National Museums Liverpool Blog - sculpture

For this week's look back into the past 150 years of the World Museum, we're going back to 1959 with Gina Muskett, our Curator of Classical and European collections...

1959 was a very important year for Liverpool Museum, as it was then known. It received a very generous gift – almost 400 classical sculptures from Ince Blundell Hall, north of Liverpool. They were collected in the late 18th century and early part of the 19th century by Henry Blundell, a wealthy farmer and landowner. Even a large house like Ince Blundell hall didn’t have room for his collection, so two new buildings were erected to display the sculptures - the ‘Garden Temple’ and later the ‘Pantheon’. It’s amazing that the group of sculptures survived more or less complete, without being sold or split up.

You can see sculptures from the Ince Blundell collection in two main areas of World Museum - the new case in the atrium, and the Ancient World gallery on the third floor.

Zeus, king of the gods

Regular readers of the blog will already know that I’m very excited about seeing the ‘Ince Athena’ on display in the atrium. She has been joined by another Ince statue, the head and shoulders of Zeus, the king of the gods, shown with the ram horns of the Egyptian god Amun (‘Ammon’ in Greek). Doesn’t he look impressive? The other statue in the case, Narkissos, also arrived in the museum in the 1950s, but is from a different collection.

I hope that you find time during your visit to go to the Ancient World gallery on the third floor. There are four sculptures from the Ince Blundell collection in the new Ancient Greece section. You can’t miss three of them – very large statues of Zeus, Apollo (the god of music and the arts), and the hero Theseus – but see if you can spot the fourth! Here’s a clue – it’s Zeus again, this time on a sculpted panel.

The Ancient Rome section of the gallery has even more sculptures of various types, mostly from the Ince collection. My favourites are the head and shoulders sculptures of women – I love looking at their hairstyles, trying to imagine how much time it would have taken to do such complicated styles. Come to the gallery and see what you think!

The goddess Athena wore an unusual bubblewrap outfit to the dinner

The evening was also attended by a goddess, several penguins, a few vehicles, some works of art and a whole flock of superlambananas. These items, which are mainly from National Museums Liverpool's collections, although the superlambananas were on loan, were put on temporary display for the evening to give a taster of the wide variety of objects that will go on display in the new museum when it opens in 2011.

If you were not lucky enough to attend the dinner itself you can see some great photos from the evening on the Art in Liverpool blog.

You can also see behind-the-scenes photos of our handling and transport team installing the objects for display before the dinner and then returning them afterwards in the Moving Stories set on Flickr. Is it just me or does this photo of handling and transport technician Danny look like a scene from Casualty, with the patient being wheeled into a lift on a trolley?

Today's object featured on Radio Merseyside for the BBC's 'A History of the World' project, is the Ince Athena statue from our Classical collections. You will be able to hear Gina Muskett, curator of classical antiquities, talking about the statue on 'listen again' here. Here is Gina to tell us more about this beautiful and statuesque sculpture!

The Ince Athena statue

The statue has brilliant links with the local area, as it used to belong to Henry Blundell, who lived at Ince Blundell Hall. Many of you will have seen the entrance to the hall when travelling by road from Liverpool to Southport. We’ve just had an anniversary too – in 2009 it was 50 years since the statues came to the then Liverpool Museum, as a gift.

I’m so lucky to be the curator of the ‘Ince Athena’ statue. I knew about her (yes, I know the statue’s not a real human!) even before I worked at World Museum. I visited the museum a lot when I was a student, and can remember seeing Athena in the old Ancient World gallery, and am really pleased that she’s going back on display again.

As you can imagine, statues get quite grubby when they’re on display without cases, and Athena has spent quite a bit of time in the National Conservation Centre, being cleaned up. She looks wonderful again now, as I’m sure you’ll agree when you see her again – she’ll be on display from the middle of February, greeting visitors at the main entrance to World Museum.

Atis Rezistans artists at the unveiling of the Freedom! sculpture in 2007

Well it is with great shock and sadness that I write this blog in light of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Nobody could not have been shocked at the images shown in the media this past week but it was particularly difficult for those of us associated with the museum as Haiti is central to the museum's history and ethos for several reasons.

On 23 August 2007 the International Slavery Museum was opened. This is a significant date as it commemorates an uprising of enslaved Africans on the island of Saint Domingue (modern Haiti) in 1791. The date has been designated by UNESCO as Slavery Remembrance Day, a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation. Resistance to injustices and discrimination is a central theme of the International Slavery Museum.

An even more tangible link is the Freedom! scupture. The sculpture was commissioned by international development charity Christian Aid and National Museums Liverpool to mark 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007. The Freedom! sculpture is made out of recycled objects such as metal car parts and raw junk found in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and was created by young Haitians and sculptors Eugène, Céleur and Guyodo from Atis Rezistans in collaboration with Mario Benjamin, an internationally renowned Haitian artist who has represented his country at Biennials in Venice, São Paulo and Johannesburg.

Sadly one of the other artists (not one of the people pictured above) from the Grand Rue artists collective has died, along with thousands upon thousands of his fellow Haitians in the disaster. Our heartfelt wishes go out to all those who have lost family and friends in the disaster. Haiti has a strong and proud people and I am sure that with a sustained amount of aid the country will recover and grow after this horrific disaster. Please go to the following Unicef and Foundry TV sites for further information or to make a donation.

I don't know about you, but I think it's always good to start the new year by having a bit of a spruce up - whether it's spring cleaning or a bit of a make over! We're used to giving important objects a new lease of life here at National Museums Liverpool and this week we have Sculpture Conservator, Lottie Barnden, to tell us about the work she's been doing to help celebrate the World Museum's 150th anniversary...

William Brown sculpture during cleaning

To commemorate the 150th Anniversary of William Brown’s gift of a library and museum to the city of Liverpool, a marble bust of the man himself has been brought out of storage for conservation treatment, prior to going out on public display. This portrait bust by Isaac Jackson was sculpted in 1851, just nine years before the William Brown Library was completed.

When it arrived at the sculpture conservation studios, it was thought to be one of the filthiest objects we’ve had in for a long time! I suspect that it hasn’t been cleaned since it was first made. The bust section is attached to a socle (a type of small round plinth) using a section of copper dowel. The plaster fill around this dowel has become brittle and loose and the bust now wobbles and turns on its base, making it quite unstable and unsuitable for going on public display as it is.

The first thing for me to is to take the bust off the socle and remove the copper dowel. This is a procedure we often perform on the older marble busts as the copper or iron pieces that were used as fixings in the 18th and 19th centuries corrode over time and the rusting can migrate into the marble causing deep staining. The dowel will be replaced with a new one in stainless steel.

Next I can begin the cleaning. When an object as dirty as this comes in it is very rewarding to see the dramatic difference that a good clean can make to it. It is often the case that the layers of dirt can obscure the fine detail of the carving or the cleaning process can reveal more problems with the sculpture than you originally saw. Happily, with this bust, the marble itself is in good enough condition that I can use a type of precision steam cleaner to gently clean away the years of soiling and museum dust. There are some paint splashes found below the dirt but these can be cleaned off using a solvent treatment and there are no other nasty surprises to be found.

Once the bust has been cleaned and restored back onto its socle, all that remains is for it to be given a protective coating of wax to keep the dust and dirt separate from the marble surface. 

This will help to keep Sir William Brown looking his best for the celebrations! The bust should be ready for display in February, so keep a look out for him at the World Museum.

Several statues from the Lady Lever Art Gallery have recently been out on loan to the V&A for the 'Thomas Hope:Regency Designer' exhibition. On their return they made a quick pitstop in the sculpture conservation studio, where they were checked and re-waxed before being ready to return to public display.

You can see the sculptures making their way back to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in our Moving stories Flickr set. As you can imagine, moving several large, heavy sculptures without damaging them is quite an operation, which required the combined efforts and specialist skills of the technical services team, sculpture conservators, conservation technologies and the handling and transport technicians, as well as some serious heavy lifting equipment. The good news is that the move was a success and the sculptures are now back on display.

Earlier this month I was lucky enough to be allowed to tag along on a shoot of a video interview with internationally acclaimed artist, Emma Rodgers.

I went with our audio visual team to her house on the Wirral, where she has her studio. They needed to film Emma because her work is going to be included in our forthcoming exhibition ‘The Rise of Women Artists’ , which will be at the Walker Art Gallery from 23 October 2009 - 14 March 2010. This video would be used to create one of the interactive displays for visitors to explore in the gallery and also to make video clips for our website.

The team filmed her working on some of her sculptures, while she answered questions about her inspirations, early career and what it means for her to be a female artist.

It was really interesting to hear about the processes that Emma goes through when creating a sculpture, whether this is of animals or humans. Sketches form the foundation of her work, sometimes from observations at Chester Zoo and also during animal autopsies at Leahurst on the Wirral. Through her work, Emma also travels abroad regularly. This also helps her study of animal’s bodies as she is sometimes lucky enough to hold animals like monkeys. She said she had been able to get to know the character traits of different primates, which also influences the way she depicts them in her sculptures. Emma clearly loves animals as well as finding them inspiring – we even met her pet hare, Mr. Redfern, who she said has helped her think about joints and bone structures in her work.

Emma has also spent time observing and sketching dancers and said she is fascinated by their muscle structures and how their bodies become altered through dancing. As she was answering questions from curator, Robin Emerson, she was building up a sculpture of a woman’s body, piece by piece.

You’ll have to wait until the exhibition opens on 23 October 2009 to see the video clips and find out how that sculpture turned out! In the mean time you can find out more about Emma's work on her website or browse through our Emma Rodgers Flickr set.

When they handling team say they're moving houses they usually mean literally!

As I've mentioned many times before, there's never a dull moment for the handling and transport team. Since I last reported on their activities they have safely transported a huge variety of objects from our collections, including ship models, paintings, a stained glass window and some Hindu Gods (well, sculptures of them, anyway). Some have been moved from storage to the conservation studios for treatment and back again, other objects have been gone on or off display and a few have ben loaned to other organisations.

Some of the more unusual jobs have involved taking a whole rack of uniforms to the conservation freezer to treat a possible insect infestation and weighing weapons from the collection in order to determine the floor loadings of planned displays in the new Museum of Liverpool.

On a rare break from work a few weeks ago the team had a sneak preview of the new galleries currently under construction at the Museum of Liverpool. They were all impressed by the scale and design of the building. However in the back of their minds I'm sure they were all thinking the same thing - they'll have their work cut out installing all of the many objects in this huge building in time for the opening.

You can see what they've been up to in the Moving stories Flickr set of photos.

My view of Trafalgar Square from the Fourth Plinth

It's my first day back in work after a short break today, and I feel that I've returned with a whole new level of understanding of the works of art that I promote on the blog and website. For while I was off I did more than just DIY and sunbathing. I actually experienced what it feels like to be a work of art myself when I spent an hour on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square as part of Antony Gormley's One and Other project. One hour, one plinth, one Sam.

I've spent many hours amongst the crowds in Trafalgar Square but have never had those crowds watching and photographing me before. One man asked if I was going to do anything, which is a bit of a strange thing to ask a sculpture. I've never heard anyone ask any of the figures in the Walker's sculpture gallery if they were going to do anything, our visitors seem quite content to appreciate the sculptures as they are with no expectations of entertainment.

I did do something on the plinth though - I took lots of photos (which you can see in my Fourth Plinth Flickr set), I talked to people, I chased a very persistent pigeon and I waved at a lot of people on open top tour buses. That's something that I miss now that I've returned to ground level - I still wave at the tour buses that go past in Liverpool but nobody on them is remotely interested in waving back to me any more now that I'm just a regular person again.

With so many distractions the hour passed very quickly. I really enjoyed my time on the plinth but don't think I could handle that level of attention and public scrutiny every day. I'll try to be kinder and less critical of any sculptures I see in the future, now that I know the kind of pressures they face being viewed each day, some of them patiently sitting outside in all weathers for the public's enjoyment.

As usual, when I was down in the capital I caught up with a few familiar faces, in this case 'Echo and Narcissus', who appear in the Walker Art Gallery painting that is currently on loan to the Waterhouse exhibition at the Royal Academy. It's a fantastic exhibition which also features 'The Decameron' from the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Angelica Vanasse is currently pursuing postgraduate studies in MRes Art & Design (Curatorial Practice) at Liverpool John Moores University.  Angelica recently lead a drawing workshop at the Walker Art Gallery and is here to tell us how it went. You can see more photos of the group and their work on Flickr.

Image courtesy of Angelica Vanasse and Robert Flynn

My research involves looking at the role of participants in art galleries, using the gallery as an immersive space for experiencing and interpreting artwork. Using the Walker Art Gallery’s sculpture collection as inspiration, I lead sculpture drawing workshops to explore this concept.

At one session, I gave the group a variety of tools and techniques that they could use during the workshop.  With pencil, graphite, charcoal, conte crayon and a variety of papers, the group spread out in the gallery to begin their creative investigation.  It was fascinating to see the varied ways in which all of the participants were negotiating their drawings. 

I worked with them on a one-on-one basis to help with their drawings, which included mapping out the drawings, investigating proportions and creating shading.  To help with breaking away from rigid focus, we also spent some time on gesture drawings with quick poses. 

I’ve discovered that using drawing as a way to interpret artwork encourages participants to look more carefully at the work around them and think about how it is made, as a way to create their own work. The session went really well - here are some of the comments from the group:

“I’d always thought sculpture was quite static and peaceful, but using different techniques - especially fast ones - creates an energy.  It must be similar to what a sculptor can visualize in a block of stone.”

“It made me look at items in more detail and appreciate form, light, lines, etc.  I enjoyed trying something semi-abstract.  I would love to come to another one!”

A huge thanks to the education team and gallery staff at the Walker Art Gallery for assisting in making this possible, as well as the wonderful participants who attended!

I'd seen the preview photos of the new 'unfolding' exhibition at Sudley House, but seeing the sculptures in reality was still quite a surprise! The sheer size of each piece was much bigger than I had imagined, which gave them real impact. Seeing them in situ at the house allowed you to see how they fit in with the building and its rooms. Each sculpture has subtle details that link them to each room - whether this is its furnishings or the original use of the room. At the same time, each piece has been designed to represent different aspects of the mind. 

Below is the 'Shell' sculpture that is in the morning room (also known as the study), which you can see has a floral pattern on the inside. This is inspired by the wallpaper that is in this room.

The red pointy creations seen below are laid out on the dining room table of the house.You can see that the darkest shades match the red upholstery on the chairs.

These sculptures represent the industrious self (left) and the social self (right).

It is as if the sculptures are almost chameleon-like, taking on a feature of the room but still standing out as they are so contemporary in comparison.

It makes you wonder what the Holt family might have thought if they came downstairs for breakfast and saw these sculptures on their dining room table!

Here's a sight you don't see every day when you're waiting to cross the road! The Edward VII monument returned to Pier Head today after being conserved at the National Conservation Centre's sculpture studio.

The tall sculpture had to be carefully manoeuvred out of the building then lifted onto the back of a lorry with specialist cranes and equipment, watched by staff, the press and a growing crowd of passers-by. The operation went smoothly, despite a bit of rain. You can see photos of the move on our Edward VII monument Flickr slideshow.

Just got this snap of an event that took place at World Museum Liverpool recently. Students and staff from EMTAS (Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service) worked with artist, Hilary Manuhwa to create this wonderful piece of contemporary stone sculpture representing the theme of 'freedom'. Hilary uses the shona style of Zimbabwe as his inspiration and showed everyone the traditional skills.  I'm told it was a proper learning experience for everyone involved and that they took a lot of pride in their creation.

The finished masterpiece

The sculpture will be on display in the World Cultures Gallery at the museum during Refugee Week (18-24 June) and for the following three months. Then it's off on tour to Salford, Newcastle and Leicester. This session was run as part of our Engaging Refugees and Asylum seekers programme.

PS This isn't be be confused with the other Freedom! sculpture currently at the Maritime.