The Art Newspaper’s annual report on museum visitor figures is out and shows that the slow build-back after the Covid-19 closures is over, and museums are back at what we might consider their “natural level”. The Week in Art’s host Ben Luke talks to the co-editor of our report, Lee Cheshire, about what that means, and who last year’s big winners and losers were.
An installation view of Morris Mania: How Britain’s greatest designer went viral with exhibits including a seat from HMS Valiant (S102), a British nuclear submarine (far left wall, centre) and a jacket worn by George Harrison (far right mannequin, featuring orange floral patterning)
Photo: Nicola Tree © William Morris Gallery, London Borough of Waltham Forest
A new exhibition at the museum in the former London home of the 19th-century designer, socialist activist and writer William Morris looks at his ubiquity in the 21st century. Our associate digital editor, Alexander Morrison, visits Morris Mania: How Britain’s greatest designer went viral and talks to the William Morris Gallery’s director Hadrian Garrard.
Henri Matisse, Margeurite (1907-8)
Photo: RMN-Grand Palais (Musée national Picasso-Paris) / René-Gabriel Ojeda
And this episode’s Work of the Week is a painting made in the winter of 1906 to 1907 by Henri Matisse. It depicts his daughter, Marguerite, and is a highlight of an exhibition at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris called Matisse and Marguerite: Through her Father’s Eyes. Ben Luke discusses the painting and its subject with Charlotte Barat-Mabille, one of the curators of the show.
- Morris Mania: How Britain’s greatest designer went viral, William Morris Gallery, London, 5 April-21 September
- Matisse and Marguerite: Through Her Father’s Eyes, Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, until 24 August 2025
