National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, April 19, 2010

Gary Hume, one of the judges for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize 2010. Photo: Georgie Hopton

Excitement is mounting as we're now starting the first stage of judging for the John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize 2010! With a first prize of £25,000 and four further prizes of £2500 on the table, there is certainly plenty to get excited about. We've already seen some entries featuring canvasses smeared in beeswax and one daubed with coffee, so we know there will be plenty of variety and innovation for the judges to get their teeth into.

We want to keep you in the loop in the run up to the announcement of the winner and for the first time in the history of the John Moores, we will be giving you an exclusive look behind the scenes! We will be posting up videos on our website over the next few months showing sneaky peeks of the Stage 1 and Stage 2 judging, in London and Liverpool respectively. 

Our first bit of filming will go ahead on Wednesday at Rochelle School in London for the Stage 1 judging. We're hoping to grab a chat with the judges when they take their tea break and we might even get to sit in on the judging process! We'll be tweeting about what we see and hear while the judging is going on and hope to post up some mini video clips while we're there. Remember to follow @JohnMoores2010 on Twitter to get the latest updates - we'll let you know when the final video is online.

Look out for video coverage of the private view and winner's announcement at the Walker Art Gallery in September and video interviews with visitors at the exhibition after it has opened, to find out what their favourite paintings are.

I've got to go now and think up some questions to ask the jury, but get ready to see more of the John Moores than you've ever seen before!

I think Liverpudlians sometimes overlook the special relationship many people from around the world feel they have with our city – even if they’ve never visited us.

The port is historically a romantic place in the widest sense of the word – a point of departure and loss because people set off for new lives from its docks and quaysides. Our music is also known virtually everywhere, adding to the potent emotional mix.

Liverpool has a place in the family histories of countless millions of people scattered across the globe. Many feel that this spot saw the beginning of new lives.  

Their ancestors set out into the unknown on ships that plied between Liverpool and countries that welcomed emigrants – mainly in North America, Australia and New Zealand.

Liverpool was probably the biggest emigrant port in world history when around nine million people set out for new lives in the period 1830 to 1930. They were not just British and Irish emigrants but those who came from many parts of northern Europe including Scandinavia and Russia.

Guion Line ticket from about 1894, on display in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s emigrants’ gallery. Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post & Echo.

As a major world port with established shipping companies and trading links, Liverpool was at the heart of the emigration trade.

The port was well-placed to receive the many emigrants from Europe who crossed the North Sea to Hull and then travelled to Liverpool by train. As emigration grew, new shipping companies were set up and competition increased.

They advertised their services in Europe and it was often cheaper to travel to Liverpool to emigrate rather than leave from ports nearer to home. People might travel hundreds of miles just to get from their home towns to Liverpool – for some their first ride on a train.

On display in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Emigration gallery is a Guion Line ticket from about 1894 (pictured). In Swedish and English it gives the Guion Line address as 21 Water Street, Liverpool, and begins: “Gentlemen, please give safe passage to New York and Third Class railroad from New York …. to passengers named below.”

There are spaces provided for destinations and names, including ages. The first stage of the journey was from Gothenburg in Sweden to Hull.

The majority of emigrants arrived at their destinations safely but sea travel was always fraught with danger. Once out of port, vessels were at the mercy of the elements and storms were a great threat but as navigation skills and technology improved there were less ship losses.

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 p&p UK).

Photo copyright Redman Design / International Slavery Museum

It looks like it's going to be a cracking weekend, perfect for exploring the city and maybe even finding out a bit more about those buildings which you see all the time and have often wondered about.

The good news if you fancy a walk and a bit of culture is that it's International World Heritage Day on Sunday. This is a day that is celebrated in all the World Heritage Sites across the world, including Liverpool. Our friends at Liverpool City Council have organised a series of free themed walks over the weekend.

One which caught my eye was the 'Triangular trade' walk on Sunday, which includes a look at the city's institutions that profited from the transatlantic slave trade - a theme that is explored in the International Slavery Museum. As you probably know though, Liverpool's World Heritage Site includes all our city centre venues - the Walker Art Gallery, World Museum, the National Conservation Centre, Merseyside Maritime Museum as well as the International Slavery Museum, so if you are in the area over the weekend then do pop in, no matter what walk you're doing.

Full details of all the themed walks and how to book your place are on the Liverpool World Heritage website.

I think you'll agree that there's nothing like a gentleman in a top hat and tails - it's truly a stylish and dapper fashion statement. The guys below are all dressed up for a special occasion, so let's look at the archives - for our celebration of the World Museum's 150th anniversary - and see what they were up to on this day in 1857...

Laying the foundations for a great museum!

On 15 April 1857, William Brown laid the foundation stone of the new museum and library – the beginnings of the building in which World Museum is now housed. The records show that:

'...a select party breakfasted in the Town Hall, with Samuel Holmes Esq, Deputy Mayor.  At half past ten, a numerous company assembled in the large ball-room...

At the close of the Presentation of Addresses, a Procession was formed, which moved through the principal streets to the site of the intended building...'

Those listed in the procession were;

'Police of the Fire Brigade, Band of the Bluecoat Hospital, Members of the Arrangement Committee, the Bishop, Alderman Home,  W M Brown Esq, M.P. (Deputy Mayor.) Invited Guests, Magistrates of the Borough, Aldermen and Town Councillors. Gentlemen who presented the Addresses, Deputations, Other Gentlemen Present.'

'They marched three abreast, through Castle Street, Lord Street, Church Street, Parker Street, and Lime Street, to Shaw’s Brow.  Thousands of spectators lined both sides of the streets; and both private houses and public buildings were profusely decorated with flags.  The bells of the Parish Church rang out merry peals. As Mr. Brown emerged from the Town Hall the Band struck up 'See the Conquering Hero Come'.'

The American author, Nathaniel Hawthorne, was there and described the laying of the museum’s foundation stone;

'Mr. Browne himself, the hero of the day, was the plainest and simplest man of all. An exceedingly unpretending gentleman in black; small, white-haired, pale, quiet, and respectable. I rather wondered why he chose to be the centre of all this ceremony; for he did not seem either particularly to enjoy it, or to be at all incommoded by it, as a more nervous and susceptible man might have been.

The site of the projected edifice is on one of the streets bordering on St. George's Hall and when we came within the enclosure, the corner-stone, a large square of red freestone, was already suspended over its destined place. It has a brass plate let into it, with an inscription...'

They certainly laid the foundations for a great museum and it sounds like it was a ceremony worthy of putting on your Sunday Best!

Every year, kids go crazy for one toy that then sells out everywhere and is nigh-on impossible for parents to get hold of. Remember that film Jingle All The Way, when Arnold Schwarzenegger spends the entire film trying to get hold of a Turbo Man for his son? That’s almost what it was like trying to get hold of a Tamagotchi for my brother’s eighth birthday…

However, the old ones were always the best, and as much as feeding a Tamagotchi, cleaning up after it, and making sure it had 100% happiness was fun (?!) the batteries did tend to run out after some time, much to our mum’s delight!

Other, simpler, 20th century toys hold many special memories. Who can forget the Spinning Top, or the craze that was the Rubik’s Cube? The Museum of Liverpool team are currently appealing for your own memories of 20th century toys, and you can share them here on the museum’s facebook page.

One of the great toy crazes of the 20th century: The Rubik's Cube

The toys, ranging from an early 20th century miniature test cricket set to some Stickle Bricks, will all be featured in a Toy Timeline in the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2011.

Your comments could be featured alongside the toys, providing personal stories of people’s own childhoods. Or perhaps you’re still getting great entertainment from the toys today? I have it on good authority there are still quite a lot of people trying to solve the Rubik’s Cube they received as a birthday present in the 80s!

Settlers in Patagonia, including some of the original Mimosa emigrants, 28 July 1890.

I like the idea of moving en masse to a distant country and setting up a community just as the Pilgrim Fathers did to found America.

Most emigrants settle as individuals or small groups in existing communities and become part of their adopted countries while retaining their cultural links. It is more unusual for large numbers to leave together, travel together and settle together.  

A group of Welsh people sailed into the unknown to found a successful settlement thousands of miles away in South America where their descendants continue to live today.

Many people emigrated from Wales in the 19th century to escape poverty - most going to the United States. As time went by the children of the Welsh settlers neither spoke Welsh nor kept up the cultural traditions of their ancestors…

The idea of creating a Welsh colony spread from Ohio to North Wales and Liverpool. The place chosen for a settlement was Patagonia, a remote region in southern Argentina where land was granted by the country’s government.

The Mimosa was a wooden clipper built in 1853 by Alexander Hall & Sons of Aberdeen and she was owned by Vining & Killey of Liverpool.

On display in the emigrants’ gallery at Merseyside Maritime Museum is a model of the Mimosa presented by the Merseyside Welsh Heritage Society in September 2008. It was made by Tony Fancy of Poole, Dorset, with sponsorship from the Liverpool Culture Company.

The emigrants paid £2,500 to hire and convert the Mimosa for passenger use. The fare was £12 for adults and £6 for children although anyone willing to travel was taken on board.

Settlers included cobblers, carpenters, brickmakers, tailors and miners but few farmers  which was unfortunate when they discovered the conditions they faced.

On 28 May 1865 the Mimosa sailed from Liverpool for Patagonia carrying 160 Welsh emigrants. During the two-month voyage five children died, two babies were born and a violent storm off the Argentinean coast swept the three-masted sailing ship 300 miles off course.

On 28 July 1865 the settlers landed at Port Madryn. They then faced a trek of 40 miles south to create the first settlement by the Chubut River where many places still have Welsh names.

Today there are more than 150,000 people of Welsh descent living in Patagonia. Although Spanish is the main language, Welsh is still spoken.

A photograph (pictured) shows settlers in Patagonia taken on 28 July 1890 – exactly 25 years after they first arrived – with some of the original Mimosa emigrants.

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 p&p UK).

Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire burst into the Walker Art Gallery back in the grey days of winter. The paintings that worship the sun seem to have done the trick as it finishes this sunny weekend. Make sure you don't miss the last chance to see this gorgeous exhibition of work by an artist whose genius has been unrecognised for too long. 

Laura Davis, arts editor for the Daily Post summed the effect of his work well in her warning: Set your watches or you may be found in the gallery three days later, hypnotised in front of one of the works.

Visitors taking their last chance to view this vibrant exhibition

Billy Fury yoyo by Paul Gallagher

Billy is commemorated with a striking sculpture in the Albert Dock - a fitting location as he worked as a deck hand on the Mersey tug boat The Formby before he found fame.

The sculpture is popular with fans, tourists and photographers - as you can see in our Billy Fury sculpture group on Flickr. The number of photos in the group is growing all the time, a testament to Billy's lasting appeal. There's also an incredible variety with people continually finding new and imaginative ways of depicting the sculpture - such as Paul Gallagher's photo of Billy playing yo yo with the sun above.

If you are going to visit the sculpture next week to wish Billy a happy birthday then please do add your photos to the group, we'd love to see them.

Do remember our previous post about the William Brown bust getting a good spring clean? This was part of our World Museum 150th anniversary celebrations on the blog, and we're continuing the series this week with an update about the bust by our Executive Director of Collections Management, John Millard.

William Brown in his new home

The bust features in a special display in the atrium of World Museum.  It commemorates the 150th anniversary of William Brown handing over Liverpool’s museum and library building to the Lord Mayor of the city in 1860.  Brown spent £40,000 on the building of the museum and library, and the street was renamed William Brown Street in thanks for his generosity.

A timeline in the display shows key events on the museum’s long history, and a case shows the marble bust and two copies of a rare medal struck in honour of William Brown in 1860.

Sunny Cheung, from our design department, designed and installed the graphics.  Pete Spinks and Bill Sillitoe, from the technical services team, then carefully brought in the bust of William Brown on what looked like a hospital trolley!  Meanwhile the museum’s atrium was thronged with visitors enjoying the spectacle as we struggled to unlock the case (that took three designers) and wrestled an old display out of the case.

It is interesting that in the photos of William Brown he is show wearing wire-rimmed glasses, but the sculpture shows him in the dress of an ancient Roman and not wearing glasses. Perhaps the sculptor thought he looked better without them!

Sometimes a minimalist approach can achieve dramatic effects: I think this is the case with this week's highlight from the Liverpool's Chinatown: Through the lens Flickr competition, by Flickr user Abi :), in which a black and white photograph is tinted with a powerful yellow with captivating results.

Yellow Flag © Abi :)

I don't know if the photographer chose yellow for a particular reason, but the symbolism of the colour in Chinese culture makes it an interesting choice. Yellow represents, amongst many other things, earth, the balance of yin and yang, and stability, making it an apt colour for a photo mostly comprised of shades of two opposites, black and white, and with so volatile a subject as smoking firecrackers.

Visually it is a very arresting colour to use, but though the flag draping dramatically on the left is one of the first things the eye is drawn to, there are spots of the colour discreetly added throughout the rest of the image - a coat or hat, the firecrackers, the sun-like decoration above the doorway - as though the warmth and joy of the colour is seeping into the pores of the photo.

There is more to the image than just this immediate colour element however. The flag and smoke make a neat vertical symmetry which frames the doorway in the background: the crowds and upstairs windows have a similar effect on the horizontal; this makes a complete frame which concentrates the gaze to the partially-obscured doorway, making it a subtle third subject for the viewer after the yellow flag and the firecrackers, which are the main focus of attention for the crowd. See the photo in a large size.

To celebrate our photography exhibition China: Through the Lens of John Thomson 1868-72 at the Merseyside Maritime Museum we want you to submit your photos of Liverpool's Chinatown to our Flickr pool - our favourite photo submitted by 24 May will win a banquet for two at Yuet Ben, with two runners-up winning exhibition catalogues. Find out more on the competition page.