Bethlem Museum of the Mind

There is only a week left to see the current incarnation

of Bethlem Museum of the Mind.

Louis Wain

At present it is a very small museum.

Showing some of a huge collection of works of art,

part of the (hi)story of mental health care in the Maudsley Hospitals.

All the work has all been produced by current and former patients
whether they have had any formal art training or not.

Next to the paintings are labels,
which along with the artist's name and date,
tell us why, when and how they came to be patients of the Bethlem Royal Hospital.
Very moving.

I'll just tell you about a couple of the artists in the museum
who do happen to have have gone to art school,
however this is not a prerequisite for having your work on display.

Louis Wain.

Three years into his marriage, he began painting their cat,

who at the time gave great comfort to his wife with breast cancer.

Sadly she died, but not before encouraging him to sell his work.

His cat paintings captured the public's imagination.

His work was published in children's books, magazines, in the papers and in journals.

He also had his own annual published, over a period of twenty years.

He was recognised as a public authority on cats

with his theories about them giving off electricity, being magnetic and hating orange peel.

It wasn't all cats though,

as these beautiful gouache paintings of nature demonstrate,

produced during his struggle with his mental health in later years.

During our visit we comment that this painting reminds us

of brightly coloured embroidered tablecloths,

lots of small brush strokes that could well have been stitched in thread.

These two paintings were produced by Marion Patrick.

Admitted to hospital at only fifteen years old,

she later went to art college.

Even in this small space,

there are so many painings to look at.

Each with a story and challenge for the viewer.

This is especially true for 'The Maze' by William Kurelek.

which leaves us speechless with the portrayal of his mind.

His painting depicts a compartmentalised cross-section of his skull.

A labyrinth of scenes from his life,

with a rat trapped right in the middle with no way out,

who seems to have abandoned his escape and has stopped gnawing at the walls.

The Bethlem Museum of the Mind temporarily closes mid December.

It will move house and is set to reopen in a new building in February 2015

with a new gallery and learning spaces.

It will be worth a visit as it continues to follow its remit

of campaigning for access to the arts in healthcare environments.

As we left the Bethlem Museum I was struck by two things;

the opportunity that the patients had to create

and the value the hospital gave the patients and their work

by providing a place to exhibit it.

Art training or no art training,

I loved that!

More information on Bethlem Museum of the Mind
on their website, here.

I will be back in February to post about the new incarnation of
Bethlem Museum of the Mind.
Very much looking forward to it.

The Walking Out Cane

Sometimes you don't realise that you have a question until you have the answer.

This happened to me the other day at the RAF Museum, London on meeting a volunteer from the Great War Society.

This is Ian from the Royal Flying Corp at the ready to chat to visitors in the RAF Museum, London, with his Walking Out Cane, demonstrating how to use it.

Walking with the cane.

Standing to attention.

At ease.

Salute.

Oh, and that brings to me to my question...

"What's a Walking Out Cane?"

"Makes you look smart."

"Keeps your hands out your pockets."

Actually my first question was, "what's that?"

Before today I didn't even know what they were called.

"Thanks Ian."

Also a big thanks to the Great War Society and the many volunteers who help to bring objects in museums alive.

We had this chat in the First World War in the Air gallery at the RAF Museum, London.

More information on the website here.

First World War in the Air

First World War in the Air is a new permanent exhibition at the Royal Air Force Museum, London.

And there is plenty to see in the air and on the ground.

The grade II listed building housing this exhibition, was once one of the factories where aircraft were developed and made for the First World War. It was brought here brick by brick from three miles away. It's huge.

The exhibition tells the story aviation and its contribution to the First World War. There are so many stories and I was struck by the technology behind the planes, how it advanced during the war, and also the bravery of the men who flew these planes.

I say bravery with the benefit of hindsight, where on the few occasions I've been in a plane, I have actually read the safety manual and watched as the crew pointed out the emergency exit doors. Trusting in this new technology, they might have felt as safe as houses.

This is the Bleriot XXVII

 Not a military plane, built just before the war, it was built for speed, for racing, not for war.

With wheels that look a little like bicycle wheels,

and the skin, made of fabric, doped and sewn together. 

Reminds me of old canvas tents. 

This is the Cauldron G3 first built in 1914.

 To my untrained eye, it looks like they've left the middle bit out. But it worked and was used for training and reconnaissance.

The RAF as we know it was formed in 1918 during the First World War, the merging of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service.

New logo, still stitching the planes together.

To begin with the planes were used for reconnaissance, for watching the enemy, but evolved to be used for fighting.

The story goes that servicemen, whilst in the air, came up with a few novel ideas for attacking the enemy. These ranged from shooting at each other with pistols, throwing fruit and dropping darts on the enemy below.

See, the RAF museum provides oranges to throw at the enemy in the kid's interactive.

Or you can sit at the front with the machine gun.

Talking of interactives, yep I did have a go at sitting in the cockpit, pitching and rolling using the stick and yawing with my feet. (Impressed with my aviation terminology, I had help, consulted a friend)

This was actually quite tricky and demanded more of my stomach muscles than it should have.

First World War in the Air charts the development of aviation technology during the war and tells us how the industry grew from small beginnings. In Britain in 1914 fewer than 250 planes were built, by the end of the war, more than 600 were being built every week.

There was a rapid growth in the aircraft industry, providing jobs for women, filling the places of conscripted men.

The numbers tell that story too. Military aviation began with 2,073 people,

yet 9,349 lost their lives.

First World war in the Air, a new permanent gallery, opened Dec 4th 2014 and is well worth a visit. It is just one exhibition on the site of the RAF Museum, London, there's much more to explore.
Free admission. Details on the website here.

Update
Just had an email from my step-father, filling in the gaps in my knowledge.
This is the reason why the Cauldron G3, above, had a bit missing in the middle.
"The reason that they left the part behind the cockpit unfinished was
that the engines were not powerful
and crosswinds turned the plane in flight,
so not to give the wind somewhere too push at."
 Brilliant! 

Vimy Ridge: What the kids said

If you read my previous two posts on Vimy Ridge in Northern France, about the Trenches, click here, and the Memorial, click here, you will know that we visited whilst on a family holiday. As you may be able to guess, I have a reputation for encouraging a museum visit or two, especially when visiting somewhere new and this is not always met with enthusiasm.

However, I did my research, got a good recommendation and was not going to miss this opportunity, two weeks before the centenary of the beginning of the World War One, to visit a First World War site.

So in all, fifteen of us went to Vimy Ridge, aged three (my youngest nephew) to seventy-two (my dad).

From arriving and seeing bomb craters, to the memorial, trenches, tunnels and visitor centre, everyone was captivated. In fact my family were so keen that we were often (perhaps annoyingly) one step ahead with our questions. Our guide often replied, "I was just coming to that".

Our guide, Francoise, a Francophile Canadian bought so much to life with stories, information, questions and answers. No question was too much trouble and every one was answered, and he even let the group answer questions and share their stories.

A big public thankyou to Francoise!

In the car heading back, we listened to Terry Deary, his 'Horrible History' of the First World War. 

That evening at dinner (not at my instigation) my sister in law asked the kids if they had had a good day. They had. She then asked them "what they had found out today?" I got my notebook out immediately and began scribbling. Here's what they found out.

"Four out of twenty soldiers got stuck (and died) in the mud." age 10

"Returning soldiers (after the war) were treated badly,

especially those wounded and disabled." age 11

"The soldiers got to know each others faces." age 3 (very nearly 4)

"Adolf Hitler killed himself." age 10

"Hitler survived the whole of World War One as a runner." age 11

"Hitler was the fastest communication runner." age 7

"When you went for a pee, you had to pull your trousers down and have a white flag

as they didn't have toilets in the trenches." age 13

"If you go back (desert the front line) you get shot by your own team mates." age 11

"When trenches are close to each other, they can make truces with each other

so they could do certain things, like Christmas

and agree that they wouldn't throw hand-grenades." age 11

"8 million people died in the war, 20 million died of spanish flu in the world after the war." age 11

"There was 30 meters between the trenches." age 15

"If you were a runner, you would only survive (on average) for four days." age 7

"To find out how far away the gun shot was,

you listened to the gap between the light flash and the sound." age 11

"If you go into the middle of no mans land and the other person goes into the middle

with a white flag, you could have a chat." age 10

"On no mans land, the only thing that could grow is poppies." age 11

I'm sure this isn't just what they learnt at Vimy Ridge, whilst there, we didn't talk about Christmas, nor the poppies. However, it's interesting what children take on board, what they find interesting and important. It's mostly about the human experience of war, about getting stuck in the mud, what happens if you desert, going to the toilet, truces, returning home after the war, and enemies and allies talking to each other.

More information about Vimy Ridge,

a National Historic Site of Canada here.
I highly recommend it for families.

The Other Side of the Medal: how Germany saw the First World War

I'm not sure what I really think (thought) about medals.

I've never won one.

I did, perhaps naively, think that they were awarded for achievement,

like for coming first or for an act of bravery.

 I had these preconceptions challenged at the British Museum when I saw the exhibition,

The Other Side of the Medal: how Germany saw the First World War.

This is an exhibition of medals.

These medals were made by artists,

most of whom lived and worked in Germany during the war.

Medals made to tell stories of and tell how they felt about the conflict.

Shown below is the enemy, wounded in defeat.

Russia, the bear with bandaged paws.

Britain, a bulldog, head and leg bandaged.

France, the cockerel limping with strapped up claw.

France, Russia and Britain. Hans Lindl, Germany, 1914

 Refugees displaced during the invasion of East Prussia by the Russians.

The seven month invasion displaced one million people.

Refugees, Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1915

This medal was made to commemorate a mistaken claim by a German airship commander

that he had bombed London, west of Tower Bridge.

The reality was, mistaking reservoirs for the River Thames, he had bombed the Lea Valley.

Nevertheless, lives were lost in Walthamstow and Leyton.

Zeppelins over London, Fritz Eue, Germany, 1915

This medal shows the sinking of the Lusitania in 1915,
whilst travelling from New York to Liverpool,
by a German U-boat submarine, with the loss of over a thousand lives.

Lusitania, Ludwig Gies, Germany, 1915

Here a British medal commemorating the signing of the Treaty of Versailles.

For the allies, this marked peace and justice.

Treaty of Versailles, Elkington & Co, UK, 1919

The Great War ends.
Medals of 'Pax' Peace made in Germany and Victory in France.

Left; Pax (Peace), Erzsebet Esseo, Germany, 1919
Right: Victory, Louis Patriarche, France, 1919

The British Museum acquired most of these medals during the First World War.

 Copies of them were displayed in the Victoria & Albert Museum during the war,

the exhibition becoming part of the propaganda against Germany.

During the war the British Museum was closed,

sand-bags out to protect the collections.

Open today.

As for my feelings about medals.

They have helped me empathise,

understand more of the impact of war on civilians on all sides.

The medal I find most powerful for its depiction of grief and loss is

'Pax' 1919

Peace.

Peace that costs, that is painful, a look of devastation.

Made at the end of the war it reflects

the experience of so many individuals on both sides, devastated by the First World War.

The Other Side of the Medal: how Germany saw the First World War

is on at The British Museum

until 23rd November.
Details on the British Museum website here.

Vimy Ridge: The Memorial

Mentioned in my last post here, we went 'en famille' to Vimy Ridge in Northern France, a First World War battlefield site. You can read that post by clicking here.

Now I bring you the memorial.

Driving into this National Historic Site of Canada the first thing you all notice is the landscape. "Is that where a bomb landed?", we heard from the back of the car. It was.

We were told that the landscape was scarred by shelling and bombing, but it doesn't really look scarred, it has a kind of beauty, holding memories and prompting questions.

One question was answered for us. The trees were all planted after the war. However, you can't go off and explore, as they can't guarantee that no explosives remain, mines and bombs. Our guide tells us that apparently, "not so far away, a mine exploded during a storm when the ground was struck by lightning".

This impresses the kids.

The monument impresses us all, young and old. It sits on a hill, Hill 145, so called because it is 145 meters above sea level, the highest point of Vimy Ridge.

Walking towards the monument, it's hard to comprehend the scale of it. Commemorating the taking of Vimy Ridge by the Canadian Corps in 1917, remembering the 3,598 Canadians who gave their lives during that battle.

"A victory, but the bloodiest day in history for the Canadians." 

The columns represent Canada and France, the sorrows and sacrifice of war.

Between the columns sits a young dying soldier.

Not sure my nephew should have been climbing the memorial, but just looking at him gave you such a sense of the scale of the monument. The living touching the dying.

The figures on top represent truth and justice, peace and knowledge.

Spirit of sacrifice and Torch Bearer.

Mourners sit at the base, grieving for their loss,

female...

...and male.

Over 11,000 names are carved on the walls, Canadian soldiers who died in France during the First World war, some of whom were never found.

I'm not quite sure who asked it first, I know I was thinking it. Perhaps it was my nephew, my husband, my sister-in-law? But how did something so huge and so white, and considering its location in Northern France, survive the Second World War? Our guide knew the answer. It can't have been the first time it had been asked.

It wasn't a case of luck, that it just happened to survive any bombing by planes flying across Northern Europe.  No, Hitler purposefully, not only spared the Canadian monument but sent SS forces to protect it. In 1940, Hitler had himself photographed at Vimy Ridge to refute the reports in Canadian newspapers that Nazi Germany had destroyed it. Apparently this was all because this is a monument to peace and not a celebration of war.

Sorrow and sacrifice. 

More about the Vimy Ridge memorial on this website here.