Explorer Summer 2015

Explorer Pringle of Scotland celebrates 200 years

SUMMER 2015

A Victorian obsession with photography

OBJECT OF DESIRE A Spitting Image great falls for Japanese porcelain

THE MAGAZINE FOR SUPPORTERS OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS SCOTLAND

THE RED ARROWS

A breathtaking journey from front-line Afghanistan to elite aerobatics team

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SUMMER 2015

Explorer Pringle of Scotland celebrates 200 years

SUMMER 2015

A Victorian obsession with photography

OBJECT OF DESIRE A Spitting Image legend falls for Japanese porcelain

Contents

The thing that really moves me is the aesthetic, the visual language PAGE 14

THE MAGAZINE FOR SUPPORTERS OF NATIONAL MUSEUMS SCOTLAND

THE RED ARROWS

A breathtaking journey from frontline Afghanistan to elite aerobatics team

EXPLORER National Museums Scotland Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1JF Email explorer@nms.ac.uk www.nms.ac.uk Membership, donation and sponsorship enquiries 0131 247 4095

SELF PORTRAIT BY KATSUHIKO TOKUNAGA, SHOT DURING RED ARROWS TRAINING, CYPRUS, 2014

Explorer is the magazine for supporters of National Museums Scotland and is published by the Trustees of National Museums Scotland. Scottish Charity No SC011130 Editor Kathleen Morgan kathleen.morgan@ thinkpublishing.co.uk Editorial panel Rosina Buckland, Alison Cromarty, Imogene Deery, Susan Gray, Joanna Macrae, Neil McLean, Anne McMeekin Group Art Director Matthew Ball Designer Alistair McGown Chief Sub Editor Sian Campbell Sub Editor Kirsty Fortune Publishing Assistant Emma Wilson Contributors Andrew Cattanach, Anne Devlin, Alec Mackenzie, Peter Ross Account Director John Innes john.innes@thinkpublishing.co.uk

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EVERY ISSUE

THIS ISSUE

04 WELCOME 05 SNAPSHOT A copper cavity used to unlock the secrets of the universe 06 NOTEBOOK News from the Museums 12 INSIDE STORY Cleaning a unique window 22 OBJECT OF DESIRE Swapping puppets for porcelain

Produced by Think, on behalf of National Museums Scotland.

Think, Suite 2.3, Red Tree Business Suites, 33 Dalmarnock Road, Glasgow G40 4LA www.thinkpublishing.co.uk

14 VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY Celebrity and the birth of a national obsession 18 PRINGLE OF SCOTLAND Meet the head designer at the iconic brand as it celebrates 200 years 20 THE RED ARROWS The Scots behind those breathtaking RAF displays

OUR MUSEUMS

1 3 2

1 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF SCOTLAND Chambers Street Edinburgh EH1 1JF Open daily

1 NATIONAL MUSEUMS COLLECTION CENTRE Granton Edinburgh EH5 1JA Visits by appointment

1 NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh EH1 2NG Open daily

2 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF RURAL LIFE Wester Kittochside Philipshill Road East Kilbride G76 9HR Open daily

3 NATIONAL MUSEUM OF FLIGHT East Fortune Airfield East Lothian EH39 5LF Open daily April to October Open weekends November to March

Call 0300 123 6789 Visit www.nms.ac.uk

National Museum of Rural Life

WWW.NMS.AC.UK // SUMMER 2015 // EXPLORER 3

SUMMER 2015

Welcome Join us for a sensational season of stand-out shows and exhibitions

W

e look forward, as ever, to a busy summer programme of events and exhibitions across our sites.

The highlights include our National Airshow, the major exhibitions Fully Fashioned: The Pringle of Scotland Story and Photography: A Victorian Sensation, as well as Helmand Return at the National War Museum and Next of Kin touring around Scotland.

Meanwhile, we are making good progress with several key projects including the creation of ten new galleries at the National Museum of Scotland, the redevelopment of two hangars at the National Museum of Flight, and a new research and storage facility at the National Museums Collection Centre.

This issue of Explorer magazine offers a fascinating insight into a range of these activities from behind the scenes. We reveal some of the extraordinary and often unseen work that goes into

major capital projects, staging a significant exhibition or even displaying a single object.

This process can involve extensive curatorial research, painstaking conservation and preservation, preparation of exhibits for display, and the complex process of moving objects, whether tiny and delicate archaeological fragments or a two-tonne space capsule. It can also include programming events, and working with both partners and funders.

Over the next year, as the key capital projects at the National Museum of Scotland and the National Museum of Flight progress, we will be sharing more of these fascinating glimpses behind the scenes in Explorer and online. We will also publish pictures, stories and short films on our website and blog.

You can stay up to date with all the latest museum news by signing up for our e-newsletter and following us on social media.

We are making good progress with several key projects

DR GORDON RINTOUL CBE Director of National Museums Scotland

A voyage of scientific discovery

A copper cavity from the world's largest particle accelerator goes on display next year, says Senior Curator Tacye Phillipson

SNAPSHOT An accelerating cavity from the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP), donated by CERN to the Museums

NEIL HANNA

T

he copper cavity is a cylinder and sphere made from pure copper.

It is beautifully shaped and polished, with an area inside designed to oscillate with microwaves. It was used at CERN near Geneva on the Large Electron-Positron Collider (LEP), the world’s biggest particle accelerator. CERN generously gave it to the National Museums Scotland, with the kind advocacy of the University of Edinburgh.

There were 128 of these cavities around a 27km ring.

They were the accelerating parts of a particle accelerator – the 'go faster' bit.

They were installed in 1989, then replaced in 1995 with an upgrade as part of CERN’s perpetual quest for more energy, more power to probe.

I have visited the 27km tunnel at CERN, 100m underground, where the LEP had been. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is

there now. I was lucky enough to see the LHC during its most recent upgrade. Nobody gets to go down there when it is running.

It is difficult to explain the details of modern particle physics – there are university courses that do this rather well.

The cavity is part of our desire to share the excitement and the scale of the scientific endeavour involved.

The cavity had to be transported on a side-loading

lorry, as it is too big to be loaded on from the back. We are going to put all that size and mass on the fifth-floor balcony of the National Museum of Scotland, within the six new science and technology galleries opening next year. It’s going to be in the Enquire gallery, which will be all about curiosity. The copper cavity will be lit up and shiny.

MORE INFORMATION Collision course, page 10 WWW.NMS.AC.UK // SUMMER 2015 // EXPLORER 5

SUMMER 2015

Notebook

The history makers Behind this coral necklace is a story of the Native American search for identity stretching back over generations

This striking coral necklace

by Gail Bird and Yazzie Johnson uses clever design on its front and back

T

HE necklace, handcrafted from coral beads set in 18 carat gold, is as contemporary as it is elegant.

However, behind the piece, which is displayed at the National Museum of Scotland, is a complex and inspiring story rooted in Native American history.

Designed and made by the Native American jewellers Yazzie Johnson and Gail Bird, the necklace is part of a proud cultural history that stretches back generations. It features in Surviving Desires: Making and Selling Jewellery in the American Southwest, a book

exploring the history of Native American jewellery in the Southwestern states of the US. Written by Henrietta Lidchi, Keeper of World Cultures at National Museums Scotland, the book explores how commercialisation has affected Native American identity and culture over the last 150 years. It is the product of nearly 20 years’ research by Henrietta, along with frequent visits to the Southwestern states, where she has built enduring relationships with Native American jewellers.

She says: “Native American jewellery is a distinctive and

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marketable product with a complex political and social history, just like tartan.” What makes it so special, she adds, is “the skilled working of silver and the colour coming from traditional stones and shell, like turquoise and spiny oyster”.

Over the generations, the jewellery has attracted the interest of outside groups, including government agencies, traders, curators and entrepreneurs, as well as Native Americans themselves.

While Native Americans have at times benefited from commercial interest in their

craft, they have also had to fight to maintain control of their work.

By the early 20th century, the American arts and crafts movement saw traditional Native American skills as a valuable aspect of US identity.

“They allowed indigenous communities to preserve elements of economic and cultural autonomy,” says Henrietta. “In the Depression, Navajo and Pueblo communities were sustained by the production of arts and crafts.

However, the popularity of the art meant manufacturers tried to copy the design while

A bow guard thought to have been made in the 1930s or 1940s

by David Tsikewa

Navajo-made collar tips from the 1930s

GAIL BIRD (2012)

Rainbow dancer brooches

simplifying the process.”

During the 1970s, Native American jewellery became a focus for social and political identity. As consumer interest in the art form intensified, so did the debate about Native American sovereignty.

Henrietta says: “With the prominence of the American Indian Movement, and the political and social changes in the United States, Native American jewellery ... was involved in the redefinition of identity and value.”

Indigenous jewellers wanted recognition as American artists, and saw

their work as more than adornment. Their jewellery was, says Henrietta, “an expression of indigenous presence and sovereignty”.

Johnson, who is Navajo, and Bird, whose ancestry is Laguna Pueblo and Santo Domingo Pueblo, met at school in Utah before establishing their creative partnership. They are among 20 living Native American jewellers whose work features in Surviving Desires.

Their coral and gold necklace reflects the importance of colour in Navajo and Pueblo beliefs. It complements

Gail Bird fuses tradition and originality

This necklace is a fashion piece, but also has a traditional cultural link

traditional dress, but works as a contemporary piece. “When you are preparing to take part in a ceremony, the traditional necklace is of coral beads,” explained Bird on a visit to National Museums Scotland.

“This necklace is a fashion piece, but it has a traditional cultural link because of the colours and the material.”

MORE INFORMATION Surviving Desires by Henrietta Lidchi is published by British Museum Press and the University of Oklahoma Press.

Visit www.nms.ac.uk/ coralnecklace WWW.NMS.AC.UK // SUMMER 2015 // EXPLORER 7

MUSEUM VOICES

ON THE HOOF

Unravelling a life through exhibits The playwright David Greig reflects on his ties to the National Museum of Scotland I have many different memories of the National Museum of Scotland. They start from when I was a kid being in awe of the giant blue whale skeleton hanging in the Great Hall. There was a real sense of wonderment.

The next phase of the journey for me was as a teenager going to the geology room, a lovely dark place to visit if you were with your girlfriend or walking around Edinburgh on a Saturday afternoon. You could admire the exhibits and maybe find the first stirrings of romance.

My main relationship with the museum, however, evolved when I had my own kids. We would go there fairly regularly. It was a safe bet there was something interesting each time you went, and you would find them lingering around different exhibits.

I especially remember seeing an exhibit I had read about in Adam Nicolson’s book Sea Room, about the Shiant islands in the Outer Hebrides.

It’s a piece of jewellery, a torc, found in the Minch and now exhibited in the museum. I was able to go to this object and enjoy not just the context of the museum but the perspective Nicolson had brought to it. What I love about a museum exhibit is that you stand in front of it and the story you make is unique to you.

My next phase of contact with the museum is likely to be much more on my own terms, following little bits of research. I’m obsessed with Neolithic Scotland, and the artefacts and ways of living during that time.

At the heart of any museum experience is the magic of human contact. Whether it is a suit of armour or a piece of jewellery, you’re in contact with another human being through the medium of that object.

I wonder if, like the many stages of man, there are the stages of the museum.

The first time, you visit as a child. Later, you take your own children. Finally, maybe you go because it’s a great place to enjoy the life going on around you, even amongst your own continuing discoveries.

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l Around 200 horses, ponies and foals will be jostling for star billing when The Heavy Horse Show comes to the National Museum of Rural Life in July. If you prefer vintage vehicles and retro glamour, try the Fabulous 50s event in May instead.

Find out more at www.nms.ac.uk/rural

David Greig’s adaptation of Charlie and Chocolate Factory is showing at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London

Beyond the front line Stories of Scottish families affected by WWI

At the heart of any museum experience is the magic of human contact

A

touring exhibition gives an insight into the lives of 43 men from the same community who served in the First World War. Next of Kin, exhibiting at Dumfries Museum until June, will tour to another eight Scottish venues, each telling the stories of local families affected by the conflict.

Included in the Dumfries display is the Brave Men of Mennock, a framed roll of

honour bearing the images of local men who signed up.

After discovering the roll of honour on the Next of Kin website, the family of one soldier, John Muirhead, was inspired to lend photographs and the soldier’s medals to the museum for exhibition.

The story of John, awarded the Military Medal after serving with the King’s Own Scottish Borderers, is told in an interactive digital display.

NOTEBOOK

ANGELA CATLIN; RUTH ARMSTRONG; THE FAMILY OF JOHN MUIRHEAD

John Muirhead was awarded the Military Medal

John survived the war, returning home to marry and raise ten children, but he suffered nightmares long after the fighting had finished.

Six of the soldiers in the framed roll of honour never came home.

After Dumfries Museum, Next of Kin will tour to venues including Rozelle House Galleries, Ayr and Hawick Museum, until May 2017.

MORE INFORMATION Visit www.nms.ac.uk/nextofkin WWW.NMS.AC.UK // SUMMER 2015 // EXPLORER 9

NOTEBOOK

Collision course A visit to a world science centre inspires educators

Ground control The Museum of Flight spreads its wings with two hangar restorations The scene-stealing Red Arrows are to dominate the skies this July when the RAF air acrobatic team headlines at Scotland’s National Airshow. Meanwhile, there has been plenty of action on ground level at the National Museum of Flight, with a major restoration project of two Second World War hangars unfolding before visitors’ eyes.

The restoration project, made possible with £1.3 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, is due to be completed by spring 2016. One hangar will be used to display military material, while the other will focus on civil aviation. A variety of impressive vintage aircraft were rolled out at the East Fortune site while the hangars were emptied for restoration.

Stuart McDonald, Principal Conservator, said: “Since the new year, we have emptied both of the hangars that are being redeveloped. We moved the bulk of the aircraft collection into a bespoke temporary hangar that was constructed on site at the National Museum of Flight.”

Meantime, two further hangars, open daily to the public since Easter, have also been used to display key parts of the collection.

Fiona Smith digs deep at CERN

A

A de Havilland Dragon DH84 dating from 1942

Stuart added: “A few of the aircraft have been positioned outside for the duration of the project and will add to the visitor experience of being at an airfield.”

One of the most significant planes to be moved in recent weeks was the Scottish Aviation Twin Pioneer, a British transport aircraft built at Prestwick Airport during the 1950s.

A Blue Streak rocket has proved the most tricky to move, with two cranes, a low-loader HGV, a five-tonne forklift and around ten staff involved in moving the missile.

“The rocket weighs 12.5 tonnes, and is 18 metres long and three metres in diameter,”

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explained Stuart. “Due to its double-skin construction, we had to pressurise it before we moved and lifted it.

“Generally speaking, we moved the aircraft with our airfield tractor and used four staff. We often had assistance from our volunteers, which made life easier when we had to manhandle the larger aircraft into tight spaces.”

Following the restoration, there will be a viewing platform in the military hanger, which will be accessible to all by stairs and a lift.

Previously unseen items, including uniforms, documents and log books, will also be displayed in the hangars.

visit to the home of the world’s largest machine is behind innovative work to educate UK children about the physical sciences.

The National Museum of Scotland was among 20 British science education centres invited to view scientific equipment including the Large Hadron Collider at CERN near Geneva, Switzerland. The most powerful particle accelerator in the world, the collider was started up in 2008, enabling scientists to study the fundamental laws of nature.

Fiona Smith, Community Engagement Officer at National Museums Scotland, joined the trip to CERN last January. Her experiences are helping shape the ongoing Explore Your Universe project.

The highlight of Fiona’s visit was travelling 100 metres underground to see the Compact Muon Solenoid.

She said: “This was a special treat. It’s normally too dangerous to go near, but as it wasn’t running during the upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider, we were able to get really close.”

Explore Your Universe events at the National Museum of Scotland include family shows and expert sessions.

NOTEBOOK

Generation games

Celebrating Father’s Day in style

Families are invited to celebrate Father’s Day for free on 21 June at the National Museum of Scotland. During The Father’s Day Family Takeover, families can enjoy a range of activities including music, dance, storytelling, science and craft, as well as drawing with the Edinburgh Sketcher and learning courtly etiquette with Mary, Queen of Scots. And with the launch of the major exhibition Photography: A Victorian Sensation at the Museum on 19 June, families can travel back in time, dress up and take their own souvenir pictures.

MORE INFORMATION Visit www.nms.ac.uk/families

Members inspire

Member Laura Anderson

Visitors to National Museums Scotland have helped shape Membership materials that highlight the experiences they most enjoy.

The new posters, leaflets and website, based on feedback given by Members and visitors, reflect audience experience and showcase the breadth of the collections.

Laura Anderson is among Members featured in the materials. She said: “The exhibition Game Masters was such good value as with Membership I could visit several times for free.”

A silver bowl by Malcolm Appleby

Precious metal Audience with master silversmith Malcolm Appleby

A

n acclaimed master engraver and silversmith is to unravel the secrets of his craft in this year’s Glenmorangie Annual Lecture.

Malcolm Appleby (below) will discuss his take on the precious material this September at the lecture which is part of the Glenmorangie Research Project.

Over the next three

years, National Museums Scotland experts will explore the role of silver in the emerging kingdoms of early medieval Scotland.

Appleby’s work will also feature in The Silversmith’s Art: Made in Britain Today.

The exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland will celebrate the skills and creativity behind Britain’s role as a world leader in modern silver making. It will feature more than 150 pieces made by 67 acclaimed silversmiths between 2000 and 2015.

MORE INFORMATION The Glenmorangie Annual Lecture, Tuesday 22 September 2015. To book, call 0300 123 6789 or visit www.nms.ac.uk/scotland

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High standards

A head for heights is required as a window display with a difference gets a spring clean fragile. We had to know what cloths to use on different finishes.”

If the challenge of cleaning everything from taxidermy specimens to tandem bicycles wasn’t enough, the unique display posed another challenge.

“I don’t like heights,” says Catherine, “so I did more of the ground-level work and organised access up to the high objects, as we didn’t remove anything from the frame to clean it.

It was mostly just two people cleaning, then we had help from the Support Services team to move the scaffold tower. We were doing the work while the public were there, so took care to ensure their safety as well as not to disrupt the flow of the Museum.”

It was a cleaning operation with a difference.

“It was really interesting, as we got to work on such a variety of objects – and it’s also great to see them looking at their best,” says Catherine.

“Hopefully, it’s going to be something we do every year.”

The Window on the World, with its eclectic array of carefully conserved artefacts, is once again drawing the admiring gaze of visitors to the Museum.

THE EXPERT

Catherine Haworth is Preventive Conservation Officer at National Museums Scotland

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IAN JACOBS

W

ith its soaring ornate Victorian ironwork and light-filled atrium, the Grand Gallery is a stunning introduction to the wonders held within the National Museum of Scotland.

At its heart is the Window on the World display, the largest single museum installation in the UK, with more than 800 objects celebrating the breadth and scope of the collections to be discovered in the galleries.

Earlier this year, Catherine Haworth, Preventive Conservation Officer at National Museums Scotland, was part of a team tasked with cleaning the 18-metrehigh display.

“In the Collections Care section, we take a role in the housekeeping of the Museum,” she explains.

“We would call this a deep clean, working down from level five of the display in a methodical way over about four weeks.”

She adds, “Before we started, I spoke to the conservators who worked on the objects in the Window on the World display, asking if they had any previous repairs or weak points we should be careful of when cleaning them.

“You have to really understand the technology behind the way the objects are made. For instance, the paintwork on the blades of the gyrocopter is quite

INSIDE STORY

You have to really understand the technology behind the way these objects are made

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EXHIBITION

A studio portrait showing Dr EW Pritchard with his children, along with his unwitting victims, his wife and mother-in-law

Shooting stars

I

n a huge storage room, surrounded by vintage images, the photographer David Eustace is in his element. “Oh,” he exclaims, “look at this photograph.

How special is that? So beautiful.”

He is in the National Museums Collection Centre, a vault in Edinburgh where pilgrim researchers venture past whale bones and mammoth tusks en route to whatever treasure they seek. Today, that is a collection of thousands of photographs, more than a century old, being arranged for Photography: A Victorian Sensation, the forthcoming exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland.

Photography is a 19th century invention, and it was not long before cameras were being used for a purpose with which we are familiar today: making the faces of the famous, in their glamour and sometimes notoriety, known to the public. Celebrity, in its modern sense, begins with the Victorians. As such, the exhibition’s curator, Alison Morrison-Low, has invited Scotland’s most celebrated photographer

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of celebrities to cast his talented eye over It is a beautiful image, fascinating, and the work of his ancestors in the trade. So deeply, deeply weird. what does David make of these portraits of “We’re looking at ghosts here,” says eminent Victorians?

David. “But the other thing that really Rather a lot, it turns out. He is agog, moves me is the visual language, the aflame, enraptured. “This is amazing,” he aesthetic, the black, white and grey. I love says, admiring a small black-and-white that. We could make that into a fashion photograph taken on 10 March 1863, image tomorrow.” showing Queen Victoria with her son David, at 53, has something of the Bertie, later King Edward VII, 19th century dandy about and his new bride, Alexandra him. His hair is worn long of Denmark. It is an and swept back from his face. extraordinary tableau. The He wears a three-piece Princess, in nuptial white, pinstripe suit, lacking only a stands at the left of the frame. watch fob, and silver chains The groom stands, dark, jangle on his right wrist as diffident and rigid, in the he points delightedly to background. Victoria, seated, photographs of David wears a black hood, almost a Livingstone, Florence reaper-like shroud, and gazes Nightingale and Isambard pointedly away from her new Kingdom Brunel. His own daughter-in-law towards the portfolio of subjects includes shining marble bust of her Sir Paul McCartney, John Hurt beloved late husband, Albert and Sophia Loren. He gets out Florence Nightingale – death at the marriage feast. his phone, on which he has

DAVID EUSTACE BY NEIL MCLEAN

A Victorian obsession with collecting images of the famous – and infamous – is part of an exhibition on the evolution of photography, writes Peter Ross

EXHIBITION: GAME MASTERS

RUTH ARMSTRONG, NINTENDO

David Eustace uncovers the birth of celebrity photography

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EXHIBITION taken a selfie, daylight streaming on to his profile from an unseen window, and places it next to a portrait of Alfred Tennyson.

Forehead to foreheard, beard to beard, the photographer glares sternly over at the poet, who glares sternly back.

“Maybe I was a Victorian in days gone past,” says David, only half-joking. He doesn’t just mean his physical resemblance to Tennyson. He senses shared values with those photography pioneers of the earlier era. Although known as a photographer of celebrities, David despises the word and concept as shallow and narcissistic.

He sees himself as someone who makes portraits of men and women of talent and achievement, and believes that the Victorian photographers would have felt the same about their subjects. “These people weren’t famous for being famous,” he says, pointing to Tennyson. “I would absolutely love to have taken this picture.

But what I find fascinating is that their concept of fame was not the same as our concept of fame.”

Alison Morrison-Low, co-author of Scottish Photography: The First Thirty Years, nods. “Yes. They had no idea they were starting this unstoppable ball rolling.”

It is, though, a relatively short roll, culturally speaking, from Florence Nightingale to Kim Kardashian; from Queen Victoria using this new technology in order to project a public image of devotion and grief, to Diana, Princess of Wales’s flashlit crash in a Paris tunnel. The turning point appears to have come in the 1850s with the emergent phenomenon of the carte-de-visite – cheap, mass-produced photographs mounted on cards, purchased in print shops then taken home and mounted in albums, to be admired in the genteel drawing rooms of the middle classes. These albums would typically begin with images of the royal family, moving on to the great and good of polite society, and finishing with portraits of the owner’s own family. The effect must have been like a hybrid of Tatler, Grazia and Instagram.

Queen Victoria, flanked by her son Bertie and his bride, Alexandra, gazes at a bust of Prince Albert

Fame, of course, always travels with its troubled twin, infamy. So, as well as collecting images of people they admired, the Victorians desired portraits of the era’s notorious criminals. Cartes-de-visite in the exhibition show Dr EW Pritchard, a doctor who poisoned his wife and mother-in-law

at home in Glasgow, and who, in 1865, was the last person to be hanged publicly in the city. Those keen for a souvenir of this execution could, for a shilling a sheet, buy photographs of the murderer and his victims, all of whom had sat for portraits in the Cramb Brothers’ photography studio in

A TIMELINE OF VICTORIAN PHOTOGRAPHY 1826

1839

1841

1843

1851

HELIOGRAPHY Joseph Nicéphore Niépce invents heliography, a lengthy process that allows him to take the first permanent photograph.

DAGUERROTYPE Commercial birth of Louis Daguerre’s daguerrotype.

Images appeared on silver-plated copper, sealed behind glass.

CALOTYPE William Henry Fox Talbot discovers the possibility of developing the latent image and patents his calotype process.

FIRST STUDIO Robert David Octavius Adamson Hill and Robert Adamson found Scotland’s first photo studio, at Rock House, Calton Hill, Edinburgh.

COLLODION The collodion process, invented by Frederick Scott Archer, produces a negative on glass, creating sharper images than before.

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David Hill

PHOTOGRAPHY

PORTRAIT OF A PHOTOGRAPHER The actress Sophia Loren by David Eustace

SOPHIA LOREN BY DAVID EUSTACE

The civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Poet laureate Alfred Tennyson looking stern

West Nile Street, Glasgow.

Commercial exploitation of tragedy, perhaps, but the impulse to buy is human and understandable. Those who looked for genius in the face of Tennyson sought wickedness in that of Pritchard. That is where photography differed so significantly from painted portraiture, and why it was a sensation – because it created the illusion of being able to look into the eyes, and by extension the soul, of other human beings.

And if those humans were the frockcoated, crinolined gods and monsters of Victorian society – well, so much the better.

Think, too, of the ones who got away; those famous names who died just before the invention of photography and who, as a result, seem much more distant from us. Sir Walter Scott, Thomas Telford, Beethoven – we will never know exactly what they looked like, and so they remain shadowed and strange. The tiny, fragile tintype depicting an unnamed

It is a relatively short roll, culturally speaking, from Florence Nightingale to Kim Kardashian Victorian boy that David carries around in his jacket pocket is more tangible, somehow, than any of these giants.

That’s the power of photography.

“Yes,” says David. “The photographs make them real. As real as real can be.”

MORE INFORMATION Photography: A Victorian Sensation is at the National Museum of Scotland, 19 June–22 November 2015.

Visit www.nms.ac.uk/photography For details of a special Members’ event, see page 23. Kindly supported by The Morton Charitable Trust

1856

1859

1861

1888

TINTYPES Patenting of tintypes, the inexpensive ‘instant’ photographs created using iron and dark laquer.

CARDOMANIA Selling and trading cartes-de-visites – small, massproduced mounted portraits of famous people – becomes a phenomenon.

ROYAL PHOTO Queen Victoria becomes the first British monarch to be photographed and to allow the pictures to be released for sale.

KODAK CAMERA George Eastman’s Kodak camera enables the public to take their own photographs and leave development to the experts.

David Eustace was born in Edinburgh in 1961 and brought up in the east end of Glasgow.

His dyslexia went undiagnosed and he left school at 16 with one O Grade – in art. He spent the next few years in various jobs, including selling fruit on a street stall, before serving as a prison officer in Barlinnie for five years, working there during the 1987 riots.

A growing interest in photography led him to study the subject at Edinburgh Napier University and to work as an assistant to Albert Watson, the renowned Scottish photographer based in New York. During the early 1990s, David built a reputation for his portraits of famous people, often shot for the front covers of national magazines including GQ and Vogue.

He is also known for his personal projects, including a portfolio of Glasgow buskers in which he says he can see the influence of Victorian photography.

Now settled in Edinburgh after several globetrotting years, David recently staged his first big show in Scotland for a long time, showcasing many of his most celebrated portraits.

How does he feel, though, when he sees the portraits of famous Victorians included in the National Museum of Scotland exhibition? Is he jealous, in a strange way, of those commissions?

“Not jealous,” he says. “Inspired.”

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EXHIBITION

Future perfect Pringle of Scotland is celebrating its 200th anniversary with a stunning exhibition.

Its head designer tells Kathleen Morgan why he fuses heritage with innovation

A

s a child of the 1970s, you might expect the chief designer for one of the world’s best-known fashion brands to have spent his childhood swathed in nylon.

Not so Massimo Nicosia, Head of Design at Pringle of Scotland, who was brought up in the shadow of Mount Etna in Sicily. As a boy, Massimo was dressed in “nice little jumpers” brought home by his father, a sales manager for an Italian children’s label.

By 16, Massimo was sketching his own creations and dreaming of becoming a fashion designer.

“Since I was very little I was surrounded by colour cards and baby Cons,” he says, referring to the trend for dressing infants in Converse bootees. He laughs at his own reference to jumpers, a signature garment of the label founded by Robert Pringle in 1815 and worn by the likes of The Queen and Princess Grace of Monaco.

Massimo’s work features in Fully Fashioned: The Pringle of Scotland Story, an exhibition celebrating two centuries of the brand and showing at the National Museum of Scotland from 10 April. The exhibition will trace the label’s evolution from trusted producer of woollen underwear, through the era of luxury twinsets and on to Massimo’s designs. Its highlights include a sweater worn by the Queen and a 1960s cashmere cardigan owned by Princess Grace of Monaco.

Pringle might be associated with sumptuous natural fabrics, but these days synthetic elements sit easily alongside cashmere and wool in the brand’s collections. Following his arrival at Pringle in 2013 as head designer, Massimo began experimenting with manmade fabrics, collaborating with architect and material scientist Richard Beckett on a series of cutting-edge 3D printed fabrics.

The Autumn Winter 2015-16 collections feature luxurious knits with 3D printed, chainmail-like front panels made from

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Since I was very little I was surrounded by colour cards and baby Cons nylon powder. The emphasis is on form and structure, says Massimo, whose architectural background has left its mark.

“Knitwear is known for its lack of form,” he says. “I was trying to create knitwear with structure. It was interesting to work with weaving knitwear, utilising old looms and weaving with traditional techniques. In a sense, it was playing a game between the past and the new, using techniques relevant in the first industrial revolution and embracing technologies that are preparing for the next revolution.”

The exhibition’s curator, Alistair O’Neill, a lecturer at Central Saint Martins in London, sees this fusion of past and future as the secret of the label’s success.

“Pringle has endured for 200 years due to its commitment to marrying design with technology to produce fine knitwear. This is matched by an approach to marketing that uses leading imagemakers to convey these values to the wider world.”

A 1958 Pringle advert and a Nicosia sketch for Autumn Winter 2014

The Autumn Winter campaign was shot by Scottish photographer Albert Watson, and features model Stella Tennant and Unbroken star Luke Treadaway. Other high-profile collaborators include actress Tilda Swinton, who designed a twinset for the 195th anniversary celebrations, and Turner Prize-winner David Shrigley.

Massimo is confident his creations for Pringle’s bicentennial year will speak for themselves. In preparation for this year’s collections, he took a grand tour of European locations, including Rome, Florence, Venice, Antwerp, London, Edinburgh and Hawick. As a result, his inspirations included a Flemish tapestry hanging in the 17th century Prestonfield House near Edinburgh. There, he had a light bulb moment.

“I discovered in Prestonfield House something that was true to the brand,” he says. “All of a sudden, I realised there was nothing wrong in mixing elements from every part of Europe. These elements were a way of paying tribute to Scotland – to Pringle – which has always been very open, international and global.”

He was also inspired by Grinling Gibbons, a 17th century British-Dutch craftsman whose intricate carvings included a limewood cravat. You can see Gibbons’ influence in Massimo’s leatherwork for Pringle.

With such a packed itinerary, does the designer ever have a pyjama day? Massimo laughs. “I don’t have a dress-down outfit for home. I don’t spend time in my pyjamas.” His uniform is a crewneck and trousers, whether he is relaxing or working on the next Pringle collection.

It’s the safe option. He saves the innovation for his designs.

MORE INFORMATION Fully Fashioned: The Pringle of Scotland Story, National Museum of Scotland, 10 April–16 August 2015.

Visit www.nms.ac.uk/fullyfashioned

PRINGLE PEOPLE

ROBERT PRINGLE 1815 The brand was established by the young Robert Pringle in the Borders town of Hawick as a manufacturer of knitted hosiery.

GRACE KELLY 1950s The Hollywood star, later Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco, adopted the Pringle label. Its understated style complemented her rare beauty.

NICK FALDO 1981 A 20-year partnership with the golfer helped position Pringle as a sportwear label. As the three-time Open champion bowed out, Sophie Dahl became the face of the brand.

Actress Tilda Swinton is just one of Pringle’s high-profile collaborators

TILDA SWINTON 2010 Pringle celebrated its 195th birthday by commissioning designs from actress Tilda Swinton and Turner Prize winner David Shrigley.

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High achievers

I

t’s a rare day off during one of the most intensive periods of these pilots’ lives – and they are desperate to get back into the air.

The Scots, who served together in Afghanistan, are under intense pressure to perform. This time, though, Flight Lieutenants Stew Campbell and Joe Hourston are with the Red Arrows at their pre-season training base in Greece. The elite RAF flying squad is preparing to perform its 51st season. And time is short.

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“We’re stuck on the ground today for a Greek national holiday,” says Stew on the phone from the Hellenic Air Force Base in Andravida. “We just want to fly.”

The Red Arrows have just weeks to hone their skills before headlining at Scotland’s National Airshow. The highlight of the year at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune, the high-octane event will also feature the RAF Typhoon display team and the RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

Each season, a nine-strong Red Arrows

squadron, including three new recruits, must complete six months’ training before being judged fit to perform in public. At this stage, in the heat of the Greek sun, each pilot is focused on that goal.

“The whole skill of this really relies on muscle motor memory,” explains Stew, 35, who was brought up in the shadow of low-flying jets in the Borders town of Peebles. “I relate it to learning a musical instrument. Everybody is rubbish to start with, but if you do it enough, your fingers

KATSUHIKO TOKUNAGA

The Red Arrows aerobatics squad have perfection on their minds as they prepare for Scotland’s National Airshow, writes Kathleen Morgan

EXHIBITION

The Red Arrows prepare for their landmark 50th season during pre-flight training in Crete

Pilots Joe Hourston (left) and Stew Campbell

learn to do what they’re meant to without thinking about it. We’re trying to get to that stage at the moment.”

Red Arrows pilots, recruited after a week-long selection process, must have completed at least 1,500 hours’ flying time and a front-line tour to qualify for the job.

Stew and Joe joined the squadron in 2013 for the Red Arrows’ landmark 50th season.

“It’s a crazy time because you never think you’re going to get to do this job, so when you do it comes as a bit of a surprise,” says Joe, 36, who is originally from the Black Isle. “It puts your life in turmoil for a little bit and then all of a sudden you dive into it head first.”

Joining the Red Arrows for the allotted three years is more than a job, as Joe will testify. He and his wife had some stark choices to make before he applied for a place in the squadron. Their son, Hamish, was a baby when Joe joined the team.

They now have a seven month old, Felix.

“Before I even applied, we discussed what it would mean for family life,” says Joe.“You have to make sacrifices for the short time you’re doing the job.”

The demands on Red Arrows pilots are considerable, and for good reason. Besides resulting in breathtaking performances, the training regime is designed to ensure the safety of the pilots and their public.

Fatalities in the Red Arrows are rare.

Ten pilots have died in the team’s 51-year history including Flt Lt Sean Cunningham and Flt Lt Jon Egging,who were killed in separate accidents in 2011. “The boys are always in our thoughts,” says Stew. “The team has restructured and moved on, but we won’t forget them.”

Every Red Arrows pilot is acutely aware

You have to rely 100% on the people six or eight feet away from you of his or her responsibility to achieve extremely high standards. Training is carefully managed in stages, with two, three, then four aircraft flying together, until finally all nine fly in formation.

“The team aspect of it is the most important part,” says Joe. “You have to rely 100% on the people flying six or eight feet away from you. Trust is everything.”

Both pilots compare the camaraderie of the Red Arrows to the bond they felt with colleagues on the front line. The pair served together in Afghanistan with 617 Squadron, also known as the Dambusters.

“The whole point of us being in Afghanistan was to support the Army,” says Stew. “Ninety per cent of the time you are effectively CCTV, holding a camera above a place for hours at a time, but the few times we saw things that would save British lives made it all worth it.”

With only one further season as members of the Red Arrows, what lies ahead for the pilots? There is talk of returning to their previous roles as RAF flying instructors. “I know one thing,” he adds. “This will be the pinnacle of my flying career and nothing will touch it.”

MORE INFORMATION Scotland’s National Airshow is at the National Museum of Flight, 25 July 2015.

Visit www.nms.ac.uk/airshow and for Members’ discount see page 23 WWW.NMS.AC.UK // SUMMER 2015 // EXPLORER 21

OBJECT OF DESIRE

Ito Tozan I bowl Having swapped Spitting Image puppets for pottery, Roger Law falls for a piece of Japanese porcelain they influenced each other for centuries. For instance, in the late 1600s, the Chinese Imperial Palace was not patronising its potters in Jingdezhen and so, to earn a living, the Chinese started to produce work for the Japanese market. They sold very loose, blue and white brushwork ceramics to Japan, which went on to influence a lot of the country’s pottery.

The imagery on the Ito Tozan I bowl – the phoenix and the dragon – is common to Asian culture, but this particular design is very Japanese. The Japanese will divide a bowl up into sections.

Here, they have put the phoenix on one side and a dragon on the other, with a border separating the two sections. With Chinese work, they would have made it meet perfectly round the back.

MORE INFORMATION Visit www.nms.ac.uk/ japaneseporcelain and www.rogerlawceramics.com

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The caricaturist turned ceramicist Roger Law

FACT FILE WHAT IS IT? A porcelain bowl made in 1922 and decorated with a dragon and phoenix.

WHO MADE IT? Ito Tozan I, an imperial household artist appointed by the Japanese government. He supplied pieces to the imperial court

and set the standard that was expected of other artists.

WHY IS IT SO SPECIAL? Porcelain, valued for its smooth surface and pure white appearance, was the perfect base for intensely coloured decoration. This bowl features

mainly overglaze enamels, but also lotus petals in underglaze blue.

WHERE CAN YOU SEE IT? The Masters of Japanese Porcelain exhibition in the Grand Gallery, National Museum of Scotland, until 30 August 2015.

ROGER LAW BY MIKE HOGAN

W

hen I was a kid, we had a room we called the front room that no one was ever allowed into, except when we had visitors. And in that room was a glass case full of ceramics, including a Japanese bowl. It was exactly the same shape as this Ito Tozan I bowl, with a similar blue underglaze. The one in our front room wasn’t as exquisitely done as this one, which was made for the Imperial Palace of the Japanese emperor.

It was this front-room bowl that first attracted me to ceramics, and by 1979 I had made the first Spitting Image Margaret Thatcher teapot in Stoke-on-Trent, the home of Wedgwood. I am now a full-time potter and make regular trips to Jingdezhen in China where I have a workshop.

To the layperson, Japanese and Chinese pottery will be indistinguishable, because

THANK YOU TO OUR CORPORATE SUPPORTERS SPONSORS

Membership Do more ... big days out The Red Arrows belt up for Scotland’s National Airshow

Chocks away The nation’s Airshow takes to the skies CORPORATE MEMBERS

The National Museum of Flight at East Fortune hosts Scotland’s National Airshow on Saturday 25 July, with the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. Members receive a fantastic discount on tickets booked before midnight on 10 July, with prices starting from £15.25 for adults.

Keep cool at the Airshow

CROWN COPYRIGHT/MOD

Support us In donating to National Museums Scotland, you will ensure Scotland’s treasures, and the stories they tell, are cherished, and continue to live on and inspire. If you would like to support us, please contact Gillian Blake at development@nms.ac.uk or call 0131 247 4095. If you are in the US, please email Emily Grand at egrand@ghspm.com National Museums Scotland is a registered charity (SC011130).

Thanks to you In 2014, we asked you, our Members, to give feedback through dedicated surveys about Membership and Explorer magazine. Thanks to your responses, we have improved both and hope to get further feedback from you in the future. Email us at membership@nms.ac.uk

The show has fun activities for visitors of all ages. Enjoy a range of stalls, the excellent craft village marquee, tempting food and drink, and incredible air displays. Watch the RAF’s supersonic Typhoon perform breathtaking twists and turns, and witness impressive heritage aircraft including the Spitfire and the Hurricane. You can explore the historic East Fortune airfield site, have fun with our interactive exhibits and experience the magnificent Concorde at close range.

MORE INFORMATION l Scotland’s National Airshow, 25 July 2015, 10am–5pm l Members’ early bird tickets must be pre-booked by midnight on 10 July 2015. No discounts are available on the day l To book call 0300 123 6789 or visit www.nms.ac.uk/airshow

Besides discounted Airshow tickets, Members enjoy free entry to brilliant big days out at the National Museum of Rural Life, East Kilbride, and the National Museum of Flight, East Fortune.

Enjoy the Fabulous 50s (24 May), The Heavy Horse Show (19 July), Country Fair (6 September), The Wheels and Wings Show (27 September), and Christmas Fair and Foal Show (6 December), all free for Members. For more information visit www.nms.ac.uk

Balance a summer of free activities

Last chance to book private view On Tuesday 23 June, Alison Morrison-Low, Principal Curator of Science, will offer intriguing insights into our summer exhibition, Photography: A Victorian Sensation. An opportunity to experience this captivating

exhibition after hours, the event is exclusive to Members.

Tickets are free, but booking is essential. Booking fees may apply. To find out more and to book visit www. nms.ac.uk/memberevents or call 0300 123 6789.

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