National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, November 03, 2006

This photo gives you a sense of the size of the frond.

Check out this monster. It's the latest acquisition for World Museum Liverpool. It's a 50 million year old palm frond, Sabalites sp. It was found in Folly Quarry on the Lewis Ranch, near Kemmerer Wyoming City, Western Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA. It's over seven feet tall as you can probably guess looking at the man to the right of this photo

Now for the technical bit from curator, Dr Alan Bowden:

The rock formation is the Fossil Butte Member of the Green River Formation, Eocene (50 million years ago). The Green River Formation of Wyoming represents sediment that was laid down in a series of large freshwater lakes. Algal blooms led to a lack of oxygen in the water causing many of the lake’s animals and plants to die, as well as stopping bacterial action on the bottom of the lake. Here, dead animals and plants that would normally have rotted away were preserved in exceptional detail. Deposits such as this provide a rare glimpse into a long vanished world with its spectacular preservation of plant and animal remains. The fossil palm frond shows us that 50 million years ago this was a subtropical environment with lush and exotic vegetation bordering a large lake complex. It was a very different environment from the high mountain desert found in Wyoming today, where temperatures frequently go below freezing with long winter snows.

There are further photos of this fossil on our Flickr page.

Keeper of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Tony Tbbles, and head of learning, Carol Rogers, have just recorded a programme in the Making History series which is currently running on BBC Radio 4. Discussions included the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery, plans for the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade and the opening of International Slavery Museum in 2007.

The programme will be aired on 7 November at 3pm. You can listen live (or listen again if you miss it) through the Making History page on the BBC site. <AHREF="HTTP: making_history.shtml? making_history history radio4 www.bbc.co.uk>

A couple of online features from other museum groups have caught our attention this week. The Science Museum in London is hosting the touring exhibition Game On, featuring a history of computer games from the 1960s to the present day. The web team at the museum have documented the creation of their online feature on their blog, including commissioning a contemporary version of the classic game Pong set in a car park. Frankie Roberto has also blogged about online media coverage of the exhibition.

We've already seen how Brooklyn Museum are pioneering the use of Flickr online through their Brooklyn graffiti project, the latest set of photos on their Flickr account shows the installation of a new exhibition of works by Ron Mueck.

Finally, the Tate Modern website suggests visitors should arrive before midday if they want to go on Carsten Höller's Test Site, currently drawing huge crowds in the Turbine Hall. The Tate website has videos online showing a ride on each of the five slides (Realplayer only).

Just a few of the fabulous things on display in 'Objects of Desire' at the Lady Lever Art Gallery

I'm feeling very virtuous. I am the image of restraint, a pillar of strength who has faced the ultimate temptation without losing control. Somehow I have just visited the new Objects of Desire exhibition at the Lady Lever Art Gallery without testing the limits of my credit card. I think I deserve a medal, or at least a round of applause.

This is the gallery's first ever selling exhibition, in collaboration with Liverpool's Bluecoat Display Centre. The ever-changing selection of beautiful ceramics, jewellery, glass, metal and textiles on display are all by leading contemporary makers from the north of England.

All the exhibits are available to purchase and take them home. So if you are looking for a Christmas present with a difference, or if you just want to treat yourself, it's worth checking the exhibition out.

For extra festive cheer, there's a Christmas shopping night on 6 December from 5.30-8.30pm, with carol singers and mulled wine.

18^th century painter and social satirist William Hogarth is portrayed by Toby Jones in tonight’s Channel 4 drama ‘A Harlot’s Progress’.

The one-off production examines Hogarth’s relationship with prostitute Mary Collins. Hogarth famously lifted the lid on the Georgian vice scene and depicted a grittier side of 18^th century life.

Hogarth moved in theatrical circles and sought out the colourful side of Georgian England

Hogarth’s theatrical portrait of actor David Garrick as Richard III can be seen in the 18^th century gallery at the Walker. A Harlot’s Progress is broadcast tonight on Channel 4 at 9pm.  

• Explore the Walker’s 18^th century gallery
• View more of Hogarth's paintings
• Read more about Hogarth
• Explore David Garrick as Richard III in the Portrait Detectives interactive

Happy Samhain!

If you are recovering from yesterday’s Halloween revels then you have the pagan festival of Samhain to thank. Samhain, which means ‘summer’s end’, predates the Christian All Saints’ Day or Hallowmas – hence Halloween or All Hallows' Eve.

Apparently, Samhain historically marks the first day of winter in the country calendar. At this time shepherds would bring their herds down from the hillsides and give them shelter in stables. (Someone must have forgotten to tend to these sheep which can usually be found at the Lady Lever Art Gallery).

Brrr....it's chilly in here! Dan Hays' less than cosy hamster cage painting, Harmony In Green, 1997.

No coincidence then, that following last night’s chilly temperatures I was forced to bring my hamster in from the unheated conservatory and bring him into the cosier kitchen. Of course I was very careful not to put him too near the radiator because small pets don’t like sudden changes in temperature. 

Ironically, Dan Hays' Harmony In Green painting (shown above) is described as an attempt to make a hamster cage look like a desriable place to live. Can't say I fancy it myself.

Diwali dancers at the Merseyside Maritime Museum

Visitors at the Maritime Museum yesterday were treated to a special Diwali performance by local children. Diwali, also known as the Festival of Lights, is a major celebration in Hindu culture, in which evil is banished and lamps are lit to symbolise the triumph of good.

The young dancers have been learning about this and other Indian traditions with teacher Purvi Parikh, who commented “Dance is such an important part of Indian culture and this is a great way to make it accessible to everyone". She even managed to involve the audience in a few dance moves on the day.

Some of the clocks on display at World Museum Liverpool

If you are reading this from an office in the UK then don't forget to go outside and make the most of the daylight after work today, as when you leave work next week it will be a lot darker. That's right, the clocks go back this weekend, something which usually causes mass confusion in my house as there's always a clock or two that we forget to change.

All those in the same position should spare a thought for John Griffiths, the curator of horology (or man in charge of the clocks) at National Museums Liverpool. True, most of the timepieces in our collections are not kept wound up and running, so they wont need to be changed. However, the clocks in John's care that do keep time are located in several different venues spread out across Merseyside, including World Museum Liverpool, the Lady Lever Art Gallery and Prescot Museum. With all that running around to do next week, I bet he'll be glad of an extra hour in bed on Sunday.

Mannequins under wraps in the textile conservation studio

The textile conservation studio currently resembles the dressing room of a Paris fashion show, with tall glamorous models haughtily waiting to have their hair and make-up done before donning fabulous designer clothes.

We haven't been invaded by Kate Moss and her mates though, these are actually mannequins that textile conservator Anne-Marie Hughes and curator of costume Pauline Rushton are preparing for an upcoming display at the Walker.

The new display in the Craft and Design gallery will feature designer clothing from our collections spanning the last four decades, including outfits by Andre Courreges, Jean Muir, Bill Gibb, Yves St Laurent, Vivienne Westwood and Stella McCartney. You can't put frocks like these on just any old clothes horse, so the mannequins have been specially made for the display, each with the right hair and make-up to suit the era that their clothing is from.

If they look this good now I can't wait to see them properly dressed. The new display will open at the Walker in December.

Thinking ahead to bonfire weekend – BBC Radio 3, and BBC Radio Merseyside’s Free Thinking Festival is kicking off with an electric programme of stimulating debate, innovative lectures, thought and ideas.

Our Chairman, Loyd Grossman, will be hosting a special debate entitled, ‘It's not where you've come from, but where you're going that matters’. The debate will focus on our national obsession with the past – from family trees to apologising for historical calamities. Loyd’s guests include novelist Howard Jacobson, historian Joanna Bourke, Professor of Innovation James Woudhuysen and writer Kenan Malik.

The event takes place on Saturday 4th November at the Walker Art Gallery from 7.30pm – and tickets are free. To be a part of the audience for this exciting evening call 08700 100 300 or collect tickets in person from FACT on Wood Street.

This is just one of many events taking place as part of the BBC’s Free Thinking weekend in Liverpool, where other guests include Brian Eno, AS Byatt, Jude Kelly, Linda Grant and Carl Djerassi to name but a few. You can find a full timetable at the Free Thinking website.

Lali Chetwynd with Cousin It at the Walker during the last biennial

I noticed that the London based artist Lali Chetwynd will be returning to the north west in a couple of weeks to give a talk at the Cornerhouse in Manchester on 7 November.

Two years ago during the last Biennial, Lali organised some gallery talks at the Walker by a very unusual art critic, in the form of 'Cousin It' from the Addams family.

Lali acted as a translator for 'Cousin It', as he took visitors round some of the highlights of the collections. The hairy critic seemed to favour animal paintings and was very knowledgeable about Liverpool-based artist George Stubbs.

This time the artist herslf will be giving a talk about her influences and practices. So if you were lucky enough to see her performances at the Walker and would like to find out more then head over to the Cornerhouse.

On Tuesday we recorded Paul O'Keeffe's latest Lady Lever Art Gallery sculpture of the month talk on John Gibson's 'Pandora' (mp3/transcript/links).

Paul discusses the controversy that the sculpture caused when it was first exhibited (alongside a version of the Walker Art Gallery's 'Tinted Venus') in the 1862 Great Exhibition. His talk also looks at the complicated commissioning process for the sculpture and the Greek legend of Pandora.

Google Custom Search Engine allows any user to create their own customised google search engine. It's very easy to use and in minutes you can produce your own version of Google that returns results according to your own preferences.

To test the service I've quickly created an unoffical UK National Museums and Galleries version of Google. As its name suggests this search engine only returns results from the websites of national museums and galleries in the UK.

Try searching for 'current exhibitions' or 'job vacancies' and you'll see how useful these customised search engines can be.

There is loads of potential with these. Art in Liverpool could have their own search engine that only indexed results from art organisations, artists, museums, funding bodies and galleries in Merseyside. The Chamber of Commerce could customise to only index results from their members' websites.

Google custom search engines can be added to your own site, modified to fit your site's design and you can make money from them by carrying adsense adverts with the results.

The Little Artists, who worked with the Walker Art Gallery to produce the lego Art Craziest Nation display and helped develop interpretation for the children's gallery Big Art for Little Artists, have launched their redesigned website.

The new site lets you 'find out about the artists Cake and Neave, their ideas, exhibitions and capers, and also see their Art for sale. There are also activities, an interactive gallery and an opportunity to send in your own artwork'.

Here's a photo that I took this morning of one of the lionfish in the Aquarium at World Museum Liverpool, for no other reason than I really like it. This little chap (or maybe lady - I'm not sure how you tell with fish) was swimming round quite quickly this morning, maybe inspired by all the activity upstairs in the LoveSport exhibition.

Update: (26/10/2006) you can now see a flickr slideshow with photos of this lionfish and a less active one lurking near the rock at the bottom of the aquarium

The Walker Art Gallery artwork of the month for October is the first prizewinner from John Moores 24, Martin Greenland's 'Before Vermeer's Clouds'. Dr Paul O'Keeffe gave a gallery talk last Wednesday on the painting, now available online (mp3/transcript/links).

Paul discusses Greenland's previous four entries in John Moores exhibitions and his development through these paintings. The talk also covers Vermeer's 'View of Delft', the effect of frames on pictures, cloud formations and Greenland's red corduroy suit.

If you missed the Top of the Pops broadcast of Oasis' new video, 'The Masterplan' on Saturday night you can still see this remarkable animated feature online at MSN (scroll down for the link). The video, released to promote their new greatest hits album, is a bit of a tribute to fellow Mancunian LS Lowry.

The band are depicted in Lowry-esque 'matchstick' style going about their business, including playing a gig and walking to a Man City vs Newcastle football match.

There's also a subtle 'hats off' to the Beatles with the lads swaggering across a zebra crossing Abbey Road style. They later return to their matching terrace-houses, just like in the movie 'Help!'.

I can't say that I'm the biggest Oasis fan in the world - but this video is just compelling -and the tune's not bad either.

It doesn't seem that long ago that Crewe and Nantwich's Britannia sculpture was having a lie down and some TLC in the sculpture conservation studio. 

Following Britannia's departure a heavenly figure has taken her place, in the form of the sculpture from the war memorial at Blackley, near Manchester.

Sculpture conservators Simon Cottle and Lottie Barnden are pictured hard at work cleaning the angel's wings. The bronze panels from the base of the memorial are also being conserved in the studio.

Their work will be completed in early November and the memorial will be reassembled in time for Remembrance Day.

'The Murder', Paul Cézanne

The Walker Art Gallery website contains our spoliation list - works from Walker Art Gallery's collection whose provenance is either incomplete or uncertain. They are published to assist with the worldwide search for works of art that may have been wrongfully taken during the Holocaust and World War Two.

In publishing these lists we aim to advertise as widely as possible the details of specific works of art, the whereabouts and ownership of which cannot with confidence be specified for the years 1933-45.

'The Murder', by Paul Cézanne, has recently been removed from the list, after its provenance was established thanks to research by staff at the Art Loss Register.