National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, October 08, 2007

Menaka in action

I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of a Sattirya dance performance this morning at World Museum Liverpool. Award-winning classical dance star Menaka Bora was checking out the space and practicing a couple of moves in preparation for her performance at the Treasure House Theatre on Saturday 20 October.

Dressed in fabulous traditional costume Menaka gave us a flavour of the Dashavatara which tells the story of the Hindu god Vishnu. If you're a budding dancer and fancy having a go at this ancient Indian dance technique Menaka will be running a workshop at 3.30pm on the 20th. Give it a try - if John Barnes can master ballroom dancing there's hope for us all!    

Yachting is very popular in and around Liverpool and the sight of them, particularly off Otterspool where the river is generally quiet, is a constant source of pleasure for me, Stephen Guy. Among the great ships entering and leaving the Mersey can often be seen yachts scurrying before brisk breezes.

Steam yachts were popular 100 or more years ago when wealthy people used them for relaxation and travelling in style.  They were status symbols and often had luxurious fittings to reflect the wealth of the owners. Some yachts were used for coastal waters and beyond and others were steamed in the Lake District, for example.

Me admiring the Firefly II's engines and paddle wheels. Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post & Echo

At Merseyside Maritime Museum there are the original engine and paddle wheels from the steam yacht Firefly II (shown). She was built for Lord Newborough, who lived in Anglesey, by W Roberts of Chester in 1900. The compound direct-acting diagonal steam engine gleams with its brass, copper and polished wood fittings. These parts of the vessel were discarded shortly after the First World War when Firefly II was converted to screw propulsion. Builder’s plans on display show that the 42-ton Firefly II was an elegant yacht which cut a dash around Liverpool Bay. She was 72 ft long and the 12 hp engine had a steam pressure of 140 psi.

Another contemporary yachtsman is commemorated in the museum displays. Baden Percival was a member of the West Lancashire Yacht Club and achieved fame among the local yachting fraternity when he won the 1908 Liverpool to Isle of Man Midnight Race in his boat Zulu. Percival was awarded a beautiful silver epergne (table centrepiece) which is now on show with photographs of the Zulu. At the time the Manchester Guardian ironically reported about the Zulu’s crew:

“Lancashire courage is unquestioned and now Lancashire modesty may range alongside it. They said that at 2 am they had had  about enough of it and didn’t care whether they won, as all by then had forsworn yachting, intending in future to keep hens instead.”

Built in 1900 at Fleetwood, Zulu is now in the United States and is called Zulu Chief.

There is a model of the 1906 Royal Mersey sailing yacht, Myfanwy, which was built by Samuel Bond of Birkenhead for WS Taylor and NA Hall of Liverpool.

The Royal Mersey Yacht Club, founded in 1844, promotes yacht racing in the River Mersey and adjoining waters. It is one of the many yachting and sailing clubs which thrive in and around Liverpool.

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

'Christ Discovered in the Temple' by Simone Martini

Sharp eyed visitors may have noticed that a few of our paintings are not on display in their usual places in the Walker and Lady Lever Art Galleries. Don't worry, they haven't gone forever, they are just out on loan to other galleries. Our works of art are always in demand and this autumn is no exception, with National Museums LIverpool making significant loans to three major exhibitions.

The Walker's Simone Martini painting Christ Discovered in the Temple is one of 18 items from our collections, including paintings, frescoes, ceramics and stoneware, that are now on display just down the M62 in the Art Treasures in Manchester exhibition at Manchester Art Gallery. Another eight paintings have been lent to the Millais exhibition at Tate Britain down in London.

We haven't been left with empty walls though as we've received reciprocal loans from their collections. You can see four of the Tate's paintings including 'The Little White Girl: Symphony in White no 2' by Whistler in the Lady Lever Art Gallery and Manchester Art Gallery are lending 'Crucifixion' by the School of Duccio to the Walker.

We have also sent five paintings, including The Scapegoat, Mrs Mounter and Mr and Mrs  Atherton, even further afield to the British Vision: observation and imagination in British art 1750 - 1950 exhibition at the Museum voor Schone Kunsten (or Museum of Fine Arts) at Ghent in Belgium. Paintings conservator David Crombie, who was there earlier in the week to install the paintings, reported back:

"British Vision is a very large exhibition with over 300 works including paintings, sculpture, sketches, prints and photographs spanning two centureis of British art. The Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Ghent has only recently been reopened after a complete refurbishment, and the exhibition takes up about half of the entire gallery space in the building. The permanent collections are also significant and more of these will be re-displayed when the exhibition finishes. The historic city of Ghent is well worth a visit if you want to see the show and there is a gallery of contemporary art as well, the Stedelijk Museum voor Actuele Kunst (SMAK)."

John Moran from the planetarium at World Museum Liverpool reminisces about Sputnik 1 and reflects on its impact. There's more on the structure of Sputnik on the New York Times' site and the NASA site is carrying a retrospective.

Replica of Sputnik. Image courtesy of NASA

The 4th October marks the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, the world's first artificial satellite. The importance of Sputnik cannot be overestimated. Firstly, it ignited the space race between USSR and the United States. And then when you think of how far we have come in the last 50 years - landing a man on the Moon, space probes to every planet in the solar system, space stations where people can stay in space for months at a time, and (probably more important to me and you here on Earth) satellites that enable us to phone friends and relatives on the other side of the world, global positioning satellites (GPS) that stop me getting lost on my way to work, and not forgetting the ability to watch live football and news events as they happen - this was all made possible because of the direction Sputnik fired the world into.

My first memory of Sputnik 1 was when I visited this museum as a youngster, and on seeing the replica that is on display here I remember thinking, "wow, that has actually been into space", not realising that it was only a replica. I also remember being struck by how simplistic it seemed. Now that I am older and have a better understanding on the subject, I realise that I was basically right. The Sputnik 1 satellite consists of a couple of silver zinc batteries, a ventilation fan, four antennae and two transmitters that went 'beep-beep-beep'. These 'beeps' were picked up by ham radio operators all over the world. The term "brilliantly simple, yet simply brilliant" springs to mind.

There ended up being something like 40 Sputniks altogether, but Sputnik 2 was groundbreaking too, as it was the first time a living organism was sent into space in the form of a dog named Laika, which means 'barker', (being blasted into space on nothing more than a giant firework gave poor Laika plenty of reason to bark in my opinion). As a result people named it 'Muttnik'.

So on October 4th, when you are sitting down to the football, or trying to figure out how to work that GPS on the dashboard of your car, remember this was all made possible because of the Sputnik 1 satellite. We will have a birthday card in the atrium of World Museum Liverpool to commemorate the 50th anniversary of this historic event.

John

No it's not another tragic episode of Celebrity Big Brother - I found these well-known 'personalities' side by side during my latest visit to the Magical History Tour exhibition at Merseyside Maritime Museum.

The lively 'L Factor' audio-visual display celebrates many of the sportspersons, actors, musicians and other famous faces who originate from the city of Liverpool, through film clips and a wall of fame. Pete Burns was almost unrecognisable from the footage of his eighties hey day while Cherie Blair (her Father, the actor Tony Booth was from Liverpool) stared calmly out from her photo on the surrounding wall. The wall also includes the likes of Kathy Tyson, Kim CattralI, Levi Tafari and even Cheggers!

Has Cheggers earned his place on the wall? (Image © Chegwin Media Associates)

I will admit to having a bit of a dance to the footage of Echo and the Bunnymen (much to the embarrassment of my companion). I was surprised to see the likes of Jason Isaacs – aka Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter - on the wall of fame. I had no idea he was a scouser!

Perhaps Courtney Love should be given an honorary place on the wall, as she lived in Liverpool for a while in the eighties. She stayed with Julian Cope from Liverpool band, The Teardrop Explodes, at his flat on Devonshire Road and she was apparently very inspired by the city.

Have a look and see if you agree with the choice of famous faces in the exhibition - who else do you think deserves a place there?

The Britannia (detail, reproduction) on display in the Lifelines Gallery. Image courtesy of Liverpool Daily Post and Echo

To me, Stephen Guy, Samuel Cunard is one of the most inspirational figures in the history of the business side of seafaring. Cunard (1787 – 1865) was the founder of perhaps the best-known shipping line in the world which had small beginnings in Liverpool (more on the main site). Merseyside Maritime Museum has many exhibits linked to the Cunard line but today we focus on the Canadian entrepreneur’s first ship, the paddle steamer Britannia.

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Cunard was a civil engineer who came to Britain to operate a fast mail service using steamships between the UK and America. A fine portrait bust of him can be seen on the top floor.

A huge shipping line grew from the early days of Britannia which is represented in the museum by a superb, finely-detailed model made by legendary ship modellers Bassett Lowke Ltd. Britannia was built by R Duncan & Co in Greenock in 1840 and was Cunard’s first purpose-built Atlantic liner. She was way ahead of sailing ship competition in terms of passenger accommodation and speed but there were some disadvantages to this ultra-modern mode of transport. A display panel in the museum’s Lifelines gallery shows Britannia leaving Liverpool on her maiden voyage to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and Boston, Massachusetts, on 4 July 1840.

Because she was designed for speed, passengers had to put up with some inconveniences. About half the space on board was taken up by her engines and coal bunkers. The noise and vibrations of the engines and paddle-wheels and the smoke on deck from the belching funnel were very unpleasant. However, compared with contemporary sailing ships her passenger accommodation was considered luxurious – small cabins housing 115 people on the main deck below. There was also a dining saloon.

Cows were carried on deck to ensure supplies of fresh milk. The holds could carry up to 225 tons of cargo.

A model of a First Class stateroom shows the best that early Victorian sea-travellers could experience - little more than a pokey cubby-hole but luxurious by the standards of the time. It was used by popular author Charles Dickens and his wife during a 14-day voyage on Britannia from Liverpool to Boston USA in 1842.
   
The tiny detailed model shows two narrow bunks, a bench, primitive washing facilities and a few coat hangers and no wardrobes. There is even Dickens’ minute silk top hat, overcoat, boots and duck-headed cane. Dickens wrote in his American Notes: “Nothing smaller for sleeping in was ever made than a coffin”. (You can read Dickens' American Notes on the Free Library website).

A PS Britannia wallpaper is available on our main site.

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

Hello all

So what have I been up to since my last blog post? Well, it has been pretty varied. Last Monday I did an interview for the Yorkshire Evening Post. I have to say that this could be seen as the pinnacle of a career for a Yorkshireman. The journalist was called John Woodcock, a very nice easy going character. He got very excited when I told him I was brought up in Tadcaster. For anyone that likes real ale then Tadcaster is the place to be brought up.

I have had to do a lot of media in the past few weeks, some good some not so good. It depends very much on the interviewer. Some are very easy going and friendly; others seem to think they are doing me a favour by talking to me. It is part of the job that has taken me a while to get used to but at the end of the day it is positive that I have the opportunity to raise the profile of the museum.

This coming week is a very exciting one for me as not only is it the start of Black History Month but I will get to meet the son of the greatly talented Paul Robeson - an actor, singer and lawyer who was unpopular with the American government in the 1930s as he visited the Soviet Union. On his return to the United States, he refused to sing to segregated audiences. I am pleased to say that Paul Robeson has been added to our Black Achievers Wall (remember, you can nominate your own Black achiever by sending me an email).

I'll sign off for now. By the way, I was in a good mood most of the week as we beat Swansea 2-0 but on Saturday we were cheated out of 2 points by a referee who sent off 2 players! Bitter, me, a Leeds fan... no way!

Just a few of the faces on the Black Achievers Wall in the International Slavery Museum

Black History Month starts on Monday, yet another good reason (as if you need one) to visit the International Slavery Museum. As always, there are lots of events planned across our venues, check out the Black History Month programme for further details.

To get you in the mood, here's a great rap poem that was written by ten year old Robert Thomas after he had attended the Slavery Remembrance Day events with his family

Down with Poverty, Racism and all the rest;
Stop it now 'cos you know it's best;
This is no jest.
We're all the same both black and white;
You know it's right
So don't give up without a fight!

This may look like an informal coffee break but the people around this table are actually helping to shape the future of our museums. Community consultation co-ordinator Helen Robinson has been holding a series of these meetings to tell people about plans for the new Museum of Liverpool and get them involved with some of the decisions about what will go on display there.

Helen is keen to meet up with community groups from all over Merseyside involved and is planning more consultation meetings for later this year. If you would like to get involved you can send Helen an email or ring her on 0151 478 4003.

There's another opportunity to discuss the plans for the new museum at a free Port City public forum next Wednesday, 3 October, 6-8pm at Merseyside Maritime Museum. The forum aims to address questions such as whether Liverpool is still perceived as a port city and how have the docks shaped the city. With contributions from Dr Adrian Jarvis, Professor WR Lee and Tony Lane from the University of Liverpool and Linda McDermott from BBC Radio Merseyside, this should be an interesting discussion.

The Duke of Kent chats to Sandra Penketh

Last Friday the Duke of Kent paid a visit to the Lady Lever Art Gallery. He was in Liverpool to officially open the new cruise liner terminal on the waterfront, and while here popped over the water to the Lady Lever. Here he is chatting to gallery head, Sandra Penketh.

Update 26.09.07: caught up with Sandra who told me that HRH was amazed by the size of the collection and thought it would take several days to tour properly. He was particularly interested in the Chinese displays, and the Masonic collection as he is Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England (Freemasons).