Tag: london

Alms Houses and More Music at Wigmore Hall

Museum of the Home

I always look forward to a trip out with my friends Stewart and Kerri. This time Stu suggested we visit the Museum of the Home in the Hoxton area of London. The museum is located in the Former Geffrye Almshouses, built through a bequest fromSir Robert Geffrye, a merchant, Lord Mayor of London and Master of the Ironmongers Company. Because he had some involvement in transporting enslaved men and women to the British West Indies in the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the museum is trying to downplay his name and move a statue that sits above the entrance to the almshouse’s chapel. We had two excellent guides throughout the tour of the almshouses.

Almshouses were built for poor widow (and some men) that were asociated with various trades or guilds who built them. Residents were given very basic furniture and household items in the early years and a small stipend.

Above are some pictures of what the early almshouse room, allocated to a woman or a couple would have looked like.

As time moved forward, the type of person needing the almshouses changed and by the 19th century, housemaids, nurses, former nannies etc., were moving in to somewhat improved conditions.

Below are pictures of the improved later accomodations, including indoor plumbing and clothes washing facilities.

Underneath the row of Almshouses which each contained for “units,” the museum of the home displays typical rooms and furnishing from the 18th through 20th centuries. It too, is worth a visit. Wonderful gardens are also part of the property. Below are some pictures of them.

More Wigmore

Simon Trpcheski, a Macedonian pianist, was appearing for a 25th anniversary of his first appearance at Wigmore Hall. He played Tchaikovsky’s “Autumn Song” from “The Seasons Opus 37a. It was an incredibly beautiful performance of a song that was truly evocative of Autumn. His second piece was Ravel’s “Vaises nobles et sentinentales.” (Noble and Sentimental Waltzes) which was a perfect companion for the first piece. For his third piece, he returned to Tchaikovsky “Nutcracker Suite (arranged by Mikhail Pietnev). It was delightful hearing this familiar away from Christmas. He concluded with two encore pieces that were received with great delight.

Bowie, the V&A East Storehouse, and Trees

David Bowie at the Victoria and Albert (V&A) East Storehouse

Its a journey to the V&A East Storehouse (aka the V&A Annex) from the part of London where I am based. The Annex is located not too far from the Olympic Stadium in East London that is now the home to the West Ham Football Club. This part of the Borough of Hackney is largely filled with new buildings constructed since the last London Olympics. The David Bowie Centre is the home for David Bowie’s archive. I understand that the exxhibit will be a rotating one showing the huge quantity of Bowie costumes, photos, mass media, music, and memorabilia.

After entering the centre, you will see a display of Bowie albums and magazines featuring him.

Next you enter a large rectangular space that includes a huge screen playing Bowie videos. On all sides are display cases of memorabilia.

The whole Bowie experience is condensed in a small space that is still overwhelming to the visitor. The expanse of his career and influence is displayed. There is also a study center adjacent to the exhibit space and a section where museum experts can be seen working and curating the huge collection.

A Taste of the Rest of the V&A East Annex

The Annex is huge “working museum” and serves as a place to store and curate the museum’s huge collection of items that are not currently on display at the V&A in South Kensington, London. As one walks the floors of this building, one sees items like these.

Part of a carved ornate celing from Torrijos, Spain

It is amazing to imagine all of these pieces on display in the main museum. The museum’s collection is rotated from time to time.

Trees

I am obsessed with the huge and mighty trees in two parks near my London abode. There is something very special about sitting under them and enjoying the peace they bring in the middle of a bustling city.

Reminders of “An Early Frost,” A Dog Day Afternoon, And September in Bloomsbury

A Visit to the Whitechapel Gallery

My friend Tom who is bravely living with Parkinson’s has often urged me to visit this small but interesting gallery in the Aldgate area of London. The current exhibit was titled “Hamad Butt: Apprehensions.” The exhibit included three installations Butt created, as well as a series of drawings and paintings he created during his short career. He died at 32 in 1994 from complications of AIDS.

As the exhibit began, it included a discussion of the AIDs crisis as a historical evevent of the 1980s and 90s. It was strange for me to read of the events as a part of history that many alive today cannot recall. Butt, chose a conceptual rather than an activist approach to respond to the crisis.

The exhibit began with three istallations pictured below.

These three sculptures are called “Familiars.” They take three hallogens: bromine as liquid, iodine as solid crystals and chlorine as gas. They threaten the environment if released, symbolicly representing AIDS as it was perceived in the early days.

Much of his later work was untitled. Below are some examples.

I guess that I can say I left the exhibit saddened that so much artistic talent was lost to a disease that seemed to come out of nowhere and caused so much human destruction. In the artists work one can see so much passion, so much possibility

I am also reminded of the activism of those affected either directly or indirectly by HIV and AIDS. I wonder where that kind of courage has gone in our current world. We need to remember that the way to stop a scourge is to fight, to stick together and to work to save what is important as those who crusaded to find a cure for AIDS did.

Doggy Day Afternoon

After such a poignant topic, I turn now to a joyful one. Each September, the Brunswick Centre, a brutalist monument to the architecture of the 1960s that includes apartments and a shopping centre, holds “Doggy Day” where dogs and their people come in droves to see and be seen and to win prizes. This is one of my favorite events of my time in London. I have collected photos of some of my favorites. Indulge me.

Italian Greyound I fell in love with this one.

September in Bloomsbury

I took a stroll through two local parks today, the ones in Russell Square and neighboring Brunswick Square. There were so many late blooming flowers that I thought I should capture them.

With the London Underground on strike most of this week, I shall be looking for different kinds of adventures. I’ll let you all know if I find some.

Wellcome and Welcome

It has been a week of gloomy weather with rain and hints of sunshine. On a cloudy day I took a walk up to the Wellcome Collection, a museum with rotating exhibits focusing on health, medicine and the human experience. I always enjoy approaching the museum from Kings Cross, along Euston Road because that particular stretch of the Road has various interesting places along the way, including Euston Train Station Friends House, owned and managed by the Quiet Company, a subsidiary of the Quakers of Britain. It contains a lovely Quaker Bookshop and a small cafe, as well as a Quaker Meeting Room. There are also a Birkbeck University Campus that happened to sponsoring a graduation ceremony on that day. It is always great fun to see the gowned graduates with their loved ones. I’ll say more about another favorite spot, St. Pancras New Church later.

Wellcome

The Wellcome Collection is running an exhibit on the search and need for fresh water. The earliest example of a water war is found in the Epic of Gilgamesh (2100-2000 BCE). It is captured in this clay tablet (below).

The exhibition included interesting ways water was stored in different cultures.

Another interesting item is this depiction of “The Lifegiving Spring” from the 1700s. It represents an Eastern Orthodox belief that the Virgin Mary in 450 AD directed a soldier searching for water for a blind man to a spring.

I also enjoyed the display of diving rods used traditionally to find water in the ground.

There is also an interesting permanent collection that I have previously written about and a nice cafe with friendly staff.

Welcome

On my way back from the Wellcome Collection, I stopped in at St. Pancras New Church which I have also discussed in an earlier post. This is a wonderfully welcoming place and an important part of its community. Here are the three stained glass windows above the altar.

After sitting enjoying the peace of the church, I came upon a young man who happened to be a verger at the church. We had an interesting conversation about the Anglican Church and its differences and similarities with the Episcopal Church in America and with Roman Catholicism. He also told me about various upcoming events at the church and invited me to attend. St. Pancras New Church really is a welcoming place.