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Cuts and controversies hogged headlines. But, despite the pandemic, there were some glittering gems
12 December 2020 • 2:00pm
Artemisia Gentileschi, Jael and Sisera, 1620 (detail)
Credit: Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
We may hanker to forget 2020, but cultural historians will be studying it for years. And, when they do, they will surely debate which moment was more important: the spring evening when Britain’s museums and galleries went dark ahead of the first national lockdown, or the summer afternoon when protesters toppled a bronze statue of an English slave trader into Bristol’s harbour.
Covid has left many institutions in a state of emergency. The brute reality is that it costs the same to open a gallery for 200 visitors as it does for 2,000 – and, with visitor numbers down by four fifths, the deficits are unsustainable. The consequences are already apparent: the loss of hundreds of jobs at Tate, the Royal Academy, the Southbank, and the National Trust. We should als