Online Curator Talk - Faberge in London : Romance to Revolution

Fascinating online lecture from the Victoria and Albert Museum looking at their new exhibition on Faberge in London.

Hanne Faurby and Kieran McCarthy, the curators of the show, led us through its layout and talked about what they were trying to achieve with it. They explained why it was divided into sections on the Russian royal family, the craft process, the opening of the London shop and its clientele and why they chose to finish with 15 of the Imperial Easter eggs. I loved McCarthy’s quote “I want people surfing on waves of enamel as they leave” and, having been since, I can confirm that I did!

I have to say watching this talk was a real help when I went as it was quite busy and hard to read the labels and commentary so I didn’t feel I needed to concentrate so much on them. It was nice to get insights into how the exhibition was put on and some of the issues they had faced including that they didn’t finish the install until an hour before the opening and the issues McCarthy had in persuading the museum to include two First World War grenades made by Faberge.

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