Museum Twitter might be the best side of Twitter. Just a bunch of history and art nerds, sitting around with their weird collections, hoping someone will come by and look. They’re excited to show anything, including all of their butts. Prompted by the social media savvy Yorkshire Museum, curators everywhere were able to trot out all their favorite derrieres under the hashtag #BestMuseumBum, which is British for hiney.
This #CURATORBATTLE might be my favorite of all time, maybe even better than the Creepy Object Museum Battle.
Yorkshire Museum started it off with a few photos of a man’s shapely form, writing, “This cracking Roman marble statuette depicts an athlete at the peak of fitness! It may have decorated the townhouse of one of Eboracum’s wealthier residents. Has someone taken a bite out of this?”
IT’S TIME FOR #CURATORBATTLE!💥
Today’s theme is #BestMuseumBum!
This cracking Roman marble statuette depicts an athlete at the peak of fitness! It may have decorated the town house of one of Eboracum’s wealthier residents. Has someone taken a bite out of this 🍑?
BEAT THAT!💥 pic.twitter.com/N3A6KYz339
— Yorkshire Museum (@YorkshireMuseum) June 26, 2020
Then they taunted all the other museums, exclaiming, “BEAT THAT!” I would if he’d bend over for me, but I’m pretty sure that’s a statue.
Museums everywhere were quite happy to throw their bums in the ring, and the results are astonishingly varied and delightful. From fertility statues to very graphic paintings to a taxidermied a**hole that will haunt me forever, museums had every kind of bum imaginable and some I would never have imagined. That’s why art and history are so important. You never know whose butt will open your mind. Scroll through and enjoy your awakening.
1.
St Michael (battling the devil)’s bottom – [UCL Main library] #bestmuseumbum #CURATORBATTLE [pic taking this morning whilst staffing our temporary serving desk] pic.twitter.com/0J0SsWvnv6
— Magali (@MAntheaume) July 1, 2020
2.
How about these bums of SUMO wrestlers in our collections? These bums were painted by Hokusai!! #CURATORBATTLE #BestMuseumBum #おうちで浮世絵 pic.twitter.com/DH4rAyQ8Xs
— 太田記念美術館 Ota Memorial Museum of Art (@ukiyoeota) June 26, 2020
3.
In honour of #NIW2020 we submit the Bumblebee (Bombus sp.) for this weeks #CURATORBATTLE #bestmuseumbum though floofiest (technical term) bum must surely go to the Bee Hawkmoth (Hemaris tityus) #EntoAtHome #insects #minibeasts pic.twitter.com/zRNj2NBkNz
— Grant Museum of Zoology (@GrantMuseum) June 26, 2020
4.
Another #CURATORBATTLE Etty for #BestMuseumBum today, this time ‘Man Lying Face Down’.
We like to think he’s just been to the freezer and realised he ate the last Cornetto last night. And that he can’t get the drawer back in and that the whole freezer needs defrosting ☀️ pic.twitter.com/7pJ9gfTVdN
— Scarborough Museums (@SMTrust) June 26, 2020
5.
Oh butt you haven’t seen ours yet. We thought we’d take a crack at this week’s #CURATORBATTLE with these peaches @AngleseyAbbey #BestMuseumBum. We can confirm that bottom dusting is an important part of our conservation work. pic.twitter.com/U5LZITXWPp
— National Trust in the East (@East_England_NT) June 26, 2020
6.
For today’s #CURATORBATTLE (or perhaps #CURATORREBUTTAL?) theme of #BestMuseumBum, we present Hercules knocking it out of the park…
A work by the goldsmith Francesco Pomarano, this boxwood statuette was already a celebrated piece in the #sixteenthcentury.#WallaceFromHome pic.twitter.com/3LoD6JkIOa
— Wallace Collection (@WallaceMuseum) June 26, 2020
7.
Turns out we have a lot of bums and bottoms in our collections. 🍑
In the end we decided on two of our oldest so here is the approx. 3,500 year old bum of Egyptian deity Bes and this delightful Peruvian whistle pot bottom from 1350-1500. 😏#CuratorBattle #BestMuseumBum pic.twitter.com/UlD74WedJc
— Aberdeen Uni Museums and Special Collections (@uoacollections) June 26, 2020
8.
Zeus’s bottom is always a real crowd-pleaser, too. This bronze cast of a statue of the Greek god dates back to c.470 BC, and is about 2 metres tall #CURATORBATTLE pic.twitter.com/t8TNdhwvhD
— Ashmolean Museum (@AshmoleanMuseum) June 26, 2020
9.
Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?
This Valentine’s Day card was sold at Fenwick’s department store in York in 1987. Although printed with I LOVE YOU inside, this copy was never sent…
I would have kept it for myself too. #BestMuseumBum #CuratorBattle pic.twitter.com/GOBF8NKPwx
— York Castle Museum (@YorkCastle) June 26, 2020
10.
💥 #BestMuseumBum themed #CURATORBATTLE today💥
The Cowdray Engraving shows the sinking of the Mary Rose during the Battle of the Solent. Turns out is also shows a lot of Tudor bums!
Our top pick is this sassy gentleman by @Southsea_Castle, he knows he’s rocking his breeches! pic.twitter.com/18wgio1bKl
— The Mary Rose (@MaryRoseMuseum) June 26, 2020