THE PEOPLE’S MUSEUM
2.5 million visits a year. And more than 40% of its visitors are overseas tourists. Such is the staggering scale of audience the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Museum commands.

Its perseverance in the espousal of enriching lives through the promotion of design — by means of more knowledge, greater understanding and deeper enjoyment — is just as impressive.

Despite the grandeur its royalty-backed name evokes, the V&A has always championed the rights of the common people, believing that art should be accessible to all. Neither art nor visitors should be exclusive — anyone and everyone can be awed and inspired by the treasure trove of breathtakingly beautiful artifacts that span 2,000 years of art in every medium, from all corners of the world.


Click on the thumbnails to view V&A Museum’s various artifacts from afar in detail.

Although international in their scope, V&A has many particularly important British works in silver, ceramics, textiles and furniture. The British Galleries endow local and global visitors with new insights into the history of Britain by bringing them closer to the thoughts and lives of the nation’s iconic figures.


Click on the thumbnails to view V&A Museum’s artifacts from The British Galleries in detail.

Academe-driven, the V&A centers its efforts on developing the use of their displays, collections and expertise as resources for learning, creativity and enjoyment by audiences within, and beyond, the United Kingdom. Since its foundation, it has been a contributing member to the museum community at large, generously sharing its collections and expertise through counsel and collaboration with international colleagues.

To coincide with the Beijing Olympics, V&A curators are working on a major exhibition. China: Design Now, due to open on 15 March 2008, will examine the recent explosion of new design in China and attempt to understand the impact of rapid economic development on architecture and design in China’s major cities. The V&A is also working with the Bureau International des Expositions (Paris) in planning a touring exhibition on the history of the Expos and publishing an accompanying book.


Click on the thumbnails to view artworks for China: Design Now exhibition in detail.

All these make it possible for the world to view V&A’s outstanding collections. In 2006, V&A exhibitions were shown in nine venues across the United Kingdom and 12 international venues, including Melbourne, Bangkok and San Francisco. The “Vivienne Westwood” exhibition alone has traveled 36,548 miles around the world since 2004 — almost 1.5 times the circumference of the Earth!

Concerted efforts are undertaken to upkeep the collection and uncover more knowledge. Research in particular, is a core activity and it contributes to the public’s understanding of the art and artifacts from the world’s many cultures. V&A’s conservation staff is known to be leading experts, and the museum has been generous in sharing the knowledge through publications like the V&A Conservation Journal as well as training and education programs. Recently, V&A staff provided professional advice and support to museums in China, India, Thailand, Russia, Azerbaijan, and several Middle Eastern countries.

The V&A also trades by means of publishing and licensing. Its publication Gothic: Art for England won The Art Newspaper/AXA Art Exhibition Award 2004. Book rights are extensively sold through V&A Enterprises, and V&A Images works with international agencies and partners.

Thus, V&A is a key exponent of UK’s creative economy, capturing the best of the past and the contemporary to shape the future of the designed world. Of course, the same is expected of its priceless collections. Recognizing that historical objects boost understanding of existing collections and might even challenge accepted understanding of a particular period, style or artist/designer’s work, the V&A takes an active lead in acquiring key heritage objects that would otherwise be exported. At the same time, it is highly responsive to the fast-paced modern world, embracing its changes in technology and design innovation — the V&A was the first museum in the world to collect photographs as art in 1856.


Click on the thumbnails to view photography artworks for A History of Photography exhibition in detail.

It also takes interest in chronicling iconic items from the pop culture of the times — in the V&A’s Theatre and Performance Collections are Elton John's spectacles, Adam Ant's jackets, the Beatles' suits and Sandie Shaw's Eurovision costume.

Perhaps photographer John Riddy says it best. “And under it’s [sic] many roofs, a collection of objects that not only attends to inspired moments of looking and seeing (in every medium), but to the time and space required to make, furnish, clothe and decorate. Just as the building itself is a silent maze adjoining two main roads, so the worlds it houses are complete and specific, slow, fast, temporary and eternal.”


THE ADVERSITIES
V&A’s origins can be traced back to the root of art and design in United Kingdom. Its illustrious 150-year-old history mirrors the struggles art and design had to go through to become such a vital part of culture today.

The genesis of the museum is said to be as complex and eventful as the building itself. In 1836, the House of Commons Select Committee concluded that Britain was not giving the arts enough encouragement. The importance of good design was not given adequate attention.

In response, the government decided to set up a network of design schools and establish “museums of art” that, unlike most other institutions in Britain at the time, would be open to public without charge. In addition to ancient art, the museums would have “the most approved modern specimens, foreign as well as domestic”.

The first school opened in London in 1837. Called the School of Design in Ornamental Art, it had a collection of plaster casts and ornamental artworks for the instruction of students.

Within a span of 14 years, the school could no longer afford space for either its students or growing collection. Entered Henry Cole and Richard Redgrave to look into the problem. They moved the collection, called the Museum of Manufactures, and the school to their first home in Marlborough House.

By 1854, the collection grew so huge that it had to be moved to new premises (its current site) in “Albertopolis”, a place originally intended to locate all Britain’s learned and artistic societies on one vast site, but the plan stagnated in the face of political hostility and indecision and left the buildings in a state of decay.

To accommodate the Museum of Manufactures, Prince Albert himself designed the house clad in corrugated iron. However, it met with vicious reaction from the architectural press — the Builder (a leading architectural journal of the day) described the structure as a “threefold monster boiler”.

First impressions last — the awful image stuck. Despite Prince Albert’s attempts to prettify the edifice, the museum’s purposeful new home became more popularly known by the nickname “Brompton Boilers” because they looked like steam boilers lying side by side.

Unfortunately, the building’s problems were not only aesthetic. The roof leaked, the drainage was poor, iron made the structure extremely hot in the summer and extremely cold in the winter, and the floors of the upper gallery were not strong enough to carry the weight of the plaster casts.


THE GATEWAY
The Sheepshanks Gallery on the other hand, feature a number of innovations, including gas lighting that allowed the museum to remain open into the evening in winter. This made it easier for the “working man” to see edifying works of art. It is the entire construction’s only saving grace, winning the museum praise in the press.

The museum was officially opened in June 1857 as the South Kensington Museum, which sounded more fashionable. As its first director, Cole described the place as “a refuge for destitute collections”. Determined that the museum should attract the widest possible audience, it was the first in the world to use gas lighting in the galleries to allow evening opening, and Cole hoped that “the evening opening of public museums may furnish a powerful antidote to the gin palace”.


Click on the thumbnails to view pictures of the old Exhibition Court in V&A in detail.

Three out of six days a week the museum opened till 10pm. Admission was free three days a week but visitors were charged 6d for entry on the other three days. Far from mercenary, the purpose of charging a fee was to keep the museum quiet for students. Although the breakdown of the audience at the time is uncertain, contemporary illustrations gave the impression that visitors hail from all classes.

Generous funding and a less competitive art market then allowed the young museum to make many important acquisitions. Its collections grew rapidly, procuring the exemplary models of metalwork, furniture, textiles and all other forms of decorative art from all periods to tell a more complete history of art and design.

The museum itself also grew with new buildings, many of which, with their ornate iron frames and breathtaking glass roofs, have survived the years and are now acknowledged as one of the finest groups of Victorian buildings in Britain.

In 1890, the British government felt that there should be proper expansion. It held a competition, won by Aston Webb by merit of design that allowed the free flow of space from one huge court to another.

In 1899, Queen Victoria laid the foundation stone of the new building designed by Webb to give the museum a grand façade and main entrance. To mark the occasion, it was christened the Victoria and Albert Museum, in memory of the enthusiastic support Prince Albert had given to its foundation.


THE SURVIVOR
As the museum began to take shape, the World War II broke out.

To keep up morale, the museum remained open to the public — in fact, it was more “open” than usual. The roofs were badly damaged by the bombs and shrapnel. Although it was hit repeatedly, it lost few objects. Many had been secreted away from London while others survived the bombs, the fires and the floods. Despite the ravages of war, the V&A and its staff soldiered on.

The museum initially closed at the end of August 1939 to move the collections to safety. But public pressure compelled its quick reopening. V&A opened its doors on 13 November 1939, but not without safety measures put into place.

Staff quickly diminished when people were drafted into the armed forces and other war work. The remaining ones were left to struggle with fire-watch duty and deal with bomb-inflicted building damages, one of which now serves “as a memorial to the enduring values of this great museum in a time of conflict.”


THE TRIBUTE
June 2007 marks a very momentous occasion for V&A: Its 150th anniversary of its opening in South Kensington.


Click on the thumbnails to view scenes of V&A celebration and contributions for the anniversary album in detail.

In celebration, V&A invited 150 leading designers, architects, photographers, fashion designers and artists to contribute a page to an anniversary album. The following list is a look at how extensive and diverse art and design disciplines have spanned.

• Richard Kindersley, Illustrator
• Troika, Creative Agency
• Tracy Emin RA, Artist
• Stephen Jones, Milliner
• Professor Rem Koolhaas, Architect
• Jason Bruges, Installation Artist
• Christopher Bailey, Design Director
• Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet
• Kaffe Fassett, Textile Designer
• Dame Vivienne Westwood DBE, RDI, Fashion Designer
• Marie-Jeanne Lecca, Theatre Designer
• Professor Sir Christopher Frayling, Social Historian
• Jacqueline Mina, Jewellery Designer
• Ronald Searle CBE, RDI, Illustrator
• Neville Brody, Graphic Designer
• Junko Mori, Metalsmith
• Neil Brownsword, Ceramicist
• Nick Knight, Photographer
• Thomas Heatherwick RDI, 3D Designer
• Paul Simmons, Interior Designer
• Angela Jarman, Glass Artist
• Sir James Dyson, Inventor

Brazilian designers Fernando and Humberto Campana joined in the tribute too. Known for their signature material, the Campana Brothers transformed the John Madejski Garden with a bamboo installation featuring a new outdoor edition of their “Vitoria Regia” seats, named in Queen Victoria’s honor and specially designed to celebrate the V&A’s 150th anniversary.


Click on the thumbnails to view the art installation by the Campana Brothers in detail.

The V&A is a rich source of ideas and stimulation to people who each have played a role in their own little way in shaping the art and design culture of United Kingdom and beyond. Each page of the commemorative album conveys, in words and images, what they find most inspiring about the V&A and its collections. In a way, this seems to express their acknowledgement and appreciation to the muse and its unwavering persistance to bring art and design to the masses.

150 facts about the V&A were also compiled for a timely tribute. It provides a glimpse of its rich history, personality and scale of the museum.

To coincide with the anniversary, new research showing the direct link between the collections of V&A and the creative industries is published, demonstrating the fact that the V&A continues to uphold its mission of serving as an educator to the working people and a source of inspiration to British designers and manufacturers. It is a noble role that contributes to the creative, cultural and economic life of Britain.


THE NEXT 150 YEARS
When he declared the highly regarded museum of art and design to be a “schoolroom for everyone”, Cole essentially and succinctly cemented the V&A’s guiding principle. The V&A does not let up on his vision, embracing even more tightly as it strides though these 150 years.

The noble face of V&A brand is still going strong after its conception 18 years ago in 1989 by the late graphic design master Alan Fletcher. Noted to be one of his signature works, Fletcher’s compelling design extends the serif of the ampersand to stand in for the bridge of the letter “A”, evocative of the museum’s aspiration to bridge the gap between people and the world of art and design and in turn, inspire designers of the future.

Crafted from the classic typeface Bodoni, the enduring logo — clearly stands for the brand’s treasured values of generosity, imagination, coherence and rigor — has transcended its era, under the care and respect bestowed by V&A. Said head of press Olivia Colling: “The logo hasn’t been redesigned since then, but we now work closely with a brand consultant to ensure consistency with how it is used — both visually and what it stands for.”

The V&A’s already extensive body of works has not stopped expanding. Recent acquisitions include Jeroen Verhoeven’s Cinderella Table and Christopher Dresser’s rare and radical teapots.


Click on the thumbnails to view artworks from various V&A exhibitions in detail.


On top of maintaining a program of profile-raising exhibitions, the V&A continues to rethink and refurbish its permanent displays, revamping the collections with a clearer layout and more imaginative, yet informative displays with state-of-the-art information technology and labeling to engage visitors.

The V&A has plotted out a blueprint that charts its directions for the next 150 years with a long-term development scheme: The V&A FuturePlan. Focusing on the buildings on the South Kensington site, FuturePlan aims to renew the 150-year-old museum and turn it into a truly 21st-century museum of art and design that will be an invaluable resource for students, educators, the creative industries and general visitors alike. Under the plan, the V&A will step into the 21st century while retaining the history and quality of the original building’s remarkable architecture.

“In addition to refurbishing the galleries we are also addressing the bigger picture/brand of the V&A,” added Colling. “We have redesigned the map, signage and recently worked with Margaret Howell to design new uniforms for all front of house staff.”


Click on the thumbnails to view artwork from refurbished galleries, new café, garden and V&A staff uniforms in detail.

Artists and designers are also doing their bit to support V&A’s next 150 years and fund its work for future generations by allowing their work to sold in V&A Prints, which offers an online selection of over 3,000 images specially chosen to reflect the richness and diversity of culture, lifestyle and art.

One has to agree with John Riddy. Long live the V&A!


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