Magazine Revolutionary philosophy The transformative power of Tantra Icy worlds Life in the most northerly places on earth - British Museum
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Magazine
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020
Spring/Summer 2020
Issue 96
£3.50
Revolutionary
philosophy
The transformative
power of Tantra
Icy worlds
Life in the most
northerly places
on earth
03 34 42 50
Contents Editorial
05
Artist at work
Grant Lewis celebrates
a bequest from the artist
Making an impression
Jennifer Ramkalawon
explores printmaking in
Recording exile
Isabel Seligman gives the
background to Edmund de
Insight Geoffrey Clarke 19th-century France Waal’s special installation
George Shaw contemplates
Lindow Man 36 46 52
Salamis uncovered Classifying Sloane’s Visions of greatness
07 Thomas Kiely sheds collections Sarah Vowles discusses
News fresh light on an early Alexandra Ortolja-Baird Piranesi’s drawings
excavation describes the digitisation of
08 Sir Hans Sloane’s records 54
Research news 40 Parthia versus Rome
Cleaning with lasers 49 Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis
11 Duygu Camurcuoglu and Power and grace analyses the clash between
Acquisitions Amy Drago explain a Alfred Haft reflects on two empires
revolutionary conservation designs for the 1964 Tokyo
15 technique Olympics 56
Gifts from the past First cities and frontiers
Amelia Dowler reveals Gareth Brereton considers
the story behind the the latest archaeological
Lloyd collection of coins discoveries in Iraq
16 59
Around the UK Book reviews
20 62
Across the world Special offers
22 64
Diary Curator’s choice
Neil Wilkin delves into the
24 mystery of a Bronze Age
Sacred transformations ceremonial sword
Imma Ramos gives
an overview of the
development of Tantra
28
Weathering climate
change in the Arctic
Painting of the
Amber Lincoln investigates goddess
the challenges of life in the Narodakini, Tibet,
frozen north c.1700–1900.
The British Museum: +44 (0)20 7323 8000 British Museum Friends accept Cover Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013),
Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG no responsibility for the content of Nunavut Qajanartuk (Our Beautiful
britishmuseum.org advertisements in this Magazine and Land). Lithograph and watercolour,
British Museum Friends: +44 (0)20 7323 8195 have no view on the authenticity or 1992. Reproduced with the permission
friends@britishmuseum.org legal status of any works that might be of West Baffin Eskimo Cooperative.
British Museum Magazine: +44 (0)20 7323 8125 mentioned or illustrated therein. It is the
policy of the British Museum Friends to We aim to ensure that information about
Editor: Caroline Bugler
accept antiquities advertisements only exhibitions outside the British Museum
Editorial Assistant: Jessica Lane
where we receive assurance from the is correct, but readers are advised to
Proofreader: Helen Knox
advertiser that the illustrated object is check with venues before visiting.
Advertising: Maya Champaneri: +44 (0)20 7300 5675
documented to have formed part of a
Catherine Cartwright: +44 (0)20 7300 5658
legitimate collection prior to 1970.
Photography: BM Photography and Imaging (unless stated otherwise)
Design: Tina Hall/Perfect Sky
Repro: PH Media
Printing: Precision Colour Printing
All images © 2020 The Trustees of the British Museum, unless stated otherwise
All information correct at time of going to press.
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 1
Editorial
Clarissa Farr.
Tradition and modernity
This spring sees the opening of two fascinating resourcefulness to maintain a respectful relationship
exhibitions that explore ancient traditions and ways with nature. The many different cultural groups of the
of life, and how they have evolved over the centuries. Arctic have traded and collaborated with each other
Tantra: enlightenment to revolution will take us to the for millennia. In their spirit of sharing we have invited
heart of a radical philosophy that developed in India curators and artists from the region to work with us
in the 6th century and went on to have a powerful so that visitors can look at the circumpolar region
global impact, influencing revolutionary and political through their eyes, seeing how their communities have
thought. The emphasis Tantra has always placed on adapted to climate variability in the past and how they
feminine power, social inclusivity and spiritual freedom view and address the future.
naturally made it attractive to counter-cultural I am also glad that we are sharing our ground-
movements of the 20th century and enhances its breaking research outside the walls of the Museum.
appeal to today’s audiences. Ancient Iraq: new discoveries presents the latest finds
The Citi exhibition Arctic: culture and climate will made by teams led by British Museum archaeologists
be a major exhibition on the history of the Arctic working in Iraq in an important touring exhibition
and its Indigenous Peoples. Its central theme is a that is travelling to Newcastle and Nottingham. I hope
contemporary issue that is widely debated – the impact visitors will find inspiration, challenge and enjoyment
of climate change on the people who live in this in all these exhibitions, speaking as they do to some of
northerly part of the world, which stretches over eight the most fundamental issues of our times.
countries including Canada, Greenland and Russia.
This dramatic and dynamic region has been home
to resilient communities for nearly 30,000 years, and Clarissa Farr
Indigenous Peoples have long used their creativity and Chair, British Museum Friends Advisory Council
With thanks to Amelia Dowler Grant Lewis
British Museum Getty Paper
Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis
Curator: Middle Eastern Coins
Curator: Greek Coins
our contributors Amy Drago
Project Fellow Isabel Seligman
Amber Lincoln Project Curator: Bridget Riley
Conservator: Stone, Wall Paintings
Curator: Americas Art Foundation
and Mosaics
Gareth Brereton Alexandra Ortolja-Baird George Shaw
Curator: Ancient Mesopotamia Alfred Haft Visiting Academic Artist
JTI Project Curator for Japanese
Duygu Camurcuoglu Jennifer Ramkalawon Sarah Vowles
Collections
Conservator: Ceramic and Glass Curator: Western Modern and Smirnov Family Curator of Italian
Catherine Daunt Thomas Kiely Contemporary Graphic Works and French Prints and Drawings
Hamish Parker Curator, Modern A.G. Leventis Curator for Ancient Imma Ramos Neil Wilkin
and Contemporary Art Cyprus Curator: South Asia Curator: Early Europe
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 3
Insight
George Shaw
Pan’s People 3,
2015–16.
Charcoal on paper
56 x 76 cm.
Buried lives
The unearthed remains
of a man who died
two millennia ago
have long intrigued
George Shaw
For just over half a century I have been familiarity. He could be any of Francis And yet he still manages to hold onto
haunted by the English soil, or rather what Bacon’s distorted and dismembered his humanity because he holds onto
the English soil slowly gives up or keeps 20th-century casualties that look his secrets. No amount of science or
to itself. It is this sense of the unearthed convincingly like art history dragged archaeology can take that away from
evidence of lives lived and unlived, off the walls and left to rot away in the him. To me he remains as strange and
shifting and wriggling its way into and ground. Looking at him again I see a mysterious as Avebury, Borley Rectory
out of the present tense that roots and soldier of the Somme sinking into mud. or whoever left the porn in the woods.
nourishes any imagination I may have. He could be the insides of a Dalek He remains human. And I remain
Have I ever really found anything or even those torn-up and trashed haunted.
worth finding? The odd fiver maybe. I fragments of flesh from the pages of
once found an ammonite lying on top of Knave and Penthouse that poked out of soil
dirt and leaves. It looked just left there, and tree roots in my local woods and
or most likely lost or thrown out. Soon are now returning to leaf mould. He’s
after we moved into our house the back the found ‘little child lost’. Or perhaps
garden became a graveyard to hamsters, he’s simply Christ’s unresurrected
a tortoise, a guinea pig and two cats. body, the buried evidence that there is
Over the years the back garden gave no hereafter, only a muddy grave and
up other corpses: bits of Lego, plastic a hole in the back of your head. And
soldiers, parts of dolls, building blocks, given his age he could well be those feet
marbles, spent fireworks and furry bits that walked on England’s green and
of skin that turned out to be tennis balls. pleasant land. If he had any feet.
When I saw Lindow Man for the first Lindow Man is what I’ve made up,
time in the mid-eighties or thereabouts what I’ve dug up and what I should
he looked familiar. I’d seen this bury. I feel sorry for him. If being
thoroughly disgruntled face somewhere murdered and left in a bog for 2000
before. Was he someone I was at school years isn’t bad enough he’s now buried
with, someone who went missing and in a glass box for people to gawp at or Romano-British
appeared on posters at bus stops or in ignore. Is that how any of us would like man who died
shop windows? A dodgy Crimewatch to see our ending? Looking at him now sometime between
2 BC and AD 119,
reconstruction? Maybe he used to be I remind myself that he was a living found in Lindow
big in films or TV and just faded out of man, not a metaphor or an exhibit. Moss bog.
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 5
News
More treasures unearthed Many new treasures were
unveiled when the latest Recovered
report on the Portable
Antiquities Scheme was
sculpture
presented at the Museum on
17 March. Among them
were a 1100-year-old silver
and niello brooch, unearthed
in Norfolk after a tipper
truck delivered spoil to a
new location. The brooch is The Surkh
of a rare type for this period, Kotal bull,
and is intricately decorated 2nd century AD.
with plants and animals in
the lively ‘Trewhiddle’ style.
It was so well preserved it
was initially thought to be
Victorian. Another find is a
well-used Iron Age drinking This fine sculpture was stolen from the Kabul. This object was excavated at the
set, including a 2000-year- National Museum of Afghanistan in Kabul important Kushan site of Surkh Kotal. It
old bucket adorned with in the 1990s, and was considered lost forever probably originally came from the inner part
mythical creatures and an until it was offered for sale last November by of the sanctuary of a temple which dates to
unusual humanoid face. an online auction house in this country. It the 2nd century AD, when this region of
Further finds of note include was promptly reported by the Art Loss Afghanistan was part of the Kushan empire
a Roman Britain coin Register to the Metropolitan Police Service which stretched as far as northern India. The
minted with an earlier coin (Art and Antiques Unit) and disclaimed by its sculpture is on show at the head of the East
die, making it a uncommon owner. Its provenance and stolen status was Stairs (Room 53) until 24 April.
hybrid from a period when confirmed by the British Museum and the
Britain broke away from National Museum of Afghanistan, which has
Europe, and a solid gold kindly agreed that this important sculpture be St John Simpson
Bronze Age arm ring, the placed on public display prior to its return to Curator: Middle East
type of which is so scarce we
are unable to determine
whether it is British or Irish
in origin. Conserving the colonnade
Michael Lewis Visitors to the Museum this spring will notice
Head of Portable Antiquities that the front of the building is covered in
and Treasure scaffolding while we undertake conservation
work on the iconic Greek Revival colonnade.
The copper roof, which was last repaired
after bomb damage in the Second World
War, will be replaced and the underside of the
roof along the colonnade will be restored.
The sculptures in the pediment will be
surveyed to find out whether they need any
conservation. These magnificent figures by
Sir Richard Westmacott illustrate the Progress
of Civilisation, celebrating 19th-century pride
in human achievement. The Museum will
remain open during the work and visitors Roger Fenton, The
will still be able to come in through the main British Museum,
entrance on Great Russell Street and the c.1852. The
entrance on Montague Place. We anticipate photograph was
taken shortly after
that the work will be completed the building was
in 2021. completed.
Silver and
niello brooch, Caroline Bugler
9th century. Editor, British Museum Magazine
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 7
Research News
Migration of faith
In the mid-4th century, Athanasius, bishop Athanasius himself spent his time in exile in
of Alexandria, was exiled five times by four Gaul, Italy and Upper Egypt, travelling to
emperors. The recently completed AHRC- Constantinople and through the Balkans.
funded research project, ‘Migration of Faith: His exiles ultimately ensured that the Church
Clerical Exile in Late Antiquity adopted the Nicene Creed, which defines
(AD 300–600)’ has shown that he was only global Christianity to this day.
one of hundreds of bishops banished for Some of the results of this project are
religious dissent and that this practice shaped published at https://blog.clericalexile.org/
the early Church. Individual bishops were
not the only ones affected by exile. They had Elisabeth R. O’Connell,
entourages of up to 300 people and they Byzantine World Curator and
often moved over long distances. Their Julia Hillner, Professor of Medieval
influence shaped the communities they left History, University of Sheffield
behind, those they took with them, those
they met on their journeys and those they
founded upon reaching their places of exile. Late Byzantine
steatite plaque
Rather than preventing the dissemination of depicting
teachings and doctrinal position, many of Athanasius, bishop
these exiles had the opposite effect. of Alexandria.
A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting,
Seeing the invisible
usually depicting a deity, scene or mandala.
It functions as one of the principal meditation
tools in Buddhist practice by connecting the
viewer with the iconographic imagery
associated with particular Buddhist teachings.
Despite the divine purpose of these ‘maps’
towards spiritual progress, these paintings
had mortal creators, striving to achieve
perfection using ground mineral and organic
pigments. Precise underdrawings and
annotations were often made in preparation.
Mantras were also often included in these
preparatory phases, further empowering the
painting. These details were then forever
hidden from view by the final paint layers.
As part of preparations for the Tantra:
enlightenment to revolution exhibition, specialist
imaging techniques in the department of
Scientific Research at the British Museum
were used to ‘see’ some of these invisible
details from a thangka depicting the
Mahasiddha Saraha. Details, such as the
revisions to the underdrawing, were revealed
by using infrared light to non-invasively
observe the deepest layers of the painting.
These provide a fleeting glimpse of the artist
at work and their freedom of expression and
Detail of an 18th-
century Tibetan creativity. The results have provided key
thangka depicting insights into the production and past
the Mahasiddha conservation of these sacred paintings.
Saraha (top),
and the infrared
Joanne Dyer, Colour Science: Scientific
image revealing
the underdrawing Research and Alice Derham, Conservator:
(bottom). Art on Paper, Collections Care
8 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020
The British Museum makes
Acquisitions acquisitions to extend
knowledge of different cultures
and places. These works have
recently joined the collection
Wulfric the warrior
This late Anglo-Saxon walrus have allowed the matrix to Anglo-Saxon
ivory seal matrix, one of only be worn around the neck or walrus ivory seal
matrix, c.1050.
four surviving examples in the carried by means of a cord.
world, probably dates to The seal is all that is known
about 1050. The obverse about Wulfric. His sword
shows a three-quarter bust- shows that he was a warrior,
length figure of a man who his jaunty position and
holds a sword in his right outstretched arm advertising
hand and with the other hand his intention to defend his
points towards a legend rights by warfare. Above
which reads ‘+ SIGILLVM him, the self-devouring Within a generation the world Arts, the Henry Moore
WULFRICI’, identifying him serpent handle makes clear he knew would be forever Foundation and the British
as Wulfric. The handle shows that he is a man to be taken changed by the invasion and Museum Patrons.
a mass of writhing parts seriously. Wulfric’s use of a conquest of England by
representing a single serpent seal matrix indicates that he William of Normandy. This
or monster devouring itself. was a landowner – a acquisition is supported by Lloyd de Beer
Small holes drilled into the member of the highest ranks John Rassweiler, The Ferguson Curator of Medieval
centre of the handle would of Anglo-Saxon society. Ruddock Foundation for the Britain and Europe
Meiji era prints
After three decades of in his student days, and that Katsushika Hokusai and is this triptych by Toyohara
sharing his knowledge of stayed with him through his Utagawa Hiroshige, but with Kunichika (1835–1900),
Japanese prints with the long career. The group his specialist’s knowledge showing the kabuki actor
British Museum, Tim Clark reflects the range of subjects Clark focused on areas that Onoe Kikugorō V in a play
celebrated his retirement at and techniques that were less explored at the performed during the
the end of 2019 with yet appeared in Japanese prints time he was collecting: actor summer of 1890.
another gift: the donation to during the mid- to late prints, privately commissioned
the Museum of a group of nineteenth century. This prints, and the battle prints Alfred Haft
Japanese colour woodblock period is often associated of the Meiji era (1868– JTI Project Curator for
prints that he had collected with the landscapes of 1912). His personal favourite Japanese Collections
Toyohara
Kunichika, The
kabuki actor Onoe
Kikugorō V, colour
woodblock print.
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 11
Acquisitions
Here comes the sun
In May 2018, a metal
detectorist in Shropshire
made the find of a lifetime:
cushioned by peaty soil for
Bronze Age gold
3000 years was an pendant.
astonishingly well-preserved
gold pendant decorated on all
its shimmering surfaces with
semi-circles and geometric
motifs. During this period,
the find-spot would have been
a wet, fen-like landscape. stylised setting or rising sun. Trundholm Sun Chariot from the British Museum’s
The pendant is one of the It belongs to an incredibly from Denmark and the ‘sun Research Fund is allowing us
most significant discoveries small number of precious discs’ of north-west Europe. to explore the landscape
from the Bronze Age to be objects made during the The pendant has been context and shed light on
made in Britain for more Bronze Age to celebrate the acquired by the Museum why such a precious jewel
than a century. It is religious and life-giving power thanks to a generous grant was cast into watery darkness.
two-sided, allowing it to be of the sun. They have been from the Art Fund and the
worn with either side facing found across Europe, and American Friends of the Neil Wilkin
forward. One side shows a include the famous British Museum. Money Curator: Early Europe
In peril on the sea
The Museum has recently Cecily Brown,
acquired three drawings from Untitled
(Shipwreck)
the Shipwreck series produced
2016. Gouache
by the British-born painter and watercolour.
Cecily Brown, who since the Funded by the
early 1990s has been living Rootstein Hopkins
and working in New York. Foundation
© Reproduced
She began the series of over by permission
30 works on paper, executed of the artist.
principally in watercolour, in
2016 when she came across
a reproduction of Delacroix’s
painting Christ Asleep during the
Tempest, c.1853 (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York).
Brown often draws upon the
work of earlier painters just
as Delacroix himself drew
upon the compositions of
Rembrandt. In this work she whom forlornly waves for those aboard the doomed in Brown’s retrospective at
investigates the structure of attention with a makeshift raft. While inspired by the Louisiana Museum of
Delacroix’s composition and flag amid a turbulent sea of famous art-historical Modern Art in Denmark in
the terrifying ordeal of blue watercolour wash. This precedents, the Shipwreck 2018–19. Acquired with the
Christ’s apostles in the drawing has been given by drawings seem also to echo support of the Thomas Dane
storm-tossed open boat. the artist in memory of her contemporary events: the Gallery, London, they are the
The other two Shipwreck friend, the London gallerist perilous and often tragic first works by Cecily Brown
drawings take as their Karsten Schubert. In the crossings by refugees in the to enter the British
starting point Géricault’s other drawing (generously Mediterranean in recent Museum’s collection.
monumental Raft of the funded by Guy Halamish) years. These drawings were
Medusa, 1818–19 (Louvre, the scene pulls back to show first shown at the Whitworth Stephen Coppel
Paris). One gives a close-up a passing ship on the horizon Gallery in Manchester in Curator: Modern Collection,
of clamouring figures, one of and the frantic waving of 2017–18 and then included Prints and Drawings
12 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020
Gifts from the past
Amelia Dowler The Lloyd collection of over 1700
tells the story of coins focused mainly on Greek, Punic,
and Siculo-Punic mints in Sicily and
how a father and southern Italy. When it was published
daughter created in 1933, it was described as the best
an outstanding coin in private hands. It was the largest
collection whole collection of Greek coins to
come into the British Museum since
In 1946 Jessie Lloyd donated a the 19th century. Today, coins from the
collection of Greek coins to the British bequest form a large proportion of the
Museum as a bequest in memory of Museum’s holdings in these areas.
her husband, Dr Albert Hugh Lloyd The Lloyds built up the collection
(1864–1936) and her daughter, Muriel between 1920 and 1933 by buying
Eleanor Haydon Lloyd (1893–1939), at public auctions and private sales.
who had assembled the collection. Among the most important purchases
Albert and Muriel worked together in were parts of the collection of the
Cambridge, funding their collecting renowned archaeologist Arthur Evans,
with wealth generated by Albert’s and the collection of the Marchese
business interests in the cotton industry Roberto Venturi Ginori, considered
in Manchester. Following Muriel Lloyd’s one of the most significant in Italy. The Muriel Lloyd,
arrival at Newnham College in 1913 to Lloyd collection also contained coins Newnham College
read Classics, the whole family settled from important hoards acquired during Cambridge
1913–17
in Cambridge, where Albert Lloyd the Lloyds’ travels in Italy and Sicily. (© Newnham
became a Fellow Commoner at Christ’s Among them was the Cefalù (ancient College Archives).
College and devoted his retirement to Cephaloedium) hoard buried in c.300–
numismatics and history. 290 BC, containing coins of Syracuse,
Although it was Albert who published Siculo-Punic coins and one posthumous
To find out how to support
on Greek coins in the 1920s and 1930s, coin of Alexander the Great.
the British Museum through
Muriel, as a classicist, conducted It was Muriel Lloyd’s wish that the a donation or gift in your will,
research on her father’s behalf. collection be donated to the nation. please contact the
Following her father’s death she donated However due to conditions in war-time Development Department
a collection of Greek and Etruscan vases Britain, Jessie Lloyd arranged for the at +44(0)20 7323 8933
to the Museum of Classical Archaeology collection to stay in storage and the or email development@
in Cambridge, in his memory. bequest was not announced until 1946. britishmuseum.org
Silver tetradrachm
of Agathocles of
Syracuse (317–
289 BC) from the
Cefalù hoard.
British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 15
Around the UK Around the UK
Living David Hockney, One of the largest porcelains in the Sir Large hollow
Sitting comfortably
Jungle Boy, Percival David Collection at the British blue and white
1964. Etching porcelain garden
with art
and aquatint in
Museum, a beautiful glazed blue and white seat, Jingdezhen,
black and red on garden seat dating from the Ming dynasty 1573–1620.
mould-made paper (1368–1644), is set to tour the UK in 2020 – © The Trustees
© David Hockney the first time it has been lent to an external of the British
Photo: Richard Museum, lent by
venue. It will travel to museums in
Schmidt. kind permission of
Highlights from Manchester, Newcastle and Exeter, and each the Trustees of the
Alexander Walker’s museum will situate the garden seat in a Sir Percival David
different context that relates to its collections. Foundation of
extraordinary art The garden seat was made for the court of Chinese Art.
collection are touring the Wanli Emperor (1573–1620). Crafted in
the UK and Ireland Jingdezhen, the porcelain capital of China
writes Catherine for over 1000 years, the large hollow seat
gives an invaluable insight into Chinese court
Daunt culture. It features blue dragons surrounded
by clouds, waves and a flaming jewel. Dense
patterns of leaves and flowers ornament the
sides, which are pierced with intricate rings.
The use of a dragon is significant, because in
China dragons are used as an auspicious
In 2004 the Museum received a bequest of organised to coincide with the publication of A British Museum touring motif and as a shorthand for the emperor
over 200 modern and contemporary prints a full catalogue of Alexander Walker’s exhibition Living with art: Picasso himself.
and drawings from the film critic and author bequest. The exhibition will include the to Celmins, generously supported The Spotlight Loan follows on from the
Alexander Walker (1930–2003), highlights of earliest work in the collection: a drypoint by by the Dorset Foundation in tenth anniversary of the arrival on long-term
which will tour to four venues in the UK and Picasso from 1908–9, and the most recent, memory of Harry M. Weinrebe, is loan of the Sir Percival David Collection at
Ireland from April 2020. an aquatint by the Latvian-American artist on view at Winchester Discovery the British Museum. One of the foremost A British Museum Spotlight Loan A Ming
Walker was born in Portadown, Northern Vija Celmins from 2002. The selection will Centre, from 4 April to 28 June; assemblages of Chinese ceramics in the Emperor’s seat will be on display at
Ireland but lived in London from 1960 when demonstrate the extraordinary range of the Doncaster Museum and world, the collection comprises some 1700 Manchester Museum from 7 February
he was appointed film critic for the Evening collection and explore Walker’s interest in Art Gallery, from 3 August to objects, primarily ceramics dating from the until 19 April 2020, Great North Museum:
Standard. He found great pleasure in works that show a development in style, 4 October; F.E. McWilliam Gallery Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, Hancock in Newcastle between 25 April
collecting art and living with it on his walls. technique or subject matter for an artist. Key and Studio, Northern Ireland, from spanning 1000 years. and 19 July 2020 and at the Royal Albert
Walker’s decision to leave his collection to works include study drawings by Victor 17 October to 30 January 2021; Memorial Museum, Exeter, from 25 July
the Museum was motivated largely by a Pasmore, Philip Guston and Bridget Riley, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin Jessica Harrison-Hall until 18 October 2020. Generously
desire to share this pleasure with others. and prints by David Hockney, Lucian Freud from 20 February to 30 May 2021. Curator: Chinese Ceramics, supported by the Sir Percival David
Living with art: Picasso to Celmins has been and Paula Rego. Percival David, Vietnam. Foundation of Chinese Art.
Objects Canterbury
Thomas Becket: World
Harrogate
Their safe haven: Hungarian
Oxford
Young Rembrandt
Sutton Hoo
Swords of the Kingdoms:
of the warrior regalia in the
Staffordshire Hoard may
acknowledges the
Wampanoag people who
on loan
Celebrity Healer artists in Britain from the Ashmolean Museum The Staffordshire Hoard have actually come from met the ship. Four wampum
The Beaney 1930s Until 7 June at Sutton Hoo the kingdom of East Anglia. belts from the British
15 May–27 September Mercer Art Gallery This major exhibition The National Trust, Museum will be displayed as
Emma Dunmore lists This exhibition coincides 25 April–31 August focuses on the first ten Sutton Hoo Various venues well as a specially
with the 850th anniversary It is 100 years since the years of Rembrandt’s 14 May–29 November Wampum: Stories from the commissioned new belt.
some of the British of Thomas Becket’s murder signing of the Treaty of career, revealing his British Museum objects will Shells of Native America
Museum loans on in Canterbury Cathedral. Trianon at Versailles, which remarkable metamorphosis come together with loans The Collection, Lincoln,
view across the UK Among the objects the split Hungary apart and from insecure teenager to from Birmingham Museums 4 April–17 May; Guildhall
British Museum is lending began to push artists the greatest Dutch painter Trust (Staffordshire Hoard) Art Gallery, London,
are a late medieval reliquary westwards (a process of all time. The display and Norwich Castle 25 May–4 July; SeaCity
pendant and a 1931 linocut which speeded up in 1933 ranges from the earliest Museum (East Anglian Museum, Southampton,
print, both of which depict with the rise of Nazi works he made in his native material) so that items from 11 July–23 August; The
the murder. Miracles after Germany). This exhibition Leiden to those he the Staffordshire hoard Box, Plymouth,
Becket’s murder, recorded follows seven Hungarian produced when he was on can be compared with 5 September–24 October
Cyril Power, in stained glass, led to a artists who came to Britain the brink of stardom in magnificent objects from Commemorating the 400th
Soldiers murdering
Thomas à Becket,
Europe-wide spread of and made their way as Amsterdam. Over 30 the same period. The anniversary of the Iroquois wampum
1931. Colour relics and images, making artists, craftspeople, paintings and around 90 exhibition will address the Mayflower’s voyage to belt, c.17th–18th
linocut. Becket a world celebrity. illustrators and teachers. drawings are on display. question of whether some America, this exhibition century.
16 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 17The British Museum
Across the world
Marble slab
from the
lends objects around Mausoleum at
the world. These are Halikarnasso
(see Auckland).
some of the exhibitions
currently showing the
Museum’s objects.
Listing compiled by
Caroline Bugler
Europe through their appearance in major artist of the German exhibition introduces six
cinema, television, collage, Renaissance. This mainly mummified individuals who
Aarhus paintings and prints. monographic exhibition lived in Egypt between
Bound for Disaster: aims to demonstrate the 3000 and 1800 years ago.
Pompeii and Herculaneum Paderborn rich diversity of his work, CT scanners have revealed
Moesgaard Museum Life at the Dead Sea: and his inventive use of images of human remains
Until 10 May Archaeology from the form and subject matter. and objects hidden in the
The exhibition takes visitors Holy Land mummy wrappings.
on a tour of the vibrant city LWL – Museum in der Rome
of Pompeii at its height, Kaiserpfalz Raphael Washington
when Romans lived the 8 May–11 October Scuderie del Quirinale Caravans of Gold,
high life before disaster For many years, the water Until 2 June Fragments in Time
struck the Bay of Naples in level in the Dead Sea has More than 200 Smithsonian National
AD 79, and both Pompeii dropped by an average of masterpieces, including Museum of African Art
and Herculaneum were about one metre per year. paintings, drawings and 11 April 2020–
destroyed by Vesuvius. On If this continues, the unique comparative works, have 31 December 2021
display are artefacts that salt lake between Israel, the been gathered together in West African gold once
have never previously been West Bank and Jordan this major exhibition fuelled trade and drove
shown outside Italy. could soon disappear – and devoted to Renaissance the movement of people,
with it a special natural superstar Raphael, 500 culture and religious beliefs.
Madrid phenomenon. Several years after his death in This major exhibition
Vampires. The evolution archaeological finds, some Rome at the age of just 37. addresses the scope of
of myth 12,000 years old, provide Saharan trade and the
Caixa Forum evidence of a unique culture. Zaragoza shared history of West
Until 7 June American Dream Africa, the Middle East,
From their first appearance Paris Caixa Forum North Africa and Europe
in film, vampires have Albrecht Altdorfer 15 July–18 October from the 8th to the16th
provoked and tantalised Musée du Louvre This British Museum touring century.
admirers. Visitors to this 23 April–3 August exhibition traces the creative
exhibition will get to know Albrecht Altdorfer momentum of American
these fabled monsters (c.1480–1538) was a printmaking over six Oceania
decades, from the early
1960s to artists working Auckland
today. More than 150 works Ancient Greeks: athletes,
will be on display. warriors and heroes
Auckland War Memorial
Museum
North America 3 July–18 October
Sculpture, jewellery, armour,
Toronto vases and sporting
Egyptian Mummies: Ancient paraphernalia are used to
Lives, New Discoveries investigate the theme of
Royal Ontario Museum competition in ancient
16 May–7 September Greece in this international
This international touring touring exhibition.
The Bat,
c.1922. Etching We aim to ensure that information about exhibitions outside the British Museum is
(see Madrid). correct, but readers are advised to check with venues before visiting.
20 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020Diary Exhibitions Kiliii Yuyan, Umiaq
and north wind
during spring
whaling. Inkjet
print, 2019.
©Kiliii Yuyan.
The Citi exhibition
Arctic: culture and climate
The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, Room 30
28 May–23 August
Lead supporter Citi, supported by Julie and
Stephen Fitzgerald and AKO Foundation
From 28,000-year-old mammoth ivory
jewellery to modern refitted snow mobiles,
the objects in this immersive exhibition
reveal the creativity and resourcefulness of
Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic. Developed
in collaboration with Arctic communities, it
celebrates the ingenuity and resilience of
Arctic Peoples throughout history,
demonstrating how they have harnessed
the weather and climate to thrive.
Tantra: enlightenment is psalm, a quartet of also examines the Parthian art-loving public in the
to revolution vitrines containing de legacy in the Iranian tradition Impressionist era. On
The Joseph Hotung Great Waal’s porcelain vessels. and the Persianate world. display are etchings and
Court Gallery, Room 35 lithographs that were as
23 April–26 July Rivalling Rome: Parthian French Impressions: ground-breaking as the
Supported by the Bagri coins and culture prints from Manet avant-garde paintings of
Foundation Room 69a to Cézanne the period.
A philosophy originating in Until 6 September Room 90
medieval India, Tantra has The twists and turns in the Until 9 August Piranesi drawings:
been linked to successive rivalry between the Parthian Supported by Ronald E. visions of antiquity
waves of revolutionary Empire and Rome are Bornstein Room 90
thought, from its 6th- documented in the coinage Prints were all the rage until 9 August
century transformation of of the period. This exhibition among the Parisian Supported by the Tavolozza
Hinduism and Buddhism, to Foundation
the Indian fight for The Museum’s entire
independence and the rise collection of Piranesi
of 1960s counter-culture. drawings is on display,
On display will be featuring the glories of
extraordinary objects from Roman architecture
India, Nepal, Tibet and alongside fantasy creations.
Japan.
The Asahi Shimbun Displays
Edmund de Waal: Japanese Olympics 1964
library of exile Room 3
Room 2 11 June–6 September
Until 8 September Supported by the Asahi
Supported by AKO Shimbun
Foundation Posters, medals, badges and
A library housing over 2000 photobooks produced for
volumes by writers who the 1964 Tokyo Olympics
experienced exile is housed commemorate an event that
in a specially built pavilion Figure of Kālī was a key moment in
striding over
whose external walls list the recumbent
Japan’s welcome back into
world’s lost libraries. Śiva. Painted the international community
Alongside the bookshelves and gilded clay. after the Asia-Pacific War.
22 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020Special exhibition Special exhibition
Durga defeating Chamunda, 9th
the buffalo-demon century, Madhya human ego that must be overcome. to immortality and flight. masculine forces within the body, by
Mahisha, 8th century. Pradesh, India. Although she appears fierce, she also This vision of the world as charged visualising a goddess at the base of the
Odisha, India.
conveys compassion and a desire to with feminine force informed the lives spine, surrounded by chakras or energy
assist followers on their spiritual path. of real women in India who were centres. Awakening this inner goddess
Rulers across India commissioned empowered to play important roles as through breath control became the
public temples which incorporated gurus or teachers. They were able to ultimate goal of Tantric yoga. This
Tantric goddesses as guardians. In a transcend the conventional roles of cosmic vision of the body is visualised
10th-century monumental example in womanhood – as wife, mother or lover. in paintings on loan from the British
eastern India 64 goddesses, known as A mid-18th-century Mughal painting Library and Wellcome Collection.
Yoginis, encircle the interior walls. The depicts a noblewoman who has travelled The next section of the exhibition
exhibition will feature an imaginative a great distance to visit two Tantric explores the spread of Tantra
and immersive recreation of this temple female masters to seek counsel or across Asia via pilgrimage networks.
which will transport visitors to a time initiation. Instrumental in the transmission of
when devotion to these goddesses was New techniques of Tantric yoga Tantric teachings to the Himalayas
at its height. Tantric masters sought to emphasised the importance of were the Mahasiddhas or Great
access their powers, from shapeshifting balancing and uniting feminine and Accomplished Ones. Their life stories
A woman visiting
two female Tantric
masters, c.1750,
North India,
Mughal.
Sacred transformations
Imma Ramos written as a dialogue between a god and presented a new world view which
examines the a goddess. The exhibition opens with saw all material reality as animated by
some of the earliest surviving Tantras Shakti – divine feminine power. This
origins and legacy in the world, on loan from Cambridge inspired the dramatic rise of goddess
of the revolutionary University Library. These manuscripts worship in medieval India. Tantric
philosophy of Tantra outline a variety of rituals for invoking goddesses challenged traditional models The Mahasiddha
one of the many all-powerful Tantric of womanhood as passive and docile Jalandhara, 16th
century, copper
Originating in 6th-century India, deities. The Tantras also describe rituals in their intertwining of destructive alloy, Tibet. Rubin
Tantra is a philosophy that has that transgressed existing social and and maternal power. An 8th-century Museum of Art.
been linked to successive waves of religious boundaries, such as sexual rites sculpture represents the goddess Durga,
revolutionary thought, from its early and engagement with intoxicants and a weapon-wielding, lion-riding warrior
medieval transformation of Hinduism the taboo. These rituals affirmed all who fights demons that threaten the
and Buddhism, to the Indian fight for aspects of existence as sacred, including stability of the universe.
independence and the rise of 1960s the body and the sensual, in order to In another temple sculpture the
counter-culture in the West. Tantra achieve liberation and generate power. Tantric goddess Chamunda carries a
is rooted in instructional sacred texts The first section of the exhibition sword of wisdom in one of her many
called Tantras. They take their name explores the rise of Tantra in India and, hands, with which she destroys obstacles
from the Sanskrit word ‘tan’, meaning in particular, the philosophy’s radical to enlightenment. She dances on a
‘to weave’ or ‘compose’, and are often challenge to gender norms. Tantra corpse which embodies the fragile
24 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 25Special exhibition Special exhibition
towards enlightenment, wisdom and festival, held in San Francisco, which Print depicting
the goddess
compassion. These are visualised as a heralded the summer of love in 1967. Kali, Calcutta Art
goddess (representing wisdom) and a Yoga and meditation were promoted Studio, Kolkata
god (representing compassion) in sexual as transformative practices that could (Bengal, India),
c.1885–95.
union, as we see in a Tibetan bronze, in inspire minds to challenge the status
which the goddess swings one leg over quo. Practitioners of Tantric yoga
the god’s thigh in a passionate embrace. captured the popular imagination in the
Their wild eyes and laughing, fanged West as counter-cultural role models.
mouths suggest their immense power. Today, Tantra is as alive as ever. Sects
The goal is to internalise their qualities in India, including the Aghoris, reveal
by visualising the deities uniting within its enduring power. The practices of the
the body through meditation. Aghoris include smearing their bodies
The third section of the exhibition with the ash of burnt corpses from
explores how Tantra was harnessed for funerary pyres, as seen in an image from
its insurgent potential during the fight a photographic archive documenting
for Indian independence in the late 19th different Tantric communities. This is
century. Indian revolutionaries in Bengal traditionally deemed to be polluting.
reimagined Tantric goddesses such as However, for the Aghoris, transgressive
Kali as symbols of an independent India practices are an expression of the
rising up against the British, which will Tantric assertion that all is sacred and
be reflected in newly acquired popular there is no distinction between what is
prints that circulated across India at the conventionally perceived as pure and
time and inspired anti-colonial activity. impure, just as there is no distinction
Visitors will see these alongside dramatic between the self and the divine.
sculptures of Kali wearing garlands Tantra has gone on to influence
of decapitated heads. Her mouth is modern feminist thought and artistic
smeared with blood and she sticks out practice. Female artists have harnessed
her tongue, as though thirsting for more. Tantric goddesses through the bodies
Revolutionaries effectively exploited of real women, evoking them in a
British fears and misconceptions of feminist guise. The exhibition ends with
the goddess as a bloodthirsty ‘demon dramatic works of art, including one by
mother’. In the exhibition the true the Bengal-born British artist Sutapa
meaning behind her symbolism, tied to Biswas. The title of this almost 3 m-tall
both destructive power and maternal mixed-media painting, Housewives with
Raktayamari strength, will be decoded. Steak-knives, challenges the stereotype
in union with The final part of the exhibition reveals of the submissive wife confined to the
the goddess
how Tantra has been reimagined from kitchen. Here the ‘Housewife’ as Kali
Vajravetali,
16th–17th century, the 20th century until today. In the 1970s wears a garland of heads that the artist
bronze, Tibet. South Asian artists associated with the describes as figureheads of authoritarian
neo-Tantra movement adopted Tantric patriarchy.
symbols and adapted them to speak to The exhibition will offer new insights
are filled with miraculous events century. She introduced new Tantric the visual language of global modernism. into a philosophy that has shaped lives
and they became hugely popular in practices designed to overcome the fear Many were inspired by Tantra’s and captured imaginations for more
Tibet. Jalandhara was one of the most of death and attachment to self, and engagement with social inclusivity than a millennium, charting Tantra’s
famous – an important bronze of him initiated hundreds of disciples. and spiritual freedom. Paintings by enduring potential for opening up new
performing Tantric yoga is on loan from One of the themes the exhibition the Kashmiri artist Santosh feature ways of seeing and changing the world.
the Rubin Museum in New York. He explores is the role of sex and divine androgynous figures seated in meditation.
is balancing on a personification of his union in Tantra, in order to confront In the UK and the US, Tantra had Tantra: enlightenment to revolution,
own ego, which he has transcended. some of the more prevalent stereotypes an impact on the period’s radical supported by the Bagri Foundation, is Sutapa Biswas,
Another wonderful loan from the of the philosophy as a ‘cult of ecstasy’. politics, where it was interpreted as on display in the Joseph Hotung Great Housewives with
Rubin Museum is a Tibetan painting In Tantric texts, gendered symbolism a movement that could inspire anti- Steak-knives,
Court Gallery, Room 35, from 23 April 1985, Bradford
of the renowned female Tantric master, is often used to articulate the two capitalist, ecological and free-love ideals. to 26 July. For the book accompanying Museums and
Machig Labdron, who lived in the 11th qualities to be cultivated on the path One poster advertises the Human Be-In the exhibition see page 60. Galleries.
26 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 27Special exhibition Special exhibition
Weathering
Arts cooperative
founder Sheila
Katsak and
BM curator
climate change
Amber Lincoln
work together
in Mittimatalik,
Canada, 2019.
in the Arctic
Amber Lincoln At its heart, The Citi exhibition Arctic: Highlighting Indigenous perspectives
assesses the culture and climate explores Indigenous on our rapidly changing world, this
perspectives on Arctic environments immersive exhibition will create an
achievements of Arctic and histories, and addresses the timely unparalleled opportunity to marvel
Peoples and their topic of climate change through the lens at the achievements of Arctic Peoples
resilience in the face of weather. Indigenous Arctic Peoples (their hand-crafted tools, sewn garments,
of current challenges are at the front line of global climate artwork, photography, films and stories)
change. The Arctic is warming at more while learning from their resilience. Arctic
than twice the rate of anywhere else. Peoples have lived with climate variability
Climate scientists predict that Arctic and dramatic daily and seasonal
summers will be ice-free within 80 years, weather fluctuations for 30,000 years.
raising sea levels and altering weather Through cultural adaptation, material
patterns worldwide. innovation and social collaboration
they have persevered amid intense
environmental and social disruption. But
if the Arctic is ice-free within 80 years,
what will happen to these rich ways of
life and artistic expressions centred on
the ice and cold?
The creation of this exhibition has
been a collaborative endeavour and
results from the tremendous commitment
and contributions of numerous Arctic
Peoples. Indigenous community and
research partners generously shared
their knowledge with us during research
visits to Alaska, Canada and Sweden,
Young people
and during museum documentation sewing their own
printed parkas with
Elders Nicotye
Qimirpik and Siita
Saila in 2019 in
Kinngait, NU. Left
to right, back row:
Janine Manning,
Kenojuak Kunu Pudlat, Siita
Ashevak, Nunavut Saila, Cie Taqiasuk,
Qajanartuk (Our Alexa Hatanaka,
Beautiful Land). Saaki Nuna,
Lithograph and Nicotye Qimirpik;
watercolour, 1992. front row: David
Reproduced with Pudlat, Iqaluk
the permission of Quvianaqtuliaq.
West Baffin Eskimo Photo by Patrick
Cooperative. Thompson.
28 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 29Special exhibition Special exhibition
visits with Inupiat, Sakha and Inuit world. But for Arctic Peoples who have plants and animals in summer to carry
advisors at the British Museum. This traded and exchanged ideas, materials, them through winter. Arctic cultures are
knowledge and these perspectives and livelihoods with one another for bound to the climate with community
provide invaluable content and structure millennia, it is the centre of the world. activities, ceremonies and celebrations
to the exhibition. Other types of Today, four million people live in the structured around the seasons, as Angokwazhuk (‘Happy Jack’),
collaboration take on a material form. Arctic and 400,000 are Indigenous with depicted in a painted lithograph, engraved walrus tusk, early 1900s.
Inupiat, Nome, Seward Peninsula
We have commissioned a very special ancestral ties to the region. These ties Nunavut Qajanartuk (Our beautiful land), by (Alaska, USA). Donated by The
art installation by the socially engaged predate and transcend the establishment Kenojuak Ashevak (1927–2013). Wellcome Institute for the History
art collective Embassy of Imagination. of the eight Arctic nations: Russia, USA, One of the most amazing things of Medicine.
Composed of Inuit young people from Canada, Greenland/Denmark, Norway, about the Arctic is that its Indigenous
Kinngait, Nunavut Canada and two Sweden, Finland and Iceland. There are inhabitants have made warm homes
Toronto-based artists, Alexa Hatanaka 40 different cultural groups with distinct and a hospitable homeland out of icy
and Patrick Thompson, the collective languages and dialects, many of them ecosystems. Ice is both materially and
has organised workshops in Kinngait represented in the exhibition. metaphorically foundational to life here.
and Pangnirtung, Nunavut, focusing The Arctic is often imagined as It serves as building material for roads
on local survival skills such as travelling barren and empty. Although there are and temporary shelters, and it enables
on the land and ice and sewing as well lean seasons corresponding to the dark people to travel widely, providing access
as creative practices like printmaking. winter months, these alternate with to bountiful worlds. An engraved walrus
Their artwork, Parkas, Silapaas (working periods of extraordinary abundance. tusk by Inupiat artist Angokwazhuk
title) is made from washi, a type of Summer’s continuous daylight generates (‘Happy Jack’) (1875–1918) depicts
Japanese paper that has been sewn into a phenomenal growth in sea algae, innovative transport well adapted to icy
silapaas, thin outer Inuit parkas. Each attracting migratory whales and walrus. seas. When sea ice moves in, Inupiat and Seal intestine
silapaa’s design is carved from found When the snows melt, plants spring to Inuit place their lightweight boats on parka, Yupiit,
Bristol Bay, Alaska,
objects and materials and then relief life, producing berries and greens that small sleds to reach open water where sea before 1930.
printed onto the washi. support reindeer and migratory birds. mammals and migrating birds gather. Purchased from
European perspectives often place Arctic Peoples have thrived by effectively Based on living with, observing, Mrs F. Hillyer.
the Arctic on the periphery of the harnessing the great concentrations of and telling stories about the weather
Man’s woollen,
cloth and otter
fur winter hat
(čiehkagahpir),
Sámi, Karasjok
(Norway), 1945–
55. Bequeathed by
Harry Ely.
Bone spoon,
Ust-Polui,
Salekhard (Russia)
c.1st century
BC–1st century
AD. MAE RAS
(Kunstkamera),
St Petersburg.
over generations, Arctic Peoples have Fennoscandia, was too windy for Sámi As part of these long-standing
maintained profound and reciprocal to live there. One day a noadi lulled relationships with the weather, Arctic
relationships with it. These relationships the Four Wind spirits to sleep with Peoples have developed advanced
are expressed through stories and his yoiking, traditional Sámi singing, knowledge of weather patterns, in
in clothing designs. The Sámi Four capturing them in his hat. Upon waking, order to predict and safely prepare
Winds hat represents an origin story they protested violently, pulling his for difficult conditions. Seamstresses
about an encounter between a noadi, a hat in four directions. In return for rely on particular temperature and
Sami spiritual leader, and spirits. Long their release, they agreed to take turns humidity conditions to achieve the
ago, Sápmi, the Sámi homeland of blowing, making Sápmi habitable. delicate but durable waterproof seal gut
30 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 31Special exhibition Special exhibition
that is made into waterproof parkas, period for the peoples of Siberia’s Ob
such as the Yup’ik one from Bristol river valley during Russia’s annexation of
Bay on show. Unfortunately, weather Siberia. The artist, of Cossack heritage,
patterns and sea-ice conditions are lived in Siberia and was an administrator
becoming unpredictable as a result of for the Russian state. He depicts Khanty
climate change, making generations of and Nenets, Indigenous Siberians,
such knowledge obsolete and putting procuring pelts to pay state taxes, and
travellers in danger. Knowing the the Russian Orthodox church within a
extent to which weather is woven into fortified area, aiming to convert locals.
Arctic lives is a crucial step towards A second watercolour, Samoyed Chiefs,
understanding how rapid climate highlights how Nenets leaders were
change is undermining an ancient appointed as colonial representatives,
relationship and knowledge that have securing stable trade relations and
developed over millennia. representation within the Empire.
The first Arctic Peoples settled in Today, Arctic Indigenous organisations
Siberian high latitudes at least 30,000 are leading in global climate
years ago. Since that time, the Arctic advocacy and initiatives, collaborating
has experienced several naturally transnationally, resourcefully working
occurring climate shifts, gradually with governments, scientists and
changing over thousands of years. organisations to confront the devastating
Arctic Peoples responded to these past effects of global climate change. Two
shifts in climate with resilient strategies, Arctic organisations – the Shishmaref
through adaptations, innovations and Erosion and Relocation Coalition
collaboration. Needles dating back and the Inuit Circumpolar Council,
28,000 years, from the north-east Alaska – have formally curated a section
Siberia Yana Rhinoceros site, are in this exhibition, highlighting the
some of the most important material threats to their communities of coastal
innovations for living in the Arctic erosion and food security as a result
because threaded needles created of climate change and the ways they
tailored clothing that allowed mobility in are mitigating these threats. As Twyla
extreme cold. An elk bone spoon comes Thurmond, tribal coordinator for the
from Ust Polui in north-west Russia, small community of Shishmaref Alaska
a 2000-year old settlement in which says, ‘Shishmaref, and other Alaska
different cultural groups converged on Native communities are demonstrating
the Ob River to trade and worship. In how people can stay strong and unified
the process they exchanged ideas, which in their search for answers to climate
ultimately generated a new economy. change, the most challenging problem of
The oldest evidence of reindeer herding the 21st century’. These are the resilient
comes from this site. stories presented in this exhibition. In
Moving from the deep past into the their own voices, Indigenous Arctic
more recent past of the last 300 years, we organisations are presenting both the
can trace these same resilient strategies challenges and achievements of living
as Arctic Peoples have responded to with weather and climate change.
rapid social, economic and political
change. Across the Circumpolar North,
Indigenous People have mitigated the The Citi exhibition Arctic: culture
and climate, lead supporter Citi,
challenges associated with European
supported by Julie and Stephen
exploration, colonial governments, state-
Fitzgerald and AKO Foundation,
sponsored religions and new markets by is on view in the Sainsbury
adapting, innovating and collaborating. Exhibitions Gallery, Room 30,
A watercolour painting on cotton linen Nikolai Shakhov, Drawings on
Tapestry, 1830–40. Watercolour on
from 28 May until 23 August. For
from the late 18th century by Nikolai calico, 1315 x 780 mm. MAE RAS the book that accompanies the
Shakhov (1770–1840) depicts this critical (Kunstkamera), St Petersburg. exhibition see page 60.
32 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 British Museum Magazine Spring/Summer 2020 33You can also read
