National Museums Liverpool Blog - Wednesday, January 12, 2011

I love the smell of fresh paint, plus we are re-decorating at home and I need some inspiration for colours, so I popped up to the temporary exhibition space in the Walker Art Gallery this morning.

As sad as it was to see the popular John Moores Painting Prize exhibition come to an end last week, when one door closes another one opens and the Walker has a fantastic exhibition programme for next year.

Kicking off the year is 'A Collector's Eye: Cranach to Pissarro' which as its name suggests is an exhibition bursting with old masters. An exhibition so rich in artistic superstars requires an appropriate backdrop which is what our designers have gone for with this sumptuous green.

I think it would look just lovely in my dining room!

FELA! is a new musical that is taking the world by storm! Here is our Education Manager, Vikky Evans-Hubbard, from the International Slavery Museum to tell us more about it...

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While in London recently I was lucky enough to see the London Production of FELA! at the Royal National Theatre. The musical, produced by Jay-Z and Will and Jada Smith, tells the story of Afrobeat pioneer and political activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
 
Born into a middle class Nigerian family in 1938,  a cousin of writer Wole Soyinka, who was later to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, his mother was a well renowned political activist in the anti-colonial movement, and he was exposed to political ideas at an early age.
 
His belief that art should be political meant that inevitably his music carried strong messages. His influences included the Black Power Movement, discovered while in the United States, this led him to change his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name.
 
Fela's music, 'Afrobeat' is a fusion of Yoruba rhythms, Highlife, Jazz, Funk, chanted vocals and call and response. It became hugely popular in Nigeria and across the continent in general. He sang in pidgin English, so that his music could be enjoyed and understood by individuals all over Africa where the local languages spoken are many and diverse.The music desk in the Legacy gallery at the International Slavery Museum.

He had a strong belief that Nigerians should hold onto their cultural identify as Africans and not blindly adopt European standards and ways of living and look upon all things African as wrong or inferior. He formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune and recording studio, which was home to many of his followers and those connected to the band and his nightclub the Afrika Shrine. He later declared it independent from the state of Nigeria.
 
In 1977 Fela and his band, 'Afrika '70', released the album Zombie, to describe the zombie like the methods of the Nigerian Military. The album infuriated the government, Kalakuta Republic was viciously attacked and one thousand soldiers were ordered to attack the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. Never defeated, Fela reacted by writing 'Coffin for the Head of State' which tells of how he brought the coffin containing his dead mother, to the door of the Nigerian Head of State in Protest. He later put himself forward as a presidential candidate, but his candidature was refused.
 
Now, Liverpool audiences will have the chance to see scenes from this man's incredible life on stage, as the London production is broadcast via live link, at Fact, on Thursday 13th January at 6.45pm.
 
In the meantime you can hear examples of Fela's amazing music in the Legacy gallery at the International Slavery Museum.

It seems that everyone is going stargazing crazy at the moment and as we're passionate about the night sky, we're joining in! Here's one of our planetarium demonstrators, John Moran, to tell us about a special stargazing evening at the museum this week...

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To coincide with the BBC’s Stargazing Live, which runs from the 3-16 January, myself and the rest of the planetarium staff at World Museum will be hosting a stargazing night on Thursday 13 January from 4.30 to 6.30pm . We will be setting up a number of telescopes and binoculars on the fifth floor of the museum so our visitors can get a closer look at the night sky.  See the 'gas giant' Jupiter and its four main planet-sized moons and the craters of our own moon up close and in sharp focus. 

As well as stargazing we will have extra planetarium shows to give you a heads up on what you can see in the winter night sky right now. There will be craft activities and games for our younger visitors and of course our planetarium staff will be on hand to answer any of your questions about all things astronomical. 
  
So if you’ve got a few hours to spare on Thursday, come along for an out of this world experience!

I like rocky cliffs and crags, especially those descending straight into the sea – a mysterious meeting of rock and water. These are places not only of beauty and inspiration but also danger and death where many a ship has been wrecked.

South Stack island off Anglesey has always been a favourite where the Irish Sea crashes in, foaming and writhing. As a teenager I walked along the coastal paths of the South Hams in Devon and was mesmerised by crystal clean waters revealing the marine world. The tang of the sea coupled with sun-drenched light was incredibly stimulating.

Another rocky cape has 100 foot high cliffs and is often shrouded in dense fogs and sea mists but for millions of people this was a symbol of hope. Cape Race, on the southern tip of Newfoundland, was the first sight of land for ships travelling across the Atlantic. The headland symbolised a new life for emigrants settling in North America.

This landmark is featured in an impressive oil painting by top marine artist Samuel Walters (1811- 82) in Merseyside Maritime Museum’s Art and the Sea gallery. He shows the paddle steamer Scotia heading for port in 1863 (pictured).

Scotia was Cunard’s last paddle steamer, taking passengers across the Atlantic from 1861 to 1875. Paddle steamers paved the way for the great steamship lines providing, for the first time, regular routes across the Atlantic. Scotia held the Blue Riband for the fastest ship across the Atlantic from 1862 to 1867.

A detailed view of Cape Race can be seen to the left of the painting. A lighthouse stands above rugged cliffs and a rock-strewn shoreline.

Scotia’s funnels are painted in the Cunard colours of red and black. Lifelike figures crowd the decks while five men in a rowing boat are overtaken by the steamer as they struggle through rolling seas.

The ship contrasts with later Cunard steamers because of its almost complete lack of a superstructure. There are no cabins or other living quarters above the main deck. The bridge is literally just that – a metal-railed walkway crossing above the deck between the paddle wheels on which a solitary figure stands. A figurehead dressed in white adorns the bows, probably symbolising Scotia – the Latin term for Scotland.

Cunard later sold Scotia and she became a cable ship after being converted to twin screws. She sank in 1904 after being wrecked on a reef off Guam in the Pacific’s Mariana Islands.

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.

I am interested in Liverpool’s many exceptional bank buildings from the classical Bank of England in Castle Street to the bizarre Adelphi Bank nearby – my favourite city centre edifice. The port has always had notable bankers, many of whom amassed huge fortunes out of trade and commerce.

Two I admire are Sir William Brown, who paid for the World Museum building, and William Roscoe - arguably Liverpool’s greatest citizen. Roscoe was a successful poet, social reformer, politician, art collector, author and historian but failed as a banker. His contemporary was Liverpool merchant Thomas Leyland who was one of the wealthiest people in the town. His fortune at the time of his death in 1827 was more than £736,000.

Born in Knowsley in 1752, he went on to become Mayor of Liverpool in 1798, 1814 and 1820 – a very significant period in the history of the port. Young Thomas was a partner in the provisions trade in Water Street and originally came into money in a way still only dreamt of by many people. He won a large sum of cash in a lottery which financed his new general merchant’s business, importing Spanish and Portuguese goods. Thomas grew bored with the often humdrum grind of day-to-day business and branched out into privateering and slaving – the latter generated much of his huge wealth.

He had a brig called Lottery which made regular scheduled voyages – Liverpool to Lagos to collect enslaved Africans, Lagos to Jamaica where they were sold and Jamaica to Liverpool. In three years this brig alone made Thomas Leyland a profit of £100,000. In all, he had financial interests in at least 70 slaving voyages. Between 1782 and 1807 he was responsible for transporting more than 25,000 Africans into slavery.

With the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Thomas helped found Leyland and Bullin’s Bank in Liverpool. His business partner Richard Bullin had also invested in slaving. The bank was absorbed by the North and South Wales Bank in 1901, becoming part of the Midland Bank (now HSBC). On display in the International Slavery Museum, in the Merseyside Maritime Museum building, is the probate copy of Thomas’ will (pictured above) – a bulky document written in copperplate.

Other wealthy Liverpool bankers were brothers Arthur and Benjamin Heywood who had been involved in more than 80 slave voyages. They established one of the town’s earliest banks, Heywood’s, in 1773. Heywood’s Bank was taken over by the Bank of Liverpool in 1883 which later became part of Martin’s Bank (now Barclays).

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.

Are you ready for new year's eve? Thinking about what the new year will bring? I'm planning my party outfit and looking ahead to all the new exhibitions that will be coming to our venues. We've had a great year in 2010, with a record number of visitors to the 'John Moores painting prize' exhibition, the epic tale of survival brought to life in our Shackleton exhibition and the fascinating insight into wedding clothes and customs in 'Hitched' at Sudley House.

There will be a lot of variety on offer and it will all still be free entry! At the Walker, we'll have everything from gritty contemporary photography in 'Like you've never been away' to stunning illustrations from the art books of Henri Matisse. Plus, we'll be delving into the mind of a dedicated art collector in 'A Collector's Eye', which will feature works by Rubens and Sisley (pictured). We'll want to know what would be in your fantasy art collection, so look out for our Twitter discussion, where you will be able to join in and tell us about your favourite paintings.

At the International Slavery Museum, you shouldn't miss the '42' exhibition, a powerful collection of colour photographs, which coincides with International Women's Day in March. The exhibition will tell the story of many women in Sierra Leone by depicting their daily life at home, at work and with their families. Both '42' and 'Like you've never been away' are also part of Liverpool's first international photography exhibition, called 'Look 11'.

So with all that in store, there's certainly lots to look forward to in 2011!

Want to spot some shooting stars and a partial solar eclipse in the new year? Here's our planetarium demonstrator John Moran to tell you how!

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There is a double celestial event to whet your appetite this January! As a starter, in the early hours of the 4 January we will be treated to the Quantadrids, which is one of the most abundant annual meteor showers of the year with 60 to 120 shooting stars per hour. Providing the sky is clear you will be pretty much guaranteed to see shooting stars galore. A dark location would be ideal but even from a built up area you shouldn't be disappointed. I once watched the Perseids from my garden and got to see at least a dozen meteors, with one of them even breaking apart mid-flight.

Next we have a partial solar eclipse. At precisely 8.27am the moon will start to cover the surface of the Sun and even though it is only a partial eclipse, we can still expect to see about 75 per cent of the sun's disc obscured by the moon.

I remember in 1999 when the UK had a total solar eclipse from the south west of England and partial eclipse everywhere else. I was stood in my garden again, in the city centre of Liverpool with my family and it was crystal clear. Patrick Moore the eminent astronomer, star of 'The Sky at Night' and personal hero of mine, was on the south coast with many other professionals and armatures alike. There were lots of tv cameras there, as it was live on the BBC, but they were completely clouded out!

So there I was with my family, who had never witnessed a solar eclipse, with our eclipse glasses getting the most awe inspiring view of this magnificent event. I couldn't help feeling a little smug knowing the anti-climax that Mr Moore and the tv people were facing down on the south coast. (I know I shouldn’t be saying that about my hero though!) The most notable thing was the change in temperature. It went very cold even though it was a lovely hot day and the birds stopped singing, which was a very strange experience.

So if you have the stamina, invite some friends and family around, wrap up warm and go outside in the early hours of 4 January. You can spot a dozen or so shooting stars, then have a sleep for a couple of hours! Later, you should get yourself a good view of the horizon, as the eclipse starts very soon after sunrise, put on your eclipse glasses and watch one of Mother Nature's most spectacular celestial events. I assure you, you will not be disappointed. Unless of course we have wall to wall cloud cover -in that event, blame the weather forecasters!

As the freezing weather continues I can understand why people want to get away to warmer climes over the festive period.

However a permanent move is a different matter. I am told homesickness really kicks in at Christmas and New Year - we often have rosy memories of Christmases past, in particular.

Someone celebrating Christmas in the tropics may long for the ice-cold weather of home and vice versa.

Liverpool helped change the world by providing the means for millions of emigrants to settle in distant lands.

The impact of emigration was huge and the port was the gateway to a new world. Many parts of the globe were enriched as cultures were transplanted and flourished in new communities.

Liverpool was probably the biggest emigration port in world history, with nine million people passing through between 1830 and 1930. The port offered the best deals and people travelled from all over northern Europe to board the emigrant ships.

On display at Merseyside Maritime Museum’s emigration gallery is a Steerage inspection card for the emigration officer at the port of arrival in Canada. It belonged to Ellen Rogerson who sailed from Liverpool with her family aboard the Megantic on 27 May 1911, arriving on 4 June.

Liverpool’s role in the emigrant trade and as a transatlantic passenger port began to decline after the First World War (1914 -18). One factor was Cunard’s decision to transfer services to Southampton.

In the 1920s the United States introduced new laws to reduce the numbers of immigrants but emigration to Australia and Canada continued largely through Government assistance programmes.

After the Second World War, partly due to the growing popularity of air travel, the numbers emigrating through Liverpool continued to fall.

The third Empress of Canada is seen in the Mersey in 1961. This ship made the last North Atlantic passenger voyage from Liverpool on 7 November 1971.

A finely-detailed cross-section plan of the Aquitania (pictured) shows the functions of different parts of the ship including areas used by First, Second and Third Class (Steerage) emigrants.

Visitors can explore a full-sized reconstruction of a Liverpool quayside and wooden emigrant sailing ship of the 1850s.

These sailing ships had only the barest of facilities for Steerage passengers - a world away from the steam floating palaces of 50 years later.

Emigrants were accommodated not in a cabin but a large dormitory where families and groups hired a big pallet to sleep on. These could be curtained off to provide some privacy.

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.

Last Friday was a sad day at the National Conservation Centre as the doors closed to visitors for the last time.  However, yesterday brought with it a silver lining, as we relocated our conservation themed event ‘Crystal Magic’ over to the Clore Natural History Centre at World Museum.

The event was buzzing and despite the icy conditions outside, over seventy people attended the afternoon event.  ‘Salty’ our magical crystal growing snowman stole the show, as he busied away growing snow-like crystals.  He even let us borrow a few to look at more closely.  With our video microscope having also made the transition from the National Conservation Centre over to World Museum, we were able to examine crystals up close and discovered all kinds of beautiful colours, shapes and patterns.

For those who have already had their fill of snow crystals over the past few days, we also looked at how crystals might grow in our collections!  It was revealed that although crystals may look very beautiful and harmless they can be a menace for conservators.  You may ask why?  Well, crystals can in fact grow from soluble salts inside some objects such as ceramics and sculpture.  When these salts crystallize inside the object they expand causing serious stress and damage. 

So, ‘Crystal Magic’ marked the start of a new era, as the National Conservation Centre spread its wings for the first time, to begin conservation-themed events at other venues.  Although the big blue doors at the National Conservation Centre may now be closed to visitors, the dedicated work of the Centre’s conservators continues inside.  Keep your eyes open for new conservation themed events in the New Year on our Events pages.  You can also keep up-to-date with what’s going on behind-the-scenes via the blog, with more in-depth features and information on our Opinions Service available on our website. 

At lunchtime on the 25th December I will be tucking into roast turkey and all the trimmings, especially cranberry sauce, the culinary highlight of the Christmas season.  If you were a first class passenger on the White Star Line ship Gothic on 25th December 1895 you would be enjoying the fare on this menu, part of the collections at the Maritime Archives & Library.  It's a rather meat heavy menu, with a lot of mutton, but would have been considerably more varied than the food provided for the third class passengers. The Gothic was on a voyage from Plymouth to New Zealand and had left Table Bay, South Africa on the 20th December, so there would have been fresh food on board.

Spending Christmas away from home was a fate often suffered by seafarers, but they tried to make the best of it with a good meal.  We hold the journal of William Oates (D/O/17), master of the ship Hants, who writes about his first Christmas Day away from home, anchored off the coast of West Africa in 1853. 'Dr T & I agreed to have a stylish dinner prepared on his vessel..., so of course this morning I sent half the pig with 1 goat and a couple of fowls on board with him, and at 12 noon took myself there and I daresay we enjoyed as good a dinner as any of our friends at home in cold England'  Another meat heavy menu, I hope it wasn't just the two of them.