TATE BRITAIN by Volunteer Christine Mason

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Constable, Tate, volunteer

Christine and Nicola Trowell

Aspire Partner Seminar – Tate Britain, Friday 1^st June 2018

Tate Britain hosted a full day seminar involving all the partners in the five year project, Aspire,  surrounding John Constable’s 1831 painting, ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, and its journey round the UK.

Salisbury Museum was represented by Adrian Green, Louise Tunnard, Nicola Trowell (Aspire Trainee), and later in the day Katy England, and exhibition stewards Chris Frost and Chris Mason.  Getting its priorities right, the Tate first served a buffet lunch in the elegant Grand Saloon of sandwiches and salads, which gave everyone the opportunity to circulate, renew acquaintances among the Tate staff, meet representatives from the other centres and look at the two screens showing a continuous film of scenes from all the locations, including, of course, our own contemporary shot of the water meadows from Constable’s viewpoint with the sheep behaving very nicely.

The first session was open discussion, chaired by Caroline Collier, around four topics, the first being the Aspire Vision, the aim of which had been to equate Constable with Turner as the major figure in 19^th century British landscape painting, and to bring new audiences to view the iconic painting.  The painting’s first location was the national Museum of Wales, Cardiff, and it was also shown at the visitor centre of Oriel y Parc, St David’s Pembrokeshire, where it caused great interest as visitors to the National Park, had not expected to see such a painting there, and queried if it was the REAL thing, but returned in their thousands for another view.  Salisbury had the advantage of being the actual spot where it was created, which made for a powerful experience, and the reproduction in Lego brought in a whole new audience.  The Scottish National Gallery was the only other partner to pursue the Lego theme, and removed a painting to accommodate it, which caused complaints by regular visitors to the gallery, but that was resolved by putting the Lego in the gallery’s foyer.

The second topic was Partnership Working, with everyone in agreement that it was successful, partly as five was a manageable number with which to work together.  Ipswich and Colchester felt they had moved to a new level of knowledge and new skills, after having had hard work convincing their Council of the worth of having the painting.

Thirdly, Workforce Participation was the subject, and it was widely agreed that the partnership had shown how to work in different situations, with different colleagues, with the benefit of others’ expertise, and all learnt from one special painting.

The last section of this session was devoted to how, over the five years of the project, changes have occurred in staffing, building works, organisational priorities, etc. and what lessons could be learnt from running a five year programme.

After a cup of tea and biscuit the second session was a panel discussion, again under four headings, with representatives from each partnership giving a short account beginning with Star Works and Tourism. Ipswich and Colchester Museums, based at Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, felt they were rather off the beaten track of tourists, so they needed the local community to visit regularly , and having a ‘star work’ helped this aim. The Welsh National Park was in agreement with this, and said how much the painting had caused conversation and brought in locals.  Salisbury said to isolate a star work from its usual surroundings made it shine.

In the marketing section Tate said the ambitious project had exceeded all targets, and all participating had done well in bringing in new audiences.  Salisbury said to help achieve this all schools in the area had been sent flyers and the Lego had brought many families in as they had actually been engaged in putting in the tiles.

Under Access Training there had been Visual Awareness sessions headed by the Tate.  Cardiff had done and continued to do work with the visually impaired and had a guide dog blogger.

The fourth subject in this session was the all important subject of curating Constable, which had been organised differently by each partner for their own particular venue.  As Ipswich has a collection of early Constable paintings of his home ground, these were grouped with the Salisbury Cathedral painting.  Scotland teamed it with works by William McTaggart, 1835-1910, Scottish landscape painter, who as Constable was to Suffolk and Salisbury, McTaggart was to Kintyre.   Tate Britain has taken it back to its original Royal Academy hanging of 1831 and it has one wall to itself, but Turner either side of it.

The next move was to view Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows in its shiny new frame and hanging in splendid isolation, but with the Turners nearby.  The meeting then shifted to the Clore part of the building for a luxurious celebratory tea, with champagne and a welcoming address from the Tate Britain Director and a representative from the Art Fund.

The final session of the day was in the Clore Auditorium and a short film of the reframing of the painting.  The Tate’s framer, Adrian Moore, and two young members of staff were in the film and present for the discussion after.  It was decided to reframe the painting as the previous frame was in the style of the early 18^th century, so would not have been what Constable himself would have used.  The current frame is a design that would have been familiar to Constable in 1831.  The film showed the plain wooden frame, the mouldings being attached and the gold leaf applied, a lengthy and painstaking business.

Three of the four Aspire Trainees, including our own Nicola Trowell, then spoke of how the training had helped them further their careers, and all felt the educational part rewarding.

After a summing up, we were invited to enjoy ourselves at Late at the Tate.  The Tate’s young people groups were in the galleries with creative workshops, music, etc., Aspire themed.  We had been given vouchers for the street café, which had opened in the Tate’s café, and we relaxed with a delicious supper and glass of wine outside on the terrace.

It was a wonderful day, and brilliantly organised by the Tate, but of course we couldn’t leave without saying, ‘Hello’ to our very own Rex Whistler’s self portrait which hangs at the entrance to the restaurant he decorated so beautifully.

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It Will Be a Treat!

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Collections, Photo archive, volunteer

 

Alan Clarke is well known to us here on the Volunteer blog. He is a regular contributor, treating us to his observations of the fascinating detail in some of the photographs in the museum collection.

Now join him for his talk, which will be a real treat, in the Lecture Hall, on Thursday 7 June at 6.30pm. The Salisbury Museum holds an incredible archive of old images. These include the Salisbury Journal photographic negatives archive dating back to 1953, and 60,000 negatives which form The Austin Underwood collection. Photographer, museum volunteer and blogger, Alan Clarke will talk about how the image collection has been scanned, recorded and ordered, and the work that remains to be completed. In the process of putting the archive into order, some fascinating images have been unearthed and this is a unique opportunity to see these. Discover how this vast resource is being used and the search techniques available.

I KNOW HER! by Volunteer Alan Clark

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Collections, Museum, volunteer

My great joy of living in Salisbury is that I have been here since birth and thus know so many people.  So it is, as I help, with others, working our way through scanning all the museum’s negatives, we discover photos of people we know.  The negative is slowly scanned and there,  before our eyes, appears a face we recognise.

The photograph here is of a very young lady, as she was when the photograph was taken in 1973.  She was in the same class, at school, as my wife.  But there, in the background of the photograph, is the plumage of a bird and its head.  To me this bird can be no other than a Salisbury Museum Great Bustard.  The archway on the left, and possibly more displays beyond, appear to confirm that it is the museum.  But what is she doing?

The photograph is not clear enough to enable me to read the notice above her head or the poster in front of her.  The contraption she is working on appears, at first sight, awfully modern for a museum.  Was she a volunteer?

A copy of the Salisbury Journal around the end of January 1973 might give the answer. On examining the contraption in detail, one finds, at the top, the famous Salisbury Museum chess knight.  Foremost there is a transparent dome over a possible display of neck pendants.  One of these pendants is hanging over the front, showing an eight-sided flower motif.  On the right there is another, much taller, transparent dome which would go over the tall work piece.  The half tin, precariously balanced on the stand top, looks as though it has a nail-like pin in it.  Are these what the young lady is using?

I conclude that she is working on some special museum display.  It looks as though the basic material being used to support the objects is cut foam rubber.  This is the material that was used to line boxes carrying delicate instruments such as cameras.  Pins and nails would easily push into such material.

Ann and I both wondered what our erstwhile friend is up to now.  We haven’t seen her around Salisbury for decades.  A search on the internet tracked her down to a business in Bristol. It would appear from her website that her museum experience has stood her in good stead.  Maybe she could visit from Bristol and give a museum lecture on how working at the museum can lead to an exciting career?

As Alan explains, he works with our photograph archive and sends us endlessly fascinating examples from the collection to ponder. Thank you Alan.

Fun with Photos

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volunteer

We have another photo from the archives of Mrs Fawcett (she of the cape – see 20 February). It is interesting to ‘do an Alan’ with this one (Alan Clarke is a Volunteer who works with our photographic archive and frequently contributes photos for the interest of our blog readers, guiding us through a forensic observation of these).

It is obviously a posed photograph, taken, presumably, in a photographer’s studio. Mr Fawcett (and we must assume it is he – far too intimate a pose for it to be anyone else) is wearing a remarkable tie! What at first appear to be pince nez (spectacles that perched on the nose, without ear pieces) may, in fact, be glasses with small lenses. Is one lens blacked out?

We can learn a lot about costume from photographs of course, and often date a photo by dating the clothes. Mr Fawcett’s jacket, with its wide lapels and cuff effect on the sleeves is typical of the 1870s. Wing collars were still worn on shirts, but so were the more modern type seen here. No turn-ups on the trousers, lace-up boots – both bang on trend. Even his hair, medium-long at the sides and back but with ears showing, is just right for that decade.

For the ladies, the crinoline (effectively a wide cage worn under the skirt of a dress to make it stand out in an exaggerated fashion) had gone out of fashion by 1870 and Mrs Fawcett appears to be wearing a bustle under her dress in this photograph. This was a more limited framework designed to support the fullness of the back of the dress, giving an interesting shape but, more practically, making sure that the material was lifted clear of the ground. One source suggests that as the bustle became fashionable, so “the hair got higher”. No explanation, but it certainly appears so from this photo. Zigzag, lacy or scalloped edges were all the rage, as were decorations achieved with arrangements of buttons – all of which we can see on the dress here. There appears to be a crotcheted shawl on her lap.

Mrs Fawcett is wearing a very dark dress, suggesting she might be in mourning.

The pose would hit the wrong note in the 21st century. The wife is seated obediently (and below!) the husband, supposedly reading dutifully to him.

If you have early family photos at home, you can have the same fun with them. All of the costume information is available on the internet of course (or a good book!).

Finishing Touches

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Collections, Museum, volunteer, Volunteering

All the nice girls love a soldier

Spot the mannequin

 

April is here and the Big Clean is over for another year. Katherine Searle-Barnes (left – on student placement) and Heather Balston (right – a Volunteer usually seen behind a computer) add final polish in the Costume Gallery.

Perhaps we should have a captions competition for some of these photos? Allow your cursor to linger over these  (above) and see what captions we did choose here…

Quirky Photographs. More from Volunteer Alan Clarke…

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Collections, Museum, volunteer

Alan Clarke is a Volunteer at Salisbury Museum who works with the museum’s photographic archive. Readers here enjoy Alan’s regular blog contributions.

Austin Underwood used to capture images that no-one else thought interesting.

The Pitt-Rivers museum (at Farnham, Dorset), now closed, was a very large, specially designed building consisting of many well-lit galleries. Salisbury museum has quite a number of images of these galleries and their contents.

There is one image of the billiard table being used to display hundreds of artefacts – a valuable display space, rather than an opportunity to play billiards or snooker! There is an image of the plan of the building with its galleries which dwarf the small attached living quarters.

The grounds (now the Larmer Tree Gardens) were quite extensive as well; full of buildings Pitt-Rivers had brought from India* and had re-erected. One building was a Yak House, so he acquired some yaks to live in it!

He not only acquired yaks but quite a number of other exotic animal species. Salisbury museum has photographs of these, too, including a white peacock; not so dramatic with only black and white photography.

Augustus Henry Lane-Fox Pitt Rivers even had a large statue made of a Roman soldier, which used to stand outside his museum but can now be seen on the grass behind Salisbury Museum.

This is where Austin Underwood’s skill is useful to add something else to the understanding of the Pitt Rivers museum.  Austin’s photograph, above, shows how even the Dorset signpost at Thickthorn Cross (Grid ref 965130) was carefully modified, using the correct font, to give directions to the museum.  Note the crescent piece added to the sign end to give a smooth super curve.  Only Austin would have stopped and photographed this signpost.  The whole signpost has long since gone and even the cross roads rebuilt as staggered junctions.

*Editor’s note: in fact these buildings may have been brought from the Great Exhibition in London – remarkable enough! An extract from Historic England’s Heritage Explorer site says:

“Pitt-Rivers aimed to make the museum an attraction for a very large audience and to offer something different from other museums. The museum existed until the 1960s. A part of the collection can still be seen in Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. He gave his main collection to Oxford University and the Pitt-Rivers Museum in Oxford was opened in 1884.”

HIGH STREET CONNECTION WITH STONEHENGE WOOLLEN INDUSTRY by Volunteer Alan Clarke

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Collections, Salisbury, Stonehenge, volunteer

Alan Clarke brings us more interesting photographs and a fascinating story of the connection between High Street, Salisbury and the Stonehenge Woollen Industry which we heard about last week.

A standing live ram held by a hoisting belt was the emblem adopted by the Duke of Burgundy when he founded the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1430.  He obtained great wealth from the wool trade in Flanders.  This emblem, the golden fleece, was adopted as the traditional sign of a woollen draper’s shop.  Hence the carved sheep above the former SPCK shop at 51 High Street, Salisbury.

Charles Scammell, an antique dealer, sold 51 High Street to Catherine Lovibond in about 1919.  Catherine was the youngest of three daughters of Joseph Lovibond (1833-1918), a former Mayor of Salisbury (1878-1890), who lived at Lake House, up the Woodford valley.  He was chairman of John Lovibond & Sons, Ltd, and of The Tintometer Ltd.

Catherine trained as a designer and took an interest in spinning and weaving. Encouraged by her father who had no sons, she started to teach the local women the processes involved, setting up looms and spinning wheels in Lake House. At first things did not go well but gradually the scheme caught on, so that by 1900 some of the products were being exhibited at the Albert Hall.  A company called the Stonehenge Woollen Industries was formed and despite a fire which almost destroyed Lake House in 1912, expansion continued, moving to Stratford sub Castle after the death of her father in 1918. Retail outlets were established in four places including 51 High Street, Salisbury.  This is when the carved sheep was placed over the High Street door to denote her trade.

51 High Street, sheep in view to the left

Catherine married Major Radcliffe James Lindsay Bashford in 1919 but he died soon afterwards on 20 August 1921.  Then in 1929 she became the third wife of Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn; Lord Hedley.  In his youth he had been editor of the Salisbury Journal for two years.  He died 22 June 1935.

After the death of Catherine (Lady Headley) the business carried on for some years and it was not until 1959 that the shop was sold to the SPCK who at the time occupied 56 High Street, Salisbury.  The sheep trade sign was retained and remains to the present day.

A lady who lived close by me was 99 years old when she gave me an interview.  She told me she used to work in the High Street shop as a young girl.  She still had a Stonehenge Woollen Industries’ scarf.  The shop used to supply patterns and wool for people to knit orders, often to be fulfilled in 2 or 3 days.  Catherine used to travel to London by train to sell the items and to take orders.  Another neighbour remembers her mother knitting frantically last thing at night to finish off a garment.  Catherine originally set up the industry to provide employment for those in the countryside however its greatest use was to give employment to those returning from the First World War.

A Stonehenge Woollen Industries scarf

 

 

Stonehenge Woollen Industry

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volunteer

A question was raised about this industry recently,  at a Volunteers’ gathering. Alan Clarke has found these photos in our archives…

The industry was started by Catherine Lovibond (whose family owned Lake House) for women out-workers on the estate.

Women with their spindle wheels outside the Stonehenge Woollen Industry shop in Wilsford-cum-Lake near Amesbury in 1898.

The Weaving Room

Alan says he has more on this topic, which is something to look forward to. This mode of production was already outdated, of course, by the late 1800s, but cottage industries (literally production in cottages, usually, but not always, by the women at home) were not unusual.

 

SOUNDWAVES! TOWARDS MUSIC – BRIAN GRAHAM by Volunteer Alan Crooks

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Archaeology, Stonehenge, volunteer

When I first heard, some months ago now, that Brian Graham was going to exhibit a set which integrated archaeology, music and art, I immediately thought of Stonehenge, as I recalled reading something not too long ago of a theory concerning the acoustic properties of Stonehenge.

Coincidentally, this cropped up in my Facebook ‘Memories’ feed last week (‘Memories’ is one of my favourite features of Facebook). It was a 2012 paper by a doctoral researcher at Rock Arts Acoustics USA, one Steven Waller, who specialises in the sound properties of ancient sites, – the science of archaeoacoustics.

To understand this, one needs to appreciate that sound propagates through a medium (solid, liquid or gas) by means of waves. As a Science teacher, I used to demonstrate the properties of waves by means of a ripple tank. If standing water is disturbed on one side of a barrier containing a small gap, the waves are seen to fan out on the other side. This effect can be seen in real life at Lulworth Cove in Dorset (Fig.1).

Fig 1. Diffraction of waves at Lulworth Cove

When the barrier contains two gaps, the waves fanning out from each interfere with one another, causing the wave heights to be amplified in some places, and cancel out at others, creating ‘interference patterns’. This same effect occurs with sound. Thus Stephen Waller experimented by asking blindfolded volunteers to walk into a field as two pipers played. He then mapped where the volunteers said they could hear reduced or even no sound – so called ‘dead spots’.  The volunteers experienced quiet patches created by acoustic interference, leading to the ‘auditory illusion’ that massive objects stood between the listener and the instruments being played. Waller said that the volunteers “drew structures, archways and openings that are very similar to Stonehenge”. He speculated that the people who built Stonehenge may have become aware of this sound-cancelling effect during ceremonies involving musicians and would have thought it mystical – even magical, thus motivating them to build a stone circle whose design mimicked this acoustic illusion.

Interestingly, one of the legends concerning the ‘Merry Maidens’ neolithic stone circle, near St Buryan in Cornwall, says that some nineteen maidens, accompanied by two pipers, were dancing and making merry on a Sunday, and, as punishment for this sacrilege, they were all turned to stone –  petrified in a perfect circle – with the two pipers standing by themselves a little way off. This legend is reflected in the local name for the stone circle, Dans maen, meaning ‘dancing stones’.

There are also two other stones associated with the Merry Maidens, ‘The Fiddler’ to the west and the ‘Blind Fiddler’ to the north.

Such petrification legends concerning dancers and pipers (or at least, musicians) are frequently associated with stone circles throughout Britain, another example being ‘The Pipers Stones’ or Athgreany Stone Circle in County Wicklow. The Merry Maidens stone circle was depicted several times in Salisbury Museum’s 2017 exhibition, ‘British Art: Ancient Landscapes’, for example, in Ithell Colquhoun’s painting ‘Landscapes with Antiques, Lamorna’ (1955) (Fig 2).

Fig 2. ‘Landscape with Antiques, Lamorna’, showing the Merry Maidens stone circle and ‘The Pipers’ (Ithell Colquhoun, 1955).

In view of this I find myself slightly disappointed that Brian Graham’s exhibition does not explicitly feature Stonehenge.

I shall return to the subject of waves in a future blog.

 

THE BELLS! THE BELLS…..! by Volunteer Alan Clarke

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Collections, Museum, Salisbury, volunteer

We have another gem from Alan Clarke who works with our photographic archive.

In early November 1972, that is 46 years ago, at least one bell arrived at the museum.

The museum has many fascinating objects.  One or two are what I would call extremely heavy, defined as my not being able to lift them unaided.  How did they get to the museum and to their place on display?

People love to speculate and invent theories as to how these heavy objects arrived and were moved around.  Just look at the large number of theories as to how the very large stones at Stonehenge were moved around.  This is where photography can help provide the answers.

 

Ed: this photo includes Hugh Shortt (right), Curator of Salisbury and S Wilts Museum in the 1970s.

 

In our project to scan all the Salisbury Journal negatives we have so far achieved twenty years’ worth – from 1953 to the end of 1972 (yes, that is 20 years, not 19).  In the collection of images for November 1972, there were three photographs which referenced Salisbury Museum.  These three images show a large bell arriving at the museum, and how it was moved within the museum.  No Sampson, no great crane, just the skill of several workers cheered on by the management.  However, careful examination of one image does show that the van, with its tailboard down, has an arm mechanism for swinging the bell out from the van’s floor, and lowering it down to the museum floor.  As you can observe in the images, great use was made of lengths of 4 inch by 2 inch wood to protect the floor.  Also, in the image with the bell arriving, there is a second bell already in the museum.  Salisbury was famous for bell making in Culver Street and Guilder Lane until around 1730, and hence the museum has some displays illustrating this lost industry.  However, I must admit that I thought the museum only had one large bell.  I couldn’t even find this bell on the museum website.  ‘Must have been overlooked.  I should go and look around the museum more carefully.*

 

Looking at the footwear in the images, I would advise that, when the bells are moved again, steel capped industrial shoes are worn by all in the vicinity, just in case a rolling bell…  (This is an ellipsis in honour of Terry Pratchett.  You did see the exhibition with the ellipsis bell on the mantlepiece, didn’t you? He used to ring it whenever Rob Wilkins wrote “…”)

 

 

 

 

 

Editor’s note: The bell on display in the Salisbury gallery is a fibreglass replica. I wonder if what we see in the image of the bell arriving is the original and the replica together? We shall find out…