Secrets of the Museum - Series 2

Episode
Episode Six - Painting: The Great Renunciation of the Buddha
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, curators Brendan and Kristian want to capture the nation’s surprising artistic response to the pandemic - in the form of the rainbows drawn by children and posted in their windows, often with messages of support for key workers and the NHS. Brendan and Kristian hope to display more than 100 of these rainbows in a special exhibition. But before they can go on show, some require urgent TLC. That job falls to paper conservator Chris, who’s more used to working with Old Masters than children’s drawings. For Chris this is the first time he’s worked on an exhibition with so much glitter, and he’s concerned that once he’s conserved the rainbows he will need to check the Rembrandts carefully before they get framed up again. In the gallery showcasing the various forms of the Buddha’s image in Asia are works of art spanning almost 2,000 years. The V&A have acquired a new painting for the gallery, but when and by whom it was painted is a mystery. This unusual work is known as the Great Renunciation, and shows a scene from the life of the Buddha, when he first renounces the material world. All that’s known about the painting is that it was bought by an English collector in Thailand during the 1950s. Dating the painting will allow curator Nick to place the picture accurately in the long history of representations of the Buddha. However, when conservators Anne and Nicola remove the frame, there are no clues on the back, as they had hoped. To find out more, Anne takes samples of the painting to the V&A science labs, where conservator Lucia detects something she has never seen in her life before. As the team gather to discuss their findings they hope their detective work will finally solve the mystery of Buddhist painting. In 2014 V&A was gifted the Wedgwood Collection, near Stoke on Trent. The collection comprises more than 100,000 ceramics, works of art, photographs and manuscripts. Begun by the Wedgwood family in the eighteenth century, the collection now forms a potted history of ceramics in the UK. There is one object Catrin is especially keen to share online - the Portland Vase. Pioneering eighteenth-century potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood described himself as "vase-maker general to the universe", and to prove it, he set about making the piece now known as the Portland Vase. Made in 1790 from Wedgwood’s signature Jasperware clay, and decorated with what may be a scene from Greek mythology in white reliefs, the Portland Vase is in fact a clay copy of a Roman glass vase from 25AD. Wedgwood spent nearly five years perfecting the vase, experimenting obsessively before he was happy with his replica of the Roman original. Now, after weeks delving into the archive, Catrin and her team are uncovering the many trial runs Wedgwood and his team made on the road to the final version. With Catrin’s research complete, a 3D digital copy of the finished vase is created so Wedgwood’s masterpiece can be seen online. In 2019, before theatres had to close their doors, curator Kate met the team behind the National Theatre’s production of ‘Follies’ - an awardwinning revival of Stephen Sondheim’s famous musical from 1971. In the piece, set in a crumbling Broadway theatre, a group of showgirls meet up for a reunion, before ghosts of their past appear in elaborate costumes, playing out the stories of their former lives. Curator Kate wants to capture a piece of theatrical history by acquiring several costumes from the show for the permanent collection. The costumes span a period from 1918 through to the 1970s, and were created by designer Vicki Mortimer. But only one can go on display, and Kate has her eye on the outfit worn by the character of Solange. Solange’s ensemble, with its extraordinary feathered head-dress, represents the epitome of the showgirl, as first made famous at the Folies Bergere in Paris. Designer Vicki has been invited to see the costume go on display, but neither she nor curator Kate could have imagined that when it went on show theatres themselves would be closed by the pandemic. When the stunning outfit is finally revealed, it’s an emotional moment for Vicki and Kate.
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/239764 (Accessed 10 Jan 2025)