Great Bedfordians: Dora Carrington

Dora Carrington by David Litchfield 2012

Unrequited love and Dora Carrington unfortunately go hand in hand, and no I'm not talking about her relationship with the homosexual writer Lytton Stratchey, but about her relationship with Bedford and in particular me. 

I love Dora Carrington. There, I've said it. It's been like this for years. We went to the same school you see, spent time in the same art room, walked along the same corridors, admittedly at slightly different times, me in 1993 her in the 1903. But whilst I remained happily in Bedford she couldn't wait to get away.

The Carrington family moved to Bedford, like many others, for the good but inexpensive schools. Originally living on De Parys they moved to Rothsay Gardens and remained there until all five of the Carrington children were educated. Art was always appreciated in their house, Dora's mother would bring home illustrated catalogues from the Royal Academy and there were reproductions of Millais, Velazquez and Alma Tadema hanging on the walls. At school Dora excelled at drawing and when she was 17 her teachers recommended that as there was no art school in Bedford for her to continue her training she should apply to the Slade School of Art in London.

Entering the Slade in 1910 was the beginning of Carrington's life, on outward appearance the dutiful daughter of Victorians, inwardly was a different story. She had found living in Bedford repressive and unbearable and within her first year at the school she started to rebel against her upbringing. She cut her hair into a short crop and began to make her own clothes in the style of the artist Augustus Johns muse Dorelia. She also dropped her Christian name, saying she found it vulgar and sentimental. Forever more she would be known simply as Carrington.

This new Carrington did not fit in on her rare trips back to Bedford, having explained her cropped hair to her parents as being necessary for a fancy dress party she wrote of attending a dance 'where the village boys had quite forgotten me, and taken unto them new lasses. They gaze askance at my shorn locks - little did they realise who it was in their midst! No, sad it is to relate but I was not appreciated'.

Her fellow students at the Slade were to become some of the brightest stars of the British art world; Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer, CRW Nevinson and Mark Gertler were all amongst her friends. But whilst they went on to have glittering careers, hers stalled after she graduated, and for a time she was known more for her associations with the group of artists and writers known as the Bloomsbury group, than for her work.

This was due to a number of reasons. The year Carrington entered the Slade was a year of great change in British art. The first Post-Impressionist exhibition was held in London, introducing the work of Van Gogh, Cezanne and Picasso to England for the first time. This new art was against everything that traditional art schools like the Slade believed in. Artists like Carrington whose talent for drawing perfectly suited the Slade’s ideal of what an artist should be, found themselves torn between the new style of art and what their tutors where asking of them. For Carrington this confusion in her talent was further entrenched when she approached the art critic Roger Fry, who had organised the Post Impressionism exhibition for advice about her work, and he discouraged her from a career as a serious artist.

This and a lack of confidence in her own work led her to being described ‘as the most neglected serious painter of her generation’.

These days her work is exhibited in all the major galleries, there has been a film of her life starring Emma Thompson, and sales of her work increase in value yearly. Nowhere is she more appreciated than in Bedford, the paintings The Higgins have in their collection are amongst the most requested and talks on her are always packed with people travelling long distances to hear about her work.

I like to think that although she left us as soon as she could, she would be pleased the town that where she was once not ‘appreciated’ now consider her as a Great Bedfordian.

Victoria Partridge

Keeper of Fine and Decorative Art

Thanks to: 

David Litchfield for his lovely illustration

Article reproduced from November issue of the Bedford Clanger newspaper

Barbara Hepworth - The Hospital Drawings

Barbara Hepworth, Quartet – Arthroplasty, 1948. Oil and pencil on board.

Quartet – Arthroplasty, detail

At the centre of the frenzied lines and smeared paint of Quartet – Arthroplasty, is a remarkable stillness and sense of calm. The drawing, by Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975), shows a group of surgeons performing a complex operation to relieve the diseased joints of the arthritic patient, but there is no blood or gore to be seen. The focus is the beautifully drawn left hand of the surgeon in the centre. Where the scalpel connects with the patient the white of the ground shines brightly through with an almost religious glow - but here the miracle is science, the skill of the surgeons, and the calm coordination between. The last factor transfixed the artist and is emphasised by the title, which alludes to the harmonious and synchronised movements of the figures and intuitive understanding between them reminiscent of a musical quartet (though in fact there are six figures depicted). Barbara Hepworth later wrote of the experience of watching the surgery in her autobiography:

In 1947 it was suggested to me that I might be interested in watching an operation in a hospital. At first I was very scared but then I found there was such beauty in the coordinated human endeavour in the operating theatre that the whole composition-human in appearance-became abstract in shape. I became completely absorbed by two things: first the extraordinary beauty of purpose between human beings all dedicated to saving life; and secondly by the way this special grace (grace of mind and body) induced a spontaneous space composition, an articulated and animated kind of abstract sculpture very close to what I had been seeking in my own work.

Barbara Hepworth photographed in the early 1970s

The piece has come out of The Higgins store and travelled to The Hepworth Wakefield to feature in a new exhibition which runs from 27^th October until 3^rd February. Hepworth – The Hospital Drawings is the largest gathering of these powerful studies and reveals a very different side to an artist best known for the organic forms and highly finished surfaces of her sculptures such as The Higgins own Four Figures Waiting of 1968.

Quartet isn’t the only work out and about, the Dulwich Picture Gallery are currently borrowing two of our works by John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) for their exhibition Cotman in Normandy which continues until 13^th January 2013.

Barbara Hepworth, Four Figures Waiting, 1968. Cast bronze.

Kristian Purcell 

Curatorial Assistant 

China in the East

An exhibition showcasing spectacular Chinese collections at Epping Forest District Museum 7th July – 25th September 2012

Chinese Shoes

China in the East is an exhibition that has drawn together Chinese collections from several local museums in the Eastern region, including several artefacts from The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford.
This exhibition is part of Eastern Exchanges, a major festival celebrating the culture and colour of the east to mark the London 2012 Games. Eastern Exchanges is an official part of London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme Stories of the World which presents exciting new museum exhibitions across the UK, created by young people.

The exhibition tours the eastern region starting in Epping Forest District Museum and then going to Ipswich Town Hall, Hertford Museum and ending at Lowewood Museum in Hoddesdon

A bamboo hat

The artefacts that The Higgins has leant to the exhibition include a hair ornament, a bamboo hat, a pair of shoes and an opium pipe. We don’t know a huge amount about the objects, other then they are from China. The items originally formed part of the Bedford Modern School Museum which was founded in 1885. During the 1920’s and 1930’s the museum curator Rev P. G. Langdon was keen to promote both local archaeology and the collecting of objects from further a field. Many of the old boys were actively encouraged to bring back objects for the museum from their postings overseas to inspire the pupils to join the colonial service.

Beaded Hair Ornament

An Opium pipe

Volunteers have been instrumental in the long process of photographing and documenting many of these objects and they are also helping us to research their histories. We’ll hopefully have a guest post from one of our volunteers soon, detailing her findings. Watch this space...

Sunday Scholars at Bunyan Meeting

As with many exhibitions, the idea for ‘Sunday Scholars’ came from discovering a “forgotten” item in the store.  Last year I came across a handful of Sunday school stamp books. They had belonged to Lillian Whiting who had attended Bunyan Meeting Sunday School during the 1920s. The stamps were given out each week to the children to mark their attendance. At the end of the year (or sometimes the quarter) children would get prizes and rewards for good attendance.

Booklet of Sunday School Stamps previously owned by Lillian Whiting, 1920's © John Bunyan Museum

With my exhibition hat always on, I thought that Sunday schools would be an interesting theme, allowing the link with Bunyan Meeting church to be explored and possibly linking with the wider community.

What I didn’t realise at the time was how potentially large a subject the history of Sundays schools was, and the many directions which could be followed. I had to remember that I have only a fairly small exhibition space and I had to keep a tight focus. I felt that the most interesting aspect to explore in the exhibition was the vital role that Sunday Schools played in helping the poor working majority of people in this country to learn to read. This is a story of national importance, now largely forgotten, which, I discovered also has strong local connections.

For instance the local lace-making schools, set up to teach reading and lace-making, relied heavily on the Sunday schools to teach reading and writing. Lydia at the Higgins who discovered this fact through her own research was able to loan us a bobbin used in lace making with ‘John Bunyan’ written on it.

Children making lace at Bletsoe, August 1914. BEDFM 2000.341 

Through research we found that Bunyan Meeting and its Sunday schools, also linked to The Higgins, as Bunyan Meeting used part of what is now the Bedford Gallery for its Sunday school between 1848 -1867.  That Bunyan Meeting’s large hall (now used for badminton club and Wednesday lunches) was made specially to house the huge number of children attending the Sunday school (approx. 400 children!).

Bunyan Meeting Sunday School, c.1910 © Brian Stevens

I also discovered a reference to the first school mistress at Bunyan Meeting Mary Woodward, that on her grave it reads - “This worthy woman founded Bunyan Sunday School. Robert Raikes was her guest”. Robert Raikes was the founder of the Sunday school movement. After a bit of searching in the flower beds in the church garden, I found the grave now tucked behind a tree and only just legible.

Grave of Mary Woodward, first school mistress, died August 9 1820, age 75, © John Bunyan Museum

As well as the help given by The Higgins, I also borrowed objects from the British Schools Museum, Hitchin and Warwickshire Museum Service, and used pictures from Bedfordshire and Luton Archives Service. Lots of items, including more stamp books and prizes came from members of the Bunyan Meeting. I felt it would be a good opportunity to collect some of the local memories of Sunday Schools, which can be read in the exhibition. Here's one contribution:

"My grandparents were caretakers at a large Victorian Baptist church in Yorkshire. During the war when my father was away weekends would be spent at my grandparents, so from the age of three Sunday School was a part of my life. I can remember a table sand tray and singing, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam and hear the pennies dropping. Later anniversaries in new  frock and outing by train to Southport."

If you have any memories of Sunday Schools, it would be great to hear them and share them too!

You can see John Bunyan's Bobbin, a school slate, Robert Raikes commemorative Sunday Schools medal and a tea ticket from a Sunday School Meeting at Elstow, all from The Higgins collection, on display as part of the Sunday Scholars exhibition at John Bunyan Museum.
The exhibition is open until the 15^th September 2012, during the normal museum opening times – Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 4pm. There are lots of family friendly activities, including the chance to draw your own animal to join our ‘Noah’s Ark’, and every Friday in August we have a fun programme of children’s craft activities. www.bunyanmeeting.co.uk/museum . 


By Nicola Sherhod, Curator of John Bunyan Museum

The Case of the American Bittern

American Bittern - a very rare accidental visitor

I first came across the American Bittern specimen whilst auditing the natural history collection at the art gallery and museum in October 2010, prior to it being packed up for storage. Subsequently, I have been given the chance to plan displays for two cases in the new Collectors Gallery when the art gallery and museum re-open in 2013. I knew I would like to display the American Bittern and wanted to learn more about it.

This American Bittern is the only example that has ever been seen in Bedfordshire and it exists as a cased taxidermied specimen in the natural history collection. It formed part of a collection of birds, eggs, and nests donated by Jannion Steele Elliott (1871-1942). How he acquired it is unknown but he refers to it in his book, 'The vertebrate fauna of Bedfordshire' ,under:

American Bittern Botaurus lentiginosus

“An example of this rare straggler from a far-off continent was shot by Mr Cocking, from the brook by the old race-course at Elstow 13th November, 1886, and in whose possession it still remains. Mr Covington in whose hands I saw the bird whilst being set up informs me that it was a female, and in very good condition, the stomach contained at the time the remains of three small dace and a water shrew.”

This is confirmed by an inscription on the back of the case:

Inscription reads ‘American Bittern shot on Elstow Brook Nov 13/86 by Mr J Cocking’ 

label inside case

  

The ‘Mr Covington’ referred to is Arthur Silas Covington (1847-1915), who was a taxidermist operating a business in Bedford. He was born and died in Bedford and during his lifetime had workshops in St Paul’s Square, Lurke Street, and Foster Hill Road. His occupation on the 1871 census for St Paul’s Square is actually given as ‘Birdstuffer’! In later census’ he is listed as a taxidermist and naturalist but also as a hairdresser. 

Getting back to the American Bittern, the species was first described in 1813 by Colonel George Montagu (1753-1815) from the first British record. Montagu was regarded as one of Britain’s great naturalists and a number of species are named after him.The Bittern was collected near the River Frome, Puddletown in Dorset in the autumn of 1804. It was shot by Mr Cunningham who sent the corpse to Colonel George of Penryn, Cornwall. Described initially as a Great Bittern (Botarus stellaris) it was then mounted as a Little Bittern (Ixobrychus minutus). The specimen was later purchased as a Little Bittern by Montagu who was apparently quite taken aback when it arrived as it was not what he expected and he subsequently described it as a new species, naming it Freckled Heron.

Currently the American Bittern breeds across much of North America and winters in the southern United States, Central America and the West Indies. It is a rare migrant to the British Isles and according to Philip Palmer in his book First for Britain and Ireland “American Bittern was presumed to reach Europe by resting on the surface of the sea using outstretched wings!” There have been about 65 American Bitterns recorded in Britain, with the majority occurring prior to 1960. The most recent was recorded at Walmsley Sanctuary, near Wadebridge, Cornwall in 2010. It is a wetland specialist but numbers have seriously declined since the 1960s due to habitat loss and degradation of sites particularly in the United States, which would explain perhaps why very few have turned up in Britain in recent decades. The species is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List as a species of Least Concern.

The American Bittern male has a very unusual call, which I have been privileged to hear in the wild, and this call has given rise to various local names including ‘Bogbumper’, ‘Thunder Pump’, and ‘Stake-driver’.

Click this link to listen and enjoy!

This YouTube link has some nice footage of an American Bittern and is informative too. 

Melissa Banthorpe
Volunteer at The Higgins, working with the Natural History collection.  

References

The Vertebrate Fauna of Bedfordshire J Steele-Elliott, reprinted 1993 by Bedfordshire Natural History Society (first edition published 1897-1901)

First for Britain and Ireland 1660-1999 Philip Palmer 2000

Rare Birds in Britain & Ireland – a photographic record David Cotteridge and Keith Vinicombe 1996

The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford

We are very pleased to be able to unveil our new name and brand, The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford.The new name and brand for the former Cecil Higgins Art Gallery & Bedford Museum brings a fresh new look and provides a glimpse of what is to come when we reopen in Spring 2013. They mark a new beginning for the art gallery and museum, illustrating the bringing together of the organisations and the buildings.


We love our new name and look but it does mean we're going to be making some changes.


Our main blog will be changing its address to www.thehigginsbedford.blogspot.co.uk 
Our News From The Stores blog will be moving to www.thehigginsbedfordcollections.blogspot.co.uk
Our Out & About blog will be moving to www.thehigginsbedfordoutandabout.blogspot.co.uk


We will be moving to these new addresses on the 20th April 2012.

Our Mystery Mog fends off witchcraft in Lancashire

During our packing project, a dried, ‘dessicated’, cat was re-discovered in the collection and nicknamed Mystery Mog. Unexpectedly, this unusual creature was requested for loan and is currently on tour in Lancashire, being privileged by its inclusion in the 400th anniversary exhibition of the infamous Lancashire Witch Trials.  

Our 'Mystery Mog' in the collection on display at Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, March 2012

Objects such as dried cats, horse skulls, old shoes, written curses and charms, witch-bottles and ritual marks were often placed in buildings. These objects, and many other kinds of object, were usually concealed in buildings and sometimes outdoors for use as spells or counter-spells, currently not a lot is known in detail about them, but often relate to common superstitions of the time.


In the 17th Century cats were regarded as being particularly gifted with a sixth sense and connection with the afterlife. So, perhaps it was hoped that the family cat, who served so well in life, could exercise its hunting prowess against vermin and its psychic abilities in the afterlife, to continue to protect the home and family in death. Cats were regarded as being capable of warding off evil spirits, witches spells and curses. They were believed to protect the home and were hidden in walls, floors or attics for this purpose. This was done intentionally, sometimes with the cat’s innards being removed, like ours, and being dried and stuffed with straw. Often they were placed in a hunting position – indicating their protection from rats and mice in the home.

Close up of the head of our dessicated cat, packed for transportation.

From the early 1600s whole districts in some parts of Lancashire were perceived as riddled with the presence of witches; men and beasts were though to be haunted by their charm, and this superstition which preyed alike on the learned and the poor did not allow any family to suppose that they were beyond the reach of the witch's power.

Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, venue for the exhibition March - July 2012

Our cat is currently on display at the very grand Gawthorpe Hall, which is the first venue for the “bewitching and fascinating” exhibition 'A Wonderfull Discoverie; Lancashire Witches 1612 - 2012' until 8 July, when the exhibition will tour to Lancaster City Museum from 21st July until 29th September 2012.  The exhibition marks the 400th anniversary of the witch trials held at Lancaster Castle in 1612, among the most famous in English history. The twelve accused people lived in the area around Pendle Hill in Lancashire and were charged with the murders of ten people by the use of witchcraft. 





Watch the video above for a short introduction about the Pendle Hill Witches and the 400th anniversary.


The trials examined the following events: Elizabeth Southerns, also known as Old Demdyke, had  persuaded her daughter, Elizabeth Device, to sell herself to the devil. She in turn initiated her daughter, Alison Device, into these dark arts. Accused of killing men, children and animals that they bore a grudge against by using clay figures and pricking holes in them with pins, as well as casting spells against them, they were found guilty of these crimes.


The Justices of the Peace, Roger Nowell and Nicholas Bannister, learned that a barn called Malkin Tower in Pendle Forest, the home of Old Demdike and her daughter, was the meeting place of the witches, and arrested Old Demdyke, Elizabeth and Alison Device, imprisoning them at Lancaster Castle. 

The front gate at Lancaster Castle, courtesy of  Lancashire Museum Service

Once they had been sent to Lancaster prison, a grand meeting of seventeen witches and three wizards is said to have been held at Malkin Tower on Good Friday, 6th April 1612, where they decided to kill Mr. M'Covell, the governor of the castle, and blow up the building, to enable the witches to make their escape. Reported upon at the time once the meeting ended the witches “walked out of the barn, but on reaching the door, each mounted his or her spirit, which was in the form of a young horse, and quickly vanished”. In total twenty witches and wizards were arrested and tried, ten being found guilty and executed in August 1612.
Elizabeth Southerns, Old Demdike, escaped her fate, worn out by age and trouble, she died in prison. But her daughter and the others were brought to trial. There are accounts of the confessions made by them at trial written up after the event by Thomas Potts one of the Clerks of the court, although his work is understood to be leading in its language and is not a word by word account of the proceedings. See here for his account of the Confessions of the Witches.

'A Wonderfull Discoverie' Exhibition gallery at Gawthorpe Hall.

If you are visiting or live near Lancashire why not find out more about this curious part of history and the Pendle Hill Witches – our cat will be there warding off any bad spirits, so you needn’t worry no harm will come to you!


 "A Wonderfull Discoverie" will be on display at Gawthorpe Hall until 8th July, and Lancaster City Museum 21st July – 29th September 2012.


Lydia Saul,
Keeper of Social History

Thanks to Lancashire County Museum Service for requesting the loan, including facilitators Sue Ashworth, Caroline Wilkinson and Heather Davis.

All images of Gawthorpe Hall and Lancaster Castle, courtesy and copyright of Lancashire Museums Service