National Museums Liverpool Blog - photography

Anne Gleave, Curator of Photographic Archives, has found this photo in the Stewart Bale collection which shows a very different Easter display to the ones in shops today:

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There are 195,445 photographs in the Stewart Bale collection and this is one of them; a window display for Easter 1945 in the former department store Owen Owen on Clayton Square, Liverpool, which was commissioned by Owen Owen Ltd, April 1945.

I’m guessing that the passer-by’s attention was supposed to be grabbed by the words ‘Easter Harvest’ in large rustic letters in each of the three windows, hopefully to draw them closer to investigate and read the explanatory text panels about this strange phenomenon (how could harvest be at  Easter! But wait a minute...) 

The text reads "A Harvest in Easter? Yes... Seeds that were sown in the Fashion Market last summer have now born fruit"; a rather complex advertising hook which stages the new fashions amongst objects associated with farming: cartwheels, large forks, rakes, wheel barrows and a scattering of straw for good measure; the harvest fruit is the clothes on the manikins, who although they are in a farm setting are there not to labour but to loll in what is new and smart in the world of fashion.  

There is a jacket at 56 shillings (approximately £2.80) and a blouse at 15 shillings and sixpence (approximately 77 pence). The blouse, which is in the central window, strewn across the top of the wheel, carries a war-time utility label at the top of the neck; clothing was rationed from 1st June 1941; other basic commodities were also rationed and the utility label would have been a familiar sight. 

According to the text in the window these clothes have been more than 6 months in the planning; quite typical of WWII designs and not obviously showing anything very new. An Easter display without a hint of an egg or chocolate (rationing was in place and continued until 1954). 

The building still stands and is now occupied by different shops including Tesco Metro; it is still recognizable and was designed by Walter Aubrey Thomas and built in the 1920s, originally for use as a hotel.  The building was altered in 1925 to house a department store and Owen Owen who occupied it remained in the building until 1995.

Easter Sunday in 1945 was on 1st April (only one day later than this year).  So think of what Easter would have been like at this time, austerity and loss but also hope and change; this was just a month prior to German unconditional surrender 8th May 1945.

The Stewart Bale collection is full of gems like this; a collection that takes you back in time, a time traveller’s paradise. 

For more details about the Stewart Bale collection which also contains a large proportion of maritime related subject matter see the online information sheet. You can see further images from the collection on the website.

I love this fantastic recreation of the Life of Pi poster, spotted on the Empire magazine facebook page. The cat's face makes it for me - I think if I asked my cat to pose like a tiger to recreate a film poster then she would look at me with exactly the same expression!

This reminded me of our own Credit Crunch Art project, in which we asked people to create their own versions of art from National Museums Liverpool's collections. We have had some fantastic entries, which you can see in the Credit Crunch Art Flickr group. Below is my homage to Gainsborough.

We haven't had any entries with pets yet - could any talented dogs out there recreate this Briton Riviere painting from the Lady Lever Art Gallery, I wonder? Have a go and add your Credit Crunch Art to our Flickr group, we'd love to see it!

Anne Gleave, our curator of photographic archives, has chosen this photograph from the fantastic Stewart Bale collection to highlight Valentine’s Day:

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The photograph was taken early to mid February 1934 so we are not sure whether it shows a Valentine’s celebration or not but it would be nice to think so. Reece’s was a well known Liverpool company popular in the early to mid twentieth century; they ran a dairy and bakery plus a number of cafés in and around Liverpool which were popular places for people to meet. At Parker Street Reece’s occupied a number of floors which included a café, restaurant and ballroom. Parker Street is central to Liverpool City Centre and is just off Church Street, one of the main thorough fares, so a prime location.

The commercial photographic firm of Stewart Bale Ltd were commissioned to take this photograph by Reece & Sons Ltd, from their principal offices in Hawke Street, off Brownlow Hill, Liverpool. Stewart Bale was an important firm of Liverpool based photographers who could command significant commissions, which says something about the status of Reece’s. 

If you would like to find out more about our Stewart Bale collection you can view our online information sheet and see a selection of images on the website.

Do you remember Reece's? If anyone has any information about the above image please do get in touch using this contact form.

As January is synonymous with sales and spring cleaning we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone and have a bit of a clear out in our book warehouse. So if you fancy bagging yourself a bargain then check out the offers on our online shop.

It's an eclectic selection and there are some great books, my personal favourites being 'When Time Began to Rant and Rage...' which is a fab book of Irish figurative work and totally worth a fiver,  Age of Jazz: British Arts Deco Ceramics as I'm a sucker for a deco teaset, and British Watercolours and Drawings from the Lady Lever's collection.

If you've still not got a John Moores catalogue then now is the time to buy one as they're reduced to £7.50. And if you buy it from the Walker shop you get the John Moores China version for free.

 

Two paintings from the Walker Art Gallery’s collections have gone on display at Liverpool Cathedral. ‘St John’s Market, Liverpool – Saturday Morning’ and ‘Bold Street from Waterloo Place’ by Charles Trevor Prescott give an insight into everyday life in Liverpool at the end of the 19th century. The lively scene of Bold Street is instantly recognisable and shows the transport and fashion of the time. The bustling stalls in St John’s depict a thriving market.

 

The paintings provide inspiration for the Cathedral’s annual photographic competition. The theme this year is Liverpool Life. So all you budding photographers should involved!

 

Make sure you get to the Cathedral before 16 September 2012 to see these wonderful paintings before they go back into the stores. And if they whet your appetite for more Victorian art, there’s plenty more to see down the road at the Walker Art Gallery.

Louise Beard is volunteering with the Marketing and Communications team at the moment. Last week we sent her out to see Wild Planet, the latest exhibition at World Museum (runs until 28 October). Here is what she made of it:

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Rajan snorkelling © Jeff Yonover/ Wild Planet

I visited the rather wonderful Wild Planet exhibition at the World Museum today. I’m no wildlife fanatic or, indeed, photography fanatic and I like nature programmes as much as the next person. But I was bowled over by this collection of stellar images.

The exhibition illustrates both how nature just slots together and, pardoning the pun, is naturally beautiful. Nature quite simply exists. Most of the photographers mention in the descriptions that they waited out most of day to capture the shot. The irony, of course, is that these moments happen everyday, unnoticed, but are near impossible to capture ‘like that’. There’s a rather spectacular shot of reef fish grazing on a green turtle’s shell. They feed themselves whilst cleaning the shell. It’s a million miles from the gaudy fish foot spas that now pepper the British high street. Instead, it’s a bargain brought about naturally, which makes it quite special.

Sadly, humans pose the biggest threat to nature. Yet oddly, we’re the only ones who can now help. The exhibition highlights how delicate the eco-structure is and how aspects of it are heading towards disaster. This is something we humans prefer to keep on the peripheries of our conscience and this exhibition goes a small way to making us think a little more about nature.

Wild Planet is owned by the Natural History Museum

Did you know that almost eighty Africans are known to have donated more than 500 objects to World Museum. Their donations helped to create one of the most important historical collections of African cultural artefacts in Britain.

A new display at World Museum shows photographic portraits of some of the West Africans who made donations to the museum between 1897 and 1916.

Most of them were taken by West African photographers. All the donors were friends or contacts of Arnold Ridyard, the steamship engineer who transported their gifts to Liverpool.

Ridyard was a prolific collector himself. He brought an astonishing total of 6,450 artefacts and natural history ‘specimens’ to the museum in Liverpool while serving as Chief Engineer with Elder Dempster & Company’s West African shipping service.

Little is known about some of Ridyard’s West African friends and collaborators so Zachary Kingdon, Curator of African Collections at World Museum, is helping to uncover their forgotten stories through his current research.

The picture below is of Nii Kojo Ababio IV, (formerly Amoako Atta) (1873 - 1938). Kojo Ababio IV was Mantse, or ‘king’, of the Alata Quarter of Accra’s James Town in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). He was an important figure in Accra’s politics during the colonial period. He donated ten Ga artefacts to the museum, four of which are on display in the World Cultures gallery in the museum on the third floor.

Photographer: J.K. Bruce-Vanderpuije, Accra c.1935. Permission: Isaac Bruce-Vanderpuije.

To commemorate the Titanic centenary, we're offering you the chance to win an A3 mounted print of either Titanic's sister ship RMS Olympic or the White Star Line's Liverpool offices! 

One runner up will receive a copy of 'Titanic and Liverpool' by Alan Scarth and a photography book which accompanies our current exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

To enter, you need to answer this question:

Which photographer(s) were commissioned by the White Star Line to photograph RMS Olympic in 1920? 

a) Edward Chambre Hardman

b) Bedford Lemere & Co

c) Henri Cartier-Bresson

Hint: Check the Lady Lever Art Gallery website!

Send your answer to us at prizedraw@liverpoolmuseums.org.uk  

or by post to: Titanic print competition, National Museums Liverpool, Marketing & Communications, 127 Dale Street, Liverpool. L2 2JH

The competition closes on Thursday 3 May at 12 noon.

Good luck!

Last year photographer Lee Karen Stow launched her exhibition '42' Women of Sierra Leone at the International Slavery Museum, with the help of her former student Rebecca Kamara, who is one of the 42 women featured in the exhibition. At the opening events Rebecca spoke about how the photography workshops that Lee taught in Sierra Leone have inspired her to earn a living as a photographer. She has faced huge challenges, as she lives in a rural village and didn't even have any electricity at home until recently - something that photographers in the UK take for granted to charge camera batteries and run their computers!

Lee returned to Liverpool last week to add some new photos to her exhibition. Rebecca couldn't join her this time, but Lee visited her in Sierra Leone in September and took the photograph above, which should bring a smile to the face of anyone who met her last year. As you can see, Rebecca has built her own photo studio, with help from UK and US donations and support, but also through her own photography business and photographic sales. She has now also set up a women's photography group in the village.

Rebecca isn't the only one who has been busy. As well as updating the 42 exhibition, while she was in Liverpool Lee gave a talk about her latest projects. A chance meeting with a member of the Women's Boxing Team in Sierra Leone led to the 'Fighting for Gold' project. On her return to the UK she photographed women boxers in clubs across Yorkshire for the 'Girls in the ring' project, and even started boxing herself.

The contrasts in conditions for women boxers in the two countries is shocking. In Sierra Leone the Women's Boxing Team train at a gym with no running water, no showers and no free NHS to help with any injuries. They didn't even have their own gloves when they first started to train and had to borrow gloves from the male boxers.

Despite this, when women's boxing was included in the London 2012 Olympics for the first time they were determined to compete. Unfortunately this dream was not to be, so they have now set their sights on the 2016 Olympics instead. Portraits of some of these inspiring women are now included in the 42 exhibition, which is at the International Slavery Museum until 3 June 2012.

It's great to hear that volunteering at National Museums Liverpool can really be a memorable experience for those involved. Here's a blog by a recent volunteer who helped out in our Photography and Decorative Art departments...

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My name is Adrian Foo-Gibney and for the last two weeks I have been on a Year 10 work placement with National Museums Liverpool. During my time here I have learnt many skills, ranging from hands-on skills like photography to communication skills. This was a great experience for me as I got along with all the members of staff and had fun as well as learning. Everyone was really friendly and made me feel comfortable.

During my first week in Photography I worked with David Flower. He taught me many skills and gave me lots of tips about photography. The things I learnt were really useful, as back in school I have taken the GCSE photography course. It will also help with my personal photographic skills.

I was given many jobs during the first week, including photographing hats, processing images and scanning negatives ready for editing.

In the second week I worked with Alyson Pollard in Decorative Arts where I got to work with my friend Joseph Evans who is also from my school, Calderstones. We worked together photographing men’s hats and suits and inputted all the data for them.

I have enjoyed my time working with the National Museums Liverpool and it was a privilege to be here. I would like to do a similar job when I leave school. This has been an amazing adventure for me and I will remember this placement for ages.