"Bubbles and bankruptcy: Financial crises in Britain since 1700" opens at the British Museum
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, December 13, 2024


"Bubbles and bankruptcy: Financial crises in Britain since 1700" opens at the British Museum
Bank Levy by Steven Bell; ink and watercolour drawing, UK, 2011; This fat cat is having its claws clipped by the chancellor of the exchequer, George Osborne, in reference to a planned increase in taxation on banks. Depicting bankers as fat cats in suits is a popular theme among satirists.



LONDON.- In 1890 Punch magazine published a cartoon entitled Same Old Game! in which employees of Barings Bank were depicted as errant schoolboys, having gambled away the bank’s capital through poor investment decisions. In the image they are sheepishly asking the ‘Old Lady of Threadneedle Street’, an allegory for the Bank of England, for a bailout. The Old Lady reluctantly agrees, ‘for this once!!’ Her statement is intentionally ironic - this was not the first financial crisis to affect Britain and it was certainly not going to be the last.

This Coins and Medals display Bubbles and Bankruptcy: financial crises in Britain since 1700, traces the history of financial crisis from the first stock bubbles of the 18th Century through to the current banking crisis. Featuring prospectuses and original share certificates for companies that collapsed, notes from failed banks, and reports about crises. These objects provide a fascinating insight into how and why crises occur. They demonstrate that, in a world of uncertainty, even the most reasoned investment can occasionally fail.

The remainder of the exhibition explores the fertile history of satire and protest about financial crises, represented by historic prints, contemporary cartoons, protest badges and modern works of art. From the works of Dickens to Private Eye magazine, or from the satirical prints of James Gillray to a 2011 cartoon by the artist Steve Bell, there is a remarkable consistency about the way in which people have, and continue to respond to crisis.

Some of the exhibits provide humour but for unintentional reasons. The exhibition features, for example, a congratulatory champagne bottle given out by Northern Rock to its employees in 1997. This was to celebrate the demutualisation of the building society to become a bank. The bottle provides an ironic reminder that demutualisation was supposed to enable Northern Rock to expand its business interests. However, history records that its investment portfolio would fail within ten years, triggering the first bank run on a UK bank since 1866.

The centrepiece of the exhibition is a contemporary sculpture entitled House of Cards by Justine Smith, a London-based artist. The artist has stacked real UK notes instead of the playing cards, symbols of gambling, that typically make up a house of cards. The artwork neatly symbolises the sometimes precarious nature of financial speculation.










Today's News

November 30, 2012

"The thousand and one nights" exhibition casts a spell at the Arab World Institute in Paris

Christie's London Autumn Russian Art Week Sales achieve a combined $26.7 million

Sotheby's London November 2012 Russian Art Sales Series concludes realising $33 million

Napoleon's letter in which he vows to 'blow up Kremlin' for sale in Fontainebleau

Mandala for Crusoe: New works by Francesco Clemente at Blain/Southern in London

Jimi Hendrix owned and worn 'gypsy style' vest leads Heritage Auctions entertainment and music event

Sotheby's Paris announces sale of Art Nouveau masterpieces formerly in the Garden Museum, Nagoya

Exhibition in Los Angeles explores maps and monuments through diverse works

Survey of American artist Gary Simmons's career opens at Metro Pictures in New York

Exhibition of new paintings by Carroll Dunham opens at Gladstone Gallery in New York

Toledo Museum of Art acquires sculpture by noted Spanish artist Jaume Plensa

New mixed media paintings by American artist Greg Miller at Scream Gallery in London

'World's largest horse-drawn hearse: 19th-century carriage is a Czech museum hit

Sotheby's Milan sells a small canvas by Giorgio Morandi for 420,750 Euro

Entire collection of decorative arts recently acquired by the Art Gallery of South Australia goes on display

Survey of the work by contemporary photographer Jeff Wall opens at the National Gallery of Victoria

Tick, Tack, Tick, Tack, Tick: Stuart Whipps exhibits at David Dale Gallery in Glasgow

Crusader sword captured from Mamluk Arsena in Alexandria gives £163,250 edge to Bonhams sale

"Bubbles and bankruptcy: Financial crises in Britain since 1700" opens at the British Museum

New series of Photorealist oil paintings by Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri on view at Mike Weiss Gallery




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful