A spring range in the study room

My first month working at Beaufort Park has flown by. Supervising study room visits over April has introduced me to the variety of people with specialist interests who make use of MoDA's collection: from shoe designers to Museum curators, historians and third year art & design students.

This month we have had two Middlesex University student visitors who came to use the collection as a source of inspiration for their respective third year projects. Both are interior architecture students and potential candidates for the Arthur Silver Award. We wish them well with their applications. 

Students from other universities have also made use of the collection this spring. Aisyah Ajib is from the Royal College of Art and writing her dissertation for an MA in Architecture. Aisyah is researching the domestic interior in a globalised world and hoping to link suburban London with suburbs in her home country of Malaysia.

Eloise Moss is a PhD student studying Burglary and Burglars in London 1860 to 1939. She used MoDA's collection to investigate domestic security technologies. Her research uncovered some interesting publications in our collection including instructions for a home made burglar alarm! Eloise recently published an article in the Historical Journal ('Burglary insurance and the culture of fear in Britain', November 2011). You can read about her research work in 2011, here. 

Roger Whidden was our most international visitor, coming all the way from New York City. He is interested in promotional brochures for flats and housing estates in the US and the UK and spent an afternoon searching through our pamphlet collection. Roger found out about MoDA through the Explore Twentieth Century London website which features various objects from our collection.

On a completely different note, we welcomed shoe designer Salem Yohans to the Collection Centre. She came to look at 1950s wallpaper sample books and textile designs as inspiration for her next season's range.

Did you know that stainless steel was invented in 1912? Lucy Cooper, the metalwork curator at Museums Sheffield, spent a day at MoDA researching for an exhibition on the history of stainless steel which will open next year.

On the topic of exhibitions, last week we received an update from Stephen Jackson at the National Museum of Scotland about a previous request for a wallpaper from our collection to reproduce in a new gallery. The wallpaper 'Emily' by Mary Storr for John Lines & Sons is now on show in the refurbished Art and Industry gallery which will be open until 2014. If you are interested in the relationship between design, style and new technologies, this will be the exhibition for you. Thank you Stephen for letting us know how the design has been used. 

Display in the Art and Industry gallery, National Museum of Scotland. Photo credit: Stephen Jackson

It has been an inspiring month in the study room. Please let me know if you are interested in booking a visit ( email l.knight@mdx.ac.uk or 020 8411 5445)

Illustrating Shakespeare – a couple of treasures in the Mary Peerless Collection

Yesterday was the (purported) birth date of England’s most famous wordsmith, Mr William Shakespeare. The bard’s 448^th birthday this year coincides with the start of the World Shakespeare Festival; a four month long event which draws on the talent of local and international performing art organisations to celebrate the plays and poems of Shakespeare.


Printed editions of Shakespeare's works were first produced in the late sixteenth century. Five centuries later, he still manages to make most top selling authors’ lists each year. 

MoDA holds a few, special publications of Shakespearean plays and poems in the Mary Peerless Collection. Mary Peerless was the step-daughter of Rex Silver and heir to the family business, the Silver Studio. It was she who donated the Silver Studio Collection to the then Hornsey College of Art (now part of  Middlesex University). This collection went on to become the foundation of the museum. In 1980 Peerless added to her original gift a donation of 130 fine illustrated books that had been kept in her step-father’s home. Ranging from novels and poetry to treatises on design, the Mary Peerless Collection showcases illustration and reproduction techniques of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Many are the work of significant artists of the day and two of the finest examples just happen to be illustrated works of Shakespeare. 

Two books from the Mary Peerless Collection: Songs From the Plays of Shakespeare (1899) and The Tempest (1901). [Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture BADDA3130 and BADDA3051]

The Freemantle & Co 1901 publication of Shakespeare's The Tempest is considered one of the best examples of illustrations by Robert Anning Bell (1863-1933). Bell was a British artist and designer associated with the Arts and Crafts Movement. He is remembered as a sculptor, illustrator, designer of mosaics and stained glass. MoDA holds other examples of his work, including some pieces published in the Arts and Crafts magazine The Studio.  The illustrations in The Tempest exemplifies Bell's characteristically flat, elongated drawings and borders of Arts and Crafts influenced decorations. 

Opening scene of The Tempest [MoDA, BADDA3051]

A contemporary of Bell was Paul Woodroffe (1875-1954) who illustrated Songs From the Plays of Shakespeare, edited by Ernest Rhys and published by E.P. Dutton and Co.,1899.  This beautiful publication is a collection of illustrated poems including  'Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more' and  'Orpheus with his lute made trees...'. As well as illustrations, Woodroffe is well known for his stained glass window designs and his 1920s travel posters for the London Underground (Here is an example in the London Transport Museum's online collection). 

A full page illustration by Woodroffe in Songs From the Plays of Shakespeare [MoDA, BADDA3130]

Verses from the play Twelfth Night, illustrated by Woodroffe in Songs From the Plays of Shakespeare [MoDA, BADDA3130]

MoDA recently began a project to identify, research and promote the illustrated books in the collection. The new Documentation Project Assistant Sarah Campbell has started on this and each day she is uncovering more treasures in the store. Sarah will be writing about some of her discoveries soon. For now, I hope you like the Woodcroffe and Bell illustrations and Happy Birthday Mr William Shakespeare. 

The Etiquette of Outdoor Games: helpful advice for Olympic athletes

Today marks 100 and 133 days respectively until the start of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. MoDA joins with the rest of the country wishing Team GB well in the countdown to the games. We took to the collection store this afternoon to see if we could find any helpful advice to accompany our best wishes to the Olympians.  

Most of you are aware MoDA’s collection contains various publications, journals and magazines proffering advice on how to comport oneself in the domestic sphere. These range from Victorian household management guides to 1950s DIY magazines and also include etiquette books from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.

"What Shall I Say?": A Guide to Letter Writing for Ladies, published by Ward, Lock & Co., ca.1890 [Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, BADDA2442]

Whilst we found a range of books dedicated to domestic activities such as letter writing, we were hard pressed to find anything on the topic of behaviour at sporting events. That is, until we came across these 1925 partner books ‘Etiquette for Ladies’ and ‘Etiquette for Gentlemen’ which contain whole chapters on ‘The Etiquette of Outdoor Games’.

'Etiquette for Ladies' and 'Etiquette for Gentlemen', published by Ward, Lock & Co., 1925 [Museum of Domestic Design and Architecture, BADDA2425 and BADDA2424]

'Etiquette for Ladies’ advises sportswomen to remain good natured in triumph or defeat and to also guard their reputation by ensuring their behaviour is above reproach.

The etiquette of games is governed by the simplicity and consideration for others which denotes a gentlewoman in every sphere. Nowadays girls on the playing-field and tennis-court learn to “play the game”, and have realised something of that spirit of sportsmanship which rejoices in the victory of the winner, no matter which side he or she represents. 

In taking part in any sport two or three outstanding rules should be kept in mind, namely:

Don’t lose your temper on any provocation whatsoever. Nothing is more ill-bred or “gives one away” more readily than openly to rejoice over a personal triumph or to display annoyance when one’s partner makes a bad move.

Don’t take any unfair advantage of partner or opponent, as you value your reputation let your scoring be perfectly truthful. 

Don’t attract attention to yourself by loud talking and vulgar gestures or by criticism of the players or their game.

‘Etiquette for Gentlemen’ takes a different approach by recalling the relationship between gentlemanliness and sporting prowess.

To feel comfortable in the society of his fellows, a man must be well versed in the things in which he and they are concerned. A well-bred man should be able to handle gun, golf clubs, tennis racket, oars and the bat, as well as the tools of minor sports. Such a man will be above most small short-comings. Nor should boxing be neglected. We do not live as the Elizabethans, whose young men saw a quarrel in everything they could, in order to prove their skill as duellists, but the art of self-defence is a very necessary accomplishment.

Nothing keeps a man healthier or saner than a love of sport – good clean sports such as Britain is favourably known for all the world over.

The chapter goes on to remind men of their manners towards ladies and opponents even in competitive venues such as tennis courts:

Be as courtly to the women playing with you. It may make all the difference in the world to their enjoyment and ensure you a welcome on these occasions. Do not take advantage either of an opponent’s weakness or your partner’s energy: share the work of the game as you hope to share the honours. At the end of the set do not omit to thank both your partner and your opponents for the pleasure of the game.

Whether playing or looking on, do not criticise play audibly 

...  If you are the stronger player do not partner solely with people of your own class: contrive to gladden the hearts of weaker players by inviting them to play you occasionally. 

We can only speculate what the Olympic Games will be like if this advice from 1925 is taken on board. We wish all Olympians well for the final days of preparation before 27 July 2012.

New member of staff at MoDA

We are all very excited to welcome back Louisa Knight to MoDA.  Louisa has rejoined the staff at MoDA as our new Assistant Curator, covering for Maggie who has just started her maternity leave.  As Louisa will be dealing directly with visitors to the Study Room I thought it would be useful if you knew something both about Louisa's museum background and the actual post of Assistant Curator at MoDA.  So with this in mind, I managed to grab a quick chat with Louisa just before the Easter break:

What were you doing prior to starting at MoDA? 

For the last three and a half years I have been the Project Officer at The Geffrye Museum, overseeing the Documenting the Home Project, which aims to collect testimony and images of real homes in the UK. 

I am originally from New Zealand and my first job in London was actually at MoDA on a research project. I interviewed a wallpaper designer and collected testimony and photographs about London homes in the 1950s from some willing participants. It’s great to be back!

What are your main duties at MoDA?

My main job is facilitating access to MoDA’s collections for students and researchers. I’ll be busying myself between the study room and store, getting out relevant material to suit our visitors’ specific areas of interest.  If you would like to make a booking to visit the study room, please email me on l.knight@mdx.ac.uk.
My other key responsibility will be collection management. That basically means I will be doing lots of housekeeping: checking objects are where they should be and that they are well documented. This will in time make the collection more accessible for the public.

What are you looking forward to most during your time at MoDA?

It’s a pleasure to become part of MoDA’s team once again. As well as the great people, I have fond memories of MoDA’s collection and I’m looking forward to rediscovering the gems hidden in the stores. I was here during the 2008 exhibition ‘Designer Style: Home Decorating in the 1950s’, which showcased a range of contemporary design wallpapers, including a personal favourite of mine: ‘Frivolite’ by Mary Storr. This fun 1950s design of a Parisian cafe scene is one of several in the collection by Storr, who designed for John Lines and Crown Wallpaper in the 1940s and 1950s. It’s great to come back to MoDA at a time when similar 1950s designs are being researched and catalogued in preparation for the upcoming 'Sonic Wallpaper' exhibition. 

What do you think will be the main challenges that you will face?

I hope people will be patient with me as I get up to speed and familiarise myself with where everything is.  Probably one of the biggest challenges is going to be getting to grips with 19^th century objects at MoDA as I have, for the most part, been specialising in 20th century history collections.

What and how much do you think that you will achieve?

Soon, MoDA’s new website will be launched and the collection database will be accessible via the site. By the time I finish at MoDA at the end of September, I hope to have updated the database so the public can browse full lists of the Museum’s magazine and journal collection. I hope to have also straightened out any objects with anomalous locations. 

What do you intend to do once you have finished your time at MoDA?

I hope to continue working in London museums, with 20^th century social history collections.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!  To celebrate we thought we'd show you a Silver Studio design featuring pretty Easter bunnies.   This one dates from 1905, and features leaping rabbits (or maybe they are really hares?), drawn in a simple Arts & Crafts style.

Design for a wallpaper frieze, by the Silver Studio, around 1905

Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture, (SD1423)

We started this blog about a year ago as part of our transition to a new kind of museum "Online, On Tour, and On Request".  We hope you are enjoying reading it - the statistics seem to show that our readership is growing, but we'd love to hear more about what you think.  Why not use the 'comments' box below to tell us?

Good Friday greetings

It's Good Friday tomorrow so it seemed appropriate to try to find something with a religious theme for today's post. I came up with an image of Francesco Francia's Pieta, from a book called Legends of Our Lord, published in 1910.

Legends of Our Lord, by Mrs Arthur Bell, published 1910.

Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (BADDA 2946)

The book uses images from art history to tell the story of Christ's life. I have a hunch, however, that the designers who worked for the Silver Studio weren't interested in this book for its religious content. My suspicion is that they were more interested in it as a source of images. A note on the book indicates that it was kept in the Studio itself, suggesting that it was for used for practical- rather than divine - inspiration.

These days we are bombarded with visual imagery at every turn. But in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, artists and designers had to build up their own collections of visual source material to use as inspiration for their work. In 1894 a journalist described the Silver Studio as being "full of Japanese prints and photographs after Botticelli". This hints at the visually rich and stimulating nature of the Silver Studio as a working environment. So it seems likely that this book, along with many others on a whole range of themes, were kept close at hand in the Studio, ready to be referred to.

It's fascinating to see how the meanings of objects shift and change over time. The designers who worked for the Silver Studio amassed loads of material as visual reference; from books and catalogues, to cigarette cards, postcards and much more besides.These days, the same things, and the Studio's own output, is used by students and researchers looking for inspiration of their own.

Art Nouveau on the Beeb

I've been enjoying BBC4's current programme about Art Nouveau. Last week saw presenter Stephen Smith exploring the seamy Parisian underworld where Art Nouveau originated; it was all about sex, death and decadence.This week the focus was on the British version of the style, with Aubrey Beardsley and William Morris making an appearance.

As is often the case with television, the programme concentrated on big-name designers, those who set the trends rather than followed them. There was not much mention of how, or indeed whether, Art Nouveau filtered out to the massmarket. Here at MoDA, the Silver Studio collection provides evidence of the attempt to reinterpret ideas and motifs derived from Art Nouveau, and make them acceptable for a wider audience. Clearly, a style that had its roots in the bordellos of Paris was going to require some watering down before it became acceptable for English drawing rooms...

This curtain fabric was designed by the Silver Studio in 1897. It features the flowing sinuous lines and stylised floral motifs of Art Nouveau, but given a slightly more naturalistic feel, and without the overtones of sex and decay...

Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture (ST4298)

The Silver Studio became adept at producing designs for wallpapers and textiles which hinted at Art Nouveau, but which were less sexual and subversive, and therefore more 'mainstream', than the work of the designers featured on the BBC4 programme.(Much more of the bower than the bordello, one might say!). They were catering for the sort of customers who wanted to show they were aware of fashionable trends, but who didn't want to embrace them in their entirety.

It's interesting to consider how the designers who worked at the Silver Studio got access to these new and exciting ideas. After all, if Art Nouveau ideas originated in France, how did they filter across the channel, to a small design studio based in Hammersmith?

The Silver Studio's designers seem to have been avid collectors of visual source material, and this aspect of the collection is something that we have only recently begun to explore.

Image from a publication called 'Style Nouveau: fantasies florales'

published in Paris, probably at the turn of the century

(Museum of Domestic Design & Architecture, SM175-1)

The Silver Studio's collection of portfolios include many French and German volumes. They contain wonderful illustrations which embody the new spirit of Art Nouveau including flowing lines, and stylised flowers and other natural forms. These volumes must have seemed fantastically exotic and exciting when they were first seen by the Silver Studio designers. I like to imagine designers receiving new books with eager anticipation, perhaps tearing the wrappers off the parcels sent by the book dealer. I hope they would have been excited about the new visual ideas embodied within them, and keen to incorporate these ideas into their own work.

I've only just begun to map this fascinating 'collection within a collection', but it seems to me to that these volumes, and the many others like them were an important part of the means by which Silver Studio designers familiarised themselves with new ideas. By doing so, they were able to interpret fashionable trends for designs for wallpapers and textiles for the wider market.

The Edwardian Lady

Occasionally visitors to the MoDA Study Room surprise us either by wishing to look at rarely-requested objects from the collections, or by unearthing interesting stories or links to our objects. So it is very rare indeed to receive a visitor who arrives for an appointment dressed appropriately for the period that they wish to research. The visitor in question is Anna Sullivan (performance artist) who arrived ready to research objects relating to the period 1890-1904 - dressed as an Edwardian lady!

Once Anna had dispensed with her hat and bag she began to look at our journals and trade catalogues. Revealing titles included 'The Artist', 'Cabinet Maker & Art Furniture', 'The House', 'Art Record' and 'The Upholsterer'. I think these titles sound impressively all-encompassing; they confidently declare without a hint of ambiguity that they are all you need with respect to the subject area. The fact that many of the journals are leather-bound only adds to this aura of authority.

Anna has been undertaking research in order to gather background information towards her long term goal of recreating a living/workspace for an artist as it would have been in Britain in 1904. In the meantime Anna is focussed on using her research findings to build support for her project from within the heritage sector. It sounds like an amazing project and for more details go to Anna's website.