This week, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, we talk about the history of black resistance in the US and how the art world can respond to this latest tragedy. As protests grow throughout the country, Margaret Carrigan, one of The Art Newspaper’s senior editors in New York, speaks to Spencer Crew, the interim director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, about the museum’s Talking About Race online portal.
Also this week, we pay tribute to Christo, who died earlier this week. With his collaborator and wife Jeanne-Claude, Christo most famously wrapped the Pont Neuf in Paris and the Reichstag in Berlin in coloured fabric. You can listen to our podcast interview with him from 2018 here.
And in the latest in our series of Lonely Works behind the doors of closed museums, Caro Howell, the director of the Foundling Museum in London, explores William Hogarth’s Portrait of Thomas Coram (1740), the painting that is the cornerstone of the Foundling’s collection—which she now hasn’t seen for months because of the coronavirus lockdown.
William Hogarth's Portrait of Thomas Coram (1740) Courtesy of the Foundling Museum
The Week in Art podcast by The Art Newspaper is available every Friday on our website and all the usual places where you find podcasts. This podcast is brought to you in association with Christie's.