A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A CURATOR
Dr Susanna Avery-quash, the gallery’s chief research curator, tells us what it’s like working at one of the world’s most famous art collections
What are some of the most enjoyable aspects of being senior curator at the National Gallery?
Among the joys of being a curator are getting to know intimately great works of art; working alongside and learning from expert colleagues in different departments; and feeling that one’s work, whether that concerns new acquisitions, displays and exhibitions, lectures or publications, can help shed important new light on our paintings, which, in turn, offers new ways for visitors to engage with them.
What are some of the challenges of your role?
A particular challenge is simply finding the time, amidst a busy workload of daily museum tasks and an intensive shorter-term exhibition schedule, to undertake longer-term research projects, involving meticulous investigation of the pictures themselves, secondary research conducted in libraries and archives, and conversations with peers worldwide. Another challenge is having to accept the frustrating reality that although the gallery is there to connect people with pictures, it sadly doesn’t have the capacity or resources to reach everyone all the time.
Do you have a favourite oddity among the gallery’s works of art?
I certainly have a favourite oddity from among the sculptures on the façade of the National Gallery. The architect, William Wilkins (1778–1839), had to accept a lot of compromises, to save money.
For instance, for the exterior of his new building on Trafalgar Square (opened in 1838), he had to repurpose sculptures left over from the Marble Arch, a monument intended to commemorate the Duke of Wellington’s military victory in the Napoleonic Wars. This explains why in the niches over the Getty and West entrances there are two allegorical female figures who were originally personifications of victory. Wilkins changed them, replacing the weapons and warlike attributes, including spears, with symbols of peace and art, including paint brushes, to make them appropriate to adorn the nation’s new art gallery.
Another oddity that first greets visitors inside the building is the content of one of the mosaic pavements in the vestibule, commissioned in the late 1920s/early 1930s from Russian-born artist Boris Anrep (1885-1969). It represents ‘The Pleasures of Life’ and among its unusual iconography for an art gallery of historic paintings are jokey vignettes of everyday life including a mudpie and a Christmas pudding, and scenes of popular new pastimes of the day like sea bathing and dancing the Charleston. Among the sporting scenes is one representing tennis, which recalls Anrep’s own sporting prowess: he was a very talented tennis player, even playing at Wimbledon in 1920 in the Men’s Doubles competition.
Have you personally had any unusual experiences during your work for the National Gallery?
I have had plenty of memorable and exciting experiences, such as ascending scaffolding to see Bridget Riley’s Messengers in progress or looking at technical images to detect fascinating underdrawing lying beneath the visible painted surface of a painting.
A particularly happy moment for me occurred when an album of 200 drawings came to light, the work by Elizabeth, Lady Eastlake (1809–1893), wife of the gallery’s first director, Sir Charles Eastlake. They included her sketches of places she visited abroad with her husband, as well as her pencil copies of paintings they inspected during his search to find eligible masterpieces for the national collection. I had imagined that Lady Eastlake’s sketches were lost or destroyed, so it was an extraordinary moment when I realised they were staring me in the face – and were so well preserved! The generous owner soon donated the precious album to the National Gallery so that her drawings might be reunited with her husband’s working notebooks and so that they might be accessible for others to enjoy.