In her The Other Point of View column in AI 252 Dea Birkett questioned how much coaching there is for gallery assistants the National Gallery in exhibition subject matter. Here one of them, Simon Spier, responds.

Below, Dea Birkett adds her latest observations, followed by the National Gallery’s response to them…

Speaking as both a gallery assistant at the National Gallery and an undergraduate student of art history, I feel indebted to the gallery for the knowledge and inspiration I have gained. The passion I have for the subject is very much fed by my time here. Since receiving my weighty Companion Guide to the collection on my first day as a gift from the gallery, my understanding of Western European painting has never ceased to flourish.

I have worked full-time for one year within the visitor services and security department, and while the department also includes a specialised information team – here to answer any queries from visitors about the gallery and its collection – I have never been deprived of any activities or benefits which staff in academic positions have access to.

For each new exhibition hosted, including the recent Kobke show mentioned in your article, the curator always provides a fantastic “staff talk” outside of opening hours, and open to all staff. Gallery assistants who wish to attend are even paid an overtime rate for their time.

In addition to this, my colleagues and I are able to reserve free or discounted tickets to many of the lecture programmes and courses which the gallery’s education department organises.

Furthermore, the ID held by gallery staff gives us free access to most other museums and galleries in and around London, and a select few in different areas of the country, so the scope for learning is not limited to our own collection.

With all this in mind, one of the aspects of my job of which I remain most proud is to be responsible for the safety of the priceless works of art that hang on the walls, and during hours of duty this has to remain our top priority. At the same time, I am thrilled when visitors approach me to ask questions about the collection. It makes me value my front-of-house position in the gallery all the more to know I’ve given the information needed to help someone make the very most of their visit.

The pleasure of my job is being able to keep an eye on the security of the room as well as absorbing information from the paintings themselves and the many guided tours which pass through.

so Dea made a return visit…

I was cheered to hear back from the National Gallery that “All of our staff, including gallery assistants, are provided with special tours with curators for every exhibition held”’. This good news encouraged me to return and have another attempt at appreciating the Christen Kobke exhibition. I spotted two gallery assistants in the room.

I approached one. “Can you tell me about these paintings?” I asked.
“No - not really” he said.
“Do you know anything about them?”
“No.”
I waited. Then asked, “Have you had any training about the paintings?”
“No” he said. Then added, “Why don’t you go and look at the short film next door? That might help you”. He then suggested I went and bought the catalogue in the shop.

So I approached the second gallery assistant.
“Can you tell me why these paintings are important?”I asked, “I don’t know them at all”.
“Neither do I” he said. “I know nothing about them. You probably know more than I do!”
“Have you been told anything about them?” I asked.
“No” he said.
He then suggested I went to the shop and bought the catalogue.

Perhaps the National Gallery will argue that I went on the wrong afternoon, that I just happened to come across a couple of gallery assistants who hadn’t had any training. But that’s a defence that’s no defence. Either you have a training programme for your gallery assistants or you don’t. You don’t have a training programme for some of them, some of the time.

There’s just a few weeks left of the Delaroche and Lady Jane Grey exhibition. Perhaps I’ll try to go along to that, too. It’s just that I know nothing about Paul Delaroche either. And I might not be able to find a gallery assistant to help me.

…and from the National Gallery

The National Gallery was very interested to read about Dea’s return visit to the Købke exhibition in The Sunley Room.

For some “out of the ordinary” conversations or incidents that happen, our gallery assistants file written reports. We therefore read the report which had been written by one of the two gallery assistants who were approached by Dea at approx 5.00pm on Thursday 22 April. However, as her version of events seemed to be at odds to this report, we decided to watch the CCTV footage of this encounter to find out what actually happened.

CCTV shows Dea walking into the Sunley Room and, after a minute or two she approaches the seated gallery assistant. She has a brief conversation lasting perhaps 25 seconds with him and starts to leave. The gallery assistant follows her, speaks to her again and indicates the location of the cinema. On her way out she stops and speaks with another gallery assistant briefly. She then she leaves the exhibition suite without speaking to any other staff.

Dea’s story is that she spotted two gallery assistants in the exhibition room. “I approached one. ‘Can you tell me about the paintings?’ I asked. ‘No - not really’ he said. She says she asked ‘Do you know anything about them?’ to which he replied ‘No’”. She reports she waited and then asked “’Have you had any training about the paintings?’ ‘No’ he said. Then he added ‘Why don’t you go and look at the short film next door, that might help you’. He then suggested I went and bought the catalogue in the shop” she says.

However, the gallery assistant who she approached states of Dea’s article. “Earlier I had walked round the room looking at some of the paintings and thought if Kobke had lived longer how would his work have developed. When questioned by the visitor the first answer I gave was he had died quite young – before going on to suggest the short film in the cinema or the catalogue on the stand. She did not appear to be interested in spending time in looking, reading, discovering the information / answers she wanted for herself from what the gallery provides for its many visitors – I thought maybe she was someone who couldn’t read but the film would have been useful. I am interested in the paintings and I like to engage with the visitors.”

Not all of the gallery assistants attend the voluntary staff talks which are provided, but with what knowledge they have and without getting diverted from their security responsibilities they are encouraged to learn about the collection and temporary exhibitions in order to assist visitors.

We are very happy to make the CCTV footage available.