Story Category: Legacy

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

28 June 1920 was an exceptional day. For on that day, not one, but two film historians were born; John and William Barnes, identical twin brothers, and therefore perhaps the only stereoscopic film historians in the world.

Brian Coe, John and William Barnes, and Stephen Herbert with the Kingston Muybridge Centenary plaque in its temporary setting, Museum of the Moving Image, London, 1992. Photo: Courtesy of Lester Smith

John and William, or Bill as he was known, came from a family whose business was in piano manufacture. When they were twelve, their father died and to help them cope with the loss, an uncle gave them a 9.5mm cine-camera. It was this first camera which set them off on their joint path into the world of film making. Indeed, it was assumed that they would become film makers, having made an early and very accomplished start. However, after the Second World War their focus shifted closer to the collecting and research aspects which they had also been interested in. They were particularly keen on investigating the origin of moving pictures and the early pioneers of the medium, such as those who became known as the ‘Brighton School’ – James Williamson, George Albert Smith, Alfred Darling and others.

Of the pair, John took the lead in writing and produced a number of significant books on the subject, including the five volume The Beginnings of Cinema in Britain 1894-1901. Bill ran an antiques stall in London; his expertise was getting out and about to track down the physical material for their collection, but he took up the pen more frequently after John passed away and continued to keep their research in the public eye.

In 1963 they opened the Barnes Museum of Cinematography in St. Ives, Cornwall, where John lived. The museum was run by John and his wife Carmen and served to display the wondrous collection which the brothers had amassed. During the 1980s, there was a plan to move the museum to London, but this fell through and the St. Ives museum closed. A large part of the collection representing the ‘archaeology of cinema’ went to the Museo Nazionale del Cinema in Turin, and in 1997 Hove Museum purchased the material relating to the Brighton School.

Sadly, neither of the Barnes brothers lived to become centenarians. John passed away in 2008, just prior to his 88th birthday. Bill made it very close, celebrating his 99th year and could still be found trawling through stalls of ephemera in search of a missing postcard (or a ‘spare’ copy of one already owned). It is thanks to their tireless ‘search and research’ approach that many items were saved and collected, to be preserved for future generations of film historians and the general public alike.

Alexia Lazou, Collections Assistant

Discover More

Read about John and William Barnes, and watch their films on the Screen Archive South East website:

View the Barnes Collection on our Close Look at Collections:

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

As we prepare to welcome you back to the Royal Pavilion, a small hardworking team are busy having a deep clean to ensure it’s looking its spectacular best for your return.

Thank you team!

Lucy and Alexia have been cleaning the bamboo-style stairs in the Royal Pavilion. They have to be gentle, using a soft brush to dust the particles into a vacuum cleaner. Some of the features on the banister are intricate, so these gather dust, and some are difficult to reach – hence the long brush! They also cleaned behind the brass grills on the stairs and unearthed a bounty of dust bunnies, building debris and two intriguing pieces of patterned cloth –  age to be determined.

Nicki is giving the Royal Pavilion shop a thorough clean:

Bernada is busy cleaning skirting boards and retouching the organ in the Music Room:

And Gaye is taking care of the front desk:

Gaye and her team have all done a fantastic job, just some of their achievements include:

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Woodland Creatures is the theme for this week’s Draw. 

Join In

If you are tempted to have a go, please share your drawings with us? We would love to see them. Email them to Beth at beth.burr@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Tweet @BrightonMuseums or if you are uploading them to Facebook with pride, share the url in the comments section below.

Come back next Wednesday to see what new objects Beth has chosen.

This week’s additional ideas:

• Draw an object with your non dominant hand. Then use the hand you draw with and compare them
• Different types of trees – Get outside with your sketchbook and find a nice shady spot

Discover More

The Mid-Week Draw

Beth Burr, Museum Support Officer

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Our Lockdown Craft Challenge is a new series in which makers at Hove Museum use its craft collections to inspire you to create at home. In this second post, Grace and Rebecca look at ceramicist Siddig El’ Nigoumi and his inspiring blend of cultural influences.

Hove Museum & Art Gallery houses one of the best collections of Contemporary Craft in the South East. It includes the South East Arts Craft Collection and a host of national makers including Alice Kettle, Cynthia Cousens, Alison Britton, and Richard Slee. This collection contains an eclectic mix of makers, techniques and materials and is a great resource to get your creative juices flowing!

As we aren’t able to open our doors to the public just yet, each blog will focus on an object from the collection and challenge our talented Hove Museum maker Rebecca to make something inspired by the piece – and to come up with some crafty ideas that you could make at home too.

This week’s piece is: Siddig El’ Nigoumi Dish 1983

Siddig El’Nigoumi, Fish Dish, 1983

Siddig El’Nigoumi

Siddig El’ Nigoumi, signature scorpion which appears on all his pieces

Siddig El’Nigoumi (1931-1996) was a Sudanese ceramicist. Nigoumi’s ceramics are famed for their infusion of African, Arabian and European influences, all of which he experienced throughout his lifetime. His highly skilled and versatile body of work led to the popularisation of using African pottery techniques within British studio ceramics. Siddig’s passion for shape and form began as a child when he modelled objects from clay found along the river banks of the White Nile. As a student at Khartoum Art School, he studied general arts and crafts and became a calligrapher. El’Nigoumi then moved to London to study ceramics and clay modelling at the Central School of Art. He returned to the Sudan to teach before eventually settling in the UK in 1967 where he continued his teaching career.

A Medley of Cultures

As a teacher at Khartoum El’Nigoumi is said to have encouraged his students to look towards their own cultures and traditions to inspire their work. When Hove Museum acquired Fish Dish into the collection in 1983, Siddig provided a statement describing his influences, he wrote:

“The Sudan, where I came from, is a country where African and Arab cultures meet. This mixture produced a unique culture of it’s own in the arts and crafts including Arabic calligraphy”.

“During the 1970s when I came to live in this country, I naturally used Sudanese methods of making and decorating pottery. But having previously studied ceramics at the Central School, London, this enabled me to add and use new techniques and materials such as the wheel, slips, plaster of Paris, gas and electric kilns. Altogether, this mixture of African and European are the guide lines for the kind of work I am producing now. I must add though, that the subject matter for decorating is no longer confined to African or Sudanese material. The European culture also provided me with some gems like Greenham Common Camp (CND), the white arrows on the road for directing traffic, the Concorde jet, Rolls Royce and VW cars, Isle of Man symbol, the chalk horse of Salisbury Plain and others”.

Making

Siddig’s Beautiful line work detail

Siddig’s body of work ranges from tableware for his own use in the home, to decorative stone ware and earthenware vases, boxes, dishes and animals. His pieces were hand-built and included both thrown and sculptural forms.

Siddig’s Fish Dish was made from red earthenware clay from the Fremington clay in Devon. The clay was rolled out into a sheet and placed in a plaster mould and slip was brushed on to plan for the decoration. When the clay was leather hard in the mould, the dish was burnished. Burnishing is a typically African technique where the clay is rubbed over with the back of a teaspoon and polished pebbles which gives a sheen to the surface. The decoration was drawn on using a 6B pencil and cutting of the decoration using a metal knitting needle.

Detailed fish line work

The Challenge

Rebecca, as a teacher at Khartoum, Siddig is said to have encouraged his students to look towards their own cultures and traditions to inspire their work. He often took his students in the Sudan to analyse shapes at the Ethnographical Museum. I love this idea of making something inspired by different cultures you have been influenced by and have shaped you. I know that you have a blend of cultures in your life, so I challenge you to make something that is inspired by them.

Grace Brindle, Collections Assistant

Challenge Accepted!

This dish was really striking to me. I really liked the simplicity of having a central image of the fish on a plain background, but with lots of beautiful pattern work around the sides of the plate. Your eye is immediately focused on the fish, but the pattern on it is so much more eye-catching when you see it repeated all the way round the plates edge.

A mixture of linework, diamonds, squares, and spirals, although inspired by the Sudan, initially made me think of classical Greek pottery with their meander design decorative borders. I wanted to pick up on this when I was decorating my dish, I also wanted to pick up on the pattern work.

Greek key on a Renaissance Revival stove in the D.A. Sturdza House Cărturești Verona, Beautiful Buildings Pics CC BY-SA 4.0

A Welsh Brightonian

Margam Stones 7 Cross of Conbelin, Robin Leicester CC BY-SA

I love Siddig’s blending of culture in his pieces, I have lived in Brighton for many years but I am originally from Wales. I liked the idea of taking some modern local Brighton imagery into my plate decoration, but also merging this with some Welsh motifs. I grew up near the museum of Celtic stones in Wales where there were always lots of Celtic symbols. The carving on Siddig’s dish this made me think of those carvings. He scratched through the clay slip to produce his patterns. I wanted to pick some imagery that was going to be practical for me to do this too, simple lines and curves but still aesthetic and interesting to me.

A Striking Animal

I thought for a long time about what to use as my main image at the centre of the plate. I wanted to use an animal like in the original, but each time I had an idea it was for a creature that was far too detailed to carve-this would have taken away from the impact of the fairly simple animal shape from the original piece. A fish is such a simple motif to recognise, I needed to pick an animal that had a similar recognisable shape. I loved the idea of an octopus and it also picked up on classical Greek pottery that came to mind when I originally saw Siddig’s fish dish. An octopus has an easy very recognisable outline and its tentacle suckers would make great pattern detail.

Working the Clay

Flattening the clay, photo by Rebecca Lean

For the plate I used one pack of DAS red air dry clay. I worked the clay until it was ready to form a ball, using my hands and a rolling pin I flattened it until it was thin enough to start forming my plate but not so thin as to be too fragile. I added some clay to the centre back, this would allow me start to form my plate with an edge and it also meant that the centre had enough clay to make it solid enough for decorating. Using lots of water and my hands I shaped and smoothed the clay into the oval shape I had planned on, using almost a pinching shape with my finger I formed a lip around it. I added bits of very wet clay to the plate if I felt that a piece was getting a bit too thin, and after lots of working I finally had a decent oval shape.

Rolling out the clay, photo by Rebecca Lean

Forming the Octopus

Forming the octopus, photo by Rebecca Lean

I wanted to give my plate a slightly 3D quality along with the scratch work. I formed some wet clay and moulded it on to the middle of the plate using clay slip. I formed the body of the octopus, head and arms. Then with a sharp tool and a knitting needle I pierced holes into the arms to form suckers and I did the same for the eyes.

Octopus with knitting needle detail, Photo by Rebecca Lean

A bit rough round the edges

Sanding down the octopus, photo by Rebecca Lean

When the clay had dried it was time to carefully sandpaper any really uneven edges – I wanted to make sure though that a lot of the uneven texture remained. I liked the look of the 3D octopus arms but knowing that I was going to a very 2D plate brim pattern made the octopus pop out even more.

Sanding down the edges, Photo by Rebecca Lean

Burnishing

Burnishing with a pebble. Photo by Rebecca Lean

Using the back of a metal teaspoon and a polished pebble I polished over the octopus arm edges and textured bits of the design to give them a little shine and definition.

Adding a charcoal stain

Siddig’s plate had a mix of a charcoal stain paint and burnishing. Although my clay was air dry and therefore I wasn’t going to be putting it in a kiln, I wondered if I could try something similar. In a small bowl I crushed up some drawing charcoal and with some oil I started to mix up a black paste. With my fingers I started to apply this to my now dry plate. I made sure to smooth the mixture into the clay but left the suckers of my octopus charcoal free. This would give that extra 3D effect later on. Using a paint brush to cover the whole dish then.

Engraving my dish

Siddig’s Beautiful line work detail

After it had dried a while it was time to start the engraving. Siddig’s dish has a brilliant mix of pattern work on the edge of the plate and the fish. I wanted to leave my octopus free of engravings as the tentacles were going to give me that effect but I started work on designing some motifs to carve into the plates edge. Siddig encouraged his students to use their own cultures and traditions as well as those around them. I wanted to combine three things. The first was my own tradition, the second was the beautiful shapes and patterns from Siddig’s work (Sudanese influences), and the third was some modern motifs of where I am living. I used a combination of celtic triskele, triquetra, diamonds, linework, and motifs off the West pier, Onion dome of the Royal Pavilion, some seaside waves and a few octopus arms for good measure!

I scraped into the dry clay with a knitting needle, stamp cutter, and an awl to define these motifs. Using a paintbrush first to brush away the clay dust, I then brushed oil over all the designs to give them a darker outline rather than the bright orange of the clay underneath.

A Final Burnish

Finally, I burnished the design again to give the design a little more shine and definition. Hope you like the end result!

Close up of octopus. Photo by Rebecca Lean

Final design. Photo by Rebecca Lean

Try At Home

Air dry clay is a fun way to try your hand at clay work, but you could even use fimo or salt dough clay! The best thing is you can try your hand at anything from figures, to jewellery beads to bowls and dishes, just about anything. If this has given you a little push to try your hand at claywork we would love to see what you come up with!

As you can see, craft can be done with quite literally anything! We would love to see your own work, whether you have collected them or made them. Send your photos in to grace.brindle@brighton-hove.gov.uk and they may be featured in our blog.

Look out for more Craft Challenge posts soon.

Discover More

Take a look at our Lockdown Craft Challenge series

View our gallery to see what people have created from earlier challenges

Send your crafty creations to us

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Rebecca Lean, Hove Museum Maker

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The final archaeology object we are featuring in celebration of this week’s annual Festival of Archaeology (11-19 July) run by the Council of British Archaeology (CBA), is one of the most renowned, the Bronze Age Amber Cup.

It was discovered in Hove in 1856 when a huge burial mound, known as the Hove Barrow, was excavated during construction of Palmeria Avenue. About nine feet below the surface of the barrow workmen found an oak coffin, which was documented at the time as being carved from a single tree trunk. Within the coffin were fragments of human skeletal remains, a perforated whetstone, a bronze dagger, a stone axe hammer, and a complete cup made from amber. Based upon the results of the radiocarbon dating of a piece of the oak, it most likely dates to the Early to Mid Bronze Age, around 3,500 years ago.

The amber cup has a band of incised parallel grooves encircling the body of the cup, except under the handle, as well as incised grooves on the handle of the cup. Two chips are present on its rim, it is suggested the chip on the left of the handle happened when it was accidentally struck with a spade by the workman who found it.

It is the best preserved of only two such Bronze Age vessels known in Europe. The axe head and perforated whetstone are also rare objects. This implies the Hove Barrow was an important burial monument. The cup is made from a single piece of amber from northern Europe, suggesting trade links between England and the Baltic.

Baron Goldsmid, the owner of the land where the cup was discovered, donated it to the museum, in the early stages of its formation, in 1857. When the museum reopens, this beautiful cup can be seen on display in the Elaine Evans Archaeology Gallery.

Discover More

Explore other objects in our Festival of Archaeology series

Heather York, Curator

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Our Climate Conversations series continues with a look at how the current climate is affecting kittiwakes.

Mr Edward Thomas Booth, founder of the Booth Museum

Edward Thomas Booth notes in his catalogue from June, 1867 that kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) are common. They are currently the most numerous gull species in the UK; however, they are now in serious decline. Since the year 2000 black-legged kittiwake numbers have declined by more than half.

Booth’s entry about the summer kittiwake diorama discusses the Sea-Bird Preservation Act that protected the birds. In Booth’s opinion: ‘the senseless slaughter that took place round their breeding-stations every summer having been allowed to continue too long without interference.’ The Sea Bird Preservation Act of 1869 was the first in the country to protect birds. It prevented people from killing seabirds and collecting their eggs from April to August so that they could breed. The main motivation for this was not for the protection of the birds themselves, but to aid sailors who relied on healthy seabird populations to find land in foggy conditions.

Illustration of Kittiwakes, female and young, by Edward Neale from Rough Notes on birds in the British Islands by Edward Thomas Booth. Photo by Grace Brindle

As a collector of birds, Booth’s following sentence contains no sense of irony at his killing of these birds: ‘The specimens in this case were obtained at the Bass Rock in June, 1867.’ The winter kittiwake diorama contains adults in winter plumage and juveniles that were ‘shot a few miles off Brighton, in the winter of 1870.’

The black-legged kittiwakes joined the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species in 2018. Current threats to kittiwakes are associated with their prey, sand-eels and herring which are in decline, due to the effects of climate change. This impacts the prey the sand-eels feed on and the breeding season of the herring, which no longer coincides with the kittiwake breeding season. This results in lower breeding success for the kittiwakes.

Kittiwakes at Seaford Head copyright Andy Hay, courtesy of RSPB Brighton & District Local Group

Despite the downward trend of many populations of kittiwakes, the colony at Seaford Head in Sussex continues to thrive. Seaford Head to Beachy Head is designated as an area of Special Scientific Interest and Seaford Head Nature Reserve is part managed by Sussex Wildlife Trust and the National Trust. There are over 1000 nests in the kittiwake colony. No one knows exactly why they are doing better than other colonies around the UK. A possible explanation is that prey species are also faring better in the South East. However, this may change as sea temperatures are expected to rise faster along the south coast bringing more unpredictable changes for the kittiwakes and their associated marine ecosystem.

Discover More

Read more from our Climate Conversations series 

Kerrie Curzon, Collections Assistant

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The fourth archaeology object we are showcasing to celebrate this week’s annual Festival of Archaeology (11-19 July) run by the Council of British Archaeology (CBA), is a rare bronze statuette of a stag.

Romano-British bronze statuette of a stag.

With its intricately detailed mane and antlers, the stag is an important example of Romano-British art. It was made over two thousand years ago, during which time three of its legs have experienced some damage. It measures 9cm in length and 16.5cm in height and has recessed eye-sockets which may once have contained precious or decorative stones.

The statuette is understood to have been discovered by a metal detectorist immediately to the north of Brighton, but evidence for where exactly it was found is scarce. It appeared in Christie’s London sale rooms on 16 July 1985 and was sold to an overseas buyer. However, in November 1985 the Reviewing Committee on the Export Works of Art determined the stag was ‘of national importance’ and the Committee’s recommendation to withhold an export license for six months was accepted. This enabled Brighton Museum to source funding to purchase it, including from the National Arts Collections Fund, the Purchase Grant Fund administered by the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Friends of the Royal Pavilion.

Even though little is known about the stag, its discovery does provide evidence about the beliefs of Romano-British people and an insight into bronze production methods. When Brighton Museum reopens, this unique stag can be seen on display in the Elaine Evans Archaeology Gallery.

Discover More

Explore other objects in our Festival of Archaeology series

Heather York, Curator

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Hove Museum craft maker Rebecca Lean has been using our craft collections to inspire you to get creative in the new series, Lockdown Craft Challenge. Take a look at some of the fantastic pieces that have been created at home.

Lockdown Craft Challenge: Collecting in Quarantine

The first challenge included collecting inspired by short journeys.

These amazing creations with their brilliant names (click on the photo for the full image and caption) were sent in by Christine who says, “The recycling collection was delayed in our area so I used items in the box plus bits in the garage to make a series of people and animal characters. I also collect bits and pieces left outside people’s houses on my way back from the paper shop on a Sunday morning.”

Helen created brilliant portraits and animals from rust metal she found on the beach.

Check back regularly to see any gallery updates as the series continues.

Discover More

Take a look at our Lockdown Craft Challenge series

Grace Brindle, Collections Assistant

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

The third archaeology object we are featuring to celebrate this week’s annual Festival of Archaeology (11-19 July), run by the Council of British Archaeology (CBA), is a Neolithic leaf shaped flint arrowhead.

Neolithic Flint Object

The arrowhead was discovered during excavations in the 1920s and 1930s at the site of Whitehawk Camp, a Neolithic Causewayed Enclosure on Whitehawk Hill, on the eastern edge of Brighton. This 5,600-year-old monument is a series of at least four concentric rings of ditches and banks, which cover a total area of around 6 hectares; at the time of its use the white chalk banks must have been visible from far and wide.

It is suggested the Whitehawk Causewayed Enclosure was used periodically for celebratory purposes, where communities gathered to feast and possibly worship, but also for funerary purposes. The remains of four complete human burials have been found in the ditches including the bodies of an eight-year-old child and a young woman buried alongside the remains of her new-born child.

Due to the professionalism of the excavations during which this arrowhead was discovered, it is meticulously recorded where it was found. The arrowhead is made from a flint flake, retouched with much skill into the distinctive leaf shape that gives it its name. The arrowhead would have been hafted into the end of a wooden arrow shaft and probably used for hunting.

Discover More

Explore other objects in our Festival of Archaeology series

Heather York, Curator

This is a legacy story from an earlier version of our website. It may contain some formatting issues and broken links.

Following the wonderful news that European Bison will be introduced to Kent woodland in 2022, to restore ancient habitat and wildlife, Beth has chosen a theme of Bulls, Bison and Buffalo! 

Beth

Beth, drawn in a single line without taking the pen off the paper

Draw Artists

We are very pleased to see that some of you have taken part in our online Mid-Week Draw, here are some of the fantastic works that have been sent in.

Ann

Join In

If you are tempted to have a go, please share your drawings with us? We would love to see them. Email them to Beth at beth.burr@brighton-hove.gov.uk 

Tweet @BrightonMuseums or if you are uploading them to Facebook with pride, share the url in the comments section below.

Come back next Wednesday to see what new objects Beth has chosen.

This week’s additional ideas:

• Draw a portrait of yourself
• Now try a caricature of yourself
• Draw the same still life three times, zooming farther in each time

Discover More

The Mid-Week Draw

Beth Burr, Museum Support Officer