Chalk or Cheese? Winner announced!

The votes are in, the people have spoken and the wall hanging chosen for display in the new Museum of English Rural Life is…Kent!

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Over the past month we asked you to vote between our Kent and Cheshire wall hangings, two of a series of seven made by the artist Michael O’Connell for the 1951 Festival of Britain.

The campaign culminated in our Museums at Night event, Chalk or Cheese?, where visitors enjoyed each region’s beer and cheese, advocates for both hangings battled it out in a political hustings and everyone had to chance to participate in a secret ballot.

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The end-vote was incredibly close; in the end, Kent only won by six votes.

If you’re wondering why the choice is only between two wall hangings, the reasons are actually quite simple (the others depict Rutlandshire, Scotland and Wales, Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and The Fens).

Firstly, we have never had the space or right conditions to display any of these hangings before, so they’ve lain in our Object Store for decades. The cost of conserving each hanging for public display was significant and involved considerable work on the part of qualified conservator Kate Gill. We could not have done this without the funding the Heritage Lottery Fund and the University provided. She removed creases in the fabric, repaired damage, and cleaned and reshaped each of them ready for display.

Kate Gill conserving the wall hangings.

Kate Gill conserving the wall hangings.

It’s actually quite lucky that the wall hangings have not been on display in so long, as it means their colours are fresh and vibrant. To keep the colours that way we have to avoid exposing them to too much light, so each wall hanging will only be displayed for five years at a time. One wall hanging will be fully displayed while the other will be rolled and stored at the back of the case, ready to be swapped around in five year’s time.

This of course means that the Cheshire wall hanging will go on display in 2021. We’d love to be able to display them all at the same time, but at a mammoth 7 x 3.5 metres each, we simply cannot afford to case them all (and we don’t have the space!). The case we have bought is bespoke, and has been carefully designed specifically for our wall hangings.

An artist's impression of what the new gallery may look like.

An artist’s impression of what the new gallery may look like.

Of course, conservation and environmental factors were less of a concern to our predecessors when they first acquired the hangings back in 1952. They took them immediately to an agricultural show and hung them in the back of a tent in the middle of a field. How times (and costs) have changed!

Thank you to everyone who voted in this campaign, and we look forward to inviting you to see the wall hanging on display this October!

The ‘Lost Modernist’: Michael O’Connell

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer.

We’re asking you to help us decide which of our two wall hangings to display in the new Museum. Both were displayed at the 1951 Festival of Britain as part of a wider series exploring the British countryside, and have not been on public display for over 60 years.

The two wall hangings which will be displayed in the new MERL (© O'Connell estate).

The two wall hangings which will be displayed in the new MERL (© O’Connell estate).

They were designed and made by the artist Michael O’Connell (1898-1976). Described as the ‘Lost Modernist’, he was a textile artist whose style and colour typify the 1950s and 1960s. At the time he was considered stylishly bold, brash and modern, but his work is still relatively unknown.

Michael O'Connell while in Australia.

Michael O’Connell while in Australia.

Artistically, O’Connell found his feet in Melbourne, Australia, where he honed his craft skills by building his own house in 1923, something he was forced into after his previous home (a tent) was condemned by a health inspector. His romantic lifestyle on the outskirts of Melbourne society, often journeying into the Australian bush to paint and draw, was a far cry from his upbringing in Dalton, Cumbria. His previous aim was to study Agriculture, but his artistic talents were never in question: when held as a prisoner of war in the First World War, one of his guards complimented his work and encouraged him to pursue a career in it.

It was also in Australia where O’Connell hit upon various pioneering methods of dying fabric with his wife, Ella Moody, both of whom were prominent in the Australian Arts & Craft Society. They returned to England in 1937 and developed a close working relationship with Heal’s of London, who proved instrumental after the Second World War in supplying fabric for the Festival of Britain wall hangings.

Michael O'Connell overseeing work on the Festival of Britain wall hanging.

Michael O’Connell overseeing work on the Festival of Britain wall hanging.

O’Connell’s commission required wall hangings to decorate the Country Pavilion at the Festival of Britain, held in May-September 1951. For the hangings themselves, O’Connell had to reflect the versatility and variety of farming in Great Britain, and so he took a tour of the nation, translating what he saw and experienced into his art. The result are seven hangings covering most of Great Britain, representing the distinctive character of our regions and providing an artistic snapshot of the state of British farming in the early 1950s.

After the Festival of Britain the popularity of Michael’s work increased and he received commissions to create murals for public buildings, restaurants, factory canteens and showrooms. His work was exhibited in New York, Melbourne and London. In the 1960s, he began to travel widely and to teach his techniques in art schools. He also worked with architects, producing murals for universities and churches.

In 1970, a devastating fire destroyed his workshop, most of his notebooks and records, and badly damaged his adjoining house. With the help of students and friends the property was rebuilt, but in the following years his eyesight began to fail. In 1976, he was found dead from self-inflicted gunshot wounds.

The V&A Museum also holds multiple pieces by O'Connell.

The V&A Museum also holds multiple pieces by O’Connell.

His work lives on in museum collections in Australia and the UK. While the MERL holds the Festival of Britain wall hangings, the V&A museum also has a large collection of his early work.

Have you voted on which wall hanging to display yet?

Chalk or cheese? Choosing a wall hanging

Written by Adam Koszary, Project Officer.

Here at the MERL we have a problem. We need to decide which of our two enormous, beautifully decorated wall hangings to display, and we’d like your help.

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Please note: The text ‘Cheshire’ and ‘Kent’ is superimposed digitally and does not appear on the original wall hangings.

The wall hangings are two of seven which were originally displayed at the 1951 Festival of Britain, and were made by the ‘lost modernist’, Michael O’Connell. Both are a snapshot of a rapidly vanishing way of life in post-war England. One depicts Cheshire, and the other depicts Kent. They have been in our stores for 65 years, and only seen by a few researchers on request.

The wall hanging will be displayed in a bespoke case measuring 7×3.7 metres in our new extension. The choice of which to display first is not one to be taken lightly, as it will be displayed for five years before being replaced with the other.

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The chosen wall hanging will be the centrepiece of the new museum. These hangings encapsulate the messages we want to share with the public: that the English countryside is beautiful, varied and personal.

To stand in front of one of O’Connell’s wall hangings is to be dwarfed. You may first take a moment to admire the craftsmanship and artistic skill that went into such a massive undertaking. The background of each hanging is a convenient deep green, the common colour of the English countryside. You then take in the detail – perhaps some of the larger buildings, a cow or a field. With closer scrutiny you will notice the woman feeding her chickens, the juxtaposition of heavy horses and tractors, or the cheeses stacked in an old barn.

Each wall hanging is packed with detail and snapshots of rural life.

Each wall hanging is packed with detail and snapshots of rural life.

Nothing is an accident. O’Connell travelled the length and breadth of Britain, immersing himself in each region’s traditions, architecture, crops, animals and people to produce these hangings.

Each one is a special tribute to the different ways of rural life in Britain, and we honestly cannot choose between the two which have been conserved and are ready to be displayed. Over the next few weeks we will be exploring each hanging, the man who made them, and the Festival of Britain. As you learn more about each one, we will ask you to vote for the one you would most like to see displayed and, when we reopen later this year, you will be able to see the selected county.

CHALK OR CHEESE

Chalk or cheese, Cheshire or Kent, which will it be? Follow our the #VoteCheshire and #VoteKent campaigns on twitter and you can even join us at a special Museums at Night event on 11th May to help you decide how to vote.