Rupert Toovey’s Articles – Page 98

Sussex History, Heritage and Culture and the Local Community

My cousin Colin De La Haye digging the early Jersey Royals with his Polish team — Rupert's cousin Colin De La Haye digging the early Jersey Royals with his Polish team

“Our Sussex history, heritage and culture are vital to the health and prosperity of our local community”

Our culture and heritage is vital because it provide us with a common narrative, a shared story. It gifts us with a sense of identity. It builds and makes strong and healthy communities.

Visiting my family in the Channel Islands I have been reminded how important my knowledge of Jersey history is to me. Limited as it is, it allows me to celebrate the island’s past and present and to belong.

Common narratives bind communities together. The story is on-going. It changes and evolves as people come and go. Jersey has long embraced migrant labour from across Britain, from Madeira and now from Poland especially in the finance industry and farming. Many of these peoples have returned home, many have stayed and made a life there.

Rupert Toovey and Frank Falle in conversation by Archirondel’s Jersey Round Tower

My father-in-law, Frank Falle, is a passionate and well regarded Jersey historian. As we walk along a favourite beach in the October sunshine he reminds me that Jersey has often found herself under attack. The Vikings invaded and settled there under the leadership of Hasting. Some historians believe that he gave his name to the town of Hastings in Sussex. In the 18th century French invaders were defeated by Major Peirson whose death during the battle in the centre of St Helier was recorded in the oil painting by John Singleton Copley. The Jersey Round Towers, like the one at Archirondel, are forts which were designed to defend the island and are found around Jersey. In the Second World War the German’s invaded, occupied and fortified the Island.

For many years Frank has run courses on Jersey history and has built a community of historians. I ask him how many of them are from old Jersey families like his. He responds enthusiastically saying “Most of the people on my courses are people who have come to live in Jersey in recent times. They’re proud of Jersey’s history and the place where they have made their lives”. We go down to The Jersey Museum to see the ‘Jersey Hoard’ where we find Reg Mead who discovered this ancient hoard of coins with his colleague Richard Miles. Reg is a man gifted with humble enthusiasm. It is quickly apparent that he has a deep sense of service and responsibility to the Island he has called home since he moved to Jersey in 1976. “I came to the Island to teach having worked as a satellite systems electronics engineer” he explains. Reg is the past President of the Jersey Detecting Society. I ask Reg what drove him forward over all the years he has been a metal detecting enthusiast. He responds “It’s nothing to do with the money. This discovery represents thirty years of hard work often in the pouring rain! The coins were very deeply buried. We had to use a metal detector used to discover Hurricanes, Spitfires and deep finds” Reg’s skill with electronics and his love of history have been important to the success of this find. The reward for their dedication will be shared with the land owner, though the farmer’s name and the field are being kept a secret. But for now Reg is working with a team of archaeologists to preserve, identify and record the hoard using the latest three dimensional mapping technology. Reg explains “Once the hoard has been broken down into its component parts we will be able to show where each coin was located in the mass.” It is Europe’s largest discovered hoard of Celtic coins numbering some 70,000 examples.

Reg Mead with the ‘Jersey Hoard’ at the States funded Jersey Museum

Reg Mead and Richard Miles have written themselves into Jersey’s history and added to the richness of its future story. The work on the hoard is on full public view at the Jersey Museum. The Jersey Museum is funded by the Island’s government. The States of Jersey understand the importance of history, heritage and culture to the local community in terms of its identity and also the enormous, positive economic impact it has on their economy and employment.

Our Sussex history, heritage and culture are equally vital to the identity, health and prosperity of our local community. History, heritage and culture is a major contributor to our local economy and will continue to provide us all with a common narrative. Like me in Jersey it will allow those who move to West Sussex to belong and add to the richness of our evolving local identity. Our community and quality of life is something which should never be taken for granted. If we are to preserve our county’s distinctive identity and quality of life it is important that our local politicians continue to understand, value and support our museums and art galleries. It is work that only government can do and they are deserving of our thanks for their support and continuing investment.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 12th November 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Famous Picasso Painting Returns to Sussex

Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman (Femme en pleurs), 26th October 1937, oil on canvas, Tate. Accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of tax with additional payment (Grant-in-Aid) made with the assistance from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Friends of Tate Gallery, 1987, © Succession Picasso/DACS, London 2014

A remarkable exhibition opens this weekend at Pallant House Gallery in Chichester. At its centre is one of Pablo Picasso’s most remarkable pictures: ‘Weeping Woman’. The painting was originally owned by the famous writer, artist and patron Roland Penrose, who made his home at Farley Farm House, near Chiddingly in East Sussex.

The exhibition, titled ‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’, is the first to focus on the artistic response of British visual artists to this conflict and the common voice and influence they found in continental artists like Pablo Picasso and Joan Miro.

Roland Penrose helped to bring Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ to Britain. Its powerful depiction of the destruction caused by the German bombing of the defenceless town of the same name had a profound impact on the public and artists when it was shown in Britain in 1938 and 1939. Roland Penrose bought ‘Weeping Woman’ from Picasso. Painted by the artist in 1937, it is an iconic work which contains an innate and powerful response to the horror of the Spanish Civil War. ‘Weeping Woman’ was exhibited alongside ‘Guernica’ in Britain.

Quentin Bell, May Day Procession with Banner, 14 July 1937, oil on canvas, The Farringdon Collection Trust, © Anne Olivier Bell

The Spanish Civil War was described by Stephen Spender as ‘the poets’ war’. It was recorded by writers like George Orwell in ‘Homage to Catalonia’ and Ernest Hemmingway in ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. Hemmingway described the Spanish Civil War as ‘the dress rehearsal for the inevitable European war’. Simon Martin, exhibition curator and Pallant House Gallery Artistic Director, comments: “This was a civil war with an international dimension.” The British government signed a non-intervention treaty and was officially neutral. For many British artists and writers, however, the civil war went beyond an internal conflict between the democratically elected Republicans and General Franco’s Nationalist rebels. For them and many others in Britain, the civil war represented the wider battle against Fascism. “Many artists were concerned about the appeasement,” Simon explains. In scenes reminiscent of Quentin Bell’s painting ‘May Day Procession with Banner, 14 July 1937’, artists like Roland Penrose, F.E. McWilliam and Julian Trevelyan marched in the 1938 London May Day Procession to protest at our government’s policy of appeasement. They wore masks, made by McWilliam, caricaturing the Prime Minster, Neville Chamberlain. Simon Martin notes: “You will find one of the masks in the exhibition. There is an obvious and very palpable fear expressed in these artists’ works, a fear that the rise of Fascism in Germany, Italy and Spain would lead to something which would much more directly involve Britain.”

F.E. McWilliam, Spanish Head, 1938-9, Hopton Wood stone, The Sherwin Collection, © Estate of F.E. McWilliam

Against the backdrop of these internationally turbulent times, the artists’ response is personal and charged with emotion. I ask Simon about this quality. He pauses for a moment and replies, “It is rare to work on an exhibition in which so much of the work is about deeply held matters of politics and conscience. Their response provides a deeply moving articulation of this story of human tragedy, refugees, political prisoners and victims of bombing.” These themes are powerfully reflected in this exhibition.

The show reveals to the viewer the effect of Picasso’s imagery on British artists. Take, for example, the surrealist Hopton Wood stone sculpture ‘Spanish Head’ by F.E. McWilliam. Here the mouth and eye of a head are distorted, reflecting the destructive power of this war. Henry Moore’s ‘Spanish Prisoner’, again influenced by Picasso, is equally disturbing in its depiction of human suffering.

‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ contains not only paintings, prints and sculptures, but also banners, photographs and ephemera, which bring to life the role of British artists in this civil war in a foreign land. It marks the 75th anniversary of the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939.

The timing of this exhibition’s opening is particularly poignant as the nation pauses this weekend, on Remembrance Sunday, to remember those who have fought and given their lives for our country and freedom.

‘Conscience and Conflict: British Artists and the Spanish Civil War’ runs from 8th November 2014 to 15th February 2015 at Pallant House Gallery, 9 North Pallant, Chichester, PO19 1TJ. For more information go to www.pallant.org.uk or telephone 01243 774557.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 5th November 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Talented Sussex Family Trio of Artists

'The Pond', early 20th century oil on canvas by Charles H.H. Burleigh

It was my pleasure and privilege to meet the Sussex artist Veronica Burleigh some sixteen years ago through my friend, the artist Harry Shaw. At that time Veronica was living in the poetic village of Blackstone, near Henfield. Her brick cottage was furnished with Georgian vernacular furniture, which lent a soft charm to this gentle home. The walls were hung with paintings by herself, her father, Charles, and her mother, Averil. At the bottom of the garden was her studio, where work from this trio of family artists vied for space and attention. By the time I met Veronica, her eyesight was sadly already failing, but she still took a keen interest in the world around her.

‘Troubadour’, early 20th century watercolour by Averil Burleigh

The Burleighs became a celebrated family of artists. They lived and worked for most of their lives in the Brighton and Hove area of Sussex. Their artistic styles represent many of those prevalent during the early years of the 20th century. Each studied at the Brighton School of Art and it was here that Charles met Averil. They were married in 1905 and had Veronica in 1909. In 1926 Veronica graduated from Brighton to the Slade School of Art and the Royal Academy.

Charles Burleigh’s work has an academic quality. Take, for example, this charming scene titled ‘The Pond’. Here three girls are absorbed in fishing, framed by the summer border of flowers in a walled garden. The Burleighs were a close family and Charles often painted his daughter, so perhaps one of these girls is Veronica.

‘Sawmill under Goodwood’, 20th century oil on canvas by Veronica Burleigh

Averil’s work differed from her husband’s. She perfected a graphic style, which was both imaginative and decorative. From the 1920s her work became predominantly figurative, with a stylistic simplification and restraint. Evoking the art of the early Renaissance, she employed the medium of egg tempera, an ancient method whereby a colour pigment is mixed with egg yolk, rather than oil. The striking study ‘Troubadour’ illustrates Averil’s precise, graphic style and the influence of Renaissance art in the painting’s composition and landscape.

Veronica’s work also reflects a talent for precise draughtsmanship and colour. Take the oil painting ‘Sawmill under Goodwood’. Here the stylized composition of logs draws the eye to the dramatic red beams of the mill shed and beyond to the downland crest with its crown of trees.

In 1952, three years after Averil’s death, Hove Museum & Art Gallery held an exhibition of pictures by all three artists and commentators were quick to remark on the common threads in their work.

At auction, paintings by these artists range between £50 and £1200. Examples of their work can be seen at Brighton and Hove Museums, Worthing Museum & Art Gallery and in other city art galleries across the country.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 29th October 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Chichester Lions Annual Model Miniature Railway Exhibition

A Hornby gauge O clockwork goods train set

This Saturday, 25th October 2014, the Chichester Lions will once again be at Chichester High School for Boys, Kingsham Road, Chichester for their 20th Annual Model Miniature Railway Exhibition. An event which provides fun for families and railway enthusiasts alike.

This is the fourth year that Toovey’s toy specialists, Chris Gale and Gordon Gardiner, will be in attendance donating their expertise in support of this Chichester Lions event. They will be available to offer free valuations and advice on people’s toy collections and model railways. Chris Gale comments “Trevor Edwards and his team always organise a great event. Everyone who comes is such an enthusiast.” Gordon Gardiner adds “It’s always a pleasure!”

A Hornby Series gauge O No. 2 railway station 'Ripon', a platform crane and a No. 1 signal gantry, all boxed

Tinplate toy trains like those made by Bing and other German makers were exclusive and expensive in the early 20th Century. Frank Hornby was behind the move to manufacture model railways for the masses. He had invented Meccano in 1901 but it was not until after the Great War that he went on to make model trains. Almost a century later Hornby trains still have the ability to capture the imagination of the enthusiast, both young and old. Frank Hornby developed a new product in the form of the O gauge train set. It was intended to rival the tinplate toys of Germany and from 1920 they carried their inventor’s name – Hornby. He quickly realized that toy train enthusiasts wanted to make their railway layouts as realistic as possible. Various accessories were added to production like the station and signalling illustrated here.

A Hornby Series gauge No. 2E double signal arm and a No. 2E lamp standard, both boxed

The Second World War halted production of toys at the ‘Binns Road’ factory in Liverpool with attention turning to war work. They even raised funds for a ‘Meccano’ Spitfire by creating a special pendant to purchase the aircraft. Immediately after the war, the government insisted on Meccano focusing on their export market to help pay off the war debt.

The Chichester Lions, Annual Model Miniature Railway Exhibition caters for most model railway enthusiasts with gauges N, OO and O in evidence. Additional family fun is provided by live steam exhibits with rides. Chris enthuses “There are always a diverse range of railway layouts and exhibits on display which are very popular with visitors – it’s always very busy!” Many of the train sets have realistic landscapes and accessories inspired by the earlier production of Hornby.

Childhood associations with toys and model trains often seed a lifelong interest, so I’m not surprised that the event should be so popular. It provides the opportunity for us to celebrate an enthusiasm for toys and model railways and support the wonderful work that the Chichester Lions do in our local community.

The Chichester Lions, 20th Annual Model Miniature Railway Exhibition is the perfect opportunity to indulge a love of railways. The exhibition is open from 10.00am to 4.30pm on Saturday 25th October 2014 at Chichester High School for Boys, Kingsham Road, Chichester, PO19 8AE. For ticket prices and more information go to www.chilions.org.uk.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 22nd October 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.

Wedgwood – The Most Important English Potteries

A set of six Wedgwood blue printed plates, circa 1820

I was delighted when the news broke last week that the internationally important ‘Wedgwood Collection’, housed at the Wedgwood Museum in Stoke, had been saved for the nation at a cost of £15.75 million. The final £2.74 million was raised through the Art Fund by public appeal in just a month.

A Wedgwood creamware pierced oval dish, late 18th century

The Wedgwood Collection, one of the most important industrial archives in the world, has been saved, thanks to the generosity of thousands of individuals, businesses and a number of grant-making foundations.

A Wedgwood black basalt combined bough-pot and pastille burner, 19th century — Detail of a Wedgwood black basalt combined bough-pot and pastille burner, 19th century

The seeds of the collection were sown by Josiah Wedgwood (1730-95), who in 1774 expressed an aspiration to preserve examples of the objects created by the Wedgwood pottery which bears his name. Josiah Wedgwood’s inventiveness combined his artistic taste and scientific knowledge with a gift for administration and business acumen. He took the manufacture of ceramics to extraordinary heights. These qualities have led many art historians to claim that he was the most distinguished English potter of his age. His reputation was certainly international. Amongst his patrons were the British Royal Family, Catherine the Great of Russia, the Queen of France and the King of Naples.

His early appreciation of Neo-Classicism and his eye for young artists with real ability, like John Flaxman and George Stubbs, enabled him to produce ceramics which fitted with this style and decoration. There was an industrial, modern efficiency in the way that he organised his factory and by 1782 he was employing the use of steam power.

The simple, elegant patterns of Wedgwood’s cream-coloured earthenware appealed to buyers with a taste for Neo-Classicism. In honour of the factory’s patron, Queen Charlotte, these wares became known as Queen’s Ware. These creamwares were painted, like the late 18th century pierced oval dish illustrated, delicately enamelled with groups of shells and seaweed, or transfer-decorated, like the plates seen here, generously decorated with passion flowers, geranium and iris within borders of convolvulus.

A pair of Wedgwood two colour jasperware cups and saucers, late 18th century

A Wedgwood pale blue jasper dip 'Pegasus' vase and cover, circa 1871, decorated after George Flaxman’s The Apotheosis of Homer

The Wedgwood pottery became famous for its vitreous stonewares. The first of these was the red stoneware examples known as ‘rosso antico’. By 1769 the black basalt wares were in production, like the early 19th century black basalt combined bough pot and pastille burner shown here. In this detail you will note the Neo-Classical decorative motif of the band of anthemion sprays. Anthemion is, of course, honeysuckle in the modern vernacular, such a romantic flower. From 1774 Jasper Ware, the most famous of these vitreous wares, was being made. These pieces, with their exquisite forms and white, classical relief decorations against blue, green, lavender or yellow grounds, delight in their bold restraint. The beautiful proportions and forms were often copied from ancient Greek examples of vases, which were defined as Etruscan at that time. Indeed, the Wedgwood factory’s name, Etruria, was taken from this term. The pair of Wedgwood two-colour jasperware cups and saucers date from the late 18th century. The Wedgwood pale blue jasper dip ‘Pegasus’ vase and cover is later, dating from around 1871. It is ornamented in white with The Apotheosis of Homer, after the artist Flaxman. The square pale blue jasper base is decorated with classical maidens, each canted corner relief decorated with winged mythical beasts.

Leading factories such as Meissen, Sèvres and Vienna were amongst Wedgwood’s imitators.

Today examples like those illustrated can be bought at auction for between £50 and £2000, whilst the rarest and finest examples realise vastly higher sums.

Josiah Wedgwood was a man of liberal and humanitarian views, a supporter of the American Revolution and an advocate for the abolition of slavery.

The ‘Wedgwood Collection’ preserves this unique record of British history and global commerce in one place. It contains over 80,000 works of art, ceramics, manuscripts and letters, pattern books and photographs covering the 250-year history of Wedgwood. The Collection will soon be gifted to the V&A and remain on display at the Wedgwood Museum.

Stephen Deuchar, director of the Art Fund, said: ‘This amazing show of public support for the Wedgwood Collection has made this the fastest fundraising campaign in the Art Fund’s 111-year history. It demonstrates nothing less than a national passion for Wedgwood – its history, its quality, its brand, its continuity…’

The ‘Wedgwood Collection’ represents Wedgwood’s extraordinary legacy and position in British industrial and art history.

By Revd. Rupert Toovey. Originally published on 15th October 2014 in the West Sussex Gazette.