CultureFacing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900 - Tracy Jones <[email protected]>, Journalist
18.09.2013 It takes a large team of highly skilled people to mount such landmark shows and Bulletin was given a unique, behind-the-scenes opportunity to speak to some of the key National Gallery staff involved in ensuring "Vienna" opens on 9 October 2013 exactly as planned. [image: Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900] x7854 Egon Schiele (1890 ˗ 1918) Self Portrait with Hunched and Bared Shoulder, 1912 Oil on wood 42.2 x 33.9 cm © Leopold Museum, Vienna Jo Kent – Exhibition Organiser "When the decision is taken to put on an exhibition, it is then given a time slot in the National Gallery schedule before being handed over to me, to assemble a team of relevant people and work out a plan to make it happen. With Vienna, this started three years ago. [image: Jo Kent] Jo Kent - zoom<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/09/en/facing-the-modern-the-portrait-in-vienna-1900/_jcr_content/articleContent/articleinsertcontain/clusters/articleimagezoomelem.zoom.html> I am basically like the hub of a wheel for an exhibition in that I bring everyone together – liaising with all the various departments and making sure people have the information they need, arrange meetings and just make sure that things are moving along, decisions made and deadlines are met and, of course, the budget is on track. One of the first things I do is to create a timeline with milestones to refer to as we go along. My first job is sending out loan requests to all the people we want to borrow works from; either other galleries and museums, or perhaps private individuals. I write a letter describing the concept of the exhibition and the relevant dates, and then the curator supplies a paragraph explaining why it is so important to the show for their work to be included. See also: - National Gallery: Exploring Viennese Portraiture<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/07/en/the-national-gallery-exploring-viennese-portraiture.html> The Saint of Abstraction<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/09/en/the-saint-of-abstraction.html> All the works are entered on a database, so we can provide accurate lists of what is going to be included in the show for everyone involved to work from, and so I can keep track of the loan status – a first 'no', might not necessarily be a definite 'no' and so we can try and persuade them! During the installation process I am responsible for the general set-up, not just ensuring the works get on the walls but also getting the lighting done, having the floors cleaned, making sure the Gallery Assistants' chairs are in the right position, that the shop is set up and all the other little things that ensure everything is perfect and ready for the opening night. With Vienna everything has gone very smoothly. When you have been working on a show for three years and it gets to the point we are at now – when I am finally going to get to see these paintings 'in the flesh' in the exhibition space – it is really exciting." Stephen Dunn – Exhibition Registrar "An Exhibition Registrar is the logistical co-ordinator of the exhibition; the middle-man between the exhibition curator who conceives the shows and the lenders (private or institutional) who lend their works to the show. So when Jo tells me a loan is finally agreed, that is when my job kicks in. [image: Stephen Dunn] Stephen Dunn - zoom<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/09/en/facing-the-modern-the-portrait-in-vienna-1900/_jcr_content/articleContent/articleinsertcontain_0/clusters/articleimagezoomelem.zoom.html> The first thing I will receive is the loan agreement contract, with a set of conditions attached. Lenders are usually concerned about security (both in transit and the gallery itself), lighting levels and the environment. Sometimes there are other special conditions, such as covering up the loans at night to restrict exposure to the emergency lighting. We also need to make certain the loan is properly covered whilst at the National Gallery and we often use the Government Indemnity Scheme, which is identical to commercial insurance but does not cost us anything, as the UK Government underwrites the loan. However there are some lenders who insist on commercial insurance, so there is a bit of a negotiating to be done there in order for us to try and save the public purse. Once all the administration is in place, we then turn to the logistical planning of how we are going to get all the works, which can come from lenders anywhere in the world, to the National Gallery in the most economical way within a two-week window. One of the biggest expenses in any show is the transport budget, as there are very high spec' requirements for the vehicles we use – air-tight, temperature controlled and with the appropriate number of drivers, plus all the necessary security requirements. Obviously we try to consolidate as many loans as possible to cut unnecessary expense. A big part of my role is when the works arrive. They often come with their owner or someone from the lending institution to supervise unpacking, condition-check it and agree with me that it is in the same state that it left its home in. Next, I liaise with the owner or lender to oversee the work being hung on the wall. At the National Gallery, unlike many other galleries, we do a 'paper hang' first. This means pieces of paper, the exact size of the frames, are put on the walls to make it easier when we are hanging an exhibition. I work closely with our design department to ensure the specifications lenders want, in terms of showcases and so on, are done to their satisfaction. We have an interesting challenge with Vienna in that there is one work, by Gerstl, which is being shown both front and back. However, the back is upside down, so this means the frame has got to be removed. It is actually quite a complicated conservation process to do something that is ostensibly very simple, as we have to think about things like stopping dust getting in. When people visit an exhibition they probably never think about the complexity of how the objects actually got there and what has to be considered for their safe-keeping." Mark Slattery – Senior Art Handling Technician "Works tend to come in shipments and are timed to coincide with the installation schedule – so, up to three to five days in advance of being hung. The first tranche of works will go into the exhibition space in their crates and wait there until we are ready. [image: Mark Slattery on Picture Trolley (c) National Gallery, London] Mark Slattery on Picture Trolley (c) National Gallery, London - zoom<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/09/en/facing-the-modern-the-portrait-in-vienna-1900/_jcr_content/articleContent/articleinsertcontain_1/clusters/articleimagezoomelem.zoom.html> Day One is the paper hang. On Day Two we normally like to get going with something straightforward and simple, so we can fly through the first half-dozen works before lunchtime and get them up on the wall. Then we'll start looking at some of the more ambitious things. For Vienna – which is mainly portrait paintings of small to medium size – it will take, on average, three people to put a painting up. Two to control the picture and another to move equipment around, tie things on and off – basically do everything else the two people who are holding on to the picture cannot do safely. The key piece of equipment we will be relying on for Vienna is a trolley. This is not a common or garden trolley though and certainly nothing like those you'd find in a supermarket. A picture trolley allows paintings to be kept safely off the floor and enable us to wheel them round the space effortlessly. We also have a wonderful device we call the stacker trolley that is fitted with a hydraulic lift. This removes the need for us to lift things up manually and enables us to position pictures at a variety of possible heights – it can be quite difficult to image how things are going to look when everything is in place, even with a paper hang, so we'll use the stacker trolley and jack the work up to the required height and then walk away for the curator to consider at their leisure. In the bad old days we used to have to hold the paintings above our heads or while balancing on step-ladders, and they are really quite heavy! The death mask of Beethoven is something I am really looking forward to seeing. It should be easy to install as it is sitting on a backboard, and so will go on the wall rather like a painting and is not too heavy. There is an interesting design for Vienna, as the central room of the show has a free-standing wall which allows the visitors to view works on both sides of it. That might throw up one or two problems, but nothing we cannot deal with." Jan Green – Catalogue Publisher & Suzanne Bosman – Senior Picture Researcher, National Gallery Company *Jan* – "My role is to decide on the publication that will sit alongside an exhibition and then make it happen in time for the show to open." [image: Suzanne Bosman and Jan Green] Suzanne Bosman and Jan Green - zoom<https://www.credit-suisse.com/publications/one-articles/news-and-expertise/2013/09/en/facing-the-modern-the-portrait-in-vienna-1900/_jcr_content/articleContent/articleinsertcontain_2/clusters/articleimagezoomelem.zoom.html> *Suzanne* – "I source of images for the exhibition catalogue from all the different lenders to an exhibition, plus oversee their use in all the various press and marketing materials (ie: posters, banners, invitations, etc)." *Jan* – "Everything starts with a meeting with the Curator, to find out what the concept of the show is. From that discussion I will be able to get a picture of what the publishing potential is. I find myself asking: 'Are there already books on this subject, is there exciting new research to report on, what sort of audience numbers we are expecting, what else is happening in London at the same time?' Our ultimate aim is for serious content presented in an accessible way that appeals to both a scholarly and wider audience. We started working on the Vienna catalogue around two years ago." *Suzanne* – "I get the list of hoped-for loans so I can start contacting the lenders. There are a large number of private lenders for Vienna, which is great as it means we are getting to showcase a lot of works that don't often get to see the light of day. As catalogues have a very long lead time we are always under pressure to get this done as swiftly as possible, which can throw up all sorts of complications – such as loans not being agreed until late or, such in the case of Vienna, some of the artists have not been dead for more than seventy years, meaning they are still in copyright and this adds an extra layer of administration to be dealt with. For the Facing the Modern catalogue we found that we needed to put more context in, visually, about the Vienna of that period. So photographs of the cafes, streets, buildings show the era of which the portraits are a reflection." *Jan* – "Our cover image needs to be decided early. For Vienna this was tricky, as many of the works selected for the show are not typically Viennese of the period. The Egon Schiele we have coming (Self Portrait with Hunched and Bared Shoulder) is very striking, quite small in reality and not one of the more famous ones but it is unmistakably him. We think it will make people stop in their tracks on the Tube!" -- -- NIFTYVIEWS.COM NOW A FREE OPEN SOURCE WEBSITE. http://www.niftyviews.com/ Disclaimer :- "The opinions expressed by the members on this board are based on their individual experience and perceptions and to share information with other members with the best of intentions to help fellow members in investment decisions as equity investment is a risky venture.The administrator of www.Niftyviews.com just provide a platform for the authors to express their opinion and take no gurantee for the genuineness of the same." --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TEAM STOCKRESEARCHERS" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
