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Left: 'Samson Slaying a
Philistine', by Giovanni
Bologna,
called Giambologna
(about 1562), made for the
herb garden
of Francesco de'
Medici in Florence, purchased
with the
assistance of the Art
Fund and now on display in the
beautifully restored Medieval &
Renaissance Galleries,
the
Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery.
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FuturePlan Phase 1
(2000-2009)
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LEVEL 0
• Tunnel Entrance, 2004
• Men's Loos, 2007
• Sackler Centre, 2008
• Ladies' Loos, 2008
• Medieval & Renaissance
Galleries, 2009
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LEVEL 1&2
• Front Steaps, 2001
• British Galleries, 2001
• The Porter Gallery, 2007
• Grand Entrance, 2003
• Photography Gallery, 2003
• Exhibition Shop, 2004
• The John Madejski Garden,
2005
• Main Shop, 2006
• The Jameel Gallery, 2006
• The Dorothy and Michael
Hintze Galleries, 2006/07
• Sackler Centre, 2008
• Arts of Thailand Display, 2008
• The Robert H. N. Ho Family
Foundation Gallery, 2009
• Medieval & Renaissance
Galleries, 2009
• Acquisitions Gallery, 2009
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LEVEL 3&4
• British Galleries, 2001
• The Whiteley Galleries, 2003
• The Edwin and Susan Davies
Galleries, 2003
• RIBA Study Room, 2004
• Architecture, 2004
• The Gilbert Bayes Gallery,
2004
• Members' Room, 2004
• The Mãrit Rausing Gallery,
2004
• The Julie and Robert
Breckman Gallery, 2004
• The Belinda Gentle Gllery,
2004
• Room 117, 2005
• The International Music and
Art Foundation Gallery, 2005
• The Whiteley Galleries, 2005
• Room 101, 2006
• The William and Judith
Bollinger Gallery, 2008
• West Room, 2008
• Theatre & Performance, 2009
• The Rosalinde and Arthur
Gilbert Galleries, 2009
• Medieval & Renaissance,
2009
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FuturePlan is radically recasting
V&A collections to evoke the
cultures from which the objects
come, bringing clarity to the
physical space of the Museum,
and re-emphasising the quality of
the original building.
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The first FuturePlan project was an elegant redesign of the entrance
steps to incorporate a ramp, enabling physical access. The latest
completed project, the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, ensured
that the stories of these great collections could be enjoyed to the full.
This year was record-breaking, with four major gallery projects opened
to critical acclaim.
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery
The first gallery for Buddhist sculpture in the UK, the Robert H. N. Ho Family
Foundation Gallery, opened on 29 April 2009. This day-lit space presents the
V&A's collection of Buddhist masterworks, which have been reassessed and
reinterpreted in the context of new findings.
Curators made some unexpected discoveries: a new reading of the Tibetan
inscription on the base of a seated Buddha revealed that the sculpture was
commissioned by the religious tutor of the Chinese Emperor Qianlong
(ruled 1736–1795). A team from the University of Chicago recently identified
two of the V&A's sculptures as originating from major Chinese Buddhist
cave-temple site in Xiangtangshan, in the
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Hebei province of China. By displaying Buddhist Sculpture from different regions
of Asia in the new gallery, we encourage comparative studies of how images were made and
how teachings travelled.
The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Galleries
One of the most important private collections ever gifted to Britain was
moved from Somerset House to the V&A. On 30 June 2009 it opened in its
new galleries at the heart of the V&A, overlooking the John Madejski Garden.
The new displays, grouped according to material, incorporate every gold box
and enamel portrait miniature, and a very high percentage of the gold and
silver, and Italian mosaics in the collection. Other pieces have been loaned to
the houses for which they were originally commissioned, including National
Trust properties Dunham Massey, Cheshire, and Belton House, Lincolnshire.
Informed by V&A research into audiences and interpretation, audio points in
the galleries complement the interpretive text and provide commentaries
on topics such as 'Arthur and
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Rosalinde Gilbert as collectors' and 'Frederick the Great's gold boxes within the collection'.
Audio points are controlled by
touch screens which incorporate hot points enabling use by visually impaired visitors. A newly commissioned film demonstrates the process
of making Florentine hardstone mosaic.
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Top: Italian mosaic and gold objects seem to float
in the new Rosalinde and
Arthur Gilbert Galleries
Bottom: Standing Buddha (450-500), a sandstone figure
from North India, on loan from
the British Museum, that
stands near the entrance of the
Robert H. N. Ho Family
Foundation Gallery
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'This reintroduction to a
stunning collection after five
years in absence is an absolute
delight. You will want to go,
and go again, many times'.
Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday
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Ceramics Galleries Phase I
The first phase of the Ceramics Galleries, opened on 18 September 2009,
plots the production and design of ceramics through time and across the
globe, from a Japanese earthenware jar of about 3000BC to a contemporary
site-specific installation 'Signs & Wonders' by Edmund de Waal (2009).
They enable 'a matchless scholarly collection to seduce a general audience'
(Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent).
For a gallery devoted to ceramic making processes, the curatorial team
undertook research in European factories such as Spode, Sèvres,
Nymphenburg and Wedgwood and travelled further afield to study and
document ceramic processes in Japan (Raku) and China (Jingdezhen).
Much research was directed towards a part-reconstruction of the studio
of celebrated 20th-century potter Dame Lucie Rie.
The galleries were designed by Stanton Williams to sit within the original
Aston Webb envelope of the Museum building. They feature a studio
for artists in residence, and a workshop where visitors can create their
own works.
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The first phase of the galleries has been funded by a lead donation from
the Headley Trust and Sir Timothy Sainsbury, together with generous
support from the Ronald and Rita McAulay Foundation, the American
Friends of the V&A through the generosity of Lydia and Manfred Gorvy
and the DCMS/Wolfson Museums and Galleries Improvement Fund.
Right: Edmund de Waal at work on his installation 'Signs & Wonders' in the dome at the centre of the Ceramics Galleries.
Below right: A central interactive display that introduces ceramic materials and processes from clay to glazes in the Ceramics Galleries, the Timothy Sainsbury Gallery.
Far right: 'Objects of Luxury - a display of masterpieces of French porcelain from the 18th century', in the temporary display space in the Ceramics Galleries.
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'flooded with light, full
of sophisticated treasures,
the v&a's
new galleries are
a revelation.'
Rachel Campbell-Johnston, The Times
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Medieval & Renaissance Galleries
The 'Stunning. Spectacular. And even awesome' Medieval & Renaissance
Galleries (Waldemar Januszczak, Sunday Times) opened on 2 December
2009, unprecedented in their interpretation of European art and design
from 300 to 1600. Each of the ten galleries is a self-contained story within
the chronology, inviting multiple visits.
The curatorial team aimed to break down divisions between the Medieval
and Renaissance periods, and bring the whole of Europe, sacred and secular,
North and South, together in the displays. The Medieval age is presented
not as murky and mysterious but, similarly to the Renaissance, imbued
with light and knowledge – a feeling reflected aesthetically and
intellectually in the spacious galleries.
The project involved over seven years' work for the Museum team and the
designers McInnes Usher McKnight Architects (MUMA). It took two years
to build at a cost of over £31.75 million. Generous individuals donated
in excess of £20 million and a grant of £9.75 million was awarded by
the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). MUMA devised a multitude of design
solutions. These include creating a gallery from previously
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unused external
space by connecting two buildings with specially designed glass beams,
and incorporating a lift to provide easy access to all levels.
The 2000 objects on display 'offer rare access to the sense of wonder' and
'satisfy appetites for physical quality and moral substance' (Stephen Bayley,
The Guardian). They range from intricate works such as the enamel casket
dedicated to St Thomas Becket (about 1180) to grand sculpture by artists
such as Donatello, and Pindar's House (1600), a large timber framed
house-front that survived the Great Fire of London.
Top right: Mark Jones with John Brown, driver of the crane which did
the heavy lifting for the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries.
Bottom right: Ceiling from Casa Maffi (about 1500) by Alessandro Pampurino, from Cremona,
Italy, and underneath Seated Virgin and Child (about 1415) by Circle of Lorenzo Ghiberti
in the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, the Robert H. Smith Gallery.
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Right:
Painted limestone figures, possibly Saint Ambrose and
Saint Gregory, Verona (about 1320-50) in the Medieval &
Renaissance Galleries, the Simon Sainsbury Gallery.
Ceramics Galleries 'Making Ceramics', featuring a display and
interactives that explain the process of designing and making
teapots, the Timothy Sainsbury Gallery.
In the background the only Italian Renaissance altarpiece
that can be seen outside Italy (altarpiece and tabernacle
about 1400, chapel about 1494'1500) in the Medieval &
Renaissance Galleries, the Paul and Jill Ruddock Gallery.
The deep purples and blues of the French stained glass set the colourtones for this dramatic gallery devoted
to Gothic Art in the Medieval & Renaissance Galleries, the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Gallery.
View down through contemporary ceramics in the McAulay Gallery, and beyond into the Grand Entrance.
Ceramics link bridge designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects
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Clockwise from top right:
The John Madejski Garden,
The world's oldest dated carpet,
The Ardabil carpet (completed in 1539-40) in the Jameel Gallery,
The Members' Room,
Plaster model of 'The Sluggard' (1885) by Frederic Lord Leighton, lent by the Royal Academy in the Dorothy and Michael Hintze Galleries,
Architecture Gallery
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What next?
FuturePlan Phase II (2010–2019) continues the momentum of FuturePlan
that has transformed the Museum into the elegant and enjoyable place
it is today. With a strategic and sequential approach, Phase II has a number
of overarching ambitions. There are plans to create better access to stored
collections, build new galleries for temporary exhibitions, open out the
existing V&A building into the public realm of Exhibition Road, and restore
some of the beautiful Victorian spaces of the Museum such as the South
Courts, which have been concealed for decades. The completion of these
major projects will create space for new galleries of priority collections
of photographs, fashion, 20th and 21st-century art and design, and Asian
pictorial art.
Work is already underway to improve access to stored collections.
The second phase of the Ceramics Galleries, the Ceramics Study Galleries
opening in June 2010, presents over 26,000 ceramic objects in dense visible
storage displays that visitors will be able to approach as an encyclopaedia
of ceramic production. There are also plans for a new centre for the study
and conservation of textiles and fashion at the V&A's London Olympia site,
Blythe House.
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This will offer an extensive resource for students, scholars
and the creative industries.
Projects complementing the main programme for FuturePlan Phase II
include the cleaning of the Museum façade. This took place during the
damp winter weather as specialist masonry restorers DBR (London) Ltd
worked carefully to remove over 100 years of dirt from the Museum's west
façade on Exhibition Road. The façade (1909) was designed by architect
Aston Webb (1849–1930) and incorporates statues of ten British craftsmen.
The 1,984 square metres of Portland stone facing and sculpture were
unveiled in April 2010, revealing the building's original radiance. This work
was generously funded by supporters including The Wolfson Foundation,
The Zochonis Charitable Trust and The Basil Samuel Charitable Trust.
Top row: The Aston Webb façade on Exhibition Road before
and after cleaning.
Middle left: Original Victorian roof structure above the South Courts - currently hidden from public view.
Middle right: Known as the Boiler House Yard - the only remaining site at the V&A which has not been developed.
Bottom: Damage in Cast Courts
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