On a visit to London with my son and daughter in March 2018, we decided to visit the Churchill War Rooms in Whitehall. The drabness of the day was relieved by the sight of several ducklings waddling across the road toward us, oblivious to traffic. A long line of visitors queued up quietly, and soon we were all inside and transported back to the 1940s, and wartime. A sign entitled “The Cabinet War Rooms” distilled the essence of the place:
The Cabinet War Rooms provided a secret underground headquarters for the core of the British Government throughout the Second World War. The rooms accommodated a wide range of generals and the Cabinet Secretary to Royal Marine guards and typists. On becoming Prime Minister in 1940, Winston Churchill visited his underground Cabinet Room and proclaimed “This is the room from which I will lead the war.”
Despite frequent visits to London through the years, I had never thought of visiting this museum. Perhaps it was only because of the film “Darkest Hour” in 2017 that it became a must. The rooms are preserved as they were during the war and brought further to life with mannequins dressed in period uniforms. They are making phone calls, consulting maps, sending coded messages—all thrilling tableaux.
It must have been impossible during that harrowing period to visualize the world as it might be after the war. We seem to be in a similar quandary at the moment regarding the coronavirus, with people the world over hunkered down, anxious, pondering many uncertainties. In the art world it was thus heartening to read of efforts by The Metropolitan Museum of Art to speak up on behalf of museums great and small throughout America, urging timely and much-needed financial support for them.
Though we are still in the early stages of this crisis, with unknown outcomes, we continue to believe in the value of planning for our clients in regards to their art. In numerous emails with estate lawyers and financial advisors we hear increasingly a call for preparedness: revisiting appraisals, discussing philanthropic initiatives, revising estate plans. We encourage all such activities now.