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28/11/2012

Bubbles and bankruptcy

British Museum, 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. 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. (Image: Steve Bell, Bank Levy. Ink and watercolour, 2011)

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