The Victoria & Albert Museum (commonly called V&A) covers 5000 years of Art from cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Located in South Kensington, it is a great Museum you definitely can’t miss while visiting London.
Today, DOYOUSPEAKLONDON invits you to discover The Victoria & Albert Museum, “The world’s leading museum of art and design”.

A precious collection… for free!

Most of the greatest museums in London offer free admission and the Victoria & Albert Museum is one of them. What a great opportunity to come back as many times as you wish! And there is lot to be seen there, either temporary exhibitions (like the one I visited a few weeks ago and spoke about in this blog) or permanent collections.
Take time to wander in the many exotic rooms and look at the videos available in most of the galleries, focusing on some objects, historic or even religious details. No doubt you’re going to enjoy yourself there…

The Medieval & Renaissance area

I began with the very well-lit gallery of Medieval and Renaissance sculptures, which is a superb showcase of ancient statues.
 Above is a version of Samson’s Vengeance on the Philistines.
I like the delicacy of this sculpture, with the naive expression of the character…
I deliberately chose this perspective to highlight this bronze sculpture: the man at the front, whom we just see the back, is holding a woman’s head. And there is a blurred woman in the background, who appears like a potential next victim. This perspective suggests a warning sign of the pending threat to the woman’s safety…
These two important people are under the protection of an eagle …

The museum also exhibits a part of the Trajan’s column, that was erected in Rome to commemorate the successful campaigns by the Emperor against the Dacians of the Danube frontier in AD 101. The column in marble is carved with representations of incidents in the Dacian campaign of Trajan. This was quite moving to see it and quite impressive to imagine how the museum could transport this massive block and install it there!
The visit of the V&A was also the occasion to make photos with graphic lines…

With this sunny day and all galleries offering a view on the sky, the museum was like a scene of light and shade…
I like this vision of a giant chessboard surrounded by art…

The Asia area

The first two objects visible before going into the Asian part of the museum were art works. The first was made by a Korean, Chun Kwang Young, in paper. “The surface is full of cracks, protrusions and optical illusions. These complexe defects symbolise the difficult history of Korea, but the strong paper reflects the resilience of the Korean people”.
 Here is the detail of this stunning art work…
The other one enhanced the beauty of lacquer ware. In this video also available in the museum Chung Hae-Cho takes us through the laborious and intuitive process of making a lacquer vessel. While lacquer is usually applied to wood as a finishing technique, Chung Hae-Cho has developed a method of building an object primarily from lacquer. Impressive work!

The Japanese area

Here below is a hand-picked selection of the objects I found delicate or surprising…or both at the same time!
Given the fact I had a crush on the Netsuke at the British Museum (related here), I couldn’t resist to investigate more on the subject!  And I have found a wide range of characters, animals, sceneries, which really are fascinating. How is it possible to create such miniature sculptures with so many details? I did not have enough zoom to capture their finesse properly…
Another object I newly heard about was an Inro, a container in which a man would carry everyday items, as kimonos did not have pockets. These objects emerged in the late 16th century and in time became the ultimate male fashion accessory. Inro consisted of interlocking compartments (that you can see on the photos) held together by silk cords.

As tiny as they were, I really don’t know what they would contain..
Another object: a woman’s kimono from the late 19th century, when new chemicals dyes were introduced in Japan and had a great impact on the kimono design.  This can be seen in the pastels hues and delicate shading of this Meiji period garment (1868-1912).

The Chinese area

I will finish this Asian part of the museum with two Chinese objects:
First, a plaque with a panda design made in porcelain and painted in coloured enamels.
And second, a hanging scroll showing a willow tree, a kingfisher, swallows and cranes, that would have decorated the walls of a living-room.

The European area

I must admit I knew most of the displayed items here and I wasn’t really surprised nor sensitive to them… But the British part was really interesting in the way things were exhibited, so I’ll focus on that particular section.
Look at these funny “figures of No-body with a drinking glass and a pipe”. I love their style!
This was a curious “detector lock” from around 1860 … It is called a “detector” lock as it displays how many times it has been opened. It also has a keyhole hidden beneath the soldier’s leg, revealed by pressing a button. You will find a video showing how it works here!
There was also a funny room where you could “examine a chippendale-style chair”and the way it was assembled…
Then we came across a “what is it” section: items are displayed in a window and you have to guess the name and use..and the answers are hidden in a cupboard and you can only read them through a mirror… Quite unexpected and funny time there!
Last but not least, men could also train to tie a cravat, either with a Gordian knot (“The sovereign of cravat ties”) or as a Byron cravat (“this fashion is extremely comfortable in summer or during long journeys”). And women could try on a hoop and petticoat, like in the late 18th century…

I hope you’ve enjoyed this post and found inspiration here. If you are planning to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum soon, please share your experience and opinion on DOYOUSPEAKLONDON’s blog!

To go further:
The V&A: Cromwell Road, London SW7 2RL
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