National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, December 01, 2006

You might have to wait another 25 days for Father Christmas to deliver your presents, but we just couldn't wait a minute longer to spoil you rotten with some festive treats. Now that it's December we have officially launched this year's selection of Christmas e-cards, featuring designs from vintage cards in our Decorative Art collection.

If you prefer to send cards through the traditional postal system, there's still time to order some from National Museums Liverpool. This year's selection includes a sneak preview of a design from the exhibition Doves and Dreams that opens at the Walker next year. Who knows, your card might even be delivered by a robin.

Airside, whose installation Insyde continues at the Walker Art Gallery, have opened a Christmas shop in Covent Garden.

Lots of progress being made on the Ben Johnson commission

More photos of the progress being made on our Ben Johnson commission (details here if you've forgotten what it is exactly). This pic shows part of the south east facing view (I think). If you know Liverpool you will probably recognise the edge of the Catholic cathedral on the right hand edge, the red brick clock tower at the University of Liverpool and other uni buildings, the Littlewoods building on Edge Lane and Brownlow Hill running up the centre of the picture.

There are more photos on our Flickr site including an updated version of the section Ben was working on in the last post on this project.

See this painting at the Stubbs exhibition at Tate Britain

They say that wherever you go in the world you'll meet a scouser. I'm not sure if paintings and other items from scouse collections count, but I certainly encountered a lot when I was down in London at the weekend. It was starting to feel like a home away from home.

I saw a familiar pair of cheeks at the Hockney exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, which features Peter getting out of Nick's pool from the Walker. If you go then have a look at the painting from the gallery opposite, as it's beautifully framed by the arched doorways - a really nice touch I thought. Next door the National Gallery are featuring another Walker painting, The Murder, in their Cézanne in Britain exhibition.

There are no less than 9 (count them!) works from the Walker and Lady Lever Art Gallery in George Stubbs: A celebration at Tate Britain, an exhibition that you may have seen at the Walker earlier this year. Another popular painting, the Walker's Henry VIII, is also there in the Holbein in England exhibition.

In the Imperial War Museum you can read the story of canine hero Jet and see a painting of him from our collections in the exhibition The Animals' War. The beautiful sculpture Danaid that visitors to Sudley House will remember is currently on show in the Royal Academy's Rodin exhibition. 

It's not just works of art that have made it down to London either. The exhibition The Great White Bear at the Horniman Museum includes photographs of every taxidermied polar bear in UK collections, which were taken by artists Bryndís Snaebjörnsdóttir and Mark Wilson as part of the project nanoq: flat out and bluesome. Our polar bear is featured, although its circumstances have changed since the artists photographed it in storage a couple of years ago. Since then it has been conserved at the National Conservation Centre and is now back out on display again at World Museum Liverpool.

The good news is that there's still lots to see in our galleries in Liverpool - well we are the capital of culture for 2008 after all! With such an embarrassment of riches up here it's only fair that we share them with the Londoners when we can.

Liverpool Biennial finishes this Sunday, 26 November 2006, which might explain why the Walker Art Gallery was so busy when I was in this lunchtime.

This weekend is your last chance to see John Moores 24 and the Walker's Cape Farewell exhibits (not forgetting an offline opportunity to see Digital Show).

'Red Reflection', Graham Crowley, John Moores 24

A couple of our Biennial exhibitions have been extended though, Insyde is at the Walker until 25 February 2007 and Cape Farewell is at the Conservation Centre until 28 January 2007.

After looking at Sam's photos of the Lutyens model on our flickr account I came across this photograph recently posted by Andrew Cullen. It shows Antony Gormley's 'Another Place' sculpture on a beach in Belgium shortly before it was moved to its current home in Crosby.

Andrew had made the trip specifically to see the sculpture but arrived too late (the website had the wrong information, would never happen here of course...). Fortunately Andrew was able to see and photograph the sculpture recently in Crosby.

There are thousands of photographs of 'Another Place' on Flickr and you can see a great slideshow of the most 'interesting' photos of Gormley's sculpture.

It will be all go on Liverpool's waterfront over the next few years with lots of exciting new developments planned, including a new canal and of course the fantastic new Museum of Liverpool.

All these changes can be a bit hard to get your head round, so Liverpool Vision have put some very useful information, images and audio visual presentations together in a small display that is now open at the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

Highlights include a flythrough video display of the Museum of Liverpool and a model of the new proposals around the Mann Island area of the waterfront. While you are there you can get a panoramic view of the site of the new developments from the window of the museum.

You can see the display on the 2nd floor of the Maritime Museum until 21 December 2006.

Chris Moseley, the head of ship and historic models conservation, is shown relaxing after what must have been quite a nerve racking day. Chris and his colleagues have been conserving the model of Lutyen's unbuilt design for Liverpool's Catholic Cathedral for more than a decade. Today the finished pieces of the model were assembled for the first time, to make sure that everything fitted together. Luckily they did!

There isn't enough room to fully assemble the huge model in the sculpture conservation studio, so it had to be put it together in the nearby paintings conservation studio. The model is being photographed there this week, then it will be taken apart again and transported to the Walker Art Gallery, ready to go on display in the exhibition The cathedral that never was in January 2007.

Update 22 November 2006: you can now see a slideshow of photos of the model being assembled on flickr.

You can find out more about the exhibition in our advance news release or read how you might be able to help out with an exhibit.

You don't have to be looking for love to come to Café Eros

In the past we’ve hosted a number of ‘In The City’ events for singletons on the look out for love or just a jolly night out with good company.

This Sunday we’re extending the offer so that anyone who fancies meeting new friends and tucking into a bit of delicious food can come along, whether or not they’re already attached. Ironically Sunday’s social brunch is taking place in Café Eros at the National Conservation Centre, so we can’t be held responsible if cupid decides to loose a few arrows.

The date for your diary is this Sunday 26 November from 12.30pm-3pm. The brunch costs £5 including entry into a prize draw. Pre-booking is essential.

Sunday will also be the last chance to see Cape Farewell (which includes the skeleton of a minke whale) as the Biennial finally draws to a close. If you haven’t already trawled the streets of Liverpool to see what’s on offer I suggest you get a move on!

Update 23/11/06: sorry, slight correction. Cape Farewell at the National Conservation Centre DOESN'T finish this weekend - it's on until 28 January 2007. However, the Cape Farewell exhibits at the Walker Art Gallery do finish this weekend, so pop over once you're brunched up.

One of the mummies that will be going on display in the new Egypt gallery

A few months ago I told you about the new Egyptian gallery at World Museum Liverpool and said I'd keep you up to date with progress. Well now we've got to the interesting bit - the mummies.

Curatorial staff and conservators have been in our stores selecting mummies and coffins to be featured in the new gallery. This image shows a female of about 19 years of age who died during the Roman occupation of Egypt (30BC to 640AD). The contours of the head and body were modelled before the external wrappings were applied and the eyes and mouth were painted on. A framework of palm-fibre tightly bound with linen thread hangs around the neck, threaded with small amulets of wood. They still retain traces of gilding. The ancient Egyptians believed that the amulets were magical and would protect the mummy.

More photos, including a coffin, can be found on our Flickr page. One of the images features Vivien Chapman, head of organics conservation. You can contact her here.

Also, I've been asked to thank Graham, one of our volunteers who has been helping select objects for the gallery. He's been a star.

You may remember that during Architecture Week in June Sam wrote about the incredible Lutyens' model which is to go on display in our exhibition ‘The Cathedral That Never Was’.  Sir Edwin Lutyens' model of his magnificent design for a Catholic Cathedral is to go on show at the Walker Art Gallery. Construction on the actual building started in 1933 but only the crypt was built. The outbreak of the Second World War and the resulting lack of funds put a stop to it.

The Lutyen's model on show at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1934.

The National Conservation Centre has taken 13 years to conserve the giant model and this will be the first opportunity to see the breathtaking interior fully-restored.

There are plans to show photographs and memorabilia but there is one key item that we are trying to trace. Keeper Julian Treuherz wants to display one of the tin collecting boxes used to raise money for the Cathedral Building Fund. You can see one of these in the Metropolitan Cathedral crypt – but we would like an additional one to accompany our exhibition.

If you have a collecting box, or any other artefact connected with the Lutyens' Cathedral, Julian would love to hear from you. His colleagues working on the new Museum of Liverpool are also collecting memories and stories about the Cathedral, including the laying of the Foundation Stone and the building of the crypt. If you can help, please contact Julian Treuherz at the Walker Art Gallery, William Brown Street, Liverpool, L3 8EL.

You can find out more about the exhibition in our advance news release.

Today is the 99th anniversary of the liner Mauretania's maiden voyage from Liverpool. On 16 November 1907 she sailed from Liverpool for New York, arriving safely on 22 November.

Above is a picture of the Mauretania (II) from the Stewart Bale archive. You can find out more in the Revelation database at National Conservation Centre's Reveal gallery or online.

On Merseyside Maritime Museum's collection pages you can also view the Mauretania in a painting by Burnett Poole. She is depicted in dazzle paint - a camouflage technique used by the Royal Navy during the First World War.

Of course the Mauretania’s sister ship was not so lucky. The Lusitania was torpedoed by a U-boat during the conflict with the loss of 1,198 lives including 291 women and 94 children. You can find out more about the Titanic and Lusitania in our collections highlights feature.

Update 5/12/06: An eagle-eyed blog reader spotted that this particular picture is actually of Mauretania (II) and not the Mauretania as originally stated. Sorry about that!

The interior of Princes Road Synagogue

A piece on this morning's Today programme on Radio 4 highlighted the endangered status of a number of England's architecturally-important inner city synagogues, and coincided with the publication of an English Heritage guidebook entitled 'Jewish Heritage in England: An Architectural Guide' by Dr Sharman Kadish.

Diminishing congregations and population migration away from the inner cities are putting a number of these historical buildings at risk of being repurposed or redeveloped, and English Heritage is calling on the UK Government to help. These calls follow the launch in May of its 'Inspired!' campaign, which put the cost of repairing all of England's listed places of worship at £925 million over the next five years.

Amongst those buildings most at risk is the Princes Road Synagogue in Liverpool, built in 1874 by William and George Audsley. This Grade II listed building is cited as one the finest examples of Moorish Revival synagogue architecture in Europe, with its highly ornate interior decked out in gold and marble. You can find out more about the life and works of the Audsley brothers by visiting the 'The Audsleys, Masters of Victorian Design' pages which accompanied a 2003 exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery.

If you missed it you can listen again to Today on the BBC website (the piece starts 1hr 22mins into the programme, RealPlayer required). You can find out more about the guidebook at Jewish Heritage UK.

After all the excitement of an evening out with Yoko Ono and Loyd Grossman at the official launch of plans for the Museum of Liverpool, we didn't have the heart to put our Liver Bird back into storage again. So the sculpture has gone on display in the National Conservation Centre as part of the Museum of Liverpool 'on the road' project.

'On the road' is a scheme which displays some of the iconic objects from the Museum of Liverpool's fantastic collections in unexpected locations around Liverpool City Cente.

The Liver Bird is the third item to go on the road and more are planned, so keep an eye on the 'On the road' webpages for updates.