Exhibited: Dreamers Awake, White Cube Bermondsey, 28 June 2017 – 17 September 2017.
Literature: Llewellyn, Sacha, et al. Women Only Works on Paper. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p. 75.
Museum I and Museum II are exceptional works in Edith Rimmington’s artistic production, in the sense
that she never made works exceeding a 50 x 70 cm format. The pair were made following an exhibition
of regalia that Rimmington saw in London in 1953, the year of the Queen’s Coronation, which gave her
the idea of a counter-celebration of monarchy, with subtle ironic undertones.
The King is represented with a gauntlet – the symbol of power and a challenge of combat (to throw
down the gauntlet). Yet the king is also shown as a chess piece (alongside the bishop and knight), and
reduced to a part in a game beyond his control. Lastly, the anachronistic airship – one of the flying
machines of those madmen’ from the early days of aviation ‚Äì may symbolise man’s eternal (but doomed)
desire to fly high.
The Queen is represented with lavish but useless trappings. The gloves and slippers are of no use to
her; nor the tear- drop earrings, for she has no head, arms or feet. Like the king and the chess piece, the
doll shows her as but a toy for some greater power.