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Collections related to The Victorians.
The images and text in these records are all available for free re-use.
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Illustrated records of items in our Ancient Egypt collections.
[collectionsbase_lite partner =”BTNRP” images = “true” query = “Ancient Egypt”]
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It’s always good to kick off a New Year with something new, so I’m delighted to introduce the Royal Pavilion & Museums first venture into virtual reality (VR).
VR version of Royal Pavilon Estate model — when viewed without a VR viewer
Volunteer 3D modeller Colin Jones has produced a model of the Royal Pavilion Estate that allows you to explore some of the buildings from a central point in the Pavilion Garden. All you need to access it is a smartphone and a Google Cardboard style VR viewer.
To use the model, simply go to http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/VRPavilion on your phone browser, then pop the phone into your viewer. You will now be able to use the viewer to explore the estate with a turn of your head.
Colin has also produced another version of the model which can be used without a VR viewer: http://brightonmuseums.org.uk/3DPavilion This version features an audio commentary by curator Alexandra Loske and should be accessible on any computer, tablet or smartphone with an internet browser.
The model can be sampled below, but is best viewed in full screen.
This is likely to be one of several uses of 3D digital technology we will be experimenting with this year. Colin is working on further models of the Royal Pavilion Estate at different stages in its history, and we plan to showcase some of these in our forthcoming Visions of the Royal Pavilion Estate exhibition in Brighton Museum.
We have also been exploring 3D digitisation with the University of Brighton’s Cultural Informatics Group. Some of these digitised models are available online, and we are currenlty working with them to publish 3D images of coins and other items in our numismatics collections online.
You can also find some other examples of digital 3D technology on our website, produced in partnership with digital agency MOHARA. These include Murder in the Manor, a recreation of Preston Manor as a murder mystery game; Tales of the Pavilion Hospital, a fictional exploration of the building’s use as a WW1 military hospital; and our virtual tours of the Royal Pavilion.
You may wonder why we are investing so much time in exploring 3D. Although there is quite a buzz around VR at the moment, there are deeper reasons behind using this technology.
First, the move to 3D is a logical extension of the digitisation work we have been carrying out for several years. Like many museums, we have been digitising our collections since the early 2000s, but it’s always been a fundamentally unequal process. The word ‘digitisation’ is generally taken to mean the conversion of a physical object into an electronic copy; in practice most museum digitisation is a case of taking a photograph or scan of an object and presenting the image with its related catalogue data online. In the case of a 2D work like a painting or a photograph, that image can act as a reproducible copy of the original. In the case of a 3D object, like a pot or a handaxe, the digitised work is at best a series of partial views of the original object.
In short, this feels like a copy:
The Raising of Lazarus, Jan Lievens 1631
And this feels like an illustration:
Pot with lid, 18th-19th century
From this perspective, the ability to digitally reproduce objects as 3D models is a solution to that problem. It also opens up the possibility of creating physical replicas through 3D printing.
The complication is that even in its simplest form, digitisation is a labour-intensive and time-consuiming process. Producing 3D models, whether by scanning or photogrammetry, takes far more work.Rendering those models online is also much more complex than dropping an image file into a database. It’s an important area of exploration — and one where the University of Brighton’s Cultural Informatics Group are leading the way — but the days of mass 3D digitisation are probably still some way off.
A second reason for exploring 3D is that it opens up new opportunities for storytelling. The combination of rich narratives and a navigable space can create compelling and immersive experiences. Our Murder in the Manor website is a great example of that: although it receives a modest number of users, it still receives by far the longest dwell time from its users of any microsite or digital experience we’ve created.
But this capacity for 3D storytelling goes beyond simply creating a sense of immersion. 3D technology allows a user to explore an object or a space from a variety of viewpoints; that variety of viewpoints can allow for a variety of talking points.
As an example, take this view of the Royal Pavilion Estate from another of Colin Jones’ models:
3D model showing Northgate House on the Royal Pavilion Estate, c1832.
This shows the northern edge of the estate in the early 1830s, shortly after the death of George IV. Although the model is based on contemporary sources, such as maps and topographic prints, it presents a view that does not exist in any record of the estate from that time.
When I first saw this image I was struck by how well it illustrated one particular story about the Pavilion Estate. Late in life, George constructed a tunnel beneath the garden, connecting the Royal Pavilion to the Dome, his stable complex. One of his motivations for creating this expensive tunnel was that he was fond of his horses, and wanted to visit them without having to cross open ground. At a time when he was deeply unpopular with his subjects and grossly overweight, he apparently feared the reaction of people who might spot him in the garden.
It’s hard to tell this story in the Pavilion itself, or even the garden, which now has the later William IV gate providing a more secluded view. But this model shows just how exposed the northen side of the estate was at this time. Indeed, it’s not hard to imagine crowds of people peering or jeering over the low wall.
Of course, my thoughts about 3D are fairly irrelevant if there’s no wider interest in this. One of my ambitions in launching these models is to try and learn what people think of them.
This is something we explored with our Three Ways to 3D History event in last year’s Brighton Digital Festival. The reactions then were positive, perhaps surprisingly so, but there are a whole host of questions to be answered. Does VR provide an engaging way of exploring spaces? Do 3D models really provide a platform for richer storytelling? What potential is there for 3D to be used as a teaching tool? Is it fun? I’d love to hear of any reactions or observations in the comment box below.
Finally, my sincere thanks must go to Colin Jones for his work in producing these models, all of which has been on a voluntary basis. This is an area of work we simply would not have the resources to pursue if it was not for his generosity and dedication. Digital innovation is often expensive and risky, so partnerships with committed volunteers like Colin and organisations like the University of Brighton provide vital support as we look for new ways in which we can tell stories about our collections and buildings.
Kevin Bacon, Digital Manager
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A beautiful young woman dressed in white is walking through snow and ice, accompanied by two polar bears that appear to be submissive and loyal. Her slim figure is silhouetted sharply against an inky blue starry sky. She wears a long gown and veil of shimmering white fabric, embroidered with pearls or crystals. She looks every inch a bride.
Bite-Size Museum talk in Brighton Museum on 13 December 2016.
Her face is turned towards the viewer, and we see her large, dark, almond-shaped eyes. Her cherry-red lips stand out against the cold colours of the picture. But there is another splash of red in the picture: she is holding a bright red heart in her hands, blood dripping from it through her fingers. It is a detail you only see at second glance, once you are drawn into the painting, and trapped by its beauty, brilliance and darkness. What is the story behind this mysterious painting in our collections?
The Ice-Maiden is a small watercolour and gouache painting by the French-born and later anglicised artist Edmund Dulac (1882-1953). Dulac had studied art in Paris, but moved to London in 1904, where he carved out a career as one of the most prolific artists of what is often called the ‘golden age of book illustration’, the early 20th century, when colour plates became easier and cheaper to produce and boards were often elaborately decorated and tooled. While Brighton-born illustrator Aubrey Beardsley (1872–1898) was still working in black and white, the next generation of artists were part of the craze for colour plate ‘gift books’ on all kinds of subjects. These lavishly illustrated large-format books were marketed as collectible gifts, especially for Christmas, and publishers worked closely with galleries, where the original artwork was displayed and offered for sale around the time of publication.
Dulac specialized in creating beautifully detailed pictures for fairy-tales and Romantic novels and was quickly snapped up by Hodder & Stoughton, who were then working with the Leicester Galleries in London. The book that made him a household name was Stories from The Arabian Nights (published in 1907), which included no fewer than 50 colour plates. Among his contemporaries in the same field were Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), Kay Nielsen (1886–1957) and Charles Robinson (1870-1937).
The frontispiece and title page of The Dreamer of Dreams, showing Dulac’s Ice-Maiden
The painting of the Ice-Maiden came into our collection in 1953 and is our only Dulac, but we do have a handful of Rackham drawings. Interestingly, the mysterious lady baffled curators until the 1970s, as no-one knew who she was or what story she was telling. Eventually the link was made to the book in which The Ice-Maiden was used as the main illustration, on the pictorial dust-jacket and as the frontispiece. It was one of six plates for the popular book The Dreamer of Dreams, published in 1915 by Hodder & Stoughton in London, New York and Toronto. The fantasy novel was written by Queen Marie of Romania (1875 – 18 July 1938), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. A year later Dulac also illustrated a second book by Queen Marie, The Stealers of Light. Marie, who was Queen of Romania from 1914 to 1927, was a dedicated supporter of the Romanian Red Cross and frequently visited hospitals during the First World War. Around the time of the publication of these two books Romania joined the Allies against the Central Powers.
The Dreamer of Dreams tells the magical story of Eric Gundian, an artist at the Court of the Northern King Wanda, who is working on a large frieze painting in the royal palace but is unable to finish the face of the last female figure in the painting. After a vision in a dream, Eric goes on a search for the perfect pair of eyes to complete his painting. The Ice-Maiden is a beautiful stranger whom he meets in a snowy northern kingdom. Dulac’s picture illustrates the moment he first sees her:
“All the splendour of the night, the dazzling brilliancy, the vast snow-field, the glory of the moon, the myriad stars, all paled before the beauty of the woman that now approached. Everything about her was white, glistening and shining; so shining that the human eye could hardly bear the radiance. Her long white hair hung about her; a circle of glow-worms surrounded her forehead. Her head was bent, still gazing on that which she held in her hand. On either side marched one of the great bears like two guardians. Just as she neared the spot where Eric stood she once more bent to the snow, and with almost loving precaution raised something in her hand. As she did so her eyes met Eric’s – they were beautiful eyes – large, dark, blazing like two burning coals.”
The decorated front board of The Dreamer of Dreams (1915)
Despite her dazzling beauty, hers are not the eyes Eric is looking for, but he nevertheless engages with her and listens to her story. So what about the bleeding heart she is holding? It turns out that the beautiful maiden is not sinister at all: she goes out at night in search of broken hearts, which she picks up from the frozen plains. She takes them back to her castle built of ice, which has distinct similarities to the Snow Queen’s castle in Danish author Hans Christian Andersen’s (1805–1875) fairytale from 1844. In her ice castle she places the hearts in a circle of burning flames to keep them warm. Many of Dulac’s and his contemporaries’ illustrations walk this narrow path between beauty and cruelty, mystery and menace, and one wonders whether they were actually created for children. The Ice-Maiden is one of the best examples of Dulac’s work and the ‘golden age of book illustration’ in general.
For conservation reasons The Ice-Maiden is not permanently on display, but we brought her out of storage briefly for a Bite-Size Museum talk on 13 December 2016, to accompany The Great Bear exhibition on the north balcony of Brighton Museum. We asked visitors to bring any copies of books illustrated by Dulac or his contemporaries and about half a dozen brought their much-loved ‘gift books’, including copies of the Arabian Nights and Edmund Dulac’s Fairy Book, and a first edition of The Dreamer of Dreams. Early editions of Dulac’s books, with all plates intact and present are now hugely collectible. Both The Dreamer of Dreams and The Stealers of Light are among the rarest and most valuable of them, especially when the dust-jackets are still in place.
Alexandra Loske, Curator (Royal Pavilion Archives)
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Last month we welcomed almost 40 delegates from museums across the UK to join us in Brighton for our first ever conference on Workforce Development (WFD).
Delegates at Museum Workforce Development conference 2016. Courtesy Becky Butwright.
The conference was inspired by a successful initiative at Royal Pavilion & Museums (RPM) , which has offered employees the opportunity to branch out from their usual roles and try their hand in alternative jobs and teams for temporary periods. The ultimate goal is to allow staff to discover new talents; introduce them to fields of work that we perhaps never even knew we were interested in; and offer the chance to work within different environments and teams.
I, for example, have worked front of house at RPM for nearly four years now, and in summer 2015 was offered the opportunity to work with the museums’ Creative Programming team to help run the social media campaign for the Fashion Cities Africa exhibition – a brilliant experience which then helped to land me the role of Conference Blogger last week!
Four years after Workforce Development was introduced to the Royal Pavilion & Museums workforce in 2012, over a quarter of our 100+ staff members have now experienced its benefits first hand – some even taking up more than one WFD opportunity in that time. With help from Learning, Engagement & Volunteer Manager Helen Graham and Museums & Galleries Freelancer Ellie Newland, RPM staff Alice Forward, Holly Parsons, Nick Kay and Kate Szeless spent five months working their socks off to plan and deliver last week’s conference as a way of sharing RPM’s experiences, and to celebrate and promote the WFD initiative.
The day kicked off in the Dome Theatre café, as delegates were ushered inside from the crisp morning cold to tea, coffee and a generous selection of divine-smelling pastries (aka THE best way to start the day). After an opportunity to mingle and warm up, everyone was ushered over the road to the Old Courtroom for a series of talks. The first was from the Mayor of Brighton & Hove, Councillor Pete West, offering our visitors a warm welcome to the city – a place he described as a sanctuary which prides itself on inclusivity and diversity: qualities that he’d like to see reflected in the cultural workforce. Councillor West then had us all on our feet for a bit of on-the-spot jogging to warm up! Next up was Head of RPM Janita Bagshawe, welcoming everybody to the Royal Pavilion Estate and highlighting how crucial diversity is to the development of the cultural workforce. Janita explained how it’s been recognised that RPM’s front-of-house workforce are more diverse than those working behind the scenes; and how this was the catalyst for beginning to offer WFD opportunities.
The next 20 minutes were then centred on WFD at RPM. We started with an introduction from Helen Graham, which provided some brilliant stats highlighting how WFD opportunities have resulted in staff feeling heightened levels of self-confidence, creativity and general happiness – complete with some fab pictures to illustrate. Helen was followed by Head of Enterprise & Business Systems Abigail Thomas, who talked us through some significant examples of when past WFD schemes have had amazing results. The first was the case of staff being encouraged to help out with restorative conservation work during the Royal Pavilion’s annual closed week, which subsequently led to VSO team member Nick Kay leading ‘Conservation in Action’ sessions every Tuesday morning. Abigail also spoke about the re-opening of the Royal Pavilion’s famous basements and tunnels to make way for public guided tours from VSO staff Geoff Greenwood and Meg Hogg; before telling delegates about how the LGBTQ-focused museum trail curated by Rob White and Kelly Boddington has now led to talk of a Queer Art History module being introduced at the University of Sussex.
The third and final speaker for this section was Maria Foy, ex-RPM Duty Manager. Maria told us how, as a manager, she felt that ‘not encouraging personal growth was not an option’ and spoke of the importance of pushing creativity and stepping outside of one’s comfort zone. WFD inspired Maria so much to develop herself professionally and personally that she has now left RPM and is living on a Greek island where she runs her own creative business, Greek Island Painting Trips. Unfortunately Maria didn’t bring the sunshine with her but to see her glowing with such happiness was equally heart-warming! Maria is walking evidence of how WFD is far more than just a way to fill gaps by shifting employees from place to place; for most, it’s the start of a journey to self-belief, newly-opened doors and a richer life.
Next on the stage were Libby Finney, Elizabeth Coningsby and Celine Luppo McDaid from London Museum Development, talking innovative training approaches. Topics covered within their insightful half-hour discussion were how WFD can help to identify both strengths and weaknesses; how ‘takeaway kits’ can enable new skills acquired through WFD to be implemented immediately and not just after funding has been secured; and how Dr. Johnson’s House’s definition of ‘develop’ is ‘uncover, unveil and unravel’.
Then came Sarah Gore from the Norfolk Museums Service. Sarah told us about how Norfolk Teaching Museum was established to provide alternative pathways into museum careers to make way for a more diverse workforce, after research findings showed that people felt there were a distinct lack of entry opportunities. The museum offers at least five traineeships a year, which provide training across all areas – from curation to education to customer service. Sarah’s talk was seriously inspiring and highlighted how the Norfolk Museums Service’s pioneering efforts to increase opportunities and diversity across their museums have set the standard for other museums to follow.
Next up were Naomi Shoba, Katherine McAlpine, Polly Andrews and Laura Aldridge from Engage’s Extend programme to discuss the importance of co-production within museum workforces. During their talk, Naomi, Katherine, Polly and Laura spoke about how co-production includes commitment to succeeding or failing as a team and means going through a development stage together, allowing all stakeholders to input and make decisions collectively. It was really refreshing to learn about other organisations’ hard work to ensure that staff in all positions are given opportunities to come together and contribute to decision-making processes as a team.
Finally, we heard Jess Turtle from the Museum Association speak about the Transformers programme, the workforce initiative for people mid-museum career looking to change the way they work – for which, by the way, applications are now open! Jess told us that Museums Association are adamant that equality, diversity and inclusion should be foundational to museums – and we agree.
After a closing speech from Janita, delegates were released for a lunchtime break; the perfect opportunity to refuel, explore the stunning Royal Pavilion Estate, and mingle some more (there’s no such thing as ‘too much mingling’).
Following lunch was an afternoon of workshops, each of which the delegates had pre-selected and booked themselves onto. As much as I’d love to possess the ability to be in multiple places at once, unfortunately that’s not the case – so instead I picked out a few workshops from the list and nipped from one to another over the course of the afternoon, to give you guys a broad idea of what went down.
Delegates at Museum Workforce Development conference 2016 in Brighton Museum Art Room. Courtesy Becky Butwright.
The first session I popped my head into was Pallant House Gallery’s hands-on ‘Step Up: Make and Learn’ workshop in Brighton Museum’s Art Room; an opportunity for delegates to mingle, let their creative juices flow and talk arts, heritage and Outside In, Pallant House’s flagship project aimed at those facing barriers to the art world. After witnessing some immaculate cutting and sticking, eavesdropping on some really innovative discussio,n and checking out some of the artwork produced by members of the Outside In community, it was time for me to drag myself away.
Inspecting artefacts in Museum Lab. Courtesy Becky Butwright.
A quick trip upstairs took me to Visitor Service Officer (VSO) Amanda Grimshaw and Curator of Collections Projects Andy Maxted’s Badges and Medals workshop in the Museum Lab, where participants were encouraged to inspect some enigmatic metal artefacts, get their thinking caps on and have a guess at what the stories behind them were.
Next I dashed over to the Royal Pavilion’s William IV Room, where Marie Kennedy and Niki Hughes from Cambridge Museums were talking delegates through the service’s initiatives and strategies for guiding young people into jobs in museums; an area where entry pathways are often otherwise limited. Marie and Niki told us that there is a common misconception that the only museum jobs available are cleaning or sitting on the front desk, a prospect which puts young people off – and how they’re working hard to change that.
Courtesy Becky Butwright
Downstairs in the Music Room I found VSO staff Nick Kay and Ted Ward presenting a talk on how WFD opened up the opportunity for them both to contribute to restorative conservation of the Royal Pavilion alongside their usual roles. Granting access to this highly respected and important line of work has not only taught Nick and Ted a lot about the fine art of conservation, but has allowed them to work within a completely different team and learn about a side of the Royal Pavilion that they previously knew zilch about.
To round off the series of workshops, I headed back museum-wards to catch Booking Office Assistant Rob White and Buying Assistant Kelly Boddington leading a gaggle of delegates on the LGBTQ Museum Trail that they curated in 2013. The trail is a way of allowing visitors to explore LGBTQ stories behind the objects in the museum; histories which have otherwise been hidden. Rob and Kelly’s is the first permanent trail of its kind but devising it didn’t come without its challenges; for example, research was difficult to begin with due to archaic museum cataloguing conventions.
3.15pm was the perfect time for a well-earned afternoon break, with baked delights provided very kindly by the Bridge Community Education Centre in Moulsecoomb (seriously, I have never, and will never again, experience a brownie quite so beautiful). With munching and chinwagging up, delegates then hot-footed it back over to the Old Courtroom for a final series of talks.
John Orna-Ornstein speaking at Museum Worfroce Development 2016. Courtesy Becky Butwright.
A keynote speech from the Arts Council’s Director of Museums John Orna-Ornstein was the perfect way to summarise WFD and everything it stands for. John told us that he feels UK museums have amazing collections and an amazing workforce but that they also have a problem – the average museum workforce still does not reflect the society in which we live. Funders and museums simply don’t pay enough attention to WFD, John told us – only 5% of museum staff currently have a mentor. John finished up by highlighting the importance of taking calculated risks and not simply playing it safe by employing ‘the person who looks like you’ if we are ever to see truly equal, diverse and inclusive museum workforces across the UK. Much to our delight, Arts Council England will continue to work hard to tackle the lack of WFD development opportunities currently available for museum staff – and there will be more funding!
Finally, a plenary was delivered by Alice Forward and Nick Kay, two members of the legendary WFD Conference team; all of whom have slogged tirelessly to ensure that the day was nothing less than ground-breaking and all of whom should be eternally proud of themselves. The organisation of the conference itself was orchestrated entirely as a WFD project, perfectly exemplifying just how limitless WFD’s scope for success really is. Every single person who spoke, led and attended over the course of the day was passionate, inspirational and inspired, and we’re confident that all left with new-found ideas about how they can contribute to ensuring that the WFD phenomenon continues to expand and develop. Mission complete.
Ruby McGonigle,
Bookings Office & Retail Assistant
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Recently, we had to remove the lower section of the mural (dado panel) on the northeastern wall of the Music Room as the lath and plaster wall behind it was damaged.
The plaster was carefully repaired and the mural was lined in the studios. It was then carefully put back on the wall, and the trompe l’oeil effect re-instated.
Music Room mural and wall during treatment
S.Evans. Paintings Conservator Royal Pavilion & Museums
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In 1932 a Miss Gordon deposited some commemorative medals at Hove Museum. No-one at the time had made a note of who she was but the medals belonged to a Frederick A Marshall who had worked in the Diplomatic service in Japan and Europe.
After some searching it was discovered that ‘Miss Gordon’ was Sarah Ellen Rose Gordon, daughter of Sir Henry William Gordon K. C. B. and Lady Henrietta Rose Gordon. Sir Gordon was brother of the famous General Charles George Gordon of Khartoum (1833-1885) whose biography ‘Events in the life of Charles George Gordon’ Henry Gordon wrote in 1886.
Promissory Note issue by General Gordon during the siege of Khartoum (1884)
The museum already has a small bust of General Gordon and he is commemorated on some of the porcelain pieces in the collection.
Commemorative jug with a relief portrait of General Gordon (c1884)
On his retirement Sir Henry William Gordon, his wife and Sarah lived at Oat Hall, a large villa in Lindfield, Sussex. Sir Henry died in 1887. Around 1900 Lady Gordon and their youngest daughter, Sarah, moved to 100 Lansdowne Place and later to 46 Norton Road, Hove where Lady Gordon died in 1907. She was buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Cuckfield with her husband.
In 1913 Sarah made a large donation to Hove Library of 80 Volumes of ‘All the Year Round’ and 5 volumes of ‘Household Words’ (both of these publications being associated with Charles Dickens) plus some other works too.
By 1915 Sarah had moved again to 27 Wilbury Road, Hove where she lived until her death in 1937.
On 28 January 1933 General Gordon’s centenary was celebrated by the mounting of an exhibition at Hove Museum. Sarah and her brother, Louis, lent several relics including tools Gordon took to China. (Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade)
The medals that Sarah had donated a year earlier belonged to Frederick Adolphus Marshall who, with his German wife, Luise, and daughter, Genevieve, lived at 19 Tisbury Road, Hove. The families may already have known each other abroad as both had led military lives; Sarah was born in Hong Kong and Genevieve in Paris. After her father’s death in 1905 Genevieve lived with Luise; she left money in trust to Sarah Gordon in her will.
Frederick Adolphus Marshall was born in Hackney in 1824 the son of a coal merchant from Yorkshire. He and six other children lived in Mare Street, Hackney. Frederick, the youngest son, left the family home sometime after 1841. Ten years later the family moved to Southampton. Frederick’s father, John Marshall, had got into considerable debt, living beyond his means and owing £21,226 to the Great Western Coal Company and others. John moved with his wife to a house belonging to his eldest daughter in Eldon Square, Reading, Berkshire where he died in 1861.
According to the Western Daily Press, Bristol, May 16 1905 and the Yorkshire Post
“Mr Frederick Marshall died Friday last at Brighton (12 May 1905) within a few days of his 82nd Birthday. He was one of the oldest and most valued Europeans who have served the Japanese Government. He may, in fact, wrote the ‘Times’ [Newspaper], “be said to have been the first mentor of Japanese diplomacy in Europe: for when upon the inauguration of the new era in Japan, the Mikado determined to establish diplomatic relations in the chief European capitals. Mr Marshall was appointed to act as Secretary of Legation with the first mission which visited London and Paris for this purpose, and he assisted afterwards in the establishment of other Japanese legations in Berlin, Madrid, Lisbon, Brussels, etc.”
Even after Marshall’s retirement he continued to write special reports on subjects of public interest for the Japanese Government. And for many years he was a frequent contributor to the chief British periodicals, and more especially to the ‘Algernon Blackwood’ Magazines.
Lavender Jones
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What a busy month we have had within the Conservation team! We have been showing the public how we clean our copperware, planning closed weeks in the New Year at two of our sites, and preparing the Royal Pavilion for Christmas including an enchanted forest in the Music Room, several missing cats and a beautiful Christmas tree inspired by our own copperware collection. It really is stunning.
Autumn is one of the nicest times to visit the Pavilion as the Palace is slightly less busy, although this is in contrast to our own work at the Pavilion – so who knows you will probably see us out and about on the floor and if you chance upon us (we wear shirts with conservation logos) please stop and ask us what we are planning to do next.
Gaye (Assistant Conservator)
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Last month, staff were asked if they would be interested in representing the Royal Pavilion & Museums at the Museum Ideas Conference held at the London Science Museum. I applied expecting to get rejected as I have attended conferences in the past, most recently the week before, and it is probably someone else’s turn — so I was pleasantly surprised when I was accepted.
The conference was an opportunity for museums around the world to present what they have been doing differently or experimentally recently. Museums presenting at the conferene included Medical Museion, Copenhage; Jane Addams Hull-House Museum, Chicago; Jewish Museum, New York; Manchester Museum; The Pitt Rivers Museum, Oxford; The Old Town Museum, Aarhus; and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, to name a few. Not forgetting our own Helen Mears who was talking about Brighton Museum & Art Gallery’s present Fashion Cities Africa display.
At the Royal Pavilion a colleague and I have been working on co-ordinating the Pavilion Tales programme of short talks, so I was particularly interested in the talk by Gravity Goldberg from the Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco, on the museum’s programme of outside speakers giving talks associated with the displays and collection. This is slightly different to how we at the Royal Pavilion have set up the programme, as our speakers are members of staff, but it is an idea to consider for the future when the programme has developed further, and it is something that Bite Size talks held in Brighton Museum & Art Gallery has already started to try.
In the afternoon Tobias Lumb of National Railway Museum, York presented on their partnership project with York Theatre Royal. When the theatre had to close for refurbishment they looked for new places to perform. The project involved building a stage and seating in an unused part of the museum and static performance spaces including inside some of the train carriages. The play In Fog and Failing Snow was written using some of the museums archives. When the run was finished the museum theatre also put on The Railway Children, again in keeping with the museum’s theme.
The final talk of the day was from Barbara Wolf from the Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin, discussing their recent project training refugees to give tours around the museum in their native language to other refugees. The tour guides picked objects from the collections which were relevant to them and were taught how to give a tour featuring these objects. Since the project started seven months ago thousands of refugees have attended the tours which German tourists have also wanted to join to learn about other cultures.
Overall I really enjoyed the opportunity of going to the conference and I am currently working on a project with the Royal Pavilion and Museums to put on our own conference in November. Although I have been to conferences before, I have never noticed some of the logistics as much as I did for this one, which will feed in to the planning of the Workforce Development Conference.
Holly Parsons, Visitor Services Officer
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Halfway along George Street in Hove there is an unassuming café called Georgie’s. Maybe you’ve been in there or wandered past as you visit the shops. But did you know that this café features in what could be described as Hove’s, possibly the world’s, first action movie?
At the turn of the twentieth century, local film maker James Williamson released ‘Fire!’ (1901), a simple but exciting story of the fire brigade rushing to rescue people from a burning house. However, the film itself was not simple. It is the earliest example of cutting from shot to shot to move the narrative of a film along, something which we take for granted today. Georgie’s café was originally the site of Hove fire station and you can still see the crest if you look up at the top of the façade. In ‘Fire!’ we see Hove’s horse-drawn fire engines being rapidly prepared outside the fire station and sent off to the burning house.
Photograph of James Williamson sat outside his studio in Hove, MF000302
Today, 8 November, marks the anniversary of James Williamson’s birth. Williamson was actually born in Pathhead, near Kirkaldy, Fife in 1855. He spent his early years in Edinburgh before moving to London in 1868 and there becoming an apprentice to a pharmacist. He started his own pharmacy at Eastry in Kent, later relocating to Hove in 1886. Williamson was a keen amateur photographer and this, coupled with the photographic services his business offered, led to connections with other local men who also went on to become significant in the early history of film: George Albert Smith, Esme Collings, William Friese-Greene and Alfred Darling.
He began making films in 1897 and continued to produce them until 1909. In 1910 he sold his Hove studio and moved to London, transferring his business interests to the manufacture of film apparatus and equipment, as well as film processing. Williamson died of a heart attack at his home in Richmond, London on 18 August 1933.
Photograph of Williamson’s chemist in Hove, MF000531
In the early twentieth century, film was still in its infancy and Williamson was one of those whose experimentation led to techniques which are now considered standard in filmmaking. His ‘Attack on a China Mission’ (1900) uses shots from multiple angles to convey a sense of drama. Williamson is also credited with inventing the chase sequence which consisted of more than one shot, and I can’t help but think of the opening sequence in Boulting’s ‘Brighton Rock’ filmed all those years later on our local streets.
You can find out more about Williamson’s use of film techniques in Experimental Motion: the art of film innovation, the new display in Brighton Museum’s Spotlight Gallery which tells the story of experimental film-making in Brighton & Hove, from 1896 to the present day. Unknown to many, both Brighton and Hove have played a rich and important part in international film history. Early film-making pioneers including George Albert Smith and James Williamson, who became known as the Brighton School and worked here at the turn of the 20th century, while Modern and contemporary filmmakers and moving image artists – like Jeff Keen, Ben Wheatley and Ben Rivers – have cemented the city’s status as a hotbed of experimental film.
You can also visit the Film Galleries at Hove Museum. These galleries display some of the Williamson items from the Barnes Brothers Collection relating to the early film pioneers, as well as showing the films. The Barnes Collection forms a large part of the Media & Film collection.
The Royal Pavilion & Museums’ historic film and media collection reflects the seminal role that Brighton & Hove played in the birth of film-making in the 1890s and early 1900s. We were recently awarded funding from the John Ellerman Foundation Regional Museums & Galleries Fund to explore this further. Working with a wide range of partners including the University of Brighton, the Film Pioneers project will greatly improve the understanding and use of the collection, and reflect its connection to the important role film plays in the city today.
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery – visitor information