AFTER JOINING A CHORUS of museums around the world that closed temporarily in mid-March to contain the spread of COVID-19, the Tate in London announced its reopening plans. All four Tate galleries are opening to the public July 27.
The pause in operations resulted in a shift in exhibition schedules and six-month delays for two highly anticipated solo exhibitions featuring Black artists—surveys of British artist Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and South African photographer Zanele Muholi.
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “No Need of Speech,” 2018 (oil on canvas).| Carnegiie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist. Photo by Bryan Conley
The Tate is returning with a modified visiting policy announced yesterday. Timed tickets ordered in advance online will be required for Tate Modern, Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, and Tate St. Ives. The new measures apply to all visitors, including members, and are being undertaken to manage attendance and enable museum goers to maintain a safe distance from one another.
Additional precautions are being put in place. The galleries are introducing one-way routes, protective shields at desks and registers, and use of card and contactless payments only. Hand sanitizer will be widely available.
A Tate spokesperson said she was unable to confirm whether visitors would be required to wear masks and that “full visiting information and advice will be published next week when tickets are made available.”
Last week, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said museums could reopen beginning July 4. Tate’s new protocols are in accordance with the guidelines provided by the British government. News of Tate’s plans follow an announcement from The National Gallery that it will be the first major London museum to reopen on July 8.
Emerging from a four-month closure, Tate has adjusted visitor guidelines and its programming. Some shows on display in the spring that were cut short by the shutdown have been extended. Others, with planned openings in May, have been pushed back to the fall.
Major exhibitions on view when Tate galleries open at the end of this month include Kara Walker‘s Hyundai Commission “Fons Americanus” at Tate Modern and artist and filmmaker Steve McQueen’s “Year 3” installation at Tate Britain. Both shows have been extended. Walker’s monumental fountain was scheduled to conclude April 5 and now the sculpture will continue through Nov. 8. “Year 3” was originally expected to close on May 3 and is remaining on view until Jan. 31, 2021.
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Julile I, Parktown, Johannesburg,” 2016 (gelatin silver print on paper, 660 x 1000 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
At Tate Modern, “Zanele Muholi,” a forthcoming career-spanning solo exhibition will explore Muholi’s work as a self-described visual activist. Originally scheduled run from April 29-Oct. 18, the show would have come and gone before its new debut date on Nov. 5:
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Visual activist Zanele Muholi (b.1972) came to prominence with photographs that told the stories of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and intersex lives in South Africa. This exhibition will present the full breadth of Muholi’s career to date, bringing together works which challenge dominant ideologies and present the experiences of human beings bravely existing in the face of prejudice, intolerance and often violence.
Meanwhile, “Lynette Yiadom-Boakye: Fly in League with the Night,” Tate Britain’s presentation of figurative painter Yiadom-Boakye was expected to conclude this summer. The initial schedule (May 19-Aug. 31) has been scrapped and now the show will open Nov. 18:
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Lynette Yiadom-Boakye (b.1977) is a British artist and writer acclaimed for her enigmatic portraits of figures drawn from found images and her own imagination. This exhibition will bring together around 80 paintings and works on paper in the most extensive survey of the artist’s career to date. Both familiar and mysterious, her works seem to exist outside of a specific time or place, inviting viewers to project their own interpretations and raising important questions of identity and representation.
Showcasing 80 paintings, the exhibition will be the first major survey of Yiadom-Boakye. The following artworks provide a preview of what’s to come in the fall. CT
FIND MORE about Lynette Yiadom-Boakye and Zanele Muholi on Culture Type
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, Tate Britain | Nov. 18, 2020-May 9, 2021
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “Tie the Temptress to the Trojan,” 2018. | Collection of Michael Bertrand, Toronto. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “Citrine by the Ounce,” 2014. | Private Collection. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “A Passion Like No Other,” 2012 | Collection Lonti Ebers. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “Condor and the Mole,” 2011. | Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “Elephant,” 2014. | Private Collection. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “To Improvise a Mountain,” 2018 (oil on linen). | Private Collection. © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist. Photo by Marcus Leith
LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE, “Complication,” 2013 (oil on canvas). | © Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Courtesy the artist
ZANELE MUHOLI, Tate Modern | Nov. 5, 2020-March 14, 2021
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Ntozakhe II, Parktown,” 2016 (gelatin silver print on paper, 1000 x 720 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Busi Sigasa, Braamfontein, Johannesburg,” 2006 (inkjet on paper, 505 x 765 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Lungile Cleo Dladla, KwaThema, Community Hall, Springs, Johannesburg,” 2011 (inkjet on paper, 765 x 505 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Bona, Charlottesville,” 2015 (gelatin silver print on paper, 800 x 506 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Yaya Mavundla, Parktown, Johannesburg,” 2014 (2000 x 1333 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the Artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “ID Crisis,” 2003 (gelatin silver print on paper, 325 x 485 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the Artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Qiniso I, The Sails, Durban,” 2019 (gelatin silver print). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the Artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
ZANELE MUHOLI, “Katlego Mashiloane and Nosipho Lavuta, Ext. 2, Lakeside, Johannesburg,” 2007 (inkjet on paper, 765 x 765 mm). | © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy the artist and Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg and Yancey Richardson, New York
