In this episode, guest Dr Xavier Bray, director of the Wallace Collection, describes the surprise hit exhibition in London in 2000: Seeing Salvation, Image of Christ, at the National Gallery. He shares his memories of being an assistant (and ve

S1:E4 Beaton Portraits, 1968

May 31st, 2024 46m 57s

In this episode, guest Susanna Brown explains why the Cecil Beaton show of 1968 was groundbreaking, both for photography as an art, as well as for the National Portrait Gallery. Both its content and its design changed the museum, exhibitions, a

S1: E3 54-64 Painting and Sculpture of a Decade

Apr 30th, 2024 23m 8s

Malika Browne talks to former art critic Ian Dunlop about the landmark art show for Swinging London at the Tate, in 1964 for which the museum's Duveen Galleries were turned into a claustrophobic labyrinth of new art from America and Europe, put

S1:E2 The Destruction of the Country House Show, 1974

Apr 30th, 2024 39m 45s

In this episode, guest Sir Simon Jenkins explains how a simple yet powerful exhibition of black and white photographs shamed and shocked the government and the public, and brought about a change in policy towards country houses.Further Reading:

S1: E1 Bacon in Moscow, 1988

Apr 30th, 2024 40m 12s

Malika Browne talks to James Birch about Francis Bacon's exhibition at the Union of Artists in Moscow in 1988, the first by a foreign artist in the USSR since 1917. Why did Francis Bacon agree to it? How hard was it to organise a Western art sh