The Art of Ideas
Items Collected
Wolverhampton Art Gallery, 11th November – 4th December, 2010
Most people collect things.
A definition of collecting includes ‘seeking, locating, acquiring, organising, catalogueing, displaying, storing, and maintaining whatever items are of interest to the individual collector’.
They may be antiques, coins, photographs, a miscellania of memorabilia – souvenirs of some place or experience or simply because we like them. Or perhaps cars, model trains, vinyl records, paintings, beer mats, ceramics? The Queen and Tony Blair both have extensive a stamp collections, as did a young Freddie Mercury. Jonathan Ross collects rare comics. Paul Simonon of The Clash had a collection of football programmes. Paul Seaton of the Beautiful South/The Housemartins had so much football memorabilia it filled a number of houses and is now being donated to a museum.
Most of our museums, whether national or local, began with someone collecting something of personal interest to them. The oldest museum in Britain, the Ashmolean in Oxford, was originally a collection of ‘rarities’ collected by the Royal Gardeners John Tradescant and his son, after they were sent abroad to collect plants in the 17th century. There’s a Pencil Museum in Keswick and a Lawnmower Museum in Southport and even a Dog Collar Museum at Leeds Castle, Kent.
The Art Gallery in Wolverhampton opened in 1884. It was funded and constructed by local builder, Philip Horsman – who also constructed the Town Hall. Apart from Horsman himself, a significant part of the original collection came from bequests and gifts made by a local tin toy manufacturer, Sidney Cartwright and his wife Marie Christian Cartwright, and another industrialist, Paul Lutz. Other items and money for acquisitions came from retailer James Beattie and the Jones Brothers, who were manufacturers of metalware and holloware. The Cartwright collection was valued at the time at £17,000, more than the cost of the building itself. As you enter the Art Gallery, you will see at the foot of the staircase an imposing painting of Horsman, with a plaque which says: Anno Domini 1885. Philip Horsman Esq. JP. gave this Art Gallery and subsequently bequeathed the collection of pictures in the West Room for the continual enjoyment of the inhabitants of the town of his adoption.
In the 1960’s, the Gallery began a substantial collection of Pop Art – perhaps in no small part because of the connections to many artists from this movement teaching on the Art & Design course at the Polytechnic at this time. More recently the Gallery has developed a collection of artworks which document and analyse the time of The Troubles in Northern Island.
In its entirety, the Gallery collection consists of about 17,000 artifacts: oil paintings and works on paper from 17th-20th centuries; collection of Eastern objects of Applied Art; japanned ware; enamels; ceramics and glass; dolls and toys; local history. Dr John Fraser’s collection of geological specimens has also been preserved at the gallery. Of course, much of this is hidden from public view, in storage.
As part of a wider regional event called ‘The Art of Ideas’, we invited a local group of women, who meet for arts sessions at BME United in Blakenhall, to visit the gallery with us and investigate the gallery spaces with the curators and to look at these collections which live below ground. Some of the group had visited the gallery before, but for many it was their first time.
Neena Bilku, who works for BME United, helped set up the group a few years ago. “I used paint when I was younger, things like the Gurus and Sohni Mahiwal, which is the Indian version of Romeo and Juliet. I thought an arts activity would be a good way to get some local women together. To start with I brought in this one painting I still had from 1979, and laid it on the table and started talking about it and what I enjoyed about painting and drawing. That how we began. Then we found an artist to help teach us.” This painting is part of the installation.
Their tutor, Peter Goode told us: “I took the group through simple exercises on a number of subjects – still life, natural forms, drawing the human face, animals and birds, patterns. The group is diverse and has changed from week to week over the year. The ages of the participants can be anything from 7 to 87 (especially in school holidays), so it’s important to keep the subjects varied. Although there are language barriers this does not seem to matter. Art is universal in its ability to communicate. I’ve been amazed at the quality of the work produced and the patience and enthusiasm shown by all members.”
Following the visit and tour of the Gallery, we asked them to present a response, using a display cases in the Georgian Room and at the top of the staircase.
These are the items which provoked our discussion, ideas and inspiration.
Case 1 features: Pattern book, Henry Loveridge and Company, c 1859. Includes designs for candlesticks, trays, waiters, crystal stands, baskets, coal-vases and boxes. Much of the decorative flourishes of these kinds of pattern books reveal the influence of travel throughout the Empire.
Drawings from Scene group, 2010.
Case 2 features: Indian lipped dish with two holed phalanges, bears label ‘Chatty used for baking rice cakes. Value 4 rupees. Red pottery globular jar, earthenware, India. Little is known of the origin of these items, though it is likely that they were collected during the period of Victorian rule in India.
Drawings from Scene group, 2010.
Case 3 features: Okimono carving of a sparrow hawk sat on a perch. Japanese Decorative Arts. The source of this is unknown. Items in the collection were often donated by local people serving overseas in the Armed Forces.
‘Lands Far and Near’, primary school book, early 1960’s, Wolverhampton.
Drawings from Scene group, 2010.
On the stair wall: Painting by Neena Bilku, 1979. This is the painting that Neena showed at a community meeting to see if people were interested in starting an arts group.
Thanks to:
Participating from the Scene Arts Group: Neena Bilku, Nighat Begum, Harshaben Mistry, Pushpaben Patel, Lalitaben Patel, Vijayaben Mistry, Ramilaben Mistry, Peter Goode.
At Wolverhampton Art Gallery: Helen Oliver, Curatorial Assistant and Rachel Lambert-Jones, Collections Manager.
Finally, From My Personal Collection…
Image: Traders at Bilston Market Hall, 1966
There used to be a marvellous old Victorian Market Hall in Bilston, which I visited regularly with my Mom. There was a stall which sold hi-fi’s and record players and had boxes of American comics out front. There was also a newsagents that sold slightly racy paperbacks – pulp fiction, noir and sci-fi – as well as bubblegum trading cards. From this Market Hall, these are some collected items from my childhood for use in display case 55 cm x 55 cm x 38 cm. This was before I was influenced by David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust or the first Roxy Music album. The market hall was unfortunately demolished in the late Sixties and replaced with an anodyne shopping precinct.
Synthetic Men of Mars, Edgar Rice Burroughs, paperback
Tarzan and the Leopard Men, Edgar Rice Burroughs, paperback
Mystery In Space, No:80, DC Comics, featuring ‘The Deadly Shadows of Adam Strange!’
Metal Men No:8, DC Comics, ‘Playground of Terror!’
American Civil War News cards, A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd. miscellaneous
American Civil War soldiers
The Man from U.N.C.L.E cards, A&BC Chewing Gum Ltd.
Membership card of U.N.C.L.E, Section 2, Number H 4403
