Secrets of the Museum - Series 2

Episode
Episode Three - Alice in Wonderland
Broadcast Info
2021 (59 mins)
Description
Inside every museum is a hidden world, and now cameras have been allowed back behind the scenes at the world-famous Victoria and Albert Museum in London. And although many of us have had to stay away over the last year, in the V&A’s workshops and storerooms, the work has continued to conserve some of the two million wonders in the museum’s collection. Only a small part of the museum’s collection is ever on display. But in this series, we go behind closed doors to explore all the treasures of art, design and performance the museum has to offer. We follow experts and conservators at work in this treasure trove of the nation’s favourite objects, as they breathe new life into fragile marvels, uncover hidden stories, and work tirelessly to keep the past alive for all of us. This week, we join curator Kate from the Theatre and Performance Department as she embarks on one of the Museum’s most ambitious exhibitions to date. Celebrating Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books, Kate wants to take visitors on a trip down the rabbit hole and into the imaginative world of Alice, to look at how the books have influenced so many other writers and artists over the last 150 years. At the heart of the exhibition Kate hopes to recreate the famous Mad Hatter’s tea party - by bringing to life director Jonathan Miller’s inventive film adaption of the book, from 1966. To help her pull off her bold plans, Kate has enlisted world-renowned theatre designer Tom Piper - the artist who filled the Tower of London with poppies to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. But turning a scene from the film into an immersive installation proves more difficult than they had bargained for. When Jonathan Miller’s family are invited for a sneak preview, curator Kate is hoping their reimagining of Miller’s Mad Hatter’s Tea Party doesn’t disappoint. Meanwhile, for print curator Gill, who has been at the museum for nearly 42 years, it’s a dream come true when they acquire a rare set of prints from one of Britain’s most celebrated artists. Lucian Freud is famed for his nudes and portraits, but his etched prints are less well known. The 143 proof prints acquired by the V&A come from the estate of his printer, Marc Balakjian, with whom Freud worked for over 25 years. The prints offer an amazing insight into Freud’s range and technique, and are works of art in themselves. In order to discover more about them, Gill visits Freud’s former studio and meets his assistant David Dawson, who explains how Freud created his etchings and worked with his printer. Then Gill meets Freud’s daughter Bella, who appears in a set of the prints and sat for him many times. Bella shares rare personal insights into how her father worked. The V&A’s fashion curator Oriole is always on the look-out for fabulous pieces to add to the museum’s collection. This time she manages to acquire not one, but two stand-out pieces. Molly Goddard is one of the new generation of British fashion designers, whose signature over-sized brightly coloured tulle dresses have become a popular choice for celebrities like Rihanna. Oriole acquires one stand-out piece and discovers the surprising inspiration behind it. During lockdown Oriole lands a second piece, a men’s colour-block cardigan that sparked an unlikely world-wide crocheting craze on social media, after the influential pop star, Harry Styles, was seen wearing the cardigan. Unable to afford the original cardigan, designed by J W Anderson, LAbased social influencer Liv Huffman decided to make her own. After posting her version on Tik Tok she received millions of views and inspired thousands of others to knit their own versions. When Oriole visits J W Anderson she discovers that rather than make more cardigans, the designer decided to release the pattern online, crashing their website several times. Now Oriole hopes to display both the original cardigan and Liv’s version in the fashion gallery, to tell the story of a global crocheting phenomenon. Over in the Textile Gallery, roof repairs mean that one of the museum’s greatest treasures must be moved. The Devonshire Hunting Tapestries are almost six hundred years old, and master-works of the weaver’s art. Their enormous size means they are hardly ever moved, but now conservator Frances needs to take them off the wall safely. But before they can be taken down, she has to check every inch to make sure these fragile textiles are stable enough to travel on loan back to their former home, Chatsworth House.
Genre
History; Culture; Art & Design

How to cite this record

The Open University, "Secrets of the Museum - Series 2". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/ou/search/index.php/prog/239659 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)