Michael Savage

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@1867ben Absolutely. And the choice of experts is extraordinary - people who share a radical and broadly unpopular agenda.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

Do have a look at the whole thing and look at the 'experts' they chose. An expensive sham. https://t.co/hPTAgYhGpQ

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

The National Gallery Citzens' Jury was a cynical exercise in manufacturing support for transformational changes. An unrepresentative sample was hand-picked and given a narrow assignment. Then they were led to the answer by approved cultural entrepreneurs with no dissenting voice.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

This is even more cynical. Far more support for more public funding than in public opinion surveys. They're choosing advocates.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

They say they want to represent the UK, but this is London demography, not the UK.

[Donna Rachel - The Dissident Councillor 🕊️ @Donna_Rachel_]

You know what I really want from a national gallery? Pictures. Pictures on walls. That's it.
Maybe a little plaque next to them listing the title, artist, date, and what movement it represents.

What I don't want - and would frankly pay good money to never have to suffer through again - are 'installations' or insufferable woke lectures on how the cis-normative artist used imagery of waterlilies to impose patriarchal ideas of femininity onto unsuspecting female members of his audience, or any other similar nonsense.
@NationalGallery - just let us view the pictures in peace, for God's sake.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@SebMilbank You might be right! I'm no strategist. But I've followed the Citizens' Juries closely and I'm worried. I hope you're right that it's hysteria.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@SebMilbank Did you see the NG documentary years ago? There was a fascinating exchange between Nicholas Penny and an earnest woke curator. I think there's a lot of internal pressure and the Jury was a major intervention on that side.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@SebMilbank He's been great and I've followed closely. But a lot of colleagues would like to go woke, and their recent Citizens' Jury looks like an institutional attempt to force that agenda forward.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@AdamsArtist @cafecryptoart And it's always one-way: historic museums showing contemporary work, rarely contemporary museums showing old masters.

[Alexander Adams @AdamsArtist]

The bell tolls for National Gallery, London. Yesterday, the NG announced plans for sweeping changes. Phrases such as "taking an audience- and customercentric approach in everything we do", "removing barriers to engagement" and "reach new, more diverse visitors" will send a chill down your spine. (1/2)

[BijanOmrani @BijanOmrani]

Why did the National Trust "queer" the Ham House Chapel? I've written about this extraordinary treatment of a Christian place of worship @Telegraph in next post...

[Robert Colvile @rcolvile]

It’s not often I share an article with friends on the grounds that it is genuinely deranged, but this one vaulted over the bar.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@eliblee Me too!

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@eliblee I think economists have just been early to apply AI rigorously and they've applied it to scholarship that already appeared weak.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@eliblee Is it really especially true in economics? I have high confidence that economics will end up looking much better than other disciplines. Worst problem is probably already obvious: application of high rigour to unimportant topics.

[Adam Busiakiewicz @Adam_FineArt]

Another of the former treasures of @WarwickCastle about to leave these shores. It was sold from the castle in 2005 at Sotheby’s.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@cjsnowdon We were too poor to play for money. Still got the scars from playing for raps.

[Michael Savage @GrumpyArt]

@Aella_Girl Interesting - I'm kinda the opposite. Very high neuroticism on five factors, and I am self-conscious, but extremely comfortable talking to strangers. Supports your thesis that there's another dimension here.