National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, November 20, 2009

Copyright Stephen Shakeshaft

The photographs in the exhibition Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft have struck a real chord with visitors and brought back a lot of memories, as the comments made during reminiscence sessions in the exhibition have proved. Some of these comments have been included with the photos on the exhibition website now, and there are more below.

If you would like to take part in a reminiscence session there are a few more planned, with the next one taking place tomorrow afternoon. Full details are in the exhibition events programme on the website.

And don't forget that there are just a couple more days left to enter the caption competition and win a signed copy of Stephen Shakeshaft's book 'No Illusions' - so get your thinking caps on if you haven't entered yet!

"One thing which stands out is the expression of resilience mixed with hope on the faces of the people in our great city."

"We seem to have grown up in poverty but children always seemed to be laughing. The photographs made me realise this."

"The photo of the clothes rack reminds me of sitting at the kitchen table with wet clothes dripping into your dinner."

"The photograph of the lady with the washing rack reminds me of my gran's house. She always had the kettle on and cake in a tin."

"My son can't believe some of these photos. Why have an indoor washing line?"

"I love the photograph of the lady with the gas mantle. Looks like she's just come in from the wash house, is so pleased with her washing all done and is ready for that cup of tea. I can almost hear her sigh."

"The photograph of the carters reminded me of my dad and brother who used to be carters. They would dress up the horses with brasses and ribbons and go to shows. We used to take the horses back to the stables in Whittle Street."

"I'm reminded of the rag and bone man with his goldfish. Where did he put all those goldfish on his cart?"

"The photograph of the carter reminded me of having our milk delivered by Mabel in her pony and trap in West Derby in the fifties. Sometimes she'd give me a lift to the Saturday cinema in the village. I couldn't tell whether the smell was Mabel or the horse."

"The shop with the children reminds me of shops always having a bell that rang whenever the door opened."

The John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize now open to entries.

Any artists considering entering the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize would do well to get inside the head of a previous judge. Matthew Collings, who hosted What is Beauty? last Saturday evening, was on the panel for John Moores 22 in 2002 when the artist Peter Davies won.

In the programme Collings lists his top 10 favourite “beauty experiences” in art. From an amazing bridge designed by Sir Norman Foster to pre-historic cave art, his perception of beauty is really interesting and varied. Definitely worth a watch on iplayer.

Howard Jacobson discusses Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema's painting The Tepidarium at the Lady Lever Art Gallery. 

The press team supervised filming at the Walker and Lady Lever Art Gallery last week. The film crew, from Oxford Film and TV, were making a series on the history of British art for Channel 4.

Our galleries will feature in the episode that looks at Victorian art, in particular at nudes and themes of sensuality. I had no idea quite how many naked people there are in both galleries. In case you are unsure let me tell you there is a lot and it turns out the Victorians were not as reserved as you might have imagined.

The writer Howard Jacobson was the presenter. He is Manchester-born and has known the Walker Art Gallery since a young age but this was his first visit to the Lady Lever, which he was hugely impressed by.

Unfortunately it is a long wait before what looks to be a really fascinating and thorough insight into British art hits our screens in Autumn next year but we'll keep you posted with dates when we have them.

'Queen of the Thornbacks' Rachel Ball stands in World Museum aquarium

If I could be described as anything it certainly wouldn’t have the words ‘Queen of..’ used as a prefix, it would probably be ‘pain in the ..’. However there are people who definitely deserve to be given such a praising pseudonym.

For example on Natural World on BB2 last Wednesday evening biologist Andrea Marshall was given the nickname ‘Queen of the Mantas’. This is deservedly so, as the documentary showed Andrea giving up everything for a life in Mozambique to study the endangered species of Manta Rays (to watch again click on the iplayer)

Although she would probably blush at the thought of it, Andrea reminded me of Rachel Ball, our aquarium curator at World Museum. Although she hasn’t left her life in the North West to save Manta Rays in a far flung part of the world she is making an effort to help conserve Thornback Rays.  The Thornback’s have been decreasing in numbers since the 1980’s so Rachel, her team and volunteer anglers are tagging rays in the name of conservation project RayWatch in the River Mersey and Liverpool Bay in order to track them. With this in mind perhaps Rachel should be dubbed Queen of the Thornbacks?

To get involved in RayWatch you can sponsor a ray, to do so either call 0151 478 4918 or visit www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/raywatch

Presenter, Paul Martin, and I at the Albert Dock

My appearance on the popular BBC 2 afternoon auction show Flog It! was broadcast on Wednesday – recorded on the Albert Dock with presenter Paul Martin.

It was shot back in April when the crew spent the day at three separate locations. My main role was setting up and supervising the BBC’s visit. The six minutes of screen time took almost three hours, including setting up the camera and getting the angles right.

Our picture shows Paul and I with the Merseyside Maritime Museum in the background - the chap in the front holds an enormous collapsible reflector which aims to literally put us in the best possible light.

You can watch the full show on the BBC iplayer. It's available until 4.29pm this Wednesday (18 November).

There was a script of sorts but the director stressed this was only meant as a guide – obviously with takes from different angles there had to be continuity. Some wasn’t used, including a close-up of my hand affectionately patting one of the huge cast iron columns.

In between takes, Paul told me that he started out as a professional musician and became involved in Flog It! through his interest in antiques. I shared some memories of the TV shows I watched as a child. They were always live and anything could – and did – go wrong.

I vividly remember two major stars on separate occasions suffering the indignity of their false teeth slipping,  watched by millions of viewers.

I’m a big fan of the Flog It!, when I can see it, and also The Antiques Roadshow on which I appeared recently talking about some 1960s films discovered at Lowlands community centre, West Derby, Liverpool.

I last appeared on Flog It! about five years ago doing a three-minute tour of the Lady Lever Art Gallery with one of the programme’ specialists, Kate Bliss. We did it in our stocking feet because of the echoes from the polished floors.

Flog It! is an in-house BBC production and takes a lot of careful preparation to bring to the screen.

The rest of the National Museums Liverpool footage is scheduled to be screened at 3.45 pm on Monday 30 November, focusing on the stunning new Museum of Liverpool on the city’s waterfront.

The show visits our workshops where some of the museum’s fabulous exhibits are being conserved. Paul interviews land transport curator Sharon Brown in a carriage from the legendary Overhead Railway.

Also featured are the Lion steam locomotive, star of the Ealing comedy classic The Titfield Thunderbolt, and the first Ford Anglia off the assembly line at Ford’s new Halewood factory in 1963.

The feature ends at the Museum of Liverpool where operations manager Martin Hemmings takes Paul on a hard-hat tour of the magnificent building.

Over the past few days you will have seen news reports on the Australian government's apology for its role in the British child migration programme (you can see the PM's apology on the BBC website). The British government is expected to follow suit shortly.

From the late 19th century Britain operated schemes which sent more than 100,000 children to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries. These children did not travel with mothers or fathers but alone, in groups. Taken from poverty and disadvantage it was believed that they would have a better life working in the clean expanses of the British Empire, where they were a source of much-needed labour.

The children's experiences varied. While some were orphaned, many left families behind, and separation from their homeland often led to a lonely, brutal childhood. Some found happiness with new families, while for others it was a disastrous move. They were made to work long hard hours on farms. Some were abused. Many ended up in institutions. Some were told their parents had died, only to discover years later that this wasn't the case.

The repercussions are still being felt. Many former child migrants and their families are still coming to terms with their dislocation. It's been difficult to watch some of the displaced people on news reports; their sorrow and anger is so clear. Their lives were obviously shattered by their experiences.

It's now recognised that the forced removal of children from their homeland was a bad idea, and one which caused more harm than good, hence the Australian government's apology.

Coincidentally we are currently planning an exhibition on this very subject. 'On their own - Britain's child migrants' is being organised in collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum. It opens in Sydney in November 2010 then comes to Liverpool in summer 2011 before being toured to other museums around the country. It will focus primarily on the 1860s to 1960s and the children who travelled to Canada and Australia. Along with Glasgow, London and Southampton, Liverpool was one of the main embarkation ports for children so it's fitting that the Maritime Museum will be hosting the exhibition.

We'll be launching a website in spring next year and will be looking for the reminiscences of people affected by the programme. If you were involved we'd be keen to hear from you.

The sheet reads: The Liverpool Journal of Commerce is now enlarged and contains later and more comprehensive shipping and commercial news than any other paper. Image courtesy Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

Sometimes you have to leave a place to find it again, if you know what I mean.

Liverpool once had many small shipping offices which did good business supplying goods and passengers to the many vessels using the port. Gradually they largely disappeared and are now a fading memory.

Some years ago I went to Las Palmas, the busy capital of Gran Canaria and a shopping mecca. I wandered off to the dock area one sunny day and stumbled across busy little shipping offices. They were like those I remembered in Liverpool with wide wooden counters and ornate metal grills.

In keeping with much of modern business, most ships today are owned by large multi-national companies. These enterprises are often involved in other ventures such as property development, finance or leisure facilities. They operate on a global scale whether by raising money, buying ships or engaging crews.

Many ships are registered in countries like Liberia or Panama where regulations are less stringent than in Britain. Until the 1950s, most ships using British ports were owned by British shipping companies with familiar names such as Blue Funnel.

Most of these concerns were founded in the mid-1800s and were often controlled by families with long maritime traditions. However, only a few independent shipping companies survive today.

On display in the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Life at Sea gallery is a colourful spread from Liverpool’s Journal of Commerce of 1882 (pictured) showing flags and funnels of shipping companies that figured in the boom years of the port.

Britain, as an island nation, will continue to rely on merchant ships and seafarers long into the future. Most goods still go by sea and sea travel is growing in popularity.

A new exhibit in the gallery illustrates the impact of container ships in modern sea transport and trading. It is a 10 ft long model of the Liverpool Bay, built in 1971. The ship was built in Kiel, Germany, for the Ocean Steamship Group founded by renowned Liverpool shipowner Alfred Holt in 1865.

The 58,000 tonne Liverpool Bay was one of the new generation of ships designed to handle containers. She could carry more than 2,300 containers and was one of five sisters built at the same time, originally sailing to East Asia.

Huge ships are now a familiar sight on the Mersey but I remember vividly the impact of vessels like the Liverpool Bay arriving for the first time in the early 1970s.

A new Maritime Tale by Stephen Guy appears every Saturday in the Liverpool Echo. A paperback – Mersey Maritime Tales (£3.99) – is available from the museum, newsagents, bookshops or from the Mersey Shop website (£1.50 p&p UK).

Nottingham Contemporary art gallery - home to the Walker's Hockney painting for the next few months

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at one of the aspects of the work that our staff are involved in, courtesy of handling and transport technician Paula Frew. This week Paula travelled to Nottingham as a courier to supervise the installation of one of the Walker's most popular paintings, which has gone out on loan. Here's what she got up to, in her own words:

"Monday morning at 7.30am I was on the train travelling to Nottingham to act as a courier for the installation of the Walker's David Hockney painting  'Peter getting out of Nick’s pool' by David Hockney, which is on loan to the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery for their Hockney exhibition. The painting had travelled ahead of me, having been collected from the Walker on the Friday by Momart, who handle and transport art works nationally and internationally.

Twenty minutes walk from the train station, Nottingham Contemporary art gallery stands on a corner like the raised prow of a ship looming in front of a sandstone gothic church, the opposing architectural styles complimenting the space.

Entering the gallery, construction work was underway installing interior features. I signed in and was introduced to the staff who escorted me into the exhibition space. Here was a quiet eclectic mix of organised disciplines consisting of painting conservators, curators a registrar and exhibition technicians.

I instructed the technicians on the safe removal procedure of the crated work. The work was carefully removed and placed on foam blocks and leant temporarily against the wall.

Painting conservators checked the painting against the relevant paperwork and images that I had with me from National Museums Liverpool's painting conservator David Crombie, who had supplied a full report. Content with the report and the painting's condition, the conservators allowed the technicians to continue with its installation.

I observed the technicians measure a space on the wall and install the original lifting brackets. Lifting brackets are used to support this painting, as a pretty chunky frame encompasses the canvas, giving it a weight of 105kgs.

A small lifting machine (SWL 227kgs) was used to elevate the painting onto the brackets. Once installed onto the brackets, the fittings attached to the back of the painting called ‘Oz- clips’ (nothing to do with a wizard’s hair!) were used to finally secure the painting to the wall, installation professionally completed.

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery hoping to see a David Hockney painting over the next few months won't be disappointed as the Tate have kindly loaned 'Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy', which is going on display in gallery 15 for the duration of the Hockney exhibition in Nottingham."

"Look honey, I shrunk the guitarist!"

As you will probably be aware from reading this blog over the years, there are many unsung heroes in our staff who put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to ensure that our exhibitions and events go off without a hitch. There are lots of examples of the handling and transport team hard at work in the Moving stories set of photos on Flickr.

With all that hard work, it's good to know that they have some light hearted fun occasionally, as the latest photos show. Their latest major project has been to dismantle the displays from The Beat Goes On exhibition, which closed recently. Handling and transport technician Paul Kelly took the opportunity to become a rock star with a giant guitar prop, while the joiners Jerry and Steve took a ride on a rather realistic 2-dimensional scooter.

Copyright Stephen Shakeshaft

It's competition time again and this month's picture comes courtesy of the rather wonderful exhibition Liverpool People by Stephen Shakeshaft, which is at the National Conservation Centre until 24 January 2010.

Have a look at this photograph from the exhibition - you can see a larger version on the exhibition website - and see if you can think of an amusing caption for it. Post your entry as a comment (please keep them clean) by the end of the day on Sunday 22 November and the winner will be notified the following week.

Stephen Shakeshaft himself has very kindly offered to judge this month's competition. The lucky winner will get a signed copy of his book 'No Illusions' which includes many of the pictures from the exhibition and more from Stephen's first 30 years as a newspaper photographer.