The Trumpet

Save The Wedgwood Museum...

2012-01-05T03:33:00.000-08:00

What the Dickens?! - Lars Tharp's Open Letter, emailed to friends and colleagues on the BBC Antiques Roadshow and beyond...

Happy New Year? Many of you will have read with disbelief the legal ruling, given just before Christmas, that the contents and unique archives housed by the award-winning Wedgwood Museum are deemed “disposable assets”, that they can –and indeed are - to be sold in order to contribute to the Wedgwood Waterford Group's pension fund -on their closure reported as being £134million in deficit. Any bullish auction-room valuation of the Wedgwood Museum’s unique collections, (deposited in a Museum specifically created to remove objects and archives from the manufacturing Group’s material assets) would amount to but a small fraction of that deficit, much less once all lawyers’ and other professional fees are deducted from this already long drawn-out legal case.

As we enter Dickens’ bicentenary year we shall see how this Jarndyce and Jarndyce situation plays out. I do not say the December 2011 legal judgement is “wrong” -but it can never have been in the minds of those writing Pension Law to bring a museum -ring-fenced years ago precisely to protect it against such an eventuality- under the scythe of a wholly separate company. - This the lawyers themselves admit. Consequently, it must be for Parliament to save a highly significant cultural asset from dissolution, and for them to remedy a clear case of Unintended Consequences arising from inadequately drafted law.

We must ensure that the Wedgwood museum, into which, over the years, so many benefactors have given time and money (including the winning of £100,000 from the Art Fund as “Museum of the Year” in 2009) is saved.

It is a spectacular museum preserving and displaying the lives, archives and artefacts from a period when our country exploded with ideas and industry. Not only the documents of Josiah Wedgwood and his family, his partners, designers and first-rankartist/designers (Wm Blake, Flaxman, Stubbs, Reynolds et al.) but scientific papers from the Darwins and other members of the remarkable Lunar Society from which so many great figures and ideas emerged through the 18th and 19th centuries. A Great Shame would descend on our own hard times if we were were unable to prevent so important a part of our national/international narrative being dissolved. - It would be a double-indictment, when we see our taxes repeatedly raided for the ever-increasing (some would say obscene) sums devoured by the forthcoming, ephemeral London Olympics. Our civilized neighbours and our children would rightly judge us as philistines if we/our legislators were to allow this to happen.

If you have not done so already, (and I know some have), will you please, join the campaign to Save the Wedgwood Museum by doing one or all of the following:-

1) adding you name as supporter through http://www.savewedgwood.org and savewedgwood@gmail.com

2) telling all whom you feel will join the campaign -copying this email if you like
3) writing to your local MP / the PM; Ministers Ed Vaizey and Jeremy Hunt at the Department for Culture Media and Sport and to any national newspapers.

and

4) visiting the Museum (in administration but still open) to see just how fantastic it is;

At the time of writing (5^th Jan) one glimmer of light comes from a potential benefactor/buyer, John Caudwell, declaring just before Christmas, that he will stand in. Though potentially very good news, this generous declaration still needs to be buttressed against all the possibilities of a Bleak House scenario. Until the Wedgwood Museum is safe, please keep lobbying!

God Bless us, Every One! Lars Tharp for Trump & Co. Jan 2012

Lars Tharp's "Woman's Hour" début

2011-11-26T05:06:00.000-08:00

Familiar? - if you watched Forbrydelsen
aka The Killing

And Talking about Jumpers....
Lars takes to the air (BBC Radio 4) on Wednesday 30th November 2011 (some time between 10am-10.45)...

Prepare to be spun some yarns - who knows where this could go? ...chaired by tricoteuse Jenni Murray. What will she unravel?

At home with Hogarth

2011-11-09T10:29:00.000-08:00

Hogarth's House re-opens...

After a three-year restoration, William Hogarth's charming country retreat in Chiswick is once more open to the public (Tuesday-Sunday, noon-5pm). The project was steered by Val Bott of The William Hogarth Trust ( http://williamhogarthtrust.org.uk/?page_id=16 ). Chiswick resident, satirist and confessed Hogarth "nut", Dara O'Brian (above, right) officially opened the house on Monday 7th November, three days before Hogarth's 314th birthday. Guests were treated to miniature mulberry pies made from the fruits of the very tree which has borne fruit in the garden since before the Hogarths moved in in 1749.

We also grabbed prime time with Nick Higham (right) featuring the house on the BBC flagship programme Today

For opening hours and details visit
http://www.hounslow.info/arts/hogarthshouse/visit.html

for my 5-minute BBC tour of Hogarth's prints:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15584519

A Scandinavian Killing

2011-11-09T09:16:00.000-08:00

The 2011 Scandinavian Show,
Earl's Court, London
Sunday 9th October

Hot-foot from their successes at the BAFTA and Golden Dagger awards, Lars Tharp interviewed Sofie Gråbøl (Sarah Lund) and Søren Malling (Meyer) from Forbrydelsen (The Killing). Sofie revealed that the actors were all kept in the dark as to who the killer was until the very final scenes. Series two comes to BBC4 in the next few weeks...

My little film, Made in China...

2011-09-30T04:03:00.000-07:00

for the B B C FOUR
Handmade in Britain season*

Lars Tharp presents

     Treasures
     of Chinese Porcelain

Tuesday 11 October, 9-10pm, BBC FOUR

Filmed in China and England earlier in 2011, I follow the trail of Chinese porcelain manufacture: from the sourcing of china clay and china stone in the mountains of Jiangxi; to its transformation into tablewares and art objects in the city of Jingdezhen; its 500 mile-long route along rivers, over lakes and across a mountain, all by human porterage down to Canton (Guangzhou) from where the next leg of the China trade to Europe - another 9000 miles by sea – began.

Accompanied on board ship by all the other goods of the China Trade (notably tea, silks, lacquer ware, fans, furniture and wallpapers) these exotic luxuries, charged with sumptuous images of the Far East gave western consumers -the growing merchant class as well as the established aristocracy- their first glimpses into the Celestial Empire, and changed forever our domestic interiors -as well as establishing that oh-so-English habit of Tea. Come on the journey.

above LT with the late 16thC Chinese porcelain bowl whose story links Sir Francis Drake with Elizabeth I and Sir Walter Raleigh (courtesy of the Trustees of Burghley House, Lincs, 2011) / right in Jingdezhen with a modern copy of a Qianlong period (1736-1795) vase which reached £43 million at auction in London in 2010

Director: Ian Denyer Camera (China): Colin Fox / BLAST! films for BBC FOUR

__________________

Handmade in Britain

In a major new partnership, the V&A and .B B C FOUR present Handmade in Britain, an ambitious year-long season exploring the history of British decorative arts. The season begins this autumn with a three-part series on British ceramics. From the history of domestic pottery to the heart of Britain’s ceramic empire in Stoke-on-Trent to the studio potters of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, Ceramics: A Fragile History reveals why, throughout the nation’s history, makers have created objects that are beautiful as well as functional. LT joins the "talking heads" in the series.

Treasures of Chinese Porcelain accompanies the series

For further information contact jenny.brown1@bbc.co.uk or 020 8576 2272;
or email me, lars@tharp.co.uk

2011-08-08T06:25:00.000-07:00

There's Something about the 'Cello: a Proms Interval Talk
(11th Aug 2011)

Listen again (thru the internet) to the discussion on the link below (until 18th Aug)

For ceramics expert Lars Tharp it was a choice between studying the ‘cello or archaeology. To the benefit of Antiques Road Show viewers, and to the Eternal loss of the music audience, he chose archaeology

Ever since, he's been struck by how often people comment, 'I wish I'd played the ‘cello', with a yearning rarely displayed in connection with other instruments. Is it because its range and tone is closer to the human voice than any other instrument, or is it the heartstring-tugging repertoire that's grown up around it? Or is it something...."primal"?

Lars seeks the answer in the company of Julian Lloyd Webber who, immediately after the interval, will be playing a newly re-discovered piece for the ‘cello, Invocation, by Gustav Holst, followed by Elgar's universally-acclaimed Enigma Variations. And Graham Fitkin, whose newly composed ‘Cello Concerto for Yo-Yo Ma will be premiered in Prom 61 on 31 August, discusses the merits of the ‘cello and the problems it poses for the composer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0132pkp/Twenty_Minutes_Theres_Something_about_the_Cello/

Lars' current TV and Radio projects....

2011-07-22T08:14:00.000-07:00

We're in the middle of making the Antiques Roadshow our 34th season -and my own 25th year on the Show.

Over the years there have been several Antiques spin-offs. One was my own China on a Plate for BBC Radio 4 (2007). Following on, earlier in 2011, BBC 4 (TV) commissioned me to make a one-hour documentary on the historic China Trade, revisiting China to film much of the material covered in the earlier radio programme, but with a few extra twists. My director is Ian Denyer, cameraman Colin Fox and our production company is Blast! Films of London. Expected transmission, sometime in September/October.

When dates are fixed I'll post details here. Meanwhile...

...some images from our trip

The 2011 Art Fund Prize goes to....

2011-07-22T07:29:00.000-07:00

...The British Museum!

- as announced on 15th June 2011 by Michael Portillo at the prize-giving evening at Tate Britain and on BBC Radio 4 Front Row - a winning project which places the Object centre-stage. Congratulations to all at the BM and to all the teams working beyond its walls, not least those at the BBC who recognize that pictures in the mind are at least as potent as those we receive through the eye. Congratulations also to the other three shortlisted institutions (see earlier blog below) as well as all the museums and galleries who took part. On accepting the £100,000 prize BM director, Neil MacGregor announced that the money would go towards other museums associated with the project beyond the BM.

_______________

This marks the end of my extended (second year) term on the Art Fund Panel -last year under Kirsty Young, and this year under Michael Portillo. A huge thank you to all fellow-panelists for stimulating discussions and excellent company. Congratulations also to The Art Fund, its members and generous sponsors. Heaven knows how important the Fund continues to be in the promotion and protection of Britain's material and spiritual culture.

For the last few years Museums and Galleries have seen good times, not least thanks to grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Next year's Art Fund Panel (2012) will begin to discover how the Museums and Galleries sector responds to the onset of financial austerity. A model project such as "100 Objects", with its scope for widespread adoption and development into ever growing areas of new digital media, will, I hope, inspire many institutions with simple and affordable ideas of how to promote their collections within and beyond their own walls.

Two days later (with an Antiques Roadshow at Hever Castle in between) I was off to China for the BBC...(see separate blog here in The Trumpet...)

Art Fund 2011

2011-06-12T04:38:00.000-07:00

Art Fund Prize 2011
- announcement at Tate Britain
on Wednesday 15th June

-and on Front Row, BBC Radio 4 the same evening.
The Four Finalists are:-
Roman Baths, Bath
British Museum (History of the World in 100 Objects)
Robert Burns' Birthplace, Alloway
Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge

For Charlotte Higgins' piece on being a judge, see Guardian (12/6/2011): -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2011/jun/12/arts-fund-museum-prize

Scott Polar, Cambridge

Roman Baths, Bath

Burns' Cottage

British Museum / 100 Objects

Art Fund Panel goes to Wales

2011-04-01T16:22:00.000-07:00

The panel arrives at the elegant, refurbished Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, North Wales

oriel = "gallery"

Micahel Portillo, Kathy Gee, LT and Charlotte Higgins

Judges' chairman Michael Portillo and Lars Tharp

Mostyn's new entry Hall

2011-03-23T16:54:00.000-07:00

ART FUND PRIZE 2011...contd
Our third group visit: The Robert Burns' Centre, Alloway

- into the cottage where RB was born and lived up to the age of seven

Hogarth's Comic Relief...

2011-03-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Spot the Red Nose? (Hogarth meets Westwood)

Art Fund Prize 2011 continued...

2011-03-16T11:31:00.000-07:00

Our second 2011 Art Fund Prize Group visit:
to York Museum - house of amazing treasures

- How the whole York museum team rolled up their sleeves, pulled down and replaced walls and ceilings, discovering windows which had been blocked for decades: "Letting in the Light"

Art Fund Prize (2011) - The Visits begin...

2011-02-16T09:51:00.000-08:00

The clock is ticking! We've two months to visit ten long-listed museums and galleries throughout the UK before announcing our shortlist of four in May 2011, the winner to be decided in June.

This year (2011) our first panel visit with our chairman Michael Portillo was to Hertford Museum (Friday 18th Feb) - a compelling little market town museum with dedicated volunteers and a wealth of local collections -including a fabled Bezoar Stone...We coincided with the WI market day and returned with various excellent produce including Lemon Drizzles and potted plants.

In the week the runners were announced I visited incognito* the amazing, arabic-style Leighton House, the Kensington residence of the great Victorian painter and sculptor Alfred, Lord Leighton.

* If a judge cannot attend on the day of the official panel visit they will do so incognito at another time -although last year hawk-eyed receptionists last year did manage to intercept and accompany me on my unannounced appearence.

Hogarth Calling...

2011-02-11T12:10:00.001-08:00

Watch this space...