front cover open, revealing two subdials and Roman numerals. Right: Back view of a silver pocket watch with its lid open, showing an engraved dedication to “Sapper K. Friend” for service in South Africa, dated 1900–1.

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

that as you say, are very much yet to be agreed!

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

hmmm very true! very deliberately NOT saying acquisition. and re-reading the NYT interview, deliberately says acquisitions isn't the only way. perhaps it will just be a set of long-term loans (from Tate!).

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

Maria B had a quote in the release. Perhaps the logistics still to be ironed out but spirit must be agreed in principle to let it go out?

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

the new space is needed as no longer will the National Gallery limit itself to works created before 1900, as was informally agreed with Tate in 1996

the two institutions have now reached a new landmark agreement on how to expand Britain's national collection together 🖼️

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

🏛️ a global competition to design a new wing will be launched tomorrow

the project — expected to cost £400m — has already secured £375m in donations, including two single £150m gifts

these are some of the biggest donations ever given to an art museum anywhere in the world

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · 29d

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | the National Gallery announces a MAJOR expansion and two of the largest single donations ever received by a museum

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Sep 6

🟦 NEWS | Barbara Hepworth’s lifelong fascination with colour — a little-known aspect of her work — will be the subject of a new exhibition in London next year

Barbara Hepworth’s radical use of colour is finally getting its own exhibition

A landmark Hepworth exhibition will lead the Courtauld's 2026 exhibition programme

www.maxwellmuseums.com

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Sep 4

ooo that's interesting anniversary! thanks for getting it on my radar!

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Sep 4

i can't wait to visit!

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Sep 4

such a fab idea for a piece!

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Sep 3

🙏🙏🙏

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 21

🟦 art is ruined by art-speak

“liminal”? “ontological”? why can’t the art world discover the art of speaking clearly?

that’s the question asked by today's guest-writer in my newsletter

@londonartcritic.bsky.social Tabish Khan dives into why the language in galleries leaves him scratching his head

Art is ruined by art-speak

OPINION: Why can’t the art world communicate normally?

maxwellmuseums.substack.com

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Reposted by maxwell museums

Brian Stelter @brianstelter.bsky.social · Aug 20

Today's Reliable Sources lead: Trump's "chilling effects" are coming for museums, and historians are responding by defending what they do >>> cnn.it/4oKVrcu

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 13

nice plug in the London Standard this morning!

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 7

ha you're welcome! it was a story very much in my wheelhouse so i was always looking out for the official announcement

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 6

the acquisition and display announcement comes *checks notes* a full NINE-MONTHS after the news was first broken by @jim.londoncentric.media

which i think proves that London Centric is a bona fide scoop machine!!

maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 6

🟦 NEWS 🚨| Banksy’s Croydon rat artwork has been acquired by the London Transport Museum — and it's gone on display today

it's not been seen in over 5 years since its removal from its original location

featuring a mouse with a clock, it was stencilled on a TfL-owned control box in Croydon in 2019

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 4

🟦 BREAKING NEWS 🚨 | The future of The National Gallery will be decided by an assembly of British citizens chosen by lottery in a landmark new governance project.

For the first time, a national Citizens’ Assembly — from all four nations — will be established by a UK museum or gallery.

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Aug 3

🟦 A bitter public row has erupted between the Freud Museum and its Friends group in London.

It’s seen the museum forced to report itself to the UK’s charity regulator only to be told it has no case to answer.

📩 It’s the most-clicked story in my weekly museum and art news Substack newsletter

Bitter row at Freud Museum

Museum reports itself to the UK regulator

maxwellmuseums.substack.com

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maxwell museums @maxwellmuseums.bsky.social · Jul 25

🟦 NEWS 🚨 | Tate Modern announces it will stay open until 9pm every Friday and Saturday

it cites the success of their monthly curated Tate Lates events as reason for change

BUT the galley used to stay open until 10pm those same nights pre covid!

so actually not new at all — and shorter hours 🤷🏼‍♂️

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