I went along, as I do every now and the
to Sudley art Gallery in Mossley Hill.
I first stumbled across it 25 years
ago......a hidden gem.
That was before they ruined it.
Now it
is a shadow of itself, and in my opinion ruined.
Where has all the art
work gone. I wanted to see one of my favourite pictures, the small
Bonnington that has hung there for decades.
I searched but I couldn’t find it. I
was disappointed, but as I walked around it was evidence that this
once hidden gem has been found by David “Fuzzy felt” Fleming the
butcher of Liverpool Museums.
It seemed to have it all, at one time,
it was bequeathed to the city and the merchant who left it to us must
be turning in his grave at the uninviting mass that has now the
remnants of the collection.
It was crammed with art, it was a hidden gem, that just needed a little polish every now and then, and now it
isn’t.
Why have they changed the character of this once grand
institution. I know our museums need disabled access but the
lift that has been fitted has taken up two exhibit rooms and is such
a monstrous carbuncle that you have to question if the curators of
this museum understand any thing about aesthetics.
A modern
contraption that must have cost a hundred grand. Has anyone used it?
It looks like someone has built a
greenhouse in the middle of a room. Then two rooms are taken up further with no exhibits at all.
Upstairs is bland to say the least.
Where has the Herbert MacNair furniture gone?
This was an amazing display. Not many
people know the links with Liverpool and the Glasgow Four.
That were local. The Bates plaque that
was on the wall.
Where has that gone along with other works of art that sat beautifully in an elegant poise for all to see.
And why has a whole host of rooms now
been devoted to rooms for kids to draw things that have nothing to do
with the art contained, or, was contained, as they have been shipped
out to make room for the new idea of creating a crèche.
Dump the kids on serious scholars so
they cant learn anything seems to be the fashion.
I know we have to get our kids into
museums I spent enough time bunking off school in the Walker Art
Gallery, but why ruin it for the rest of us by aiming the collections
for snotty nosed kids.
I saw one of them ready to strike the
Godwin gong before little Johnnie Bratsville's mother took it off
him.
Now little Johnnies mother didn’t
look like she was taking a blind bit of notice of the exhibits.
Just killing time, getting the kids
out of the house so the husband can watch the match or something like
that.
The Liverpool museums also put most of the Liverpool
Herculaneum collection into permanent storage to hide our own history
from us. Why?
80 million pounds they have spent in the last decade, well we spent it, its our money, our taxes. and they ruin the whole feel of this once wonderful museum.
It was here in Sudley House that I first saw the most beautiful work by Bonnington.
Had it been exhibited next to a Turner
on purpose because of the quality and freshness of the work.
I then
went on to study some of his work and find out just how important the
work was.
If he had lived he may have rivalled
Turner. He was a traveller and went to take the light in France and
was ahead of the impressionists, but had a realism that they could
never achieve.
I marvelled at the simple brush strokes
that created a sail or a buoy.
How this man understood light and tone
and colour, and in age without the things we take for granted.
He died so young but not before he had
befriended some of the most important artists in France and exhibited
there himself.
The art savagery that has taken place here at Sudley house is alarming.
It is ruined
by the very people who are supposed to be protecting our heritage. Our
museums.
And where is my Bonnington?
Now all I have, is a 6 by 4 postcard to remind me of the most wonderful little painting I have had the pleasure to sight.
Its probably in store they will
say...well get it back and the rest of the stuff that have been taken
out. Its vandalism on a institutional scale.
http://waynecolquhoun.blogspot.co.uk/2009/06/herculaneum-pottery-held-by-liverpool.html