National Museums Liverpool Blog - Tuesday, September 12, 2006

Curator of Continental European Art Xanthe Brooke's picture of the month talk at the Walker Art Gallery for September was on Rembrandt van Rijn's 'Self-portrait as a young man'. A recording of the talk is now available online (mp3/transcript/links).

The painting was in the news earlier this year when the Rembrandt Research Project, suggested that it was painted by a studio assistant, Isack Jouderville, rather than Rembrandt. Xanthe's talk explains why curators and conservators at National Museums Liverpool don't believe it is possible to make such a firm judgement at this time.

Xanthe discusses the Rembrandt Research Project, the missing 'd' in the Walker painting's signature, the use of UV lights for looking at disturbances in the paint surface, Jan Lievens and the Royal Collection of Charles I, Penshurst Place, dendrochronology and why Rembrandt painted so many self-portraits.

Something I love about popping into the sculpture conservation studio at the National Conservation Centre is you get to see all sorts of monuments and sculptures up close and from angles that wouldn't normally be possible. Earlier this year I got to look up Queen Victoria's skirt (probably not something I should admit to - I'll be sent to the Tower). Yesterday I got to see the Britannia sculpture from the war memorial at Crewe and Nantwich from above, which only the birds get to do usually. The sculpture is currently being cleaned by conservator Marisa Prandelli.

The public don't usually get to go behind the scenes like this. However, conservators will be holding special tours of their studios in a series of open days on 5 October, 8 November and 5 December 2006. Places are free but numbers are limited so please book in advance by ringing 0151 478 4999. For more details please see the What's On pages.

Up close you can see the horses decorating the Britannia sculpture's helmet

First a preview image, then a construction shot, now Airside have sent us a movie clip of their Insyde installation which opens at the Walker Art Gallery this Saturday 16 September 2006 as part of the Liverpool Biennial.

The movie clip (with sound) is available to view here.

Anne-Marie Hughes working on the Vivienne Westwood dress

Today textile conservator Anne-Marie Hughes showed me two Vivienne Westwood outfits that she has been working on.

The first, a knitted woollen dress from the designer's Buffalo Girls Collection of 1982, has quite a few small holes that need repairing. Just finding wool to match the original colours was quite a challenge.

In better condition is a tartan suit, complete with bondage trousers, from Vivienne Westwood's Anglomania Collection of the early 1990s. The suit, which used to belong to Holly Johnson, has just needed surface cleaning to make it ready for display.

These items and more are currently being prepared for a new display in the Craft and Design gallery at the Walker that will open at the end of this year.

Holly Johnson's Vivienne Westwood suit

Liverpool Echo has today printed a handy Liverpool Biennial map showing all of the venues where the action will be taking place. If you missed picking up a copy at the shops you can print off a copy the map instead. (NB the map is a pdf. file).

The map is very basic, so the Biennial site is probably the best place to check out the full details of events - but  this is a quick way to plan your route about town.

This morning I took my daughter along to the Walker Art Gallery for the Monday morning 'carer and toddler' session in the Big Art gallery. Keeping a rabble of under 4s entertained is no mean feat - but the great thing is that it is completely informal, so you don't need to worry if your child gets fidgety.

On arrival, we were greeted by a member of staff who directed us to the paper and chalks. Then we gathered into a group for a stories and rhymes with the facilitator Ros who used puppets and 'lift the flap' books to engage the children.  

Getting stuck into books in Big Art

Some of the children were really attentive while others wandered around and explored the many toys and activities available on the gallery. Helpfully, Ros had already pointed out that it doesn't matter what the children are doing, as long as they are enjoying themselves. There's no pressure to make your child sit down and listen - which is a real blessing for all the parents and carers. Eva spent an eventful hour dressing up the magnetic dolls, colouring-in, playing with coloured dough and generally having fun!

Dressing up the magnetic dollies

And at the end of the hour there are free refreshments - tea / coffee / juice and (really quite spectacular) biscuits - in the Walker's cafe.

This session is being repeated on Moday 18th and 25th of September from 10.00am until 11.15am. You'll need to book your free place in advance  - call 0151 478 4178 for further details.

Image of John Gilbert from the monument at Gilbert’s Lookout, Taroom, Australia

Clem Fisher, our intrepid curator of birds and mammals at World Museum Liverpool has sent back a report on the Ludwig Leichhardt Rally in Australia:

"The Rally has finished and was a wild success, especially the re-enactments of the Leichhardt Expedition. During one the actors pretending to be the Leichhardt Expedition were confronted by Aborigines with spears - they didn't warn us about that and most of us nearly had heart attacks as the Aborigines rushed over the hill towards the horses ridden by the other actors. They then changed back into their dungarees and hats and joined us for Smoko (tea).

There were also lots of talks, some by me, lots of great big slabs of very nice beef, lots of outback poets and singers, lots of travelling along the expedition route by 4 wheel drive and visiting the original expedition campsites and in some cases seeing the same birds they saw 160 years ago!

Yesterday we were following the Dunny Truck (mobile loos) over a ford in the Burdekin River when it go stuck and had to be winched out. We thought it was really funny until we came back through the ford at the end of the day and lost the radiator fan and half the radiator. So I have time to report back while it gets fixed."

Clem might be able to send some pictures when she reaches the next big town, Mount Isa. In the meantime I've used a reconstructive image of John Gilbert, the noted naturalist who was killed on the original Leichhardt expedition in 1845. Chris Clayton of National Museums Liverpool’s design department created this image for the monument at Gilbert’s Lookout, Taroom, which Clem unveiled during her last visit to Australia.

Curators at the Walker Art Gallery recently asked if we could provide an online version of the printed gallery guide available free to visitors in the gallery. The print guide provides a map of the building with suggested highlights for visitors unfamiliar with the permanent collection.

The Walker Art Gallery online room guide is intended to give online visitors, many of whom will never have visited the gallery, a greater idea of the content of our displays. Alternative ways of browsing the collection online are provided through the A-Z index of artists (also incorporating artworks from Sudley House and Lady Lever Art Gallery) and the chronological Collection highlights. Any feedback on this new guide would be appreciated.

We recorded Frank Milner's artwork of the month talk at the Lady Lever Art Gallery on Wednesday (mp3/transcript/links).

George Morland was arguably the most popular painter of the late 18th century but only two attendees out of a packed standing room only audience had previously heard of him.

Frank Milner discusses Morland's reputation as an alcoholic, debtor, womaniser and painter of 'exquisite technique'.

When Dr Clem Fisher, curator of birds and mammals at World Museum Liverpool, first told me that she was going to be a key speaker at an international conference in Australia I assumed that she would be staying in a nice hotel during her travels. However, the Ludwig Leichhardt Rally is not your average conference. It commemorates and recreates the German explorer Ludwig Leichhardt’s pioneering expedition across the uncharted Australian outback in 1844-45. Since Wednesday the delegates have been travelling part of the expedition trail and camping en route.

Today Clem has reported that the rally is going well so far, although she is missing her bed. She has already given two lectures, including one today in the open air in front of what she describes as the gorgeous scenery around the Burdekin River. In an unsceduheld addition to the conference programme earlier this week a tribute was held to the late Steve Irwin, who was a friend to several people on the rally.

In case you were wondering, I don't have any photos from this year's expedition yet, so have used a picture of Clem speaking at the 2004 Ludwig Leichhardt Rally. Apparently normal attire for the rally is much less flamboyant and more suited to travelling through rough terrain. Clem was glammed up to officially unveil a monument to John Gilbert, a naturalist credited with discovering many Australian species, who was killed on Leichhardt's expedition. I hope to be able to show some more current photos once Clem is back in range.

There’s a lunar eclipse this evening and according to Jonathan Cainer 
(who happens to be an astrologer, not an astronomer) you should be able to see it at around 7.50pm if you’re in the UK. Although in astronomical terms it is only a ‘rather small partial eclipse’ (NASA), in astrological terms it carries more significance. This is because the full moon coincides with a ‘lunar standstill’ which only occurs every 18.6 years.

One of the best places to watch the eclipse will be the ancient stone circle of Calanais  on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland which is thought by some to mark significant events in the lunar cycle.

The pelican in this portrait represents sacrifice - but is the Virgin Queen hiding something?

Keeping with the astrology theme, it is Queen Elizabeth I’s birthday today which means she was a Virgo. Very apt, given that she was the ‘Virgin Queen’ – or so I thought – but apparently I am mistaken.

The goddess Ceres that governs Virgo is not a symbol of celibacy, but one of abundance. And the reputation of Virgos as prim comes more from their fastidiousness and orderliness rather than their chastity.

Perhaps this explains the ongoing debate over Elizabeth’s love life and her dalliances with the Earl of Leicester, Robert Dudley.  Some researchers even go so far as to propose that Elizabeth actually had a child with her suitor.

• Calanais on flickr
• Lunar eclipses on flickr
• More about Virgos

Mirroring the construction work happening throughout the city centre, a week away from the start of the Biennial and most of the city's galleries look like building sites. Construction of the Insyde installation was well under way on the first floor landing of the Walker Art Gallery this afternoon.

The European Union Individual Chess Championships started at World Museum Liverpool yesterday. You can follow the games live online between 12.30 and 7pm for the next nine days.

Image courtesy of Mark Tranchant

The Claw Club is the new monthly family session at World Museum Liverpool's Bug House and Clore Natural History Centre.

It is run by Paul Finnegan, Team Leader of the Bug House, Jenny Dobson, Bug House Demonstrator and Allice Stokke. Sessions so far have included included 'Encouraging wildlife to your garden' and 'Brilliant bones and amazing owl pellets'.

A joining form and details on upcoming sessions are available from the Claw Club webpages.

'eye for Colour' closed last Sunday, 3 September. This means that our favourite colour feature on the website is also finished. We asked what your favourite colour is and why? We received over 2600 votes and you can see the results and the reasons here.

We've got entries from all ages, from Maizie, age 2, - 'My favourite colour is yellow because it's like the sun', to Nita, age 72, 'Growing up in Liverpool I always said I wanted two boys and two girls and I'd dress the girls in yellow and purple!'.

This isn't just Liverpool's favourite colour either, we received entries from Tbilisi, Norway, Sydney, Pakistan, British Columbia, California, Seattle, St Petersburg, Singapore, Texas, Armenia, Latvia, New York, Hyderabad, Malaysia, Barbados, Maryland, Switzerland, Sweden, Romania, South Africa, Florida, Pennsylvania, Seville, Ireland, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Italy, The Netherlands, Ontario, Boston, Botswana, Vancouver, Pittsburgh, Brazil, Northern Ireland, Alaska, Grand Rapids, Beijing, Malta, New Jersey, Brisbane, Ohio, Vietnam, Bangalore, France, Samoa, Melbourne, Chicago, Japan, Cairo, Belgrade, North Carolina, Cyprus, Valencia, Madrid, Finland, Chile, Denmark and the Isle of Mann!

Karen previously mentioned a talk on the redisplay of the modern and contemporary collections at the Walker Art Gallery by Curator of Fine Art Ann Bukantas.

Last Thursday Ann gave the talk again and we recorded it and now make it available for audio download (mp3/transcript).

• National Museums Liverpool audio downloads and podcast

The Artfinder's Gallery opens tonight from 3.30pm until 9pm. The first show is going to be original prints from 'Godfather of Pop Art' and John Moores 24 jury member, Sir Peter Blake. And apparently, you get a lollipop if you mention the Artfinder's blog - which has to be a good thing.

With less than two weeks to go until Liverpool Biennial begins, a reminder that Ian Jackson of the Art in Liverpool blog has a separate Liverpool Biennial 2006 Blog.

The Art in Liverpool blog grew out of Ian's popular Liverpool Biennial 2004 blog which remains an excellent online archive of the events.

The hanging of the John Moores 24 exhibition began this morning, the exhibition opens to the public on 16 September 2006. Judges Tracey Emin and Andrea Rose returned to the Walker Art Gallery to help Curator of Fine Art Ann Bukantas in deciding on the final placement of the paintings.

We've already announced the list of exhibitors, but I can't show you any of the paintings until after the announcement of the winner on 14 September.

18th century artist Joseph Wright of Derby was born on 3 September 1734 and died in 1797, a few days short of his 63rd birthday. By my calculations that makes yesterday his 272nd birthday.

Now I've never seen what would happen if you put 272 candles on a birthday cake but the scene could end up looking like this painting, 'The Annual Girandola at the Castel Sant' Angelo, Rome' by Wright of Derby himself, from the Walker Art Gallery's collections.

World Museum Liverpool's Treasure House Theatre has hosted a variety of shows for young visitors since it opened last year. Now our youth arts officer Michelle O'Callaghan is turning the tables and giving the audience the chance to create their own productions as part of National Museums Liverpool's new Youth Arts Programme.

The programme will include two Youth Theatre groups, for 11-15 and 16-21 year olds, starting in October. Taster sessions are being held over the next week for people who might be interested, have a look at the What's On page for details.

I called into the first taster session yesterday morning, in time to see the participants create some very interesting characters for a short play, with help from some wigs from the prop box.

Watch this space for news of future productions.

You might have seen on our main site that we have recently been awarded £300,000 towards the refurbishment of the Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool. This is fab news as the gallery is a real favourite despite being 30 years old - it was the one I always looked forward to when I was a kid (the mummies were the best, obviously).

Anyhoo, as the old gallery is dismantled and the new one installed we'll fill you in on our progress and all the new (old) stuff that will be on show. This installment looks at the incredibly rare and fragile papyri, (paper made from the papyrus plant) that are going on display. 

A small part of the Mayer A papyrus

The papyri in the collection are some of the most significant late New Kingdom documents in existence (c.1100 BC). They belong to a series of manuscripts that record the capture and inquisition of ordinary Egyptians accused of stealing from royal tombs and sacred places in Thebes. They bring to life the lives and conditions of the poorer members of the population during this dramatic period.

The court proceedings tell how gold, silver, copper and clothing had been stolen from tombs and other buildings. Witnesses confessed after severe beatings to their hands and feet, after which many were imprisoned or put to death.

This part of the Mayer papyrus (above) records the interrogation and beating of a weaver called Wennakht. Like many witnesses Wennakht was brought to court on account of the actions of his dead father, Taty, who was killed when he was a child. Likewise, many women who were married to thieves gave evidence. One of these women, Inneri, was beaten upon her feet and hands and confessed that her husband, Tasheris, had taken some copper. “We traded it and we spent it” she says.

The view from the Valley of the Kings, down across the Nile valley. This is where the robberies and subsequent trials took place.

For more information on the gallery contact the curator of the collection, Ashley Cooke.

Liverpool's waterfront is due to be transformed over the next few years with the construction of the new Museum of Liverpool.

In preparation a few small but significant changes have already taken place. Yesterday the Lusitania propeller and two buoys were carefully moved along the quayside to a new position, at a safe distance from the planned construction works.

The move, overseen by the Maritime Museum's Shipkeeping, Industrial and Land Transport team, went very smoothly. Ian Murphy, curator of port history, was there to capture the move in these photos. 

'Slump/Fear (orange/black)', Alexis Harding, winner of the previous John Moores prize

We can now release the list of exhibitors in the John Moores 24 exhibition of contemporary painting. The exhibition runs at the Walker Art Gallery from 16 September to 26 November 2006 and the prizewinners, including the £25000 outright prize, will be announced on 14 September.

The exhibitors are Henny Acloque, Guy Allott, Carolina Ambida, Lucy Annat, Emma Bennett, Elaine Brown, Alan Brooks, Matthew Burrows, Gordon Cheung, Leigh Clarke, Graham Crowley, Matt Davies, Geraint Evans, Cynthia Girard, Martin Greenland, Andrew Griffiths, Andy Harper, David Harrison, Vincent Hawkins, Claude Heath, Günther Herbst, Gerard Hemsworth, Dale Holmes, Philip Jones, Neil Kelly, David Leapman, David Mabb, Jeff McMillan, David G. Martin, Eliza Meath Baker, Andrea Medjesi–Jones, Nicholas Middleton, Richard Moon, Jost Münster, Penny Neville-Lee, Alicia Paz, Sachiko Odashima, Hugo Platt, Daphne Plessner, Alex Ramsay, Andreas Rüthi, Gary ‘Dollman’ Sollars, Ben Spiers, Arabella Stewart, Michael Stubbs, Paul Thomas, Covadonga Valdés, Julian Wakelin, Caroline Walker, James White, Emily Wolfe and Clare Woods.

This weekend is your last chance to visit the 'eye for Colour' exhibition at World Museum Liverpool, ending Sunday 3 September 2006.

It's the last day of August and the holiday season is officially over. But don't get all gloomy - there's lots you can do the brighten the looming autumnal months.

The Guardian have put together a handy Top 50 of the best things to do during the season, hightlighting the John Moores 24 exhibition under  Liverpool Biennial. It reads:

"Tate Liverpool and other venues in the city combine to offer a variety of contemporary art from around the world. The Albert Dock is not the Arsenale but the heat won't be as killing as at the Venice Biennale. The John Moores painting prize at the Walker Art Gallery and new contemporaries add to the fun."

John Moores 24 exhibition of contemporary painting opens on 16 September. You can also see Insyde and Cape Farewell as part of Liverpool Biennial.

• The Guardian's 50 must-sees for this Autumn

Next week World Museum Liverpool hosts the European Union Individual Chess Championships. The event starts Wednesday 6 September and runs until Friday 15, during which 70 players will take part in a ten round Swiss competition. British all-time number two, Nigel Short will be taking part and is a tournament favourite, competing for a total prize fund of £15,000.

Play is from 12.30 - 7pm in the Lower Horseshoe Gallery, with spectators welcome. Visitors are asked to maintain silence throughout.

More details can be found on the tournament website, where you can also view live matches. Further details about the background and future of the event can be found on the icLiverpool site.