National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Bernard Fallon finds himself on the other side of the lens

Photographer Bernard Fallon's exhibition, which opens at the National Conservation Centre on Saturday, is called The Long Way Home, and he has travelled a very long way to come home for the opening this week. Although he was born in Liverpool, Bernard now lives in Los Angeles, where I bet it's raining much less than it is here today.

His incredibly atmospheric photos of Liverpool 40 years ago are a world away from the Californian sunshine. However, his humourous reminiscences in the exhibition show that it's clearly a time he remembers with great affection.

This afternoon Bernard had a role reversal when photographer Tracey O'Neill took his picture for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo. He has a packed schedule of press calls and catching up with friends and family over the next few days, but has promised to return to to give a free public tour of the exhibition on Saturday 3 March at 1pm - see the National Conservation Centre What's On page for details. If that's busy he says he'll do another one afterwards as well. Do try to pop along if you can.

Sharon Brown, curator of land transport, catches the train

The Lion railway locomotive, one of the most popular objects from our land transport collection, returned to Liverpool yesterday after being on long term loan to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester.

Lion became a bit of a celebrity in 1952 when she appeared in the popular film the Titfield Thunderbolt. More than half a century later it's good to see that she's lost none of her appeal and is still making headlines - you can see her returning home on the back of a lorry on the BBC news website.

Unlike some celebrities (I wont be as indiscreet as to name names), Lion hasn't had to resort to major surgery to keep her good looks and combat the advancing years. However, after decades in the spotlight the locomotive needs a bit of a rest and some TLC before facing the public again. So Lion is going to be treated by our conservators before she goes back on display as one of the key exhibits in the new Museum of Liverpool when that opens in 2010.

The 'Community, faith and fair trade'display

You might have seen in the papers over the weekend that 26 February to 11 March is Fair Trade Fortnight. There is a series of events focusing on Liverpool's modern day 'fair trade' status working with faith groups from across the city. World Museum Liverpool is hosting a flag display which I popped in to see before. Pretty spectacular it looks too.  Kids from local schools have create the flags which were inspired by Tibetan prayer flags we had sent over last year when the Dalai Lama visited Liverpool, and they are hung in the same way. If you fancy making your own pop along to the museum this Saturday between 12 and 4.

Then on Friday night local schools will be setting out their displays on what they're up to for Fair Trade fortnight with prizes for the best ones. All good stuff.

An appeal for help from John Edmondson at World Museum Liverpool. Anyone wishing to reply to him should use our 'contact us' system.
Karen

William Roscoe

2008 is Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. One of its oldest institutions, founded by William Roscoe, is planning to mark the event by holding a special reunion of descendants of William Roscoe (1753-1831). He was one of Liverpool's most distinguished citizens and arguably the person responsible above all others for setting our city on the road to its present status as a 'cultural capital'.

Would any of our readers be interested in any of the following?

* Helping to locate William Roscoe's living descendants by researching his family tree
* Contacting his relatives to ask them to sign up for a reunion in Liverpool
* Meeting at the Athenaeum Club, Church Alley, Liverpool to help plan the arrangements for this reunion

If the answer to any of these questions is 'yes' then I look forward to hearing from you.  I am particularly keen to hear from people who can prove they are descended from William Roscoe. Rumour has it there are plenty of these around.

I am not (so far as I know) related to William Roscoe myself. In fact I am Head of Science at World Museum Liverpool, and a member of the Athenaeum. But I want to help our club to celebrate the Capital of Culture year in a way that honours its founder, and also provide a lot of fun for those lucky people who can trace their ancestry back to Roscoe.

John

The figurehead from the Indefatigable Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

They conjure up to me, Stephen Guy, images of a time when ships were like living beings sailing the seven seas. Ship figureheads evoke the age of sail when no ship was complete without a carved figure decorating her bows. They were brightly-coloured and skilfully carved to reflect the names and functions of the ships.

Figureheads have a long and fascinating history going back to ancient, pre-Christian times with their origins shrouded in the mists of time.  Ancient figureheads were looked on as the guardians of the ships they adorned as well as for frightening enemies. In modern times the golden age for figureheads was between 1790 and 1825.

At Merseyside Maritime Museum there are several stunning examples of figureheads from this era when Britain ruled the waves. Among those on display is one from the training ship Indefatigable – originally a Royal Naval frigate launched in 1848. It depicts the famous “Sailor King” William IV when he was Duke of Clarence. He is shown (left) in naval uniform with gold epaulettes and medals across his chest.

TS Indefatigable was used on the Mersey between 1865 and 1912 to train boys for the Merchant Navy. The school went ashore and was at Plas Llanfair in Anglesey for many years, closing in 1996. The figurehead went along too but suffered from being out in all weathers. In 1994 four old boys of the school – Harry Traynor, Jim Clark, John Harrison and Alf Eady – began to painstakingly restore it. The figurehead was presented to the museum by the Old Boys Association in 1997.

The figurehead from the Verajean (see her on our Flickr page), a steel ship of 1891, shows a buxom redhead dressed in a red, blue and white formal Victorian dress. She clutches a bunch of red roses to her breast. In 1943 the figurehead was found abandoned in Preston docks and saved from destruction.

A massive white and gold figurehead came originally from the 76-gun warship HMS Hastings, built in 1818 (see him on our Flickr page). It represents the Governor General of India Lord Hastings. HMS Hastings was converted to screw propulsion and came to Liverpool as a coastal defence vessel in 1857.

When figureheads fell out of fashion with the end of sail, wood carvers who produced them turned to other things. Several figures that decorate Liverpool pubs are believed to have been carved by them.

The Verajean, Hastings and other figureheads can be seen on our Flickr page.
More on TS Indefatigable can be found in our archives section.

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

Merseyside Maritime Museum welcomed some very special visitors yesterday - a group of artists who had travelled all the way from Haiti to deliver their latest sculpture. The Freedom! sculpture was made in workshops with young Haitians, led by sculptors from Atis Rezistans in collaboration with internationally renowned Haitian artist Mario Benjamin. Together they made the piece from recycled materials, to explore what freedom and slavery means to people in Haiti today. 

Freedom! was commissioned by international development charity Christian Aid and National Museums Liverpool to mark 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade. It is on show at the Maritime Museum until 18 March 2007 as the first stop in a UK tour.

After visiting London, Bristol and Cornwall, the sculpture will return to Liverpool to become a permanent exhibit in the new International Slavery Museum when it opens on Slavery Remembrance Day, 23 August 2007. Did you know that Slavery Remembrance Day commemorates the anniversary of the uprising of enslaved Africans in Haiti, which led to the creation of the first Black republic? Which makes this new Haitian sculpture an especially fitting way to mark the occasion.

I’ve just been acquainting myself with Merchant Palaces, our photographic exhibition of Wirral and Liverpool mansions, currently on show at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. I was interested to discover that Dawpool in Thurstaston, the magnificent home of Sir Thomas Henry Ismay, was designed by Richard Norman Shaw the architect responsible for the White Star Line offices in James Street. I’ve always had a strange obsession with this candy striped masterpiece and yet again this morning its hooped turrets of copper and cream stirred me from my rush-hour induced slumber as I crept along the dock-road. Ever since I visited Liverpool, as a wide eyed 7 year old Boltonian, I’ve always had a sneaky feeling the White Star building actually has an edible façade. I remember looking longingly and almost salivating at the prospect of a huge building encased in chocolate and icing. So far I have resisted giving its auburn bricks a cheeky lick so I’d like to think there’s still a small chance it could be Liverpool’s equivalent of the Hansel and Gretel gingerbread house.

This got me wondering if there are any more buildings in Liverpool with culinary characteristics and I discovered the Radio City tower is in fact a marshmallow ripe for melting and the columns of the Walker Art Gallery bear more than a slight resemblance to sticks of coltsfoot rock. Ah, if only Lutyen’s Cathedral that Never Was had made it past the planning stage, Liverpool would have been home to an ice-cream sundae of mammoth proportions. 

The delicious White Star Line offices

Our renowned National Conservation Centre in Whitechapel Liverpool is the expert place for conserving fine paintings, but even they'd be hard pushed to make them appear quite as lifelike as photographer John Paul Pietrus has in this stunning Guardian recreation.

I couldn’t resist sharing these beautiful pictures of Coleen McLoughlin for those who missed the feature on Saturday. She may share her WAG initials with the Walker Art Gallery but this is taking it too far!

You've already heard about Wallace and Gromit and how they a going down a storm at Animated Adventures at World Museum Liverpool, but the older visitor should take the time to check out the other animation pods too.

The pods are all dedicated to different individual animators or their studios and their approach to developing a particular animation. Each one tells a different story and they are definitely worth a read if you are even remotely interested in the field. I've done a bit more hunting round on the web so you can see some of the work that's under the spotlight:

• A Barbaric Tale by Richard Vaucher
• Theme Planet by Michael Sormann
• Honey by Evan Cagle (whose website seems to be experiencing hiccups so I've linked elsewhere)
• D7 Peacemaker from D7 Studios
• Gene-Fusion AD 2310 by Banjax
• and last but not least, Kaze Ghost Warrior by Timothy Albee Animation.

One of the perks of this job - other than the obvious joy of working in a museum - is flexi time.  We always get back the hours we work which is very convenient when you fancy an early dart to the pub on a Friday or a Monday morning in bed. Not everyone is so blessed though - apparently we (sorry, you) give your employers £23 billion in free hours every year. So the TUC is running its annual 'Work your proper hours day' this Friday to encourage the UK's workforce to leave on time, take a proper lunchbreak etc.

One of the suggested activities is to pop to a museum in your lunchtime, so the 24 Hour Museum has put together lunchtime trails for several cities, including Liverpool. The Walker Art Gallery, World Museum Liverpool and National Conservation Centre are all close to the main shopping and business districts, all have cafes and are all more fun than sitting at your desk praying for home time.

A hole lot of fun in the docks

This morning I went on a special staff tour of the Manchester Dock dig site, led by project officer Mark Adams from the field archaeology unit. That's him on the right of the photo - the one with the high visibility jacket and hard hat!

You can get a rough idea of the site layout in this aerial photo. Since that was taken the team have been digging down to reveal a number of key features from around the old dockside, including machinery and the hydraulic system that moved the dock gates.

The internal dock gates at Manchester Dock have now been uncovered and Mark pointed out a number of masons' marks on the dock walls around them.

It's not just the structure of the dock itself that is of interest to the archaeologists, as the material that was used to backfill it is also part of the story of the site. Much of the Manchester Dock was filled with sandstone from the excavation of the Mersey tunnels. A number of sugar moulds have also been found in the fill material. While we were there, archaeologists Sarah Pevely and Helen Jones (in the hole at the front of the photo) uncovered some more.

By the way, in case you were wondering, there was no machinery operating on site today, which is why people were allowed in without safety jackets and hats.

Chinese New Year by Lizinha

Some Sundays, even living within ten minutes of your intended destination doesn't get you there for midday, especially if there's going to be loads of firecrackers and banging drums. Yesterday I wanted to photograph the Chinese New Year celebrations on Berry Street but didn't quite make it in time. Thanks to Lizinha, Pete Carr, Peter, Indigo Goat, Spectral Shift and ijob, I don't feel that I missed out.

Tim Brunsden at Liverpool Stories produced an excellent video of the events, while Art in Liverpool blogged about them.

Landscape with the Ashes of Phocion by Poussin

This Thursday the Independent will be giving away a colour poster of Poussin's 'Landscape with the ashes of Phocion' as part of their British Art Treasures series. One free in each copy of the paper.

Wolohan Marionette Theatre. Accession number MLL.2005.37.29

The start of the Chinese Year of the Pig was celebrated in style across the city yesterday, and there are more cultural events planned at our venues next weekend - check out the Merseyside Maritime Museum What's On page for more details.

Somehow I doubt that any of the celebrations looked quite like the party in this photograph of a pig marionette playing musical instruments with his wolf and cat friends!

Museum of Liverpool curator Kay Docherty tells me that the marionettes were part of the Wolohan Marionette Theatre. The family run theatre, originally operated by John and Margaret Wolohan from the 1920s, did many performances in Liverpool and the surrounding area for enraptured children and adults.
 
John Wolohan was a musician in the Philharmonic Orchestra and wrote and composed all of the music for the shows himself whilst the marionette costumes were handmade by Margaret. The family moved to the USA for a few years and continued their shows there.
 
Denis Wolohan, John and Margaret's son and his wife Pat assisted with the shows and later took over the running of the theatre in the 1960s, continuing to entertain children up until their recent retirement.
 
Denis and Pat very kindly donated a selection of their marionettes, photographs, props and stage backdrops to the collections of the Museum of Liverpool in 2005.

Accession number for this photograph: MLL.2005.37.29

We spent last Friday trying to kick some life into our 'Figures of 08' project. We put the project live in December but didn't have the time to give it a proper publicity push. Marc wrote about 'Figures of 08' previously, it's a capital of culture themed project that asks you to send us photographs of unintentional '08's that you come across. There's a slideshow and a google map of the photographs submitted so far.

Discussing how to kickstart our project, Marc showed me a trailer for the new Jim Carrey film 'The Number 23' on Friday. The film seems to be about a man who sees negative patterns in his life that always point to the number 23. I spent a pretty fruitless afternoon on Saturday looking for new '08's, it was annoying to walk out of the Maritime Museum and be confronted with what I now presume to be our nemesis number adorning the side of the pilot boat docked alongside.

Model of the Royal Yacht, the Mary Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

This was a story which I, Stephen Guy, worked on as a young journalist.

In 1971 divers from a sub aqua club discovered by chance a remarkable wreck near the Skerries, a treacherous group of rocks off the north coast of Anglesey. Scattered over the seabed was all that remained of a ship that once carried the highest in the land – Britain’s first Royal Yacht, the Mary.

She was presented to Charles II by his allies the Dutch in 1660, the year he came to the throne. Britain had been in the grip of Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell since 1649. With the return of the monarchy, popular Charles and the people wanted to party. Bright colours replaced the drab hues that had dominated the Commonwealth world.

The Mary reflected the mood of the age. Her cabins were decorated with gold leaf. Her furniture was made from the finest leather and her figurehead was a unicorn. Charles used her for racing and later she was given to the Royal Navy to transport the great and the good. Not only was the Mary the first yacht outside Holland but she was the ancestress of the thousands of racing yachts and sailing dinghies sailing around Britain today.

Disaster struck in 1675 when she was wrecked on the Skerries, a notorious graveyard for ships. A total of 39 passengers and crew survived – 35 died, including the Earl of Meath. Survivors huddled two days on the rocks before being rescued.

Merseyside Maritime Museum supervised the salvage of items from this important wreck. A gold signet ring with an unidentified coat of arms was worn on the finger of a noble victim who perished in the cruel seas. A silver sword guard is all that is left of a deadly weapon once wielded with great skill. A large pewter plate with the crest of Charles II may have been used by the captain, William Burslow, who died trying to save Lord Meath. The pewter chamber pot was used by the upper classes – the common sailors relieved themselves over the side. A silver porringer bowl for drinking hot, spiced beverages is also in the collection with other silver items such as coins, a spoon and an ornate lion’s head which once graced the handle of a walking cane.

There's more on The Mary, and this model in particular, on our main site.

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

One of our best loved pieces has returned home after a long holiday. Henry VIII abdicated his throne at the Walker Art Gallery last September to form part of the Hans Holbein exhibition at Tate Britain. The exhibition was a royal success but we are delighted to announce - after a quick appointment with our experts at the National Conservation Centre, you know how sand gets everywhere after a long break  -  the King has now re-entered the building.    

Hooray it's Henry

Joseph Sharples at the Merchant Palaces exhibition opening

This man probably knows more about the historic houses in the area than the people living in them do. Many people will remember Joseph Sharples from his time as a curator at the Walker Art Gallery during the 1990s. Since leaving he has been involved in several architectural research projects, including rewriting the Pevsner guide to Liverpool. While he was working on this I occasionally spotted him standing in the street looking up at buildings, which he always claimed was critical research.

Most recently Joseph has been the guest curator for the Merchant Palaces exhibition, which opens today at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. The exhibition features photographs of local Victorian and Edwardian mansions from the Bedford Lemere Collection at the National Monuments Record, the public archive of English Heritage. At the opening yesterday evening Joseph described how he had to wear thermals and fingerless gloves while examining the negatives in the collection, which are refridgerated in order to preserve them.

His painstaking research has resulted in a fascinating exhibition of incredible photographs, beautifully capturing a lost era of grandeur and opulence.

Alesso B by Michael Tyzack

Just heard that former John Moores prize winner, Michael Tyzack, died at the weekend. Michael won the prize in 1965 with his abstract piece, Alesso B (shown). The win put him into the limelight and led to him being invited to Charleston in 1976 to set up a studio art department at the city's college.  More details on Tyzack and his work can be found on the Charleston Post & Courier site.

Judging by the millions of kids streaming in and out of World Museum Liverpool, the latest exhibition, Animated Adventures, is doing ridiculously well (Ian Jackson at the Art In Liverpool blog seemed to enjoy it as well). I've not been yet - promised my 40-something boyfriend I wouldn't go without him.

Fans of Aardman Animations, who's 'Curse of the Were-Rabbit' features heavily in the exhibition, will be chuffed to hear that Wallace & Gromit star, Shaun the Sheep, is getting his own TV series. Some pretty fab pics of the production can be found on the Guardian's site.

I'm used to see various ships and ferries coming and going on the Mersey, but every so often you have a close encounter with a vessel so huge that you feel quite insignificant in comparison. This morning the enormous Chinese ship Le Cong was being carefully manouevred into the Birkenhead docks with help from three tugs, which was quite a sight from our little ferry. I had a quick look for Le Cong online and found it on this handy website of photos of Ships of the Mersey, which includes many other ships I've seen over the years. There's even some pictures of our very own Edmund Gardner pilot boat.

While enormous container ships like Le Cong are an impressive sight when they tower over everything around them on the Mersey, it's easy to forget just how vulnerable even they can be when out on open water. The year before last the Merseyside Maritime Museum opened a small display to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the sinking of largest British registered ship ever lost ast sea, MV Derbyshire. You can read the story of the Derbyshire Family Association's fight for justice and how they continue to fight for safety at sea in our MV Derbyshire feature.