National Museums Liverpool Blog - painting

We're all very excited about the forthcoming visit by Her Majesty the Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh to the Merseyside Maritime Museum. To mark this momentous occasion, one of the museum’s fantastic paintings will be displayed as a centrepiece for the visit, alongside some objects from the Ismay silver collection which is currently on display in the Titanic and Liverpool exhibition.

‘Campania at the Spithead Review, 1897’ by Parker Greenwood depicts one of the greatest naval occasions, ‘The Review of the Fleet’ for Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee on 26 May 1897. Famous merchant vessels attended and accommodated guests celebrating this exciting occasion.

Campania was the most impressive of the Cunard fleet at the time and was ordered in 1891 along with sister ship Lucania as a response to the competition in the ever competitive transatlantic service business. The artist has painted Campania in the centre foreground, flying a blue ensign flag which indicates the Captain and crew are members of the Royal Naval Reserve.

When looking close up at the painting it is clear to see it’s a celebratory occasion and the artist has captured this perfectly. Patriotic blue, white and red bunting flies happily in the breeze, Union Jack flags adorn the other vessels in the background. The event is well attended with crowds of people cheering and you can almost hear the clinking of glasses. As Curator of Maritime Collections (ship models and paintings) I shouldn’t really admit to favourite objects but this painting is especially enjoyable.

Liverpool has an impressive maritime painting history which is represented in the museum’s collection, more of which can be viewed in the Art and Sea gallery.

I used to enjoy going for a row on the park lake but now such an experience is difficult to come by.

There are no rowing boats left on Liverpool’s lakes, which is a great shame. No longer do you hear the iconic cry: “Come in number 12!” when your half hour is up.

Many marine paintings feature them but they are often overlooked – the humble rowing boat has always been a key part of maritime life.

Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Art & The Sea gallery features many models and pictures with all types of oar-driven boats from lifeboats to the working boats of the Mersey.

The painting Elinor Chapman off Liverpool by Joseph Heard (1799 – 1859) features a device often used by the artist – he tilts the vessel slightly to show what is happening on deck.

Heard gives the same treatment to a passing small boat that scurrying past under sail. The oars can be seen stowed ready for use when they approach the quayside.

Eight men in a rowing boat are included in 28 Gun Ship in the Mersey by John Jenkinson (pictured). Six of them pause with their oars out of the water as the warship passes.

This painting dates from around the time of the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) and shows a frigate – the type of vessel used in patrol and defence work. Horatio Nelson defeated the Spanish and French fleets in the battle. As a result peace reigned and the Royal Navy dominated the seas for the next century.

The victory was an important factor in the growth and prosperity of Liverpool and other ports because British merchant ships could travel the seas largely without fear of attack.

At least six rowing boats can be seen in a beautifully-detailed painting called The Brig St Lucia in the Mersey by Robert Salmon. They carry between three and six people.

The painting was commissioned by Hugh Owen, captain of the St Lucia 1821 – 1823. St Lucia was built in Liverpool in 1818 for the Caribbean trade in sugar and other tropical goods.

The museum’s ship models depict lifeboats in various levels of detail. These include the Empress Queen, my own favourite of all the models on display.

The Haverford is one of the few that includes the oars in the lifeboats – 18 are depicted in this tour de force of the model-makers craft.

Some, including the original Titanic builder’s model, have the lifeboats covered with tarpaulins.

Three rowing boats were constructed in amazing detail in the Pilkington Collection of French Prisoner-of-War Models, outstanding treasures of the museum. One depicts a large boat with seating for about 20 rowers.

This is a version of my Maritime Tale that originally appeared in the Liverpool Echo.

 

I have some fabulous foxtrot 78 rpm wax records from the 1920s which evoke the crazy days when people reacted to the horrors of the Great War.

 

This was also a time when countries such as the United States started to put restrictions on immigration after the great free-for-all when virtually any healthy person could settle.

 

The three sister ships took settlers to Canada in the closing years of the great age of emigration which lasted from 1830 to 1930.

 

In 100 years nine million people set sail from Liverpool for new lives, making it probably the greatest emigration port in world history.

 

The Andania, Antonia and Ausonia were A Class liners built by Cunard in the 1920s for the Canadian service. All were about 14,000 tons and carried about 1,700 passengers.

 

In Merseyside Maritime Museum’s emigration gallery there is a fascinating 1923 film called Travel Cunard Line. This would have been shown at the ever-increasing numbers of cinemas as well as trade fairs and other promotional events.

 

There are views of the new Cunard Building with trams rattling outside, ships on the river and passengers embarking on liners at the Princes Landing Stage.

 

Stage hands skilfully handle ropes securing a liner, people hurry to board as crowds wave from the stage. A ferry boat scurries nearby.

 

Third Class passengers make their way up the gangplank, smartly dressed for the voyage to new lives. They hand boarding passes to Cunard staff. Two young travellers are framed in a lifebelt marked Andania Liverpool.

 

Kitchen staff work hard over huge ranges in the galley of the Ausonia. Third Class passengers are seen at breakfast.

 

An oil painting by Arthur J Burgess is also on display in the gallery (pictured). It represents one of the three A Class liners. She is pictured at sunset heading out to sea with two yachts off her port side.

 

The Ausonia was built in Newcastle by Armstrong, Whitworth & Co and made her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Montreal in August 1921. She had a fairly uneventful career and was requisitioned by the Admiralty in 1939 and converted into an armed merchant cruiser.

 

She ended her days as a repair ship for the Mediterranean Fleet from 1958 to 1964. Ausonia was scrapped in 1965.

 

The Antonia, built by Vickers at Barrow, followed a similar career path before being scrapped in 1948.

 

Andania, built by Hawthorn Leslie & Co of Newcastle, was not so fortunate. After working on the Liverpool – Montreal route, she also became an armed merchant cruiser at the start of the Second World War. She was torpedoed and sunk off Iceland in June 1940, fortunately without loss of life. 

 

This is an edited version of the Maritime Tale that originally appeared in the Liverpool Echo.

In the early 1950s we spent our holidays at Llandonna, Anglesey, and locals would describe seeing Liverpool burning 50 miles away across the sea during the Blitz.

Whenever I look at this spectacular painting I am reminded of the vivid stories and how even distant communities felt involved.

The Liverpool Blitz brought the Battle of the Atlantic home to everyone when German bombing raids cost thousands of lives and brought huge amounts of destruction.

Although the docks were the main targets, enormous damage was caused to city and residential areas on both sides of the River Mersey. Four thousand people were killed and a similar number seriously injured.

Ten thousand homes were completely destroyed and 184,000 damaged – some 70,000 people were made homeless.

The Luftwaffe launched more than 68 bombing raids on Merseyside between July 1940 and January 1942. The worst occurred during the May Blitz of 1941 when very heavy raids took place on each of the first seven days of the month.

Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Battle of the Atlantic gallery features a dramatic illuminated display based on The Enemy Raid May 3rd 1941 painted by George Grainger Smith, with lights mimicking falling bombs.

The view shows Liverpool ablaze during a night raid, huge flames flickering behind the silhouettes of waterfront buildings. Smith painted the view from his Wallasey home and brilliantly captures the enormity of the devastation. The original painting is in the Walker Art Gallery collection.

A Luftwaffe aerial reconnaissance photograph and briefing sheet, both dated September 1939 at the start of the war, were for a raid on Liverpool’s north docks.

The intended target was Canada Dry Dock, considered by the Germans to be large enough for an aircraft carrier or heavy cruiser – Fur Flug zeug-trager u. schwere Kreuzer, as the briefing sheet says.

Canada Dry Dock escaped destruction and remains an important facility in the Port of Liverpool. In the past it accommodated some of the great Cunarders such as the Mauretania and the ill-fated Lusitania.

The dock was used for constructing pontoons for the new Liverpool Cruise Liner Terminal. More recently the Royal fleet Auxiliary vessel and Falklands War veteran Sir Percivale was scrapped there.

A live German 250 kg bomb lay in a Liverpool suburb for half a century before it was discovered and made safe. This was one of thousands of high-explosive bombs dropped on Merseyside by German aircraft.

The bomb was found by workmen laying sewers 20 ft underground at the junction of Queens Drive and Stanley Park Avenue, Walton, in February 1990.
A British bomb of a similar size and type is on display.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

This week six new paintings have gone on display in Merseyside Maritime Museum's Art and the Sea gallery, highlighting the transformation of Liverpool's waterfront between 1680 and 1957. Curator of maritime history Ian Murphy chose this painting by John Stobart as a highlight of the display, and explains why here:

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This new display gives visitors a chance to see some of the incredible paintings in the collection that show 300 years of the Mersey as the bustling highway for one of the world’s great ports. The changing views of the waterfront give an historic context for this year’s events, as the Liver Building celebrates its centenary and the Museum of Liverpool opens.

‘Aureol in the Mersey’ shows the now familiar buildings of the Pier Head in 1957 as a backdrop to the Elder Dempster company’s largest ship. Aureol was launched on 28 March 1951 and sailed between Liverpool and Nigeria until 1972.

I like this painting as it shows a period of Liverpool’s shipping that many visitors will still remember first hand. The great days of the transatlantic liners were in the past, but Liverpool was still a busy port and we know that many people who come to the museum still remember seeing these ships at the old landing stage.

The other paintings on display are:

• 'Liverpool in 1680', artist unknown. The earliest known painting of Liverpool showing the town in the final days of the Pool, prior to the construction of the first dock. The castle ruins are still prominent as is the original tower of St Nicholas’ church.

• 'Frigate and Sloop in the Mersey', by John Jenkinson. A view of two warships in the Mersey, probably painted around 1812. The dome of St Paul’s church and the spire of St Georges are visible – both now long gone.

• 'Baboo Overset in Canning Graving Dock', artist unknown. The recently built Customs House is prominent in a view of an incident in February 1841, when the Baboo capsized in the Canning Graving Dock opposite what is now the Maritime Museum.

• 'Liverpool from Wallasey Pool about 1851', William JJC Bond. A beautiful panoramic view across the river to the line of domes and spires that made up the Victorian waterfront.

• 'View of Liverpool', John W Carmichael. The baths at George’s Dock and the Albert Dock warehouses are visible in this painting that conveys the bustling dockside activity along the Mersey in 1873.

Alas, the end is near, but Friday's Light Night evening at the Walker is an ideal opportunity to catch the A Collector's Eye: Cranach to Pissarro exhibition before it finishes this Sunday.

And as if that wasn't news enough, the rather excellent exhibition catalogue, featuring all of the exhibition paintings in full-page, glorious technicolour, will be on special offer. It'll be a snip at £5, which considering it was superb value at £9.99 makes this a steal. 

This special offer will be available in our shop from Friday, and also through our online shop. 

 

I’m looking forward to BBC 2 screening Show Me the Monet from this Monday after organising and supervising the marathon filming sessions over a January weekend.

 

A film crew filled three of our galleries at the rear of the Walker Art Gallery  to film this competition show being screened at 5.15 pm every weekday night from Monday 9 May to Friday 20 May.

 

In a nutshell it involves artists being grilled about their artworks by three critics – David Lee, Charlotte Mullins and Roy Bolton (pictured left to right). The aim is to be included in an exclusive exhibition at the Royal College of Art, next to London’s Albert Hall.

 

The show is hosted by Chris Hollins, perhaps better known as a BBC sports presenter and winner of Strictly Come Dancing.

 

A total of 32 largely unknown but talented artists came to the Walker over the two days. They were first interviewed by Chris before going to the judges with their artworks. After several excruciating minutes of objective criticism the judges gave their verdicts.

 

Most contestants were philosophical but at least one burst into floods of tears. Ten were successful in getting through to the exhibition.

 

As I told the critics during a break in filming, this show breaks taboos. Many artists believe passionately that their art should speak for itself.

 

When we hold the prestigious John Moores exhibition the judges are not even given the artists’ names - the art is judged purely on its merits.

 

Show Me the Monet also publicises the Walker’s collections. Chris was filmed taking about some of the stunning exhibits including Simone Martini’s Christ Discovered in the Temple and a tiny votive picture painted by a very young Raphael.

 

Another feature is the artists being interviewed separately in galleries filled with masterpieces.

 

I went to the private view at the Royal College of Art in March and was impressed by the exhibition of about 30 works. They were still filming - the series starts at the exhibition with Chris describing how it all came together.

 

Other sequences were shot in galleries in London and Glasgow - most of the exhibited works were for sale.

 

This was a great experience for all concerned and hopefully none of the artists were too disappointed about not being included. I predict that this will be a big hit and should go to another series.

 

It gives a totally new slant on TV’s approach to art – I know of no other show where artists face their critics so directly. It blows away the preciousness and mystique that surrounds some art programmes today.

 

It also allows the viewer to get into the mind of the artist and see how and why they create works.

Last week our guest blogger Jack Poland visited the Museum of Liverpool, this week he visited the Walker Art Gallery. Jack heard Canon Jules Gomes on Radio Merseyside's Daybreak talking about the religious art in 'A Collector's Eye: Cranach to Pissarro' and went over to take a look himself.  

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Canon Jules Gomes, of the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral, was at the Walker Art Gallery this week in his first of four theological reflections on the Collector’s Eye: Cranach to Pissarro exhibition. The discussions took place for BBC Radio Merseyside’s Daybreak as we approach Easter, focussing on a single painting each week.

Today, I decided to follow the Canon's lead and witness the paintings for myself. Although the vast collection, which has been provided by owner David J. Lewis, covers a wide array of subjects I decided to follow Canon Gomes’ lead and focus on the religious works.

The first painting I came across, which also happened to be the first to be discussed by Canon Gomes this week, was Luis De Morales’ Ecce Homo or Behold the Man. In it, visitors can see a distinct looking Pontius Pilate revealing a forlorn Christ to an unseen crowd. As a relative novice to such works I was surprised to find that my initial response was of genuine interest and solemnity. The absence of Christ’s crown of thorns and the subsequent pain and humiliation that is expressed in his face is certainly the most striking element of the piece.  

I continued my walk around the exhibition of paintings, which have been built up in David Lewis’ collection for the last 35 years, picking out the religious works. What struck me most was the unique nature of the paintings compared to other more traditional religious images visitors are most likely to be used to.

It is clear that the collector has a keen eye for distinctive works that spans the entire exhibition as well as the religious paintings. As a self confessed new comer to such exhibitions I left with a renewed verve and would recommend all to see these paintings which are on display at the Walker until May 15 2011.

It's a very exciting week this week as the newly refurbished room at the Walker Art Gallery, 'British art 1880-1950', is opening again on Friday. It will showcase pieces from our collections including works by LS Lowry and Lucian Freud, plus many works which have never been on display before!

I had a chat with our curator of British art, Laura MacCulloch, who told me more about what you can expect to see there:

Tell me about the different types of works which are being brought together in this room?
 
This work brings together paintings, sculptures and works on paper with furniture and ceramics all made between 1880 and 1950.  It's a really exciting period to explore as artists begin to break away from the traditional, Victorian ideas about art and experiment with styles, colours and techniques. It's great to be able to show fine and decoratvie arts together because it shows how artists working in all media experimented.
 
How does this room differ from the more 'standard' rooms of paintings in the Walker?
 
We are aiming to give our visitors more of the context surrounding the art. Between 1880 and 1950 there were huge political and social upheavals brought on by two world wars and increasing industrialisation. We have created an interactive timeline which includes lots of information and images relating to key historical and art historical events. There is more information on the timeline than we could ever fit on a label.

We also wanted visitors to experience the works of art in new ways. We've included tiles you can touch to feel different glazing techniques, paintings that you can touch to feel different ways artists liked to apply paint and two sculptures which have been specially coated so people can touch them without causing any damage to the works. 

We also created a soundscape to go with Stanhope Forbes' painting 'Off to the Fishing Grounds' so that visitors can take a short trip to Newlyn in Cornwall without having to leave Liverpool!
 
There's also a jigsaw of Ceri Richards radical scuplture/painting 'Mother and child' which allows you to experience its pleasing curves and the feel of the wood with your hands and well as with your eyes. 

Are there any works that you are excited about bringing out of storage and finally having on display?

There are so many that have not been on display for a long time which I am really excited about getting on display. I am particularly happy about having special draws so that we can show works on paper by war artists for the first time.  Usually works on paper can not be shown alongside paintings as they are damaged by too much light, but the draws stop the light falling on them so we will be able to have a lot more on display.  We have so many works on paper relating to World War Two that we are going to rotate them.

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You can see some sneak preview photos of the new room before it opens in our Flickr set here.

Those who have joined our membership scheme often get the chance to experience exclusive events at our venues. Here is a review of one such event by members Gordon Collinson and Anne Roberts:

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We are members of the National Museums Liverpool membership scheme and attended Christopher Wright’s talk entitled, 'A Collector’s Eye – Cranach to Pissarro', at the Walker Art Gallery. We certainly had our cultural palates stimulated to an unprecedented degree.

The evening got off to a good start with a welcoming complimentary drink in the gallery café, which always gets people into a receptive mood!  We then went into the exhibition space where we were welcomed by Sandra Penketh, who gave us a very good introduction to the talk and our invited speaker.

When Christopher took to the podium we were all transported on what could only be described as an artistic juggernaut, which commanded our rapt attention for over forty-five minutes. The scope and breadth of his knowledge was amazing and we were taken on a journey into the world of private collecting. He talked about identifying, cataloguing and restoring of masterpieces whilst also giving humorous and illuminating insights into a world which often appears to be shrouded in mystery.

It is indeed an honour and a privilege to hear a person as erudite as Christopher Wright describe his world of work in such a light-hearted, yet significantly meaningful manner. It is one thing to be an academician, but to be able to communicate one’s knowledge, together with a high degree of enthusiasm is another matter and Christopher certainly has these capabilities. 

This was one of those all too rare experiences, likely to become even rarer owing to prevailing economic circumstances. For those of us who were fortunate enough to be in attendance, it was an unforgettable experience.