National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The exhibition looking at art and climate change finishes this Sunday, 28 January 2007.

Print of Robert Burns from the Customs and Excise Museum collection, accession number CENM1996.928

Here's a bit of trivia to impress your whisky drinking chums with when you're out celebrating Burns night this evening. If you ask most people for 3 facts about Robert Burns, they would probably tell you that he was Scottish, he was a poet and he has a night held in his honour every year to celebrate his birthday. But did you know that he worked as an Excise Officer?

In 1789 Burns was appointed Excise Officer in Dumfries. His job was to gauge the vessels used by brewers and other traders in the manufacture of liquors on which Excise duty was charged and to charge the duty on the liquors when manufactured. A very conscientious officer, Burns was selected for promotion to supervisor, the official in charge of an excise district, but unfortunately died before he could take up his post.

His way with words didn't appear to rub off on those around him, as his confidential character assessment from 1792 simply states "The Poet. Does pretty well".

If you'd like to know more about Scotland's national bard have a look at the Burns Night feature on the BBC website. Or to find out how modern day customs officers are still 'doing pretty well' at protecting our ports and airports, you could pay a visit to the Customs and Excise Museum.

'The Enchanted Garden', John William Waterhouse

At the second attempt, I managed to record Sandra Penketh's picture of the month talk yesterday at the Lady Lever Art Gallery on John William Waterhouse's 'The Decameron' and 'The Enchanted Garden' (mp3/transcript/links).

The paintings are companion pieces, 'The Enchanted Garden' depicting a scene from Boccaccio's Decameron. Sandra's talk looks at the contemporary influences on Waterhouse, the story of the Enchanted Garden and Lord Lever's unusual approach to buying from Waterhouse's widow.

Fans of Cute Overload! shouldn't miss this photo buried in the podcast's suggested links (although whether 'mouse about to be savaged by cat' counts as cute is debatable).

The object of the month talk at 1pm in the Walker tomorrow (Thursday 25 January 2007) is on a Vivienne Westwood outfit from her Buffalo Girls collection.

I must confess, I was a little tired this morning after dancing, singing myself hoarse and generally getting over excited watching Kylie perform the last date of her Showgirl Homecoming tour in Manchester yesterday. Words couldn't describe how thrilled we were that the postponed concert was rescheduled, so I'm expressing my joy through this suitably antipodean picture of a black-footed rock wallaby, photographed in the wild by Clem Fisher during her Australian adventure last year.

Fans of Ms Minogue have another treat in store, when Kylie - The Exhibition opens in the V&A in London next month. Is it sad that I'm looking forward to seeing Charlene's overalls from Neighbours almost as much as her designer frocks?

Did you know that Kylie performed at the Liverpool Empire quite early on in her career? The occasion was captured by Echo photographer Stephen Shakeshaft, who showcased some of his best celebrity pictures in the exhibition Shooting Stars at the National Conservation Centre a few years ago. Read his entertaining reminiscences on the exhibition website.

We might not have any of Kylie's fabulous clothing here in Liverpool, but you can see designer clothing from the last forty years in the Inspiration display at the Walker.

The frond under UV light

A couple of month ago I told you about a monster of a 50 year old palm frond we had just acquired. Plans are to put the frond on display at World Museum Liverpool but first it needed some TLC in the form of treatment at the National Conservation Centre. This primarily involved removing the enhancing layer of acrylic paint to expose the original fossil (it's much paler).

This image shows the frond under UV light before work began. The purple areas are the acrylic overpainting and retouches. Images of the conservation work in progress and the finished article can be found on our Flickr page.

Update 23.01.07: apologies, that should have read 50 MILLION year old palm frond.

An emigrant's trunk from the last century.
Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

When I, Stephen Guy, was a child growing up in West Derby, Liverpool, in the 1950s our neighbour had an old wooden seaman’s chest stored outside.

It was slowly rotting away but when you lifted the creaking lid another world was revealed. Inside the top was a colourful painting of a ship with billowing sails racing across an azure sea. This battered object had the power to conjure up images of distant ports and a lost way of life.

 Fifteen men on a dead man's chest
 Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum
 Drink and the devil had done for the rest
 Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum …

Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island, wrote these famous lines in 1881. They capture perfectly images of ancient sea chests brimming with golden doubloons and other loot.

Merseyside Maritime Museum has a number of chests and trunks on display. Sea chests were usually made from wood then tarred or painted to keep water out.  A seaman’s chest dating from about 1880 was used by seafarer Ted Garland to carry his personal belongings while at sea.

Ditty boxes were used by mariners to keep valuable items along with letters and photographs. One on display dates from the 1930s.

There is a stylish passenger trunk owned by Gertrude Walker and her daughters Doris and Winifred, members of a wealthy family who frequently travelled on passenger liners. Gertrude first went to Chile, South America, in 1911. During the next 50 years she and her daughters crossed the Atlantic many times. The trunk, donated by Mrs JV Bucknall of Heswall, is displayed with some of the clothing and accessories it once contained – a fascinating time capsule from a bygone age.

Another is a passenger’s state room black oval bag with a Cunard White Star label still in place. The bag was used by Mrs Hadwin, a third class passenger on the Athenia sailing to Montreal on 23 July 1923.

An emigrants’ trunk from 100 years ago (shown) contains some of the simple belongings carried by people seeking a new life abroad – photographs, books, crockery and a wall plaque bearing the fitting Biblical quotation, 'My God shall supply all your need'.

A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

The special exhibition galleries at the Walker are having a bit of a makeover thanks to our upcoming exhibition Doves and Dreams. 

For me the highlight of the exhibition - devoted to the work of artist-couple Frances MacDonald and J. Herbert McNair - is definitely the spectacular Turin room. Long before the bed had even entered Tracey Emin’s head, MacDonald and MacNair created the Ladies Writing Room, an ambitious art installation for the 1902 International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Art in Turin. As you can see below the room is being carefully reconstructed for Doves and Dreams and contains many of the original artefacts, including glass, furniture, watercolours and graphics - these two were truly multi-talented.

Photographs of the highly stylised interior of the couples own Liverpool home are also on display. So if like me you’re addicted to Relocation, Relocation and like nothing better than a Wednesday evening in with Phil and Kirstie checking out other peoples houses, come and sneak a look at some true avant-garde splendour. The exhibition opens this Saturday, 27 January.

It would be wrong to highlight eighties photos of Liverpool on Flickr without pointing everyone to Nancy023's superb collection. Now based in Seattle, most of these photographs were taken during a year spent in Liverpool over twenty years ago.

Milk Bar, New Brighton

Commutation Row, Philip G Mayer

Philip G Mayer's flickr photostream contains some great early 1980s photographs of Liverpool, including this one of Wellington column outside the Walker with the row of buildings that were demolished to make way for Commutation Plaza.

Philip has also set up the Old Liverpool pool, inviting anyone with a Flickr account to post their photos to it. The pool includes this great set of postcards that he dates to around 1906 -  I love the Prince's Avenue and Bold Street ones. The postcards are all based on original photographs. There's also a very stylish artist's impression of the interior of the Mersey Tunnel and a set of photos of the last night of Woolton Cinema.

While David Beckham is making a splash in the US with his LA Galaxy ‘soccer’ antics, World Museum Liverpool has itself been subject to a bit of an American invasion.

Liverpool Centurions AFC is our local community American Football Club – and they’ve been down to LoveSport to give us a bit of taster.

Jon Askew and Andrew Morris show their tender sides

On their website, Centurions' chairman and fullback Jon Askew (pictured right) explains that, “Visitors to the display will get the chance try out at Flag Football, which is a great introduction to the sport”.

Apparently flag football is a non-contact version of the game - which is handy if you don’t fancy getting knocked over by this pair of bruisers. Joking aside, I am assured that the Centurions are a charming bunch of fellows who love their sport and want to spread the word about the game.

They’ll be back at World Museum Liverpool for another taster session on 24th January from 10am until 2pm. 

In the meantime, I am relishing the start of the rugby league season. Centurions of another variety, Leigh, are visiting Knowsley Road on Friday night for a friendly opener against the Saints. The match is also Sean Long’s testimonial and sees old team favourite’s Chris Joynt, Tommy Martyn and Paul Newlove back in the fold for the occasion. Can’t wait!

Patrick Caulfield's 'Still Life: Autumn Fashion' is one of the most popular pieces in the Walker's 20th century collection and is currently on display in Room 13 at the gallery.

The excellent Patrick Caulfield collection display at Tate Liverpool (not one of our venues) finishes early next month (4 February 2007), images of all fifty two works are available on the Tate website.

To mark the end of the display, Marco Livingstone will be giving a talk in the display space next Wednesday (full details). In 1981 Marco Livingstone selected works for the Walker Art Gallery's Patrick Caulfield retrospective.

We take it for granted sometimes that everyone understands which venues we represent at National Museums Liverpool, but personal experience suggests it can be confusing. It's even more confusing when we occasionally highlight events and exhibitions at other Liverpool museums and galleries on this blog.

I'm creating this post so that when I mention a Merseyside gallery or museum, I can include a link to this explanation.

We are - Walker Art Gallery, World Museum Liverpool, Museum of Liverpool, Merseyside Maritime Museum, International Slavery Museum, Sudley House, Lady Lever Art Gallery, HM Customs & Excise National Museum and National Conservation Centre.

We're not (but we like) - Tate Liverpool, FACT, the Beatles Story, Open Eye Gallery, University of Liverpool Art Gallery, Greenland Street, View Two Gallery, Almiro Gallery, 52 Roscoe Street, Williamson Art Gallery and Museum, Birkenhead Priory, Wirral Museum, Renew Rooms, Alima Centre gallery, National Wildflower Centre, 59 Rodney Street, British Lawnmower Museum, Western Approaches, Spaceport, Bluecoat Arts Centre, Atkinson Art Gallery, Blue Planet Aquarium, South Bohemia Art Gallery, Ellesmere Port Boat Museum, World of Glass, EggSpace, Mendips, The Artfinder's Gallery, Arena, Dot-art Gallery, Cornerstone Gallery, Cube Noir, Museum Man, Liverpool Academy of Arts, The Royal Standard, Williamson Tunnels.

Hope I've not left too many off the list (and we'll look at Prescot Museum another day..).

A subterranean Liverpool landmark celebrates its 50th anniversary today. Since 1957 generations of clubbers have trailed down the stairs for a night out at the Cavern. I myself spent many happy hours on its dancefloor as a student (as well as several not so happy hours in the seemingly neverending queue for the ladies).

The Cavern is of course most famous as the venue to see a certain local band at the start of their career in the 1960s. The  Beatles played at the Cavern on at least 292 occasions, their first recorded appearance being 9 February 1961, and their final one on 3 August 1963.

Among recent additions to the collections of the Museum of Liverpool is the Cavern membership card from 1964 pictured above, which belonged to John Marsh of Huyton. You can't see this card on display yet, but fans can enjoy a lot of the museum's other Beatles memorabilia in our Beatles online exhibition, or just have fun with the Beatles games.

A mystery that has intrigued many local historians is the exact location of the original Cavern club, which was filled in when the venue closed in 1973. The reincarnated Cavern was rebuilt using the original bricks in a different part of Mathew Street in the 1980s. I'm not sure how helpful this is, but another membership card from the museum's collection has these directions inside. Frustratingly, I don't think the map is drawn to scale though.

Cavern Club membership card, 1962 Season, owned by member Peter Day of Wallasey, dated 18-2-62. In the Club Notes section Peter listed the bands he saw at the Cavern, complete with dates, including the Beatles, 20 June 1962. Kindly donated by Mr Peter Day.

Detail of a Master's Declaration, announcing Shackleton's last expedition in 1921

Today is the anniversary of the day that polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton found the magnetic south pole in 1909. You'd think that after returning from an adventure like that he'd just want to stay at home with a warm mug of cocoa, or tick off the 'visit south pole' box on his travel wish list and start planning a cruise round the Caribbean to thaw out. He obviously wasn't the sunbathing type though, as he led several more expeditions to the Antarctic after this.

One of the prized documents in the collection of the Customs and Excise Museum is a Master's Declaration that announces the outward journey of his ill-fated last expedition in 1921. Sadly, Ernest Shackleton did not reach the Antarctic on that occasion as he died of a heart attack on South Georgia Island in January 1922.

Another famous explorer who has been in the news lately is Captain Robert Scott, whose moving last letters to his family will go on display at the Scott Polar Research Institute Museum in Cambridge tomorrow. The Customs and Excise Museum also have a letter from Captain Scott in the collections, that he wrote to request exemption from tax for the ship Terra Nova for an expedition in 1910. Nowhere near as poignant as the incredible letters to his loved ones, but still an interesting side of polar exploration that you wouldn't normally see.

What is the parent comet of the Lyrids? Are the Andromadids extinct yet? What's the hourly rate of the Delta Aquarids? Do the Taurids end before the Leonids begin? If any of these questions have been troubling you the answers are now at hand with our new annual meteor shower chart from the staff at the Planetarium.

Leonid meteor shower, 2001, RG Photo

Still from video footage of the Titanic wreck. Image courtesy of Steve Rigby.

Good news for everyone who has missed the old Floating Palaces gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, which closed for refurbishment in the autumn. A brand new gallery featuring the Titanic, Lusitania and Empress of Ireland disasters is currently being installed on the first floor of the museum. It has now been confirmed that the gallery will open on Saturday 10 February.

Being a nosey type of a person, I had a sneak preview of the new gallery when I was in the museum last week and must say it's looking fantastic so far. When the gallery opens visitors will be able to walk all the way round the Titanic model and see it from all sides for the first time. Most of the other favourite obects from the old gallery will be on display, along with some new items.

One exciting addition will be video footage that Steve Rigby of Warrington, the honorary secretary of the British Titanic Society, took of his submarine trip to the Titanic wreck, two and a half miles deep, in 2001. Visitors will be able to listen to a recording of Steve describing his amazing experiences on the trip.

Liverpool's best art blog Art in Liverpool just got better with the creation of the Liverpool Arts and Culture forum. Register to join the discussions, post event announcements, classifieds, job vacancies and courses.

The 19th century is a period that fascinates me, Stephen Guy, and it was a particularly exciting time in Liverpool.

Three remarkable views of Liverpool in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Art & the Sea gallery show the port at three stages of its development in the halcyon years of the century.

'A View of Liverpool about 1815' by John Jenkinson is seen from between New Brighton and Seacombe. My great-great-grandfather Henry Guy was a 17-year-old in Liverpool at that time. He was a bookbinder and later a labourer who married three times before his death in 1864.

A new era dawned in 1815 with the end of the Napoleonic wars, leaving Britain the unchallenged master of the seas for nearly a century. Liverpool was among the ports that benefited most.

Jenkinson shows Liverpool framed between two groups of sailing ships. At this time the river was still a great source of food - a boy with a dog walks with a man carrying a shrimping net.

'The Port of Liverpool 1836' by Samuel Walters is a finely-detailed view from the river on a stormy day. It is so realistic that you can almost feel the howling wind coming out of the canvas.

Several sailing ships and a rowing boat are struggling against a northerly gale during the high waters of a spring tide. A lone steamship can be seen in the middle distance. The long wall of Princes Dock, built in 1821, has a forest of masts behind it.

This was a panorama well known to my grandfather, Roger Bolland Guy, who had married May Kendrick in 1891. They had nine children, my father George being the youngest. Roger ended his working life as a ceremonial porter at Liverpool Town Hall.

The landing stage with its covered walkways was the largest floating structure in the world when it was built in 1876. It was designed to float so that ferries and other passenger ships could berth at any stage of the tide.

The stage existed until the 1960s and I remember it very well with its large crowds of commuters, excursionists and holidaymakers.

Also featured in the painting are the colonnaded public baths, demolished in 1907.

Merseyside Maritime Museum is open seven days a week, admission free.  A new Maritime Tale appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo.

Only a month ago, Sylvester Stallone was present as items from
the Rocky movie series were donated to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington. I nearly blogged the event, dreaming about how wonderful it would be if ‘Rocky’ came to World Museum Liverpool. In my reverie, we were to invite him to preview the LoveSport exhibition, gets lots of lovely pictures of him training and shadow boxing and of course, insist that he re-enact his famous victorious run to the top of the steps. In the end I dismissed the blog post thinking I was probably straying just a bit too far into the realms of fantasy.

Today I wake up to the news that Sly has apparently been hanging around at Everton FC this weekend! If only he had known about the wonderful day out I had planned for him. Mr Stallone, if you’re still out there ...?

While I was browsing the Treasures of American History exhibition where the Rocky items can be seen, I also came across some amazing iconic items such as Dorothy’s ruby slippers and the Scarecrow costume from the Wizard of Oz, R2-D2 and C-3PO from Return of the Jedi, Kermit the Frog and Muhammad Ali’s  gloves to name but a few. Oh, and the hat that Abraham Lincoln was wearing when he was assassinated. I can't help being impressed.

Detail from 'Winter' by Maurice Cockrill

Liverpool commuters may have seen our winter online exhibition reviewed in the Metro this morning. Possibly the first time one of our online exhibitions has been reviewed in the press, it's great to see it in there - especially as we got 3 stars!

One comment the reviewer Steve Pill made was that he would like to be able to inspect Maurice Cockrill's abstract painting 'Winter' more closely. Well we aim to please, so have now added a 'zoomify' option for both Winter and the other painting in the online exhibition, Snowdrifts by Frederick Waugh.

If, like Steve, you enjoyed the 'cultural fix' of this online exhibition, you'll be pleased to hear that another one is planned for February, so watch this space for further details.