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The Acropolis, Athens
Who owns the marbles?
The debate hits Sydney
The Parthenon in Athens is one of the world’s most famous and instantly recognisable
buildings. It is an iconic cultural symbol of the modern Greek state, and a reminder of a
shared cultural heritage that reaches back to the 5th century BC; a defining period in the
history of democracy, theatre, architecture, philosophy and more.
During the first decade of the 19th century, Lord Elgin,
the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, was
granted permission by the Sultan to remove decorative
features from what was already a building in ruins.
These marble sculptures and friezes are now in the
British Museum in London.
In response to the growing demand for the return of
these sculptures to Athens, Sydney University Museums
has asked two of the leading figures on either side of
the debate to comment. Dyfri Williams, the Keeper of
Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum,
urges the need for co-operation and collaboration, while
David Hill, Chairman of the International Association
for the Reunification of the Parthenon Sculptures, is
more strident in his demand for “the British to right
one of history’s great wrongs and return the wonderful
Parthenon sculptures to their home”. Their articles,
‘Sharing your marbles’ and ‘Give us your marbles’
appear inside.
In October, Sydney plays host to Professor Dimitrios
Pandermalis, President for the Organization of the
Construction of the New Acropolis Museum, where
the Parthenon Marbles will be displayed should they
ever be loaned or returned by the British Museum.
Also visiting are Maria Ioannidou, the Director of the
Acropolis Restoration Service and Nikolaos Toganidis,
the architect responsible for the Parthenon Restoration
Project. Two of the highlights of their visit are a public
discussion forum, ‘The Parthenon: Who Owns Cultural
Heritage?’ at the Seymour Centre on 28 October,
and a public lecture by Professor Pandermalis in the
Nicholson Museum on 30 October.
To further highlight issues relating to the Parthenon, an
exhibition of images of the restorations and of the New
Acropolis Museum will be on display in the Nicholson
Museum from mid October until the Christmas break.
For further details on these and other associated events,
see page 14.
A WORD FROM THE DIRECTOR
Research underpins all we do whether
it is writing a magazine article, curating
an exhibition or answering an enquiry;
the cultural and scientific value of
the collections lies in the research
associated with them.
It is therefore with pleasure that we are calling for
applications for the 2008 Macleay Miklouho-Maclay
Fellowship. Established in 1988 with funds raised
by the Macleay Museum and the Miklouho-Maclay
Society, it enables a research fellow to work at
the Macleay Museum in the fields of interest of
Sir William Macleay (1820–1891) and Russian
ethnographer, naturalist and explorer Nikolai
Nikolaevich Miklouho-Maclay (1846–1888). The
2008 Fellowship will focus on the Museum’s natural
history collections.
Much of the fascinating history of the Macleay
Museum is documented in a book – Museum: the
Macleays, their collection and the search for order
– to be published by Cambridge University Press in
November. Museum features the beautiful ‘hyper
real’ photographs of natural history specimens in the
museum by artist Robyn Stacey, informative essays
by historian Ashley Hay and scientific notes on the
specimens written by museum staff. I would like to
congratulate the artist and authors for this splendid
production and thank members of staff who have
been integral to the realisation of the publication. An
exhibition of Robyn’s work will open in the Macleay
Museum on 5 November to coincide with the launch
of the book in the museum later that week.
Also finding inspiration from collections is Melbournebased artist Mark Hilton who, during 2007, spent
time researching the University’s collections. He
will present new work in an exhibition opening in the
University Art Gallery on 11 November.
You will notice this issue of University Museums
News has increased in size. My thanks to our
editor, Senior Curator Michael Turner, and to all the
contributors. Thanks also to our sponsor The Met
Store for their support.
DAVID ELLIS DIRECTOR
Morpheus
Mark Hilton is a Melbourne-based artist whose
practice is driven by a fascination with tragedy,
conflict, difference and the aspects of human
behaviour they reveal. Through an array of mediums
including video, sculpture and painting, Hilton
explores ever-changing notions of good and evil.
During 2007, Hilton spent time researching the
collections of the University and this exhibition
features new work related to his findings on the Greek
god Morpheus, morphine and contemporary drug use.
The exhibition will include works from the Nicholson
Museum and the Rare Books Collection.
Morpheus by Mark Hilton
University Art Gallery
11 November 2007 – 20 January 2008
02
Entomology and other
gentlemanly pursuits
In a new publication, Museum: the Macleays, their collection and the search for order,
Ashley Hay chronicles the work of the Macleay family.
A series of hyper-real images of specimens from the
Macleay collections – the cumulation of five years’ work
by photographer Robyn Stacey – is soon to feature
at the Macleay Museum in an upcoming exhibition.
The images form the core of the book, Museum: the
Macleays, their collection and the search for order,
about the remarkable journeys of the collection, of
Alexander Macleay, and his family.
In this excerpt from the book, author Ashley Hay, who
wrote the introductory essay, traces the history of the
collection back to the gentlemanly fascinations with
natural history in the 1770s, as James Cook and Joseph
Banks returned from Australia with a ship laden with all
manner of specimens to delight and inspire ...
“As Englishmen waited for ships like the Endeavour to
dock at Britain’s wharves, and European gentlemen
waited for their own ships at ports across the Channel,
some were preparing for the scientific work of naming
and classifying. One man was given Joseph Banks’
butterfly collection, while others worked on his birds
and his plants, and engravers began to work on the
illustrations of all the strange new things he had
carried home. Some took a more enterprising view of
the possibilities of natural history and its commercial
opportunities, and London nurserymen had banksias,
casuarinas, bottlebrush and ti-trees available for sale
to interested gardeners and botanical collectors within
three years of the Endeavour’s return to Great Britain.
For those with the resources, this accumulation of
specimens began increasingly to intersect with the
new scientific work that could be done on them. Where
wealth had created the leisure and desire for those first
cabinets of curiosity, patronage now played its part in
natural history’s leap from a hobby with pretty artefacts
to more rigorous systematics. And wealth also meant
the possibility of ever-expanding collections – one
need not travel to the other side of the world oneself
to supplement one’s butterflies when more and more
auctions were taking place at convenient locations in
London. One sale alone lasted 38 days and delivered
thousands of insects into the collections of the country’s
entomologically minded enthusiasts: John Francillon,
Dru Drury and the foremost natural history dealer of the
day, George Humphrey.
Scotsman James Smith purchased the entire collection
of the renowned Swedish classifier Carl von Linne,
using it to found the Linnean Society of London] …
dedicated to ‘the cultivation of the science of natural
history in all its branches’. He assumed presidency of
the Society, which aimed to provide a meeting place
for like minds, a cradle for collaborations and contact
within and beyond Great Britain (a set number of
foreign members could be nominated each year), and
Beau monde (yellow ) Lepidoptera from the Macleay collections. © Robyn Stacey 2007
a forum dedicated to the idea of scientific publication.
The first volume of its Transactions, containing papers
that had been read at its meetings, was issued in 1791.
Membership blossomed among the ranks of Britain’s
natural historians. Joseph Banks was on its books, now
also president of the illustrious Royal Society; William
Kirby and William Spence paid up (they would later
write the first popular book on British entomology);
and Thomas Marsham became the first secretary. On
Marsham’s retirement in 1798 the final piece of this
03
Entomology and other
gentlemanly pursuits
story’s beginning falls into place. Taking up the post
of secretary of the Linnean Society of London in
Marsham’s wake, responsible for publication of its
papers, for all of its correspondence, for facilitating its
many meetings and communications, was a gentleman
with a passion for natural history that would expand
across the next half-century.
His name was Alexander Macleay.
Taeniopoda eques,
(horse-lubber
grasshopper).
Articulated fish
skeleton. Haswell
Museum collection.
Shells from the
Bacon and Macleay
collections held
at the Macleay
Museum.
© Robyn Stacey
… If natural history was a gentleman’s pursuit,
membership of such a society guaranteed some of
the finest social and professional connections. And
indeed Alexander was appointed to a public service
position, as chief clerk of the Prisoner of War office, a
year later in 1795. More importantly, membership of
such a prestigious society of naturalists went hand-inhand with initiating a personal collection. Alexander
made his own trips, sometimes alone and sometimes
in the company of colleagues from the Linnean Society
and the leading entomological investigators of the day,
and he asked others to gather specimens for him. His
main means of acquisition, however, was through the
auctions of other gentlemen’s cabinets and collections.
Taking on the role of the Linnean Society’s secretary
in 1798, just four years after joining its ranks, placed
Alexander right at the centre of this new world, and
by the beginning of the nineteenth century he was in
a position to write casually to the society’s president,
asking for collecting contacts: ‘Have you any Butterfly
Catchers in your neighbourhood? I think I have heard
you say that Papilio nachaon was not uncommon …
Could you, without inconvenience, procure me two or
three?’ He crossed out ‘or three’ and wrote instead
‘good specimens’. There was no doubt that he had
been bitten by the entomological bug.”
To find out how badly Alexander Macleay had been
bitten, and the future of his remarkable collection and
equally remarkable family, come along to hear Ashley
and Robyn during the Museum exhibition (see page 15
for details).
Notes:
i Entomological auctions: Allen, 1976, pp. 28–30; ChalmersHunt, 1976, p. 4
ii Membership connections of the Linnean Society: Evely,
2003, pp. 23–4
iii “Have you any Butterfly Catchers …” AM to James Smith,
18 October 1800, MMA
Museum: the Macleays, their collection and the search
for order (Cambridge University Press RRP $79.95), will
be launched in November.
Macleay Miklouho-Maclay Fellowship
Applications are invited from candidates for the 2008
Macleay Miklouho-Maclay Fellowship.
04
Established in 1988 with funds raised by the Macleay
Museum and the Miklouho-Maclay Society, it enables a
Research Fellow to work at the Museum in the fields of
interest of Sir William Macleay (1820–1891) and Nikolai
Miklouho-Maclay (1846–1888).
There is no specific application form. Candidates
should submit their research proposal together with a
curriculum vitae.
Further information is available from Catherine Timbrell
on 9351 2274 or [email protected]
Closing date: Friday 2 November 2007
Freud
and the
archeology
of the mind
In 1904, Sigmund Freud stood on the
Acropolis in Athens for the first time. It
was a defining moment for the father of
psychoanalysis, writes Michael Turner.
He was later to say, “... when I stood on the Acropolis ...
a surprising thought suddenly entered my head, ‘so all
this really does exist, just as we learned in school”.
It is a little known fact that Freud was also an important
collector of antiquities who is actually buried in one
of his own pots. Following his death in 1939, Freud’s
ashes were placed in a 4th century BC South Italian
Apulian bell krater that had been given to him by
his great friend and former patient, Princess Maria
Bonaparte. The krater can be viewed by visitors to
Freud’s resting place in Golders Green Crematorium,
north London. He is the only person in modern times, as
far as I am aware, to have used such a pot for this, its
original purpose.
Freud amassed a collection of over 2000 Greek, Italian,
Egyptian and Chinese antiquities, most of which he
placed in his study. These can still be seen in their
original positions, in Freud’s last house in Hampstead,
North London, now the Freud Museum.
On 3 January 2008, an exhibition comprising twenty
of some of the most important of these objects will be
opening at the Nicholson Museum. Entitled Sigmund
Freud’s Collection: An Archaeology of the Mind, it will
also include home movies taken by Freud’s daughter
Anna, as well as images of Freud’s apartment in Vienna
in 1938, taken by photographer Edmund Engelman
just days before Freud and his family escaped Nazi
suppression for the safety of England.
Above: Sigmund
Freud at his desk,
1914. Etching by Max
Pollak. Courtesy Freud
Museum, London
Below: 4th century
BC South Italian bell
krater containing
Freud’s ashes. Photo
M. Turner
The exhibition has been developed in conjunction
with the Monash University Museum of Art (MUMA) in
Melbourne, where it opened in September.
05
Flying the
flag for
history
Detail of the centre of the flag, where the letter, dated 22 June 1915,
was sown. The letter acknowledges the generous purchase of the flag.
Unfortunately the name of the purchaser is no longer legible.
A link between Belgium, Antarctica and Australia was revealed when an historic flag was
unfurled by the Macleay Museum, writes Jan Brazier.
During World War I, money for the besieged allied
countries was raised on special days, through activities
such as parades, street collections, and performances.
‘Belgian Day’, held on 14 May 1915, included a Grand
Gala matinee at Her Majesty’s Theatre in Sydney,
at which an auction of several objects (from flags to
greyhound dogs to jewels) raised funds, the Sydney
Morning Herald reported.
The following day, the Herald told of an enthusiastic
audience for the auction, which secured 120 guineas
for a Belgian flag and 110 guineas for a Union Jack.
The astonishing figure of 210 guineas was paid for
another Union Jack, tattered and faded, which had
accompanied the Mawson expedition to Antarctica.
The flag was donated to the auction by JH Collinson
Close, Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and an
Assistant Collector on Mawson’s 1911–14 expedition.
Following the auction, a letter printed onto silk was
sewn into the centre of the flag. Dated 22 June 1915
and written by Percy Hunter for the National Belgian
Relief Fund of NSW, it authenticates the Antarctic use
of the flag. It states that the flag was flown on Trafalgar
Day, 1912 at the winter headquarters of Mawson’s
Australasian Antarctic Expedition in Adelie Land.
The flag was recently transferred into the Macleay
Museum’s history collection, from the Rare Books
Collection at Fisher Library. How the flag came to the
Library is yet to be discovered.
Douglas Mawson (1882–1958), one of Australia’s most
famous polar explorers, was a member of Shackleton’s
Landing stores at Boat
Harbour, Main Base,
Australasian Antarctic
Expedition 1911-1914.
Glass lantern slide,
Geology Department
Teaching Collection,
Macleay Museum
(HP90.28.2012)
06
1907–1909 Antarctica expedition, leader of the
Australasian Antarctic Expedition (1911–14), and of the
British, Australian and New Zealand Antarctic Research
Expedition in 1929–31. He studied at the University
of Sydney, graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering
in 1902 and Bachelor of Science in 1905, and was a
lecturer and later professor in Geology at the University
of Adelaide. Mawson was knighted in 1914. He
received his Doctorate of Science from the University of
Sydney in 1952.
The Macleay Museum holds a variety of related
Antarctic material, including a large collection of lantern
slides originally from the Geology Department’s teaching
collection. These slides are currently being indexed,
as part of an Australian Research Council project into
Thomas Griffith Taylor, who travelled to Antarctica on
Robert Scott’s Terra Nova expedition of 1910–13 and
was the foundation head of the University of Sydney’s
geography department from 1920 to 1928. An exhibition
arising from this research on Griffith Taylor will be held at
the Macleay Museum in 2009.
If anyone has any information regarding the flag, we
would be delighted to receive it. It is hoped that further
research will reveal more of the story of this historic flag,
and that funding can be raised for its conservation.
Jan Brazier has recently joined the Macleay Museum as
Curator, History Collections. She has extensive research
experience in Australian history, and for the past 15
years was Archivist at the Australian Museum.
Give us your marbles
By David Hill, Chairman of the International Association for the Reunification of the
Parthenon Sculptures
Later this year Athens will see the opening of the
magnificent new Acropolis Museum, arguably one of the
most significant buildings to be built in the city for the
past two thousand years. The Museum, which is located
below the south east corner of the Acropolis, will house
all the surviving ancient artifacts from the Acropolis
– including the sculptures of the Parthenon.
It has been designed to house the sculptures on the
top floor and these sculptures will be presented in
exactly the same configuration and position as they sat
on the Parthenon. The Temple itself can be seen from
the Museum, through vast glass windows, across the
Acropolis.
About half the surviving 200-odd pieces of marble
sculptures from the Parthenon are in the British
Museum, having been stripped from the temple by the
staff of Lord Elgin, who was the British Ambassador
to the region around 1800. Elgin had intended the
sculptures to adorn his family estate in Scotland but
in 1816, when facing severe financial problems, he
sold the collection to the British Government. The
Government passed them on to the British Museum.
Most of the other surviving sculptures are still in Athens,
although a few smaller pieces and fragments are held
in a variety of European museums, including those in
Paris, Copenhagen, Vienna, Palermo, Munich, Strasburg
and the Vatican. A small fragment from the Parthenon
frieze was returned to Athens by the Heidelberg
Museum last year.
Elgin took the sculptures that were in the best condition,
leaving those that had been ravaged by time and
events. He also left the entire sculptured west frieze,
because the Temple’s heavy marble superstructure was
still intact at this end of the building and too difficult
to move. To remove much of the marble frieze, Elgin
used special saws to cut them from the building and in
doing so permanently destroyed much of the building’s
structure.
In some cases Elgin took part of a statue piece, leaving
the other half in Athens. The shoulders and breast of the
magnificent, twice-life-size statue of the god Poseidon
from the west pediment of the Parthenon is in the British
Museum; the lower part of the torso remains in Athens.
The Parthenon sculptures are among the world’s finest
surviving ancient art works. Built in the middle of the
5th century BC, the Parthenon is unique in a number
of respects and represents a pinnacle of human
achievement. It is also symbolic of the great cultural
achievements of the time; in art, architecture, science,
mathematics, theatre, philosophy and democracy.
It was the most decorated of all ancient Greek temples.
Around the outside and on all four sides there were a
total of 92 sculptured panels, or metopes, depicting
a number of scenes reflecting the struggle of good
over evil. It was the only ancient Greek temple with
sculptured metopes on all four sides of the building.
On the architrave inside the building sat the magnificent
frieze that ran for 160 metres around all four walls,
depicting a procession that culminates with the twelve
Olympian gods seated on the sacred east end of the
building.
In the triangular pediments at each end of the building
were about 40 statues-in-the- round. At the centre of
the east end was depicted the birth of Athena springing
from the head of Zeus. At the western end the centre
depicted a struggle between Athena and Poseidon for
control of Attica.
The Greek Government and many supporters around
the world have been calling for Britain to return the Elgin
Collection so that the entire surviving work can
07
Give us your marbles
The Parthenon.
Organization for the
Construction of the
New Acropolis Museum
Archives.
Photo V. Vrettos
The Acropolis reflected
in the glass of the new
Acropolis Museum.
Organization for the
Construction of the
New Acropolis Museum
Archives.
Photo V. Vrettos
08
Continued from page 7...
be reunited in its original setting to allow the original
narrative to be appreciated.
Parthenon sculptures, less than half the number that
visit the Acropolis in Athens. With the opening of the
new Acropolis museum we can expect the number of
visitors to further increase.
By not agreeing to return the sculptures Britain is
increasingly out of step with modern museum practice
around the world. No one would argue that all the
objects in museums should be returned to their country
of origin but there is now almost universal acceptance
of the principle that items of special significance should
be repatriated. In 1997 a survey of the British Museums
Association revealed that 97 per cent of their members
supported the principle of repatriating cultural property
in certain circumstances.
Throughout Britain and around the world there has
been growing support for the return of the Parthenon
sculptures. Surveys of public opinion in Britain in recent
times have consistently demonstrated overwhelming
support for their return and the parliaments and political
leaders of many nations, including USA, Russia,
Canada, Australia, New Zealand, China, Turkey and a
number of European countries have joined the call for
Britain to return the marbles.
The British Museum has no reasonable grounds for
retaining the collection. On their website they say that
the British Museum is a ‘universal’ museum and that
in London more people are able to see the collection.
However, less than one million people a year now visit
the Duveen Gallery of the British Museum to see the
The British Government should be commended for
having initiated the return of the Nazi’s stolen artwork
to their original owners, and more recently the return of
aboriginal human remains to their original communities.
We now look to the British to right one of history’s great
wrongs and return the wonderful Parthenon sculptures
to their home.
Sharing
your marbles
By Dyfri Williams, Keeper of Antiquities at the British Museum
Museums may be divided into two types: those that
attempt to serve one particular location and those that
attempt to serve the world by including all places and
all people. Both types are vital to our understanding
of the material remains of the various cultures of the
world.
should be to make all the pieces everywhere, those
in the various museums round the world, those many
sadly still on the building and, as best we can, those
sculptures and parts of sculptures that are tragically
lost forever (some 50 percent), available to all, in a
modern fashion and for free.
The fact that history has shared the Parthenon
sculptures between more than one location and more
than one nation (in fact, seven in all) is particularly
significant. It allows for a plurality of approaches and
an extraordinary diversity of visitor response. The
sculptures can speak in their Athenian context, among
other things wrought, one might say, for an ancient
imperialist city supported by slave-labour (rightly in
the case of ancient Athens). In other museums that do
their best to introduce people from all over the world
to the cultures of others, although they are sometimes
accused of being full of imperial loot (wrongly in the
case of the British Museum), the sculptures help to
reveal interconnections and differences, and to allow
perhaps for a new understanding in a spirit of tolerance.
Much important work has been done in Athens in
recent decades by scholars in piecing together the
fragments of the sculptures found scattered all over the
Acropolis rock, most especially by the current Ephoros
of the Acropolis, Dr Alexandros Mantis, on the metopes
from the south side of the Parthenon. This astonishing
research needs to be better known by all.
What is needed now is a greater sharing of knowledge
and understanding of the Parthenon and its sculptures
in order to help everyone to see them better. This is
best done through collaboration not confrontation.
It is hardly a solution to display in a spectacular new
museum “veiled” (and thus illegible) casts of sculptures
currently elsewhere in a not so veiled attempt at
blackmail. Nor does it seem suitable to destroy a listed
Art Deco building just so that the view from the café
(not the gallery) of that museum can be unimpeded.
But such are the stories that journalists love. Our aim
Virtual reconstruction of
Parthenon South Metope
IV (including heads in
the National Museum
Copenhagen and pieces
lost in the explosion of
1687)
With the possibility of inspiring a future collaborative
project, the British Museum began an assessment of
the quality of three dimensional scanning, the basic
tool for reconstructing and manipulating the sculptures
virtually. It was decided to concentrate on one metope
(South IV), which is divided between the British
Museum and the National Museum in Copenhagen,
and, at the same time, make sure there was an endproduct that could be delivered to the public as a short
computer-generated film. In this way, we could both
reveal the potential of the technology and, while telling
the metope’s “modern” history, recreate its original
condition, complete with metal attachments and
painted colour.
A still shot from this new computer-generated film
now on display in London (and shortly also in the
museum gallery in Copenhagen; and at Harvard in the
special exhibition Painted Gods) shows the heads in
Virtual reconstruction of
Parthenon South Metope
IV in its architectural
setting (possible colour
scheme)
09
Sharing your marbles
Continued from page 9...
Copenhagen set in place, the pieces of the figures that
were drawn in 1674 by Jacques Carré but destroyed in
the terrible explosion of 1687 restored, and the obvious
other missing elements reconstructed on the basis of
better preserved examples among the metopes.
The lost metal wreath on the youth’s head and the
sword in his hand have also been restored. As for
colour, the only actual remains of pigment that have
been precisely located, independently confirmed and
subjected to scientific analysis were found in recent
years on the triglyphs and on the raised band on the
upper side of a metope. Both were dark blue.
Other visual sources, however, including sculptures,
terracottas and vase-paintings, have been used to
provide some sort of a coloured reconstruction. One
specific issue of colour may perhaps be resolvable
– the colour of the architectural background to the
sculpture of the metope. A number of nineteenthcentury architects and artists, in trying to restore the
Parthenon’s original polychromy, gave the colour of the
metope ground as either blue or red, the latter being
the favoured choice. For example, a red metope ground
The Acropolis
in the snow #1,
2004.
Photo S.
Paspalas
10
was chosen for the otherwise uncoloured exterior of
the extraordinary replica of the Parthenon in Nashville,
Tennessee. Nevertheless, a white or entirely unpainted
background now seems the most likely solution,
especially on the analogy of the wonderful, painted
Macedonian tombs at Vergina and elsewhere, all fairly
recent discoveries, which reveal blue triglyphs, white
metopes with a blue band at the top, and red bands
below and above. This solution has been used in the
film to briefly explore how colour affected the viewer’s
ability to understand the sculptures from a distance.
The creation of such a didactic film has led us to
question and test many traditional assumptions about
the metopes. The creation of a larger project would
enable further collaborative research and certainly new
and important results. Such an endeavour, combining
scholars from all over the world, could be expanded
to cover the whole Parthenon and form the core of an
exciting multi-level educational tool. But this requires
collaboration and support. Let us leave behind all the
posturing and sniping, as discussed and do something
of real benefit for all.
Scrapbook reveals
hidden treasures
A fragment of a Rembrandt etching and two drawings attributed
to John Constable are pasted alongside works by unknown artists
in a ‘scrapbook’ bequeathed to the University of Sydney, writes
Sarah McCarthy.
The scrapbook, one of two bequeathed to the
University in 1987, was recently rediscovered in
the University Art Collection after two decades;
uncatalogued, with no research undertaken into its
history and contents. It holds 85 works on paper by
various amateur and professional artists.
The second scrapbook is currently in the Rare
Books Collection at Fisher Library. It belonged to
Evelyn Nicholson, the daughter-in-law of Sir Charles
Nicholson, a co-founder and chancellor of the
University of Sydney and significant benefactor to
its museums and collections. It contains a series of
watercolour drawings documenting her trip to Australia
in 1897 with her husband Charles Archibald Nicholson.
It was presumed the first scrapbook belonged to Sir
Charles Nicholson himself. As part of my postgraduate
studies in Museum Studies at the University, I am
working as an intern with the University Art Gallery to
catalogue and research this scrapbook so that it may
form the basis for an exhibition next year. The gallery
exhibition will be one of several held by the University’s
museums to mark 200 years since the birth of Sir
Charles Nicholson, and will have a unique focus.
I recently discovered that the scrapbook was the
enduring endeavour of Sir Charles’ wife, Sarah
Elizabeth Nicholson nee Keightley.
There are a substantial number of artworks in
the scrapbook to be researched, and the artists
represented are diverse in their choice of subject matter
and artistic skill. Interestingly, the collector has made
no distinction between the amateur and professional
artists in her scrapbook; a fragment of a Rembrandt
etching and two drawings attributed to John Constable
are pasted alongside unknown artists most likely to be
close friends or acquaintances, as well as artists from
the Royal Academy. Only one of the works is thought to
be by Sarah herself – a small watercolour drawing of a
woman’s head signed S.E.K and dated 1860.
Existing documentation relating to Sarah is limited,
perhaps in part due to the devastating fire in 1899
at Totteridge, the Nicholson’s residence, in which
most of their papers were destroyed. It is known,
however, that she had an enthusiasm for art in her
youth which continued after her marriage to Sir
Charles in 1865. A modest collection of documents
relating to the Nicholson’s also survive in the University
of Sydney Archives. Included are a photograph of
Sarah at an easel in the studio of Totteridge and
an original manuscript by close friend and one of
the amateur artists in the scrapbook, Clara Lane.
Titled ‘Recollections of Sir Charles Nicholson
1903’, the manuscript is especially invaluable for its
characterisation of Sarah as an artist:
Hermann Woolf, Miss
Bloxam pencil on
paper, nd (detail)
Sir John Nicholson
Bequest 1989
University Art
Collection
“The pursuit of Art was ever more and more
enjoyed in our homes; we were often together,
daring every kind of subject, and nothing daunted
by failures! We loved the studio at Charterhouse,
and the happiest hours passed in drawing flowers,
faces, figures, corners of Charterhouse, folds of
drapery, – and – each other!”
Probably begun in the mid 1850s before the Nicholson’s
marriage and stretching over at least several decades,
the scrapbook is a fascinating example of a popular
19th century pastime enjoyed in particular by women
and children. As the focus of an exhibition it will also
allow for a rare exploration into the character of Sir
Charles’ wife and companion, Lady Sarah Nicholson.
Sarah McCarthy is completing an MA in Museum
Studies at the University of Sydney. The scrapbook and
collected works will be on display at the University Art
Gallery at the end of 2008.
Unknown photographer,
Lady Sarah Nicholson at the
Nicholson home Totteridge in
England c1875 (detail)
Image courtesy of University of
Sydney Archives
11
Conservation and the art
of using a sledgehammer
It’s not often that you are offered a job on your perceived ability to use a sledgehammer,
writes Alayne Alvis.
While working as an objects conservator at the
Australian War Memorial, learning the arcane arts
involved with the conservation of firearms and edged
weapons, my supervisor and a couple of senior
conservators took me aside. “We reckon you’re not
afraid to use a sledgehammer when you have to,”
they surmised. “How do you feel about doing Large
Technology Conservation?”
Sydney University
Museums’
conservator,
Alayne Alvis
Following that probing interview, I acquired a set of
blue overalls and one of many pairs of steel capped
boots and entered the even more arcane world of
Large Technology. There is no fixed definition of ‘Large
Technology’ – generally, it’s a piece that needs two
or more blokes to move it, has some sort of motor or
mechanism somewhere and causes many conservators
to blench at the thought of treating it.
The Metropolitan Museum
of Art Store features a large
selection of reproduction
sculpture along with a gorgeous
collection of jewellery, scarves,
ceramics, glassware and
a wide range of children’s gifts.
Torso of a Boy, a 1st or 2nd
century Roman copy of a
Greek original (425–400 B.C.),
exemplifies the high Classical
style developed in Athens during
the second half of the fifth
century B.C. – a period generally
considered the peak of artistic
accomplishment, and during
which the Parthenon and most
of the other famous buildings
on the Athenian Acropolis were
built and decorated.
Our sculpture is reproduced
from the Roman copy in
the Museum's collection.
Cast marble, hand patinated.
Height including base 58cm.
$1495.
Jobs could vary from mundane (like maintaining tyre
pressures in the Queen’s Land Rover) to downright
difficult (de-riveting an aircraft’s centre section
components while being curled up inside said centre
section). Eventually I was able to run projects with my
own team of conservators and volunteers, culminating
in the conservation of the Messerschmitt Bf-109 fighter,
which took a full year of hands-on work, plus several
months of planning and documentation.
Of course, it’s not all big things that go ‘bang’.
My experience at various institutions with diverse
collections means I’ve been able to work on an immense
variety of objects and materials. It has prepared me for
work with Sydney University Museums. In the course
of a few days I might be looking at an ancient Egyptian
bronze, historic photographs, pottery or cultural objects
from the Pacific. This is all part of the behind-the-scenes
work of a conservator – treating objects, assessing
material for loan or exhibition, preparing mounts and
working on the long-term preservation of collections
by improving storage and environmental conditions. In
many ways, the work of a conservator is ‘invisible’ – a
visitor might not notice that an object has been repaired
or reconstructed or that a support shows an object
off to its best advantage and also holds it safely on its
plinth.
Working with the University Museums is particularly
special, considering the range of items collected and the
longevity of the collections. I already have a favourite
object (a Roman glass bowl), but considering I’ve only
seen a tiny proportion of the collections, I may yet find
something I like better.
You know, I never did get to use that sledgehammer …
Alayne Alvis recently joined Sydney University Museums
as its conservator.
Level 2, Queen Victoria Building • T3 Sydney Airport • 1800 207 525
12
Events and opening nights
Volunteers
day
In August, the wonderful volunteers who work at University Museums got together for an orientation day
and luncheon. This diverse group of people – from students to retirees – come from a wide range of
backgrounds, and work on the museum desks and as tour guides, providing expertise and assistance to
the museum staff. To find out more about becoming a volunteer, contact Catherine Timbrell on 9351 2774.
Reconciliation award
The theme for this year’s reconciliation art competition
was Their spirit still shines. Hundreds of school students
put their creative talents to work and a selection of forty
of entries were displayed in the Macleay Museum during
August. Competition organisers, the Eastern Region Local
Government Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Forum,
awarded the Museum the 2007 Pauline McLeod Award in
recognition of the exhibition.
The exhibition was officially opened on Sunday 5 August
and many of the artists from participating schools attended
with their families.
Councillor Dominic Kanak from Waverley Council and Dr Craig Barker of Sydney University
Museums (left) and a very happy Jacob Riesal (right)
His Eminence Cardinal George Pell spoke on
Constantine: First Catholic Emperor in the Nicholson
Museum for the Faces of Power Lecture Series
Professor Don Nutbeam with The Hon Bob Carr, who
spoke on Marcus Aurehus as part of the Faces of Power
Lecture Series in the Nicholson Museum
Emeritus Professor Yvonne Cossart and Professor John
Harris at Bob Carr’s lecture
13
W ed nesday 3
O ctober
Wed nesday 1 0
O ctober
S aturday 2 7
O ctober
W ed n esday 31
O ctober
Nicholson Museum,
6 for 6.30pm
University Art Gallery,
6 for 6.30pm
Macleay Museum,
6 for 6.30pm
public lecture:
DR JAMES BROADBENt,
from canton to
irrawang: trade and
taste in the ealry
colony
Irrawang examines the
archaeology of James
King’s Irrawang Pottery
Manufactory in the Hunter
Valley in the 19th century.
Dr James Broadbent,
historian/conservationist,
and expert will talk on
colonial Australian history
and culture.
Art Gallery, Macleay and
Nicholson Museums,
10am–4pm
PUBLIC LECTURE:
JOHN JAMES
CHARTRES: THE
CATHEDRAL THAT
STIRS PASSION
To coincide with the
exhibition Chartres – Lloyd
Rees, renowned expert
John James will discuss
his passion for the
Cathedral and the
inspiration it has had upon
artists and writers
throughout the ages.
Cost: $20/$15 FNM
Bookings essential:
9351 2812 or
[email protected]
Su nday 1 4
O ctober
Su nday 7 October
Macleay Museum, 2pm
SECRET LIVES OF
AUSTRALIA’S
MARSUPIALS
MEET THE ARTIST: ROY
BARKER JR
Roy Barker Jr will discuss
his installation Murawari
Works and talk about his
carving style and methods.
Macleay Museum, 2pm
Talk by Dr Katherine Belov,
from the University’s
Faculty of Veterinary
Science.
Many animals face
extinction because of viral
diseases: facial tumours in
Tasmanian devils and
Chlamydia in koalas are just
two Australian examples.
Dr Belov will talk about the
science of extracting DNA
sequence, and what the
genome of an organism can
tell you.
Macleay Museum, 3pm
Talk by Christopher
Dickman from the
University’s Institute of
Wildlife Research.
Professor Dickman’s work
investigates the impacts
introduced species and
humans have on small
mammals and reptiles. He
will share insights on the
lives of animals such as
the brown antechinus
(Antechinus stuartii), first
described by William
Sharp Macleay from a
species found at Sydney’s
Quarantine station.
Free entry to both talks
Bookings: 9036 5253
14
Cost: $10/$5 students
Bookings: 9351 6883 or
[email protected]
Free entry
2 2 October – 1 6
D ecember
Nicholson Museum
PARTHENON
RESTORATION
EXHIBITION
Organised by the
Committee for the
Conservation of the
Acropolis Monuments, the
exhibition explores recent
archaeological and
restoration work on the
ancient Athenian temple of
Athena, the Parthenon.
Free entry
Spring Back to
Sydney
University Museums will
be open as part of the
celebrations for alumni
who graduated in a year
ending in ‘7’. Visit our
exhibitions, take part in a
free museum tour or book
a heritage tour.
Free entry to University
Museums
For information on
Spring Back to Sydney
events, phone 9036 9222
or visit www.usyd.edu.
au/spring_back
MACLEAY MIKLOUHOMACLAY FELLOWSHIP
LECTURE 2007:
SUSIE DAVIES
Susie Davies, the 2006–
2007 Macleay MiklouhoMaclay Fellow, and former
curator of ethnography,
will present her research
on the Macleay Museum’s
19th century ethnographic
collection from coastal
Papua New Guinea.
Free entry
Bookings essential:
9036 5253
S un day 2 8
O ctober
Nicholson Museum,
12 noon–4pm
PARTHENON DAY
An afternoon of events
focusing on the Parthenon,
the famous temple
dedicated to Athena, in the
Acropolis of Athens. Hear
talks on Classical Athenian
art and architecture, let
children take part in
various activities and
handle Classical Greek
archaeological material
from the time of the
Parthenon.
T hursday 8
November
Free entry
Nicholson Museum,
6 for 6.30pm
T uesday 3 0
O ctober
PUBLIC LECTURE:
WAYNE JOHNSON,
CONVICTS AND
COLONIALS:
ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE
ROCKS
Dr Wayne Johnson,
archaeologist and heritage
manager, Sydney Harbour
Foreshore Authority,
examines thirty years of
archaeological
excavations in The Rocks.
The talk will explore how
such investigations have
shed light on the
foundation of the colony of
NSW and the lives of the
people who lived there.
Cost: $20/$15 FNM
Bookings essential:
9351 2812 or
[email protected]
Nicholson Museum,
6 for 6.30pm
PUBLIC LECTURE:
Dimitrios
PANDERMALIS ON THE
PARTHENON and NEW
ACROPOLIS MUSEUM
Professor Pandermalis,
President of the
Organization for the
Construction of the New
Acropolos Museum,
speaks about its
construction and
development.
Cost: $25/$20 FNM
Bookings essential:
9351 2812 or
[email protected]
S unday 11
November
Wed nesday 1 4
n ovember
S un day 2 5
November
T hursday 6
D ecember
Macleay Museum,
12.30pm
Nicholson Museum,
6 for 6.30pm
Macleay Museum,
12.30pm
Nicholson Museum, 6pm
PUBLIC TALK: DIVIA
PATEL, COLONIAL
INDIAN PHOTOGRAPHY
Divia Patel, curator with
the Indian and South-East
Asian Department at the
Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, speaks
on the V&A’s Indian
photographic collection. A
rare chance to hear a
curator from one of the
world’s great museums.
Divia curated the
Powerhouse Museum
exhibition Cinema India:
the art of Bollywood.
PUBLIC LECTURE: PAUL
FOSTER, JAMES KING,
VINOUS VISIONARY – A
BLOKE WITH A TASTE
FOR WINE
Join wine writer and
connoisseur Paul Foster
as he explores the
beginning of the Australian
wine industry.
SCIENCE,
ILLUSTRATION AND
BEAUTY culture in
NSW museums and
art galleries
Illustrations for scientific
purpose engage with both
scientific rigor and
aesthetic beauty. Robyn
Stacey’s new publication
(see Museum entry on this
page) features heightened
photographic images of
the Macleay Museum’s
natural history specimens.
Hear talks on science,
illustration and beauty at
the Macleay Museum.
(See www.hht.net.au for
details of related events at
Elizabeth Bay House).
Cost: $20/$15 FNM
Bookings essential:
9351 2812 or
[email protected]
Free entry
Bookings essential:
9036 5253 or
macleaymuseum@usyd.
edu.au
Free entry
Bookings essential:
9036 5253
University Art Gallery,
1pm
Saturday 1 7
November
ARTIST TALK: MARK
HILTON
Melbourne artist Mark
Hilton speaks about his
exhibition, Morpheus.
Continuing Education,
10am–4pm
Free entry
Bookings: 9351 6883 or
[email protected]
Macleay Museum, 2pm
MUSEUM
Celebrate the launch of
the book Museum: the
Macleays, their collection
and the search for order
with talks by photographer
Robyn Stacey, author
Ashley Hay and natural
history curator Elizabeth
Jefferys.
Talks will also be held in
the morning at Elizabeth
Bay House with curators
Scott Carlin and Scott Hill
plus Stacey and Hay. (See
www.hht.net.au for further
details).
Free entry
Bookings essential:
9036 5253 or
macleaymuseum@usyd.
edu.au
THE PARTHENON:
ARCHAEOLOGY, ART
AND OWNERSHIP –
A STUDY DAY
University Museums and
the Centre for Continuing
Education present a study
day to mark the exhibition
on the restoration work by
the Committee for the
Preservation of the
Acropolis Monuments. The
architectural achievements
and the beauty of the
sculptural adornments are
explored, as is the
buildings little-known later
history. Presented by
Michael Turner, Dr Craig
Barker, Dr Elizabeth Bollen
and Matthew McCallum.
Cost: $125
Bookings essential: see
www.cce.usyd.edu.au for
details
FRIENDS OF THE
NICHOLSON MUSEUM
ANNUAL CHRISTMAS
GALA
Celebrate the end of the
year in style, with the
Friends of the Nicholson
Museum’s annual
Christmas Gala. A serving
of fine wine, fine food and
fine music; all surrounded
by the Nicholson
Museum’s exquisite
collection. The evening
features superb prizes and
a lecture by Dr Alistair
Blanshard on ancient
festivals and spectacles.
Cost: $50/$40 FNM
Bookings essential:
9351 2812 or
[email protected]
S un day 9
D ecember
Macleay Museum,
12 noon–4pm
S un day 2
D ecember
Nicholson Museum, 2pm
CURATOR’S CHOICE #3:
DR CRAIG BARKER,
STEPHANIA IN CYPRUS
An exploration of the
Nicholson Museum’s
Cypriot holdings with a
particular look at the
material excavated by an
Australian archaeological
team from the significant
Bronze Age cemetery of
Stephania in 1951.
MUSEUM: BIG + small
Investigate the big and the
small during Museum, an
exhibition of Robyn
Stacey’s impressive
images of the collections.
This fun day of children’s
activities, will include
looking at specimens
through magnifying
glasses and making
Christmas cards.
Free entry
Free entry
15
SYDNEY UNIVERSITY MUSEUMS
(comprising Macleay Museum, Nicholson
Museum and University Art Gallery)
Open Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm;
Sunday, noon to 4pm
Closed on public holidays. Admission free.
Website: www.usyd.edu.au/museums
Sydney University Museums will be closed for Christmas from 17
December to 3 January. Macleay Museum dates may vary
– check website for details.
MACLEAY MUSEUM
Macleay Building, Gosper Lane off Science Road
Phone: 02 9036 5253 Fax: 02 9351 5646
Email: [email protected]
On show at the Macleay Museum
Rational Order: Carl von Linné (1707–1778) (until 20
October)
Murawari Works – Roy Barker Jr (until 28 October)
Museum – Robyn Stacey and Ashley Hay (5 November to
16 December)
Permanent displays look at the history of our scientific
and cultural collections.
NICHOLSON MUSEUM
In the southern entrance to the Quadrangle
Phone: 02 9351 2812 Fax: 02 9351 7305
Email: [email protected]
On show at the Nicholson Museum
Irrawang (until 9 December)
Parthenon Restoration (22 October to 16 December)
Sigmund Freud’s Collection: An Archeology of the Mind
(3 January to 31 March)
Also permanent displays of Greek, Etruscan, Egyptian,
Near & Middle Eastern, Cypriot and Roman antiquities.
UNIVERSITY ART GALLERY
War Memorial Arch, Quadrangle
Phone: 02 9351 6883 Fax: 02 9351 7785
Email: [email protected]
On show at the University Art Gallery
Chartres – Lloyd Rees (until 4 November)
Morpheus – Mark Hilton (11 November to 20 January
2008)
Larus pacificus
(Latham 1802)
Pacific Gull, collected
at Elizabeth Bay
House by William
John Macleay or
George Masters.
© Robyn Stacey
2007
Museum – Robyn
Stacey and Ashley Hay
“It’s always a thrill when my photos help people see
a hidden collection or see an object from a totally
different perspective...” says Robin Stacey, who began
photographing the Macleay Museum’s holdings in
2001. The nature of the Macleay collection – its fragility,
size and importance – means only two percent of it is
actually ever on display to the public.
An exhibition of Stacey’s engaging photographs, titled
Museum, opens at the Macleay in November.
The photographs will be published in Stacey’s second
book with author Ashley Hay, called Museum: the
Macleays, their collection and the search for order. It
follows on from Herbarium, which saw Stacey gain
unprecedented access to the Royal Botanic Gardens in
Sydney.
The book will be launched by Her Excellency Professor
Marie Bashir, Governor of New South Wales and
Chancellor of the University of Sydney.
Stacey and Hay will speak about the book on 11 and 25
November (see Events pages for details). The exhibition,
Museum, opens on 5 November and continues until 16
December.
Sydney University Museums Newsletter
Edited by Michael Turner
Designed and edited by the Publications Office
of the University of Sydney, October 2007
Template by Stephen Goddard Design
Printed by SOS Print and Media Group
CRICOS Provider No. 00026A
07/1433
ISSN 1449-0420