The art historian

I’m a bit sceptical about some of the science behind all this. It’s prophecy rather than science. We had the message to ‘Stay Home’ and it scared people. Getting people out will be another matter.

My wife and I have my son and his family living with us here and our other son lives close by, so they shop for us and cook for us occasionally. We’re looked after.

I’m 81 and I have lived a good, long life. My wife and I do socially distance and we mitigate risk. Every day we take a walk, and inevitably we see friends and pass the time of day. I don’t get anxious about it. 

Scholarship and research are isolated activities, so I continue to work happily here. I can work just as easily here as I do in my office. 

I was in Washington for an opening of a John Singer Sargent exhibition I was curating there just before lockdown. Of course it has been shut down. Well, they say postponed, but you wonder whether that means shut down. That is a sadness.

I’m also publishing a book about Sargent’s portrait charcoals. Unfortunately that is on hold because the photographer cannot enter people’s homes at the moment to photograph the portraits, especially as many of them are elderly and even more hesitant about allowing people in.

The impact on the art world has been terrible. The analogy with wartime is overplayed, but during the war, museums stayed open and were a great comfort to people. Museums have been very ingenious about virtual tours and lectures but it has been financially decimating. The larger museums in London will probably be fine, but most museums in this country are heavily dependent on money at the gate. Some little museums simply won’t open again.

There will be casualties. I worry about the artists because it’s not a well paid profession, aside from the few big names. People are going to continue to see art and make art, come what may. You can never suppress the arts.