National Museums Liverpool Blog - Thursday, June 21, 2007

Everyone has been talking about the two new exhibitions at the Walker, Out of this World and Unnatural selection. However, for the staff at the National Conservation Centre, those shows are so last week. Paintings conservators David Crombie and Rebecca Kench are already preparing paintings for the Walker's next big exhibition about Joseph Wright of Derby, which opens in the autumn.
 
I popped in today to see them conserving two of the Walker's portraits by the artist, of Fleetwood Hesketh and his wife Frances Hesketh. You can see a Filckr slideshow of the partly-conserved paintings here.

David updated me on the progress so far:

 "When these paintings were hanging in the gallery they appeared to be in good condition, apart from their slightly discoloured varnish. However nobody expected how discoloured the varnish and dirt layers would turn out to be.   Once the varnish and dirt were removed, we could see the bold areas of colour and Wright's distinct subtle purples that were somewhat obscured until now. It's remarkable just how bright the paintings really are.
 
The yellowing of the varnish is a result of the gradual oxidation and degradation of natural resin varnishes over time. Underneath, the original paint is generally in very good condition and these portraits are good examples of a sound oil painting technique. Wright painted them in a very consistent manner and didn't use any particularly radical techniques, unlike Sir Joshua Reynolds for example, who could be more experimental. 

One interesting thing that we noticed in another portrait being lent to the exhibition from a local collection is that the lady in the painting appears to be wearing a similar blue material wrap and wristband to the ones worn by Frances Hesketh in the Walker's portrait. The wrap is even tied in a similar way at the front. This may mean that they were studio props given to sitters by Wright. However, we'll have to check to confirm this when the loan painting comes in and we can examine them properly together."

National Museums Liverpool have developed a draft disability equality scheme and would like to know what you think of it. The document outlines what we are doing to meet the requirements of the Disability Discrimination Act. What do you think of our plans? Is it enough or appropriate? What could we be doing better?

You can find the document on our main website. You may also want to read our access standards and our equality and diversity policy which are on the same page. You can get in touch either through our 'contact us' system or by calling Human Resources on 0151 478 4677, with comments to reach us by Monday 16 July 2007.

It's just over 14 hours until a receation of the famous slave ship, Amistad, sets sail from its home port of New Haven, Connecticut, USA on a 14,000 mile round trip to Europe and Africa. The ship will retrace the slave triangle travelled by thousands of European slaving ships during the 18th and 19th centuries, with a crew augmented by English and American students including 19 year old Michael Simon from Toxteth.

The Amistad became famous in 1839 when the slaves on board - who were being taken to the Americas - revolted, captured the ship and eventually won their freedom.  

The ship will be in Liverpool in a few weeks time for the opening of the International Slavery Museum on 23 August, which is also Slavery Remembrance Day.

You can learn more the background to the trip, Amistad America Inc, and the orginal Amistad on the official website.

Image courtesy of Elizabeth Hawkins

In December 2005 you may remember that Blackie, the much loved rocking horse from Blackler's Department Store and Alder Hey Children's Hospital, went on display at the Museum of Liverpool Life for the first time after being kindly donated by the hospital.

This image of Blackie been ridden in the children's clothing department shows how much pleasure he brought to generations of Liverpool children.

The following is just one of the happy memories in the comments book from the display. "Blackie was a childhood friend to us kids - to us he was real!" L.F., Old Swan.

Hat display from the Maritime

Today there is a vast variety of waterproof clothing available protected by many different processes which I, Stephen Guy, find amazing.

In the days before modern materials, seafarers used tar to protect themselves and their belongings from the elements. Sailors became known as Jack Tars because of their clever use of this natural gooey substance to waterproof things. The name Tar, in this context, dates back to the 17th century and is short for 'tarpaulin' which in those days meant a seaman.  In a bid to keep dry, mariners slapped tar on hats, capes, coats and even sea chests – anywhere where the ever-restless sea, spume and driving rain were likely to penetrate.

Tar was also used in the days of sail for the Crossing the Line ceremony when seafarers sailing over the equator for the first time had to go through bizarre rituals. The victim’s face was smeared with a mixture of tar and grease before being “shaved” with an iron hoop instead of a razor.

Merseyside Maritime Museum shows many different types of marine clothing from different times. A fascinating display (shown) has summer straw hats and straw hats coated with tar from the 19th century. However, few other items of everyday clothing survive from the days of sail. Another display shows clothing worn by officer cadet Walter George Hiscock when he was on the training ship Conway 1909 -11, including his smart uniform waistcoat and jacket.

A uniform from about 1930 was worn by George Linford when he was chief engineer on the Daldarch. Also on display are his original cap badge and uniform epaulettes. A jacket and cap from about 1936 were worn by Thomas Seed when he served as a lamptrimmer (deck storekeeper).

There is the uniform jacket worn by Sir Ivan Thompson, a Cunard Line commander from 1953 to 1957. Sir Ivan joined Cunard in 1916 and had a long and distinguished career which included commanding Mauretania, Caronia, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.

A comfortable woollen dressing gown belonged to Captain Thomas Jones (1869 – 1957), showing the quieter side of sea life. Two jackets from about 1970 belonged to chief steward and purser Jack Hanson of Liverpool. He wore the jackets when he was chief steward with the New Zealand Shipping Company. Working clothes and uniform were worn by Andrew Stammers when he was a trainee deck officer with FT Everard & Sons Ltd in 1994.

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

I noticed on Liverpool Blogs this morning that Mark McNulty now has his own blog.

Mark was one of the two photographers featured in our Street Life exhibition at the National Conservation Centre last year. His blog promises to 'include news, recent photographs, published work and selections from the archive'.

The painting is in a private collection and is currently on a long term loan to the Lady Lever Art Gallery. In her talk Sandra looks at Holman Hunt's early years, the formation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, his time in Italy and his aptitude for painting portraits of children.

Darth Vader. Alfred Hitchcock. Elephant Man. Captain Cook. Rincewind. Luke Skywalker. Monty Python. These iconic figures are all currently battling for wall space as the finishing touches are added to Out of This World, our Josh Kirby retrospective opening at the Walker on Friday.

Liverpool born artist Kirby is best known for his cover illustrations of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, but he started his career producing film posters and book covers. Some of the titles for the books he illustrated are brilliant, The Robot in the Closet, A Whiff of Madness and Hello Lemuria Hello, to name but a few. I can’t wait to see how Kirby interpreted these.

Don’t forget to catch Unnatural Selection also on show from this Friday. Peter Chang’s vibrant jewellery, objects and sculpture are really breathtaking. Let’s hope Darth and Luke control themselves - note to participating science-fiction characters, all breakages caused by over-exuberant use of light sabers must be paid for. 

Update 15.6.07: If you click on the Out of This World link you can now see our lovely new Josh Kirby exhibition pages rather than our coming soon page.

The handling team hard at work

Last weekend Sharon Brown, Dave Letsche and Dale Riley, who look after the Museum of Liverpool's land transport collection, donned historical costumes and took the Burrell steam traction engine 'on the road' to Croxteth. Here's Sharon Brown's report from the event - with details of where you can see the Burrell next Saturday.

Dave Letsche entertains the crowds

We were at the Croxteth Heritage Sports Day last weekend as a backdrop as it was based around Victorian and Edwardian themed sports - tennis, rugby etc. We talked to people about the engine (built in 1909 - so it's Edwardian rather than Victorian) and about the Museum of Liverpool on the road project. We only took one turn around the park at the end of the afternoon as it was very busy and we didn't want to squash anyone! Everyone was fascinated with the engine and we had lots of positive comments about it - and ourselves in our rather fetching Victorian outfits - children kept wanting their photos taken with us - a novel experience - a bit like being a celebrity I guess!

Next Saturday (16th June)  we will be attending the carnival at Hale Village - another Victorian themed event and are hoping for cooler weather!

As you can see in the photo, Dave Letsche had a surprise under his top hat to keep the kids entertained (or bemused in some cases! - "Why 'ave ya got that rabbit on yer 'ed mate?" Dave's reply -"Its not a rabbit - its me hare!" The old ones are the best!)

Painting of the Titanic sinking. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

The film A Night to Remember about the Titanic disaster was a most unforgettable film for me, Stephen Guy, as a child. The sinking of the Titanic is probably the best-known shipwreck of all – everything went wrong for the supposedly unsinkable super liner in April 1912.

The huge ship never visited Liverpool but she had connections with the great port where she was registered as part of the mighty White Star Line.

The very name Titanic almost shouted defiance to the mighty seas that had claimed so many ships and lives across the centuries. Her construction would ensure that the vessel stayed afloat despite being holed. But her designers could not have foreseen the catastrophic damage that a huge iceberg could inflict on what was, by comparison, a puny mass of wood, metal, rivets and bolts.

The Merseyside Maritime Museum has many fascinating relics of the Titanic in its Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress gallery. A 20-foot long model of the ship is as old as the original Titanic – it was made by the builders Harland & Wolff to promote the great ship.

A white cotton apron tells a remarkable tale. Possibly the only surviving item of clothing worn on the night of the disaster, it belonged to Laura Mabel Francatelli, personal maid and secretary to Lady Lucy Duff Gordon.

They were involved in a notorious incident when they were among just 12 people in a lifeboat - built to hold 65 - which was later dubbed the millionaires’ boat. Those in the lifeboat were criticised for ignoring the cries of hundreds of drowning victims because they feared the lifeboat would be swamped if they tried to pull people out of the bitterly cold sea.

Two gold watches in the museum collections tell another story from that momentous night. They belonged to Thomas and Ada Hewitt from Orrell Park, Liverpool. Thomas was a bedroom steward on Titanic. As the stricken ship lurched towards her doom, he is said to have passed the gold pocket watch to a stewardess. “Please give this to my dear wife,” he urged. She did so. Thomas died along with 1,500 other people on board.

Other items include a lifejacket, personal belongings, parts of the lifeboats, the massive report of the Board of Trade inquiry into the disaster, and the only known surviving firstclass ticket. There is also a list of the Titanic-related archives held by the museum.

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

Brian Jones tending the runner beans in the Piermaster's House wartime garden

When I was down at the Albert Dock yesterday I popped in to see the wartime garden at the Piermaster's House and managed to catch museum attendant Brian Jones at work tending the plants. This week he has planted some strawberries to replace the ones that didn't survive the winter. Other plants in the garden are doing really well already, the rhubarb and cabbages are huge. He reckons the runner beans will have reached the top of the poles supporting them by mid July, so I'll pop back then to have a look.

You can see how well everything is growing in a Flickr slideshow of the garden, which includes old and new photos.

MMM.1997.16.7

Whilst searching the Museum of Liverpool social history collections for images of Liverpool in the 1960s for the forthcoming exhibition – The Beat Goes On, which explores Liverpool’s popular music from 1945 to the present day (opening at World Museum Liverpool summer 2008), I came across these images taken by Harold Morton, who as a keen amateur photographer took many photographs of the city.

The image of the policeman directing traffic on Lime Street near St Georges Hall shows just how much the city has changed, and what could be more 1960s than the mini? – this image of one being loaded onto the Aer Lingus aeroplane at Speke Airport is great!

MMM.1997.16.88

Archaeologists among you may remember that back in 2004 an impressive hoard of Viking silver was found near Huxley in Cheshire. That silver, now known as the Huxley Hoard, has since been jointly acquired by Chester Grosvenor Museum, Cheshire Museums Service and National Museums Liverpool with Heritage Lottery Funding.

The hoard has gone on public display for the first time this week at the Grosvenor Museum as part of the Viking celebrations in Chester. You can see it there until Tuesday 17 July 2007, then it will come to Liverpool as one of the highlights of the Magical History Tour exhibition, which opens at Merseyside Maritime Museum on 28 July 2007. Look out for further details on the website nearer the time.

Martin Greenland, the artist who won the John Moores 24 prize last year with 'Before Vermeer's Clouds' is holding his first solo exhibition since his win. It's at Farfield Mill, just outside Sedbergh, Cumbria, and is on until 11th July 2007. It's a mix of new and older work, including drawings and paintings on paper, none of which have been seen before. More info on Martin's website.