National Museums Liverpool Blog - Friday, June 04, 2010

With China Through the lens of John Thomson 1868 - 1872 closing at Merseyside Maritime Museum this Sunday, our Liverpool's Chinatown Through the lens Flickr competition has now also come to an end and it is time to reveal the winners.

We had a really interesting range of entries and exhibition curator and competition judge Betty Yao found it difficult to choose the winner from nearly 200 photos. However after much deliberation Betty chose three images, which have all also been blogged about over the course of the competition, with the overall winner being 'Chinese New Year - People' by Lee Carus, an image she says she 'returned again and again to' because '...there is so much there - capturing the people, the colours'. Congratulations to Lee, who wins a banquet meal for two at Yuet Ben.

The two lucky runners-up are Graham Morgan, whose enigmatic shot Betty praised 'for capturing the moment', and Mark McGowan, whose Chinese arch photo reminded her of two atmospheric images from the exhibition; of the pagoda reflected on the lake, and the hazy shot of a man standing by the River Min.

Congratulations to all our entrants, and one final reminder to visit the Maritime Museum this weekend for your last chance to see John Thomson's fascinating images.

This week in our celebration of the World Museum's 150th anniversary we have a blog from Curator of Antiquities, Gina Muskett. Gina is passionate about the objects in the museum's classical and European collections - here she is to tell us about one of her favourite pieces...

I was really pleased that the ‘Kingston Brooch’, one of the objects I curate, was chosen to represent one of the ‘big dates’ in the 150 years since the museum was founded - 1867, when Joseph Mayer presented most of his collection to the museum. You can read more about Joseph Mayer here. 

The Kingston Brooch

So what is the Kingston Brooch and why is it so special? For a start, it’s the finest and largest (a whopping 8.5cm in diameter) brooch of its type. The brooch dates from the time of the Anglo-Saxons and is about 1400 years old. It’s made from gold and decorated with garnets (dark red stones), blue glass and shell. The person who made this used more than 830 separate pieces to decorate the brooch, and must have been very skilled indeed.

It’s also special that we know exactly where it was found – in a grave at Kingston Down in Kent. It was one of the objects buried with a woman, and she must have loved the brooch, as it is quite worn and repaired, which suggests she wore it regularly.

But that’s not all! The grave which contained the Kingston Brooch was one of many excavated by a Kent clergyman, the Reverend Bryan Faussett, who lived in the middle of the 18th century. He kept very detailed records of his digs in notebooks and diaries and they came to Liverpool along with the rest of his collection.

You can see a photo of the pages of the diary recording the discovery of the Kingston Brooch – with a lovely drawing! – alongside the brooch itself in the museum. There is also a display of some of the other things buried with the brooch and many other fantastic Anglo-Saxon objects from the museum’s collection in the Ancient World gallery on the third floor of World Museum. 

Casting my vote for the People's Choice Award

Last night I attended the launch party of this year's Liverpool Art Prize at Metal. It was my first visit to the venue, located at Edge Hill station which I guess could make it Liverpool's answer to the Musée d'Orsay in Paris, with the difference that the station is still in use. So as we stood on the platform in the sunshine discussing the artworks we'd seen, every so often a train would stop on its way to or from Lime Street.

I was artspotting rather than trainspotting though and was really impressed with the work on show. There was a mix familiar faces such as David Jacques, who many people will remember from his exhibition As if in a dream dreamt by another at the former Museum of Liverpool Life in 2004, and Paul Rooney, winner of the Northern Art Prize 2008, plus some great pieces from artists I'm less familiar with, Gina Czarnecki, James Quin and Emily Speed.

The winner of the Art Prize is announced on 30 June and in an exciting new development this year that artist will have the opportunity to exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery. There's also a People's Choice award, so if you enjoy having the fate of others in your hands then make sure you get down there and cast your vote before 29 June.

The Volunteers Team would like to send out congratulations to several of our youth volunteers who each passed their Bronze Arts Award last week.

The group of 12 young people (aged 16-25) have all volunteered as part of our Discovery Volunteers project based at World Museum. During this time they met with visitors on gallery and chatted about handling objects, having received lots of prior training from curatorial and education staff.

Our volunteers also attended several Arts Award sessions run by the Volunteers team, including a visit to Plantastic and writing up a project about their Arts Hero or Heroine.

Arts Award aspires to support any young person to enjoy the arts and develop creative leadership skills and is run by Arts Council England and Trinity Guildhall.

We would like to say a big well done to them all!

You can find out more about youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers’ service.

Arts Award volunteers celebrating the successful end of their project.

As it is National Volunteers Week all this week (1st – 7th June 2010) we thought it would be a great opportunity to pass the blog over to one of our youth volunteers. So, here’s Emma, to tell us a bit more about Mersey v’s: Our dedicated Youth Volunteers Steering Group…

'Mersey v’s is made up of a group of volunteers aged 16-25 at National Museums Liverpool. We meet once a month, usually on a Thursday evening or during a Sunday daytime, in different venues to discuss anything and everything to do with volunteering, giving us the opportunity to pass on our thoughts and ideas to the Volunteer department.

A typical meeting will start with an update from Claire, the Youth Volunteer Officer, with any relevant news since the last meeting. Then we usually move on to look at specific topics or tasks related to volunteering, such as designing logos for volunteer projects, discussing ideas for future projects, and suggesting how the museum should recognise volunteer achievements. In order to fuel the discussions at meetings, we are usually provided with a selection of cakes or pizzas, which are always popular with the group!

Mersey v’s is a great way to have a real impact upon volunteering within National Museums Liverpool, giving young volunteers the opportunity to have their say on a whole range of issues. Mersey v’s also allows members to learn more about the organisation by visiting different venues and talking to members of staff, while also developing our own skills by doing new things, such as writing this blog!'

If you are aged 16-25 and would like to get involved or find out more, please contact the Volunteers team.

You can also find out more about youth volunteering from v, the national young volunteers’ service.

Members of Mersey v's; our Youth Volunteer Steering Group.

Mersey v’s Aims
• To encourage youth volunteering
• To make volunteering relevant, new and exciting
• To engage young people in museums and their work
• To develop opportunities that link to the lives of young people today
• To learn about what National Museums Liverpool does
• To achieve new skills in a social environment
• To involve people from all sections of society

Stephen with 'Waterloo Docks'

I was fascinated to get close to LS Lowry’s remarkable painting, 'Waterloo Docks', now on a long loan at the Walker Art Gallery. This is a great work of art but when you try to analyse the picture’s qualities they are difficult to pin down. It is like a walk in the fields on a beautiful May day when colours and landscape become perfect for a passing moment.

Look at 'Waterloo Docks' as a complete entity and it forms a compelling whole but individual components seem no more than children’s doodles. This is the brilliant essence of its charm. Lowry, as his life studies prove, was a skilful draughtsman who developed his uniquely simple matchstick men style during years of painstaking study. 'Waterloo Docks' was painted on a visit to Liverpool in 1962, towards the end of Lowry’s painting career. It has been hung next to the gallery’s 'Fever Van', painted in 1935 – it is interesting to compare the two.

I never met Laurence Stephen Lowry but played a part in his story – right at the very end. I was a young staff news reporter with the Press Association – Britain’s national news agency – based in Manchester. Every day the agency sends out a morning schedule and on three consecutive days in 1976 you would have read the words: "MANCHESTER.  Lowry: Our reporter is waiting by the graveside".

That was me. I was despatched at 8 o’clock one bleak winter’s morning to scour Manchester Southern Cemetery for the future resting place of the recently-deceased Mr Lowry. He had ordered that the funeral be private and no details released. Lowry was a very private man and did not want crowds gawping at his coffin.

Two gravediggers loomed out of the swirling mist, working next to a large stone monument. I spotted the name LOWRY just as one hastily pulled a piece of sacking over the inscription. I checked at the cemetery office and discovered interments were only between 10 am and 4 pm. I still had to wait three grim days by the graveside and amused myself doing sketches of the cemetery.

Late on the third afternoon, as dusk descended, the funeral cortege appeared – about 10 people pursued by a Manchester Evening News photographer. I followed them into the cemetery chapel where a clergyman said a few words before we all set off to the graveside.  The mourners included two distinguished gentlemen from the Royal Academy of Arts and Carol Ann Lowry, the young woman who inherited the artist’s estate. There were just three wreathes – one from the entertainer and sculptor Tommy Steele, a Royal Academy exhibitor.  After a few words, the coffin was lowered into the brick-lined grave and covered with earth.

Ears by Louise Bourgeois

The news that the French artist Louise Bourgeois died at the weekend from a heart attack represents the loss of a uniquely inventive artist.

It was during my first visit to Tate Modern, when it opened in 2000 that I was introduced to her incredible work. Produced as a special commission for the opening of the gallery, I joined the queues to experience for myself the imposing steel towers, I Do, I Undo and I Redo.

Bourgeois was in her late 80s when she produced this work, but the epic scale of them would have been impressive for an artist of any age. At the centre of these great monoliths was a simple but intimate idea; the relationship between mother and child. The work represented the complex love, attachment and frustrations of this most basic but vital human relationship.

The thought that this work explores ideals projected onto motherhood is something that resonates ever more with me. The importance of explaining the world to my daughter often conflicts with an urge to wrap her in a protective bubble and prevent her from dealing with pain or disappointment.

Bourgeois' work often dealt with sexuality and gender issues, making her an important inclusion in the final section of The Rise of Women Artists at Walker Art Gallery.

On display is Ears, pictured above. Made in 2005 with cloth from her wedding trousseau (she married in 1938), it now forms a poignant connection between the early and later stages of her long career. The use of this cloth gives the work a fragile physical beauty and sculptural quality.

For me this delicate and beautiful thing is one of the Walker Art Gallery’s most treasured items.

To see more of Bourgeois' work the Guardian's art critic, Jonathon Jones, has put together a selection of some of her most significant pieces here.

Early this morning a team of staff were busy wrapping up showcases and sculptures in the Ancient Egypt gallery at World Museum. The ancient Egyptians had a fondness for wrapping things up and at times it felt like the mummies were looking on with approval. However, I imagine they could have done the job quicker than the 3 hours it took us. Although this was not of a ritual nature and despite having what must amount to several miles of mummy bandages in our collection we used polythene, bubble wrap and foam.

Over the next 5 days building contractors will be installing a new air circulation system in the gallery. For this reason we had to close the gallery and cover everything to protect from dust and potential knocks. Lately the low humidity on the gallery has not been ideal for the 100s of artefacts made from organic materials such as wood and papyrus. In order to preserve these ancient artefacts for future generations we need to lower the gallery temperature and raise the humidity level. Metal artefacts that need low humidity levels are kept within climate controlled cases and should remain unaffected. Protecting objects is a primary concern of a museum but this work will also improve conditions for our visitors.

Wrapped up statues

The gallery will be open by the start of next week. We apologise for this closure but I'd also like to remind people that there are ancient artefacts on display in other areas of World Museum, such as the Weston Discovery Centre and the Ince Athena statue near the entrance. Also, the mummy of Pedeamun in the Reveal gallery at National Conservation Centre and a selection of antiquites from Greece and Rome at the Lady Lever Art Gallery.

Special thanks for their wrapping skills go to staff of the estate management production team and the textiles & organics conservation department.

Click the image to play now!

As you will probably know from the huge inflatable flowers outside the World Museum right now, our fantastic Plantastic! exhibition is still in full swing. If you haven't already been in to see this huge interactive exhibition then here is a taster to show you how cool it is!

This Look Out! game is in the exhibition, but you can now play it here online as well. So why not waste a few minutes of your day trying to protect a poor plant from being attacked by slithery snails and hungry aphids!

If you know a bit about plants then you'll know which defences are most useful to protect your plant against the various attackers which are trying to eat it! If you don't know much about plants, then this is a fun way to learn about them.

See how you get on and how healthy your plant is at the end...Good luck!

Play the game here!

Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

Whenever I hear the name Mauretania the very sound evokes the gentle noises of the sea, the swishing of the breeze and the rolling of the waves.

The second Mauretania was a great favourite in Liverpool, built locally just before the Second World War. I remember the sadness people felt when she was scrapped in the 1960s.

As the Second World War loomed, the 35,750-ton luxury liner sailed on her maiden voyage from Liverpool to New York on 17 June 1939. She was constructed at Birkenhead’s famous Cammell Laird shipyard and at the time was the largest merchant ship ever built in England.

The beautiful vessel was the second Cunard liner to bear the name Mauretania. During the Second World War she served as a troopship. Returning to passenger duties in 1947, Mauretania II was employed mainly on the transatlantic service until 1965.

On display at Merseyside Maritime Museum is a brochure commemorating the 1938 launching ceremony – impressive overhead photographs show the keel taking shape. One is taken from a crane at the bow showing three of the lower decks in the course of construction. An intricate mass of timbers served as platforms for the shipyard workers. The other view looks towards the stern on the edge of the River Mersey.

A medal commemorating the launch was made from metal recovered from the first Mauretania launched in 1906 and scrapped in 1935. This ship was the sister of the Lusitania sunk by a German U-boat submarine in 1915 with great loss of life.

A 1939 advertisement from a popular magazine of the time called Syren and Shipping details Cammell Laird’s products including the Mauretania II and the aircraft carrier Ark Royal and battleship Prince of Wales among war vessels of every type for British and foreign navies.

Photographs show the Mauretania being launched and coming down the slipway watched by huge crowds. In August 1939 Mauretania was switched to the London – New York service and made two Atlantic crossings after war broke out. She was converted into a troopship at Sydney in 1940. During the war she travelled 540,000 miles carrying more than 350,000 troops.

With the return of peacetime she sailed mostly on the Southampton – New York route. The arrival of regular transatlantic air travel saw her being used extensively in cruising including a world cruise in 1958.

Mauretania’s last sailings were on the New York – Mediterranean service from 1963. She was scrapped at Inverkeithing on the Firth of Forth, Scotland.

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).