Ever since the beginning of lockdown, or at least since March 31st. when the final text was due, I have been preoccupied by completing my book about art museums, a good preoccupation since it involved detailed picture research, which is now so easy thanks to Google Images, and also liaison with Harry Pearce at Pentagram, which was a pleasure seeing the initial layouts, the design being gradually being tightened, the choice of typeface (it’s Futura) and the amount of care and thought which went into the cover. Now, I have just seen the page of Thames & Hudson’s Spring catalogue and the whole process feels real again. It shows the cover – Frank Lloyd Wright with the model of the Guggenheim and James Turrell in the 21st Museum of Contemporary Art in Kanazawa – and the layout of the pages devoted to MONA in Hobart, the West Bund Museum in Shanghai and the Louvre Abu Dhabi: enough to whet the appetite, I hope.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
It looks lovely. A good cover makes such a difference. Now that Phaidon have moved their headquarters to near the Bow flyover (Sugar House Island) I sometimes wander down there to look at the window display. It’s properly sweet shop.
I’m interested in the term art museum. When I was a kid growing up working class in London we were unusual among my peers in visiting museums. But while we would go to the museums at South Ken we would never go to art galleries. I must have been well into adulthood before going into any of the national galleries – my parents definitely regarded them as posh in the way that museums weren’t. I guess that is very different these days with the likes of Tate.
Best wishes, Joan
Dear Joan, You’ve prompted a second post. I must go and see Phaidon – a good excuse for a bicycle ride. Charles
Thank you for the preview of your book. You may be interested to know that David. Walsh has just submitted plans to the local council for an extension to MONA which will be called The House of Kiefer. I can’t give you the link to the article as it’s behind a paywall in our local,paper.
Dear Jean, I like the way the Mercury describes Anselm Kiefer as ‘an obscure German artist’. Walsh was quite inspired by visiting La Ribaute in 2007. Charles