National Museums Liverpool Blog - Monday, November 29, 2010

Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

I find the words on the napkin, produced to commemorate one of the worst maritime disasters of the First World War, very moving.

To many people at the time the loss of the Lusitania came to symbolise Liverpool’s suffering, as she was the city’s favourite passenger liner.

The spectacular coloured glass war memorial at one of my local churches, St James’s in West Derby, uniquely uses an image of the doomed ship to silently express that grief.

He was just 31 years old, a much-loved husband and the father of a daughter he would never see – John Henry Hayes was one of the 1,200 innocent victims of the Lusitania disaster.

On a sunny day in May, in calm seas off the coast of Ireland, she was sunk in a surprise attack by a German U-boat submarine.

The Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes amid chaotic scenes as frantic passengers and crew tried to reach the lifeboats.

John, the ship’s junior fifth engineer, had left his pregnant wife Jeanette at their home in Bootle while he took another voyage across the Atlantic. It was 1915 and the First World War had started the previous summer.

The Lusitania, which had sailed regularly on Cunard’s Liverpool to New York run since 1907, carried on despite warnings from Germany that British ships would be attacked.

Poignant Hayes family photos are on display in the Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress (of Ireland) gallery. We see John in uniform, his wife in a studio portrait and baby Jeanette born after her father’s death.

There are many items on display linked to the Lusitania. The sinking prompted a huge rush of commemorative items.

The memorial paper napkin was printed by the Palatine Press, Wigan. It has the headline: The Lusitania The World’s Most Popular Steamship.

Under a photo of the ship it says: "The Lusitania was one of the most sumptuous ships that ever ploughed the seas. Luxurious was her first class accommodation, but not one iota of possible comfort was sacrificed …

"In any direction the view was charming from the central hall. This spacious hall was 24 ft long, the full breadth of the ship. There were two electrically worked passenger lifts situated in the centre of the staircase."

The napkin includes other facts about the Lusitania and records: At the inquest held at Kinsale (Ireland) the verdict was "Wilful and wholesale murder against the Kaiser and Government of Germany."

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 or bookshops.

This time last week World Museum was filled with more excitement and activity than usual and I was there to take part in it all.

Children in Need where filming the live regional broadcasts from the atrium at World Museum that were broadcast around the North west.

Some of you in the North West may have watched Terry Wogan and Tess Daly presenting live from London but noticed that every hour presenters Graham Liver and Kate Simms were in World Museum.

The museum was filled with hundreds of people including fundraisers, dancers, drummers and facepainters keeping the ‘Party for Pudsey’ going.

It was a fun filled event that everyone enjoyed, to see pictures fromt the night you can visit World Museum’s Facebok where there is an album of pictures from the night.

Children in Need's 'Party for Pudsey' was filmed in World Museum's atrium

My final week of research has brought me to Gangtok, the state capital of Sikkim. Its a marked contrast to Kalimpong, here you are closer to the mountains, despite being in almost tropical jungle. The town is perched on a wooded valley hillside and looks out over rice paddies, that are just being harvested, and two important monasteries, Rumtek and Lingdum. Sikkim is wealthy in comparison to other hill states in India and the place has the feel of an English spa town. My work here will centre on the Namgyal Institute of Tibetology and the State Archive and already the work is going well. Everything stopped for a couple of days as Diwali was celebrated across India.  The Festival of Lights is a time of pujas to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, and also a good excuse for families to get together and set off fireworks. These could be seen and heard across the town and for those wanting an early night’s sleep, a very decent pair of earplugs was essential.

(From L to R)Andrew Morris, director of Rathbones with winning artist Nicholas Middleton

Nicholas Middleton has won the John Moores Visitors’ Choice for a second time!

His painting ‘Protest, April 1st 2009’ definitely appealed to a particular mood amongst visitors to the exhibition. As one put it: “He has taken away the decoration and concentrated on the stark financial climate we live in.”

Most however were struck by Nicholas’ technical ability, with one visitor commenting: "The skill, detail and effort in the painting are amazing. To me it is a modern-day equivalent of the old 18th century masters.”

Sponsored by Rathbones, the Visitors’ Choice awarded Nicholas £2,010 at the Walker Art Gallery today. His speech gave special thanks to visitors for taking their time to vote, not only for his work but for all the paintings on display.

Nicholas has a growing relationship with the ‘John Moores Painting Prize’. Not only was he a prizewinner in this year’s competition, he also won the Visitors’ Choice prize in 2006 with ‘Scene from a Contemporary Novel’.

The exhibition runs until 3 January 2011.

National Museums Liverpool won the Care Of Older People award for our work in making culture accessible to older people in the city. At the ceremony in London, host Jeremy Vine said: “The judges were impressed with the project for encouraging community engagement and for giving the 260 older people who visited the museum a sense of empowerment, confidence, new skills and pride.”

David Brindle, The Guardian’s Public Services Editor, said: “The Gateway to Active Living project was an innovative partnership which explored how culture could be used to improve the health and wellbeing of older people using reminiscence art and cultural references, and it is a very worthy winner.”

Gateway to Active Living ran from April 2009 to March 2010 and was set up to support the PCT's Healthy Living agenda. It delivered weekly events, using reminiscence art and cultural activities, to vulnerable people from Black Minority Ethnic communities aged 50 to 65. Members of the project were introduced to National Museums Liverpool sites through behind-the-scenes tours and talks from curators. The time and attention given to the group during these visits helped build their confidence and break down barriers. As one participant said: "I'd never gone to school so I'd never learned about museums. It was fabulous to go."

As part of the project some of the older people become so actively involved that they even donated their own possessions to our museum collections. Head of Communities Claire Benjamin hopes the impact of the project will last: "The legacy of the project for the museum is having a better understanding of how to engage with vulnerable older people. Sharing our learning with experienced healthcare and support workers who understand some of those issues has been beneficial for the museum, and equally the health workers can gain an insight into the therapeutic impact of culture."

This Saturday (27 November) we'll be running a stall at the Winter Arts Market at St George's Hall in Liverpool city centre. As well as lots of information on our venues, events and exhibitions, and will also have a selection of our books to buy, ranging from exhibition guides to collection catalogues. The perfect Christmas present for the book lover in your life!

So if you'd like to try before you buy, or just fancy a festive fair, then pop along. It's open 10am-5pm. There's more on the market on their website. And if you can't make it along on the day there's always our online shop.

Open now at Merseyside Maritime Museum, Endurance: Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure tells the amazing story of Sir Ernest Shackleton's 1914 expedition to the vast continent of Antarctica, as told through the photographs taken of the voyage by Frank Hurley, who dove into icy waters to retrieve his negatives.

To celebrate this pioneering explorer spirit we want to see photos of your travels and explorations, whether from exotic destinations thousands of miles away or somewhere unusual closer to home. You don't have to brave the harsh conditions that Shackleton and his crew endured, just be imaginative!

Ice stalactites © Royal Geographical Society

Visit the Flickr competition page for more information on the competition and submission rules.

One of the things I love most about the John Moores Painting Prize is the convincing way it demonstrates just how versatile painting is. In its 53 year history it has brought a wildly varied selection of paintings to our attention. It is not just the subject or themes of the images that differ but also the way the artists use the materials and the act of painting itself.

A talk by John Moores exhibitor Sigrid Holmwood last week was a fascinating insight into an artist whose dedication to detail and accuracy goes beyond the usual expectations.

Sigrid Holmwood in Elizabethan dress, discusses her work "Butchering a Pig" to live audience

Sigrid paints as part of a group devoted to reconstructing 16th-century life. Her pursuit of historical accuracy is an intrinsic part of her work and she goes as far as making all of her own paints using traditional tools and recipes.

Sigrid brought a selection of different coloured pigments to her talk and shared with the audience their various properties. What was clear was the process of making the paint gave her quite an intense relationship with her work. She likened it with people growing their own vegetables on allotments, explaining the close and satisfying relationship with something you have created from scratch.

There are 3 more John Moores artist talks left including an “in conversation” event with the winner of this year’s competition, Keith Coventry, this Thursday 25 November at 6pm. 

Tickets are still available for this exclusive event but numbers are limited. Please call 0151 478 4697 to reserve your place.

  
Image courtesy of the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo.

I often smile at magazine advertisements in glossy magazines promoting First Class or Business Class on long-haul flights.

They show the traveller under a blanket stretched out on a seat that folds back like a sunlounger. A porthole with the blind down indicates that the slumberer is above the clouds heading for somewhere exotic.

If it was anywhere else most people would be reluctant to endure such cramped sleeping arrangements.

I believe there is no comparison between air and sea travel with regards to  comfort - by and large, ships are the most comfortable way to travel.

Despite the ever-lengthening queues at airports, most people still prefer to travel by air – but for how long?

The Sylvania made the last Cunard passenger liner crossing from Liverpool to New York in November 1967, marking the end of a long history of sea travel between the two ports.

The Cunard Line, originally named the British and North American Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, was founded in Liverpool in 1840 by Canadian businessman Samuel Cunard.

Cunard went on to dominate the glamorous and highly-competitive North Atlantic passenger trade for well over a century.

Based in Liverpool’s Cunard Building until the 1960s, the company is now owned by the American firm Carnival Corporation. Today Cunard ships provide worldwide cruises and still make some transatlantic sailings between Southampton and New York.

In Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Liverpool World Gateway gallery there is a small 1:160 model of the Sylvania (pictured).

The Sylvania, built in 1957 by John Brown & Co of Clydebank, was the last Cunarder built specially for transatlantic crossings – her older sisters were Saxonia, Ivernia and Carinthia.

Sylvania was originally put on the Liverpool – Montreal service in competition with Canadian Pacific liners.  In 1961 she replaced Britannic on the Liverpool – Cobh – New York route with occasional cruise work.

The regular New York – Liverpool crossing eventually ended because passengers switched to air travel after regular large-scale services between the USA and UK began.

Sold by Cunard in 1968, Sylvania was later rebuilt as a cruise ship and sailed under the names Fairwind, Sitmar Fairwind, Dawn Princess, Albatross and Genoa before being scrapped in 2004.

Today the cruise ship Oasis of the Seas is the largest passenger vessel in the world.  Built in Finland, she sailed to the United States and began her maiden voyage on 5 December 2009. Oasis of the Seas carries up to 6,300 passengers.

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 and bookshops.