MUSE Issue 24, October 2019

Art. Culture. Issue 24 Antiquities. October 2019 Natural history. Until next time A word from the Director, David Ellis

This is the last issue of Muse before We are fortunate to have benefited the Nicholson closes on 28 February from the extraordinary generosity 2020. We hope you will be able to of Neville Grace, whose bequest of join us for a number of public events 62 Australian impressionist paintings between then and now, including a have made a transformative impact closing party hosted by the Friends on the collection, many of which you of the Nicholson in February. Muse will be able to see in the opening suite Victorian era’s equivalent to lunar will take a break during an intensive of exhibitions. exploration, and its 1874 visit to period of exhibition development Sydney. Then there is the surprising until the next issue in May 2020, at As a harbinger of our new museum, interplay between big data and which time we will share up-to-the- this issue of Muse draws together small insects. minute details on the Chau Chak other insights from across the Wing Museum as it heads towards complexity of our collections. The During our consultation with opening. The September issue will latest in medical imaging technology Girringun artists we witness the commemorate the much-anticipated continues to expose secrets from strengthening connections to the opening in August. our antiquities collection, including past that are revitalising traditional the revelation that parsimonious artefact- and art-making practices, This issue brings us up to date ancient Greeks valued their olive oil and we observe insights into our with our regular feature on the too highly to commit unnecessarily European art via the Bauhaus as museum site. The builders, FDC, large quantities to the tomb. Our well as the op-kinetic art of Lily are making remarkable progress faded Mer-Neith-It-es coffin regains Greenham. despite inclement weather, and in its once-colourful surface, thanks to the process have broadened my a combination of elemental analyses I hope you enjoy this issue of Muse, technical terminology – in addition to and visualisation software. and we also look forward to seeing the better known ‘rained out’, I have you in the Nicholson Museum soon, added ‘winded out’ to my vocabulary. We will also share different scales at an event or as a visitor before we Nevertheless, even before the of scientific journeys – from filtering close on 28 February. building is finished, we are benefiting out microbes (and in the process from the impact of the museum’s identifying the existence of viruses) David Ellis significantly raised profile on the to learning of the extraordinary Director, Museums and cultural landscape of the University. voyage of HMS Challenger, the Cultural Engagement

Sydney University Museums Education and Public Programs Muse is edited by Luke Parker. Comprising the Macleay Museum, To book a school excursion, an adult education Nicholson Museum and University Art Gallery tour or a University heritage tour This issue contains names and images of people +61 2 9351 8746 who have died. We acknowledge that, for some The Macleay Museum and the University Art [email protected] people and communities, these may cause distress Gallery are now closed as we prepare for the and sadness. Where possible, cultural permission opening of the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Macleay Museum to publish has been sought. +61 2 9036 5253 The Nicholson Museum is open until 28 February [email protected] Produced by Marketing and Communications, 2020: Monday to Friday, 10am to 4.30pm and the University of Sydney, September 2019. 19/7933 the first Saturday of every month, 12 to 4pm. Nicholson Museum ISSN 1449‑0420 ABN 15 211 513 464 Closed on public holidays. In the southern entrance to the Quadrangle CRICOS 00026A +61 2 9351 2812 General admission is free. +61 2 9351 7305 (fax) Forest Stewardship Council (FSC®) [email protected] is a globally recognised certification Become a fan on Facebook overseeing all fibre sourcing standards. and follow us on Twitter. University Art Gallery This provides guarantees for the sydney.edu.au/museum +61 2 9351 6883 consumer that products are made [email protected] of woodchips from well‑managed forests and other controlled sources Sydney University Museums Administration with strict environmental, economical +61 2 9351 2274 and social standards. +61 2 9351 2881 (fax) [email protected] In this issue

Jacky Redgate, Light Throw (Mirrors) Fold series in the Bauhaus Now! exhibition at Buxton Contemporary, Melbourne, photograph © Christian Capurro

2 News 12 Trawling for knowledge: 22 A collector’s gift HMS Challenger Highlights from a most generous 3 Chau Chak Wing Museum update Passing through Sydney in 1874, bequest to the University For the first time since the scientific expedition left Art Collection. construction began, our interior lasting impressions. spaces begin to take shape. 26 Drawing on the past 14 Bauhaus Now! Research illustrators are 4 Pinned down: big data and A new exhibition in Melbourne returning the colour to the entomology examines the ongoing influence long‑faded patterns on a coffin in ‘Data miners’ show what can be of the Bauhaus on contemporary the Nicholson Museum collection. accomplished by applying data artists. analytics to an insect collection. 31 Making history 18 Hidden depths See what our guests and staff 6 Intergenerational consultations CT scanning of a Greek lekythos have been up to. Through art and artefact (oil or perfume vessel) has making, Girringun artists are uncovered a curious secret. 32 Find your muse strengthening links to the past. Upcoming events and programs. 20 The engigmatic Lily Greenham 10 Simply ingenious: The legacies of an overlooked Chamberland’s filter candles artist come into focus. An important invention of the 19th century, these modest porcelain cylinders transformed public health, hygiene and scientific study.

Detailed view of filter candles 1884–1938. Manufacturer: Hippolyte Boulenger & Co, France. Havyatt Instrument Collection, donated 2019, Macleay Collections, SC2019.22-24

On the cover: CT slice of White-ground lekythos, Athens, Greece, 470-430 BC, donated by the National Archaeological Museum of Athens 1948, Nicholson Museum, NM48.15 News

Welcome to Shuxia Chen, China Gallery Curator We are very pleased to welcome Shuxia Chen to the team as curator for the Chau Chak Wing Museum’s China Gallery. Shuxia joined us in May and replaces Dr Stephen Whiteman of the Power Institute, who at the end of last year took another role at the Courtauld Vale Jane Mathews AO NSW’s first female Crown Prosecutor in 1977 Institute of Art in London. The museum has lost a generous donor, and a judge of the District Court in 1980, Shuxia is an art historian and the University an illustrious alumna. In the first female judge in NSW. In 1987 she and curator of Asian art 2008 Jane Mathews generously donated two was appointed the first female judge of the with a Master of Arts in Art significant Emily Kame Kngwarreye paintings, Supreme Court of NSW, and in 1994 became History from the University one of which (pictured, UA2008.53) will be a judge of the Federal Court of Australia. of Sydney and a Master of included in the introductory exhibition of In 2001 she retired from the Federal Court Studio Art (Honours) from the Chau Chak Wing Museum. Jane was a and became an Acting Judge of the NSW Sydney College of the Arts. trailblazer in the legal world and a notable Supreme Court. In 2005 she was made an She recently completed supporter of the arts. She was appointed Officer of the Order of Australia. her PhD on Chinese photography groups in the 1980s, at the Australian National University. Shuxia’s research has been published in journals icluding Trans-Asia Photography Review, Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Made in China and Artforum. Since 2007 she has worked with a range of museums and galleries in China and Australia as a curator and exhibition manager. She has already made a significant impact on the development of the opening exhibition for the Blue Water Empire increasing opportunity to take control. China gallery. It was exciting to see Macleay Honorary Mabuiag Elder and linguist Ephraim Bani Associate Dr Leah Lui-Chivizhe during the guided audiences in Francis Calvert’s recent airing of Blue Water Empire, the documentaries. His son, playwright and Torres Strait-set dramatised documentary actor Jimi Bani, features in Blue Water written by, directed by and starring a highly Empire. As producer/director/actor Aaron talented group of Torres Strait Islanders. Fa’Aoso said of the expansive history, Film history was made in the Torres Strait which stretches from the 1700s through to in 1898 with the first ethnographic footage the present day, it is “the tip of a massive ever filmed at Mer. Photographer Frank ‘iceberg’ – it’s only the start of a whole new Hurley’s 1926 silent filmHound of the Deep set of stories Australia is yet to know”. Dr was also shot in the Torres Strait, as was Lui-Chivizhe, who is a historian at Sydney, is Chips Rafferty’s 1954King of the Coral Sea. close to publishing her history of turtle-shell By the 1980s, Torres Strait Islanders had masks and Islanders in the Torres Strait.

2 Order Architects architect; and Juliette Churchill, the University’s Chau Chak Wing Campus Planning Manager.

Museum update In addition to viewing the overall building visible at that time, the DRP _ was particularly concerned with inspecting the concrete sections poured specifically to test the We have entered a new and exciting phase in the colour and texture of the distinctive construction of the Chau Chak Wing Museum, with cantilevered top ‘box’ section.

the internal propping and formwork removed from The two-storey test element, erected the basement and lower galleries. on the boundary of the site, consists of three different pours and mixes of By Paul Donnelly concrete. The test informed the best choice for this important and complex feature that will house the 6.5 m high For the first time, we have been One site tour in May included temporary exhibition gallery, staff able to see uncluttered interior the Design Review Panel (DRP). offices and boardroom. The DRP was spaces, and can imagine the galleries This evaluative process is a new impressed with the progress of what populated with exhibitions and the requirement for planning authorities promises to be a very special building basement filled with more than half in NSW to promote “good design and on campus. the collection, all in the best possible amenity of the built environment” environmental conditions. The 4.5 m in the planning of “state significant With testing of the in situ concrete high level 1 gallery space will feature projects”. The panel provides a complete, the casting of the box has exhibitions drawn from across the consistent, statewide approach to been the focus of work during June collections. reviewing and raising the design and July. We won’t be able to properly quality of state-significant projects. appreciate the outcome of this The museum is very much a accumulated effort until the removal building site subject to limited The Chau Chak Wing Museum’s panel of the exterior scaffolding – the next access restrictions, but client consists of Di Leeson, Project Control major phase to anticipate. inspection tours have confirmed the Group Chair; Michael Tawa, University commitment to quality and elegance of Sydney Professor of Architecture; Dr Paul Donnelly is Associate expected for a public gallery destined Angelo Candalepas, Candalepas Director, Museum Content. to exhibit our significant holdings. Associates architect; Kim Crestani,

3 Left: Agrianome spinicollis, Longhorn beetle, collected by Captain Philip Parker King during his circumnavigation of Australia (1818–23), Macleay Collections, NHEN.30675

Entomology curators need to intimately know their collections, no matter how big they may be. Storing specimens by taxonomic ordering solves part of this problem. From the mid-1700s, the index card was used to divide and group tens of thousands of species, and to capture information not included on the pin. In the 20th century, punch cards and simple computerised listings were adopted. Computing has now advanced to such an extent that huge data sets can be manipulated towards increasingly sophisticated outputs. For this, the quality of data is key; the Macleay entomology list was ‘bad quality’.

What makes the label list ‘bad quality data’ is also what makes it so special: over 250 years, diverse people have handwritten labels and pinned them Pinned down: big data to the insects. Consequently, the information is highly varied and historically specific, which offers an and entomology excellent opportunity for research _ on a singular animal or genus. But we wanted more from the ‘label list’ information – could big data be Big data is being transformed into striking the answer?

visual representations, revealing new ways of A chance meeting with Di Warren understanding the Macleay Collections. and Sam Clarke from the School of Mathematics and Statistics turned the useful museum list into a digital By Jude Philp, Cory Aitchison and Sasha Jenner humanities challenge for first-year data science undergraduate students. With an overview of the collection and a general introduction to Under most of the insect specimens Since 1892 and the opening of the natural history museum practices, in the Macleay Collections is a tiny, Macleay at the University, many lists the students were given the data fragile paper label. Some are highly of the entomology collection have to construct and answer intelligible detailed, handwritten, folded missives; been made and published from a and useful questions. From there, others barely contain a legible word. taxonomic rationale. This century, a each student designed an illustrative Like the insects, many are more than digital ‘label list’ was made, the first visual so the raw and problematic 200 years old. These labels are our comprehensive listing of the whole data could reveal information about ‘entomology register’. 300,000+ collection. the collection.

4 Two of the ‘data miners’, Cory classified internationally, and the drew us closer to the study of insects, Aitchison and Sasha Jenner, felt they geographical distributions of these seeing the kinds of environments were creeping and crawling their way samples varied over time. best suited to the most successful into the past through the label lists. of animal species: beetles, bugs Here they explain their research. Interestingly, the collection holds and butterflies. a geographically diverse range of insects classified prior to 1850, Our next step is to make the The image of pincers, legs and wings including considerable numbers visualisations robust enough for use has never quite sparked fascination from Africa, the United States and in the Chau Chak Wing Museum. for either of us. Yet, tasked to analyse Europe. This truly highlights the We hope that visitors will be able to and draw conclusions from the extent of imperial exploration and explore, as we did, the great distances Macleay insect database, we soon natural history trade – from Hobart traveled by the individual insects, found ourselves ensnared by its to Holland and almost everywhere following the story of international interconnected webs of adventure in between. trade in natural history that was and trade. enlivened through the classificatory We also explored the intriguing global work of Carl von Linné (1707–77), First, the data had to be ‘cleaned’. distribution and habitats that typify imperial exploration and a frenzy Older taxonomies and historical a single taxonomic order, such as in collecting, legitimated through geography posed the most significant Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). ‘natural theology’. Renditions of the issues. Most boundaries and borders Analysing the data, we found that temperature data will lead visitors had shifted dramatically since the the Nymphalidae, Papilionidae and to consider the ecological settings 1760s. For example, NSW once Lycaenidae families are greatly that the diversity of animals in the encompassed Queensland, Tasmania, represented in the collection. They collection came from. Fiji and New Zealand. Species names were acquired from similar regions and classificatory boundaries have around the world but in differing This unexpected alliance between big changed countless times as new concentrations, with South America, data and entomology seems to be en scientific advances were made. the southern United States and route to encourage people to better Southeast Asia the major hotspots. appreciate not only the heritage Next, we had to try and make sense We then used a temperature API of the natural history trade that of the data. In doing so, we found (application programming interface) initiated the collection, but also the that a subset of the insects’ labels – a kind of coding translator for advantages of having this collection in provided us with dates for when each computers. The API we used was our own backyard. specimen was known to science – for mapped to each location to discover example, the label ‘Acacicis atomarius the habitat conditions for each family. Dr Jude Philp is Senior Curator, (Chapuis, 1869)’ refers to a bark beetle We found that Lycaenidae butterflies Macleay Collections. Cory Aitchison described by Félicien Chapuis in 1869. were habituated in areas with a and Sasha Jenner are undergraduate Using this bibliographic information, median temperature of 27°C, which students from the School of we constructed a timeline of the was on average 6°C higher than that Mathematics and Statistics at the periods when specimens were of the other two main families. It truly University of Sydney.

5 Intergenerational consultations – Girringun artists are strengthening connections to the past by revitalising traditional artefact- and art-making practices.

By Matt Poll

6 “Guyurru (brown pigeon) created the Jibirrji (Murray Falls). Guyurru cut a steep wall out of the rock with a tomahawk, making the waterfalls. Guyurru filled the circular pools at the bottom with witchetty grubs wrapped inside leaves. The cold waters of the falls kept the witchetty grubs fresh.” Signage at Murray Falls, Girramay National Park

Pouandai, as Hinchinbrook Island was known to the Biyaygiri peoples, is the largest island on the Great Barrier Reef. It became separated from the mainland 18,000 years ago, but for the peoples connected through the Girringun Aboriginal Corporation managed by Phillip Rist, Pouandai sits on the coast of Cardwell as a shield sits off the body of a warrior.

Artists from nine interconnected language regions located between Townsville and Cairns are represented through the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre. A map of these connections is as complex as reading the aesthetics on the surfaces of the bigg-unn (shields), made from the same Moreton Bay fig tree damun( in the Gadigal language) as the ones that grow on the grounds of the new Chau Chak Wing Museum site. The clan affiliations of the makers Top: Phillip Denham, Girramay traditional included in the shields provide avenues owner, at Murray Falls, During recent consultations as part of to investigate further, such as what the Girramay National Park the Chau Chak Wing Museum exhibitions combinations of symbols depict. Bottom: some recently completed blank bigg-unn development, Phillip Denham, artist and (shields) in Phillip traditional owner, generously shared In 2013 Professor Rosita Henry, from Denham’s studio his memories of watching his father’s James Cook University, undertook detailed Opposite page: Leonard Andy, Djiru traditional generation making shields, explaining how and fascinating research into the Boyd owner, creating a 21st- some shields clearly show that they were collections, noting that the acquiring of the century depiction of a bigg-unn design on painted by two artists, not one. shields was in some regards a negotiation handmade paper between the collector and the shield Four big-unn from the Macleay Collections, owners. Arrangements were put in place acquired in the early 1880s by JA Boyd, to allow the owners to borrow their shields the owner of a plantation, are particularly from Boyd when they were participating in intriguing objects for Phillip Denham. local tournaments.

7 Boyd was mainly a collector of natural and using the information they embody to specimens, but one diary entry records empower new generations of artists. the purchase of artefacts in 1882. In 1884, Boyd documents the name of the tribe on During other recent consultations, for the whose country the plantation was located forthcoming Ambassadors exhibition for as Wahgamai (Warrgamay). the Chau Chak Wing Museum, I spent the day visiting one of the few practitioners Abe Muriata, who visited the Macleay of contemporary bigg-unn making, Phillip Collections’ jawun (bicornual basket) Denham, and his son Nephi Denham at the collections in 2018 as part of recent Jibirrji (Murray Falls). consultations, met with Prince Charles during his November 2015 visit to the Nephi, a ceramicist and photographer, National Museum to view the Encounters took the opportunity to use his father’s project. In 2016, Girringun artists string-making workshop, in the picnic presented their work at the Oceanographic area of the falls, as his photography Museum of Monaco, including enormous subject. He examined the abstract details 8 m high representations of the bagu of the handmade strings, stretched by (body) and the jiman (stick), depicting his father’s hands as he deftly wove knowledges of fire-making practices in wet different thicknesses while explaining their Right: Phillip Denham at Murray rainforest environments. purposes. Fire is an essential element in Upper

finishing off very fine strings, which are Below: Bigg-unn Representing these historical collections to made for personal adornments. Rougher, are made from the buttress new generations of community members thicker strings are used in making eel and roots of Moreton can be fraught with difficult, complex turkey traps, and fishing nets. Bay fig trees, pictured here questions of how, why and where the with the native macadamia collections were amassed. But increasingly Matt Poll is Assistant Curator, (M. tetraphylla) it is the community, not museums, who are Museum Collections and Repatriation, All photographs seeking out the stories of these objects Macleay Collections. by Matt Poll

“Every bit of your hand is an instrument that you use, whether you are moulding or whatever, weaving ... holding them all in their place.” Phillip Denham, Girramay traditional owner

Phillip Denham demonstrating string making with lawyer cane (Calamus australis)

8 The newly acquired Cambitoglou A m p h o ra, N M2018.136

Bigg-unn, Nyawaygi or Wargamaygan people, Herbert River, North Queensland, collected by JA Boyd c.1885, Macleay Collections, ETH.1122

9 Simply ingenious: Chamberland’s filter candles – A modest invention helped transform the health we enjoy today.

By Kelsey McMorrow

Termed ‘filter candles’, these modest porcelain cylinders were one of the key inventions of the 19th century, transforming public health, hygiene and scientific study. Invented around 1884 by Charles Chamberland (1851–1908) to strain liquids, they were once the central component of a Pasteur-Chamberland filter. For his various experiments, Pasteur required Filter candles 1884–1938. the ability to separate microorganisms from Manufacturer: In 1875, Chamberland began working with the liquids that contained them. For this Hippolyte Boulenger & Co, famed scientist Louis Pasteur (1822–95) as purpose, Chamberland devised the filter France. Havyatt Instrument his laboratory assistant, soon becoming a candle, an instrument with a long body of Collection, collaborator in his research. Having already unglazed porcelain and a glazed spout, giving it donated 2 0 19, M a cl e a y demonstrated through his experiments that a candle-like shape. The unglazed portion was Collections, fermentation and the spoilage of wine, beer porous enough for liquids to pass through while S C 2 0 19.2 2-24 and milk were caused by microorganisms, holding back microorganisms. Pasteur had become a proponent of ‘germ theory’ – the idea that diseases were caused Realising the potential for his invention to be by microorganisms. His research focus had used beyond the laboratory as a water filter, turned to diseases in humans and animals, and Chamberland perfected and adapted the device, with Chamberland’s assistance he sought a presenting it to the French Academy of Sciences means for their prevention, and further proof of in 1884. For water, the filter candle was inserted germ theory. into a metal tube that was directly attached to a

10 tap. Pressure in the pipes would force the liquid Pasteur-Chamberland Filter.” All other filters, he Top left: Portrait of Louis Pasteur. through the candle’s body, with drinkable water stated, were “perfectly useless and even worse” Lantern slide, flowing out its spout. The entire apparatus was (The Sydney Morning Herald, 25 January 1896). transferred from the Department called a ‘Pasteur-Chamberland filter’ (being of Chemistry 1984, Macleay jointly patented by the two scientists), and was The praise and commercial success of the filter Collections, soon made commercially available to a public were certainly deserved. Various scientists had HP84.23.179 increasingly concerned with germs. tested the claims of the Pasteur-Chamberland Top right: Diagram of a Pasteur- filter, experimentally proving its effectiveness at Chamberland The experiments of Pasteur, Robert Koch and straining out the smallest microorganisms then Filter, Fig. 101 in E.L. Trouessart, others had improved public acceptance of known. Further, it had been reported that use Microbes, Ferments germ theory over previous explanations for of the filter had been adopted in the French & Moulds, 1886 the causes of disease, including imbalances in army as well as in schools, resulting in drops in the body, emotions, individual characteristics, cases of typhoid and cholera. Undoubtedly the lifestyle, personal morality and ‘miasmas’ widespread use of the Pasteur-Chamberland (toxic vapours in the air, characterised by foul filter improved public hygiene and health, odours). This, coupled with the public’s growing lessening the spread of deadly disease. However, desire to avoid disease in the face of typhoid the significance and success of the device does and cholera epidemics, meant interest in not end there. Pasteur-Chamberland filters was high. Though not the first water filter, its bold claim to filter In 1892, microbiologist Dmitri Ivanovsky found out all microorganisms was clearly appealing, that extracts from diseased tobacco leaves and it quickly sold throughout France, England could still infect healthy plants after passing and the United States. The filter was in use in through one of Chamberland’s filter candles. In Australia by 1886. doing so, as botanist Martinus Beijerinck would confirm just a few years later, he had unwittingly With each disease outbreak across Australia, discovered a new kind of microorganism. Initially hospitals and public health officials urged termed ‘filterable viruses’ owing to the way they households to use the filter to obtain drinking were uncovered, today they are simply referred water, the recommendations being widely to as ‘viruses’. This discovery and the research published in local newspapers. The University’s it spurred – all thanks to Chamberland’s filter own Thomas Anderson Stuart, then Dean of candle – helped pave the way to establishing the Medicine, Professor of Physiology and president field of virology. of the Board of Health, had this to say: “there is only one kind of domestic filter which is really Kelsey McMorrow is Curatorial Assistant, and scientifically efficient, and that is ... the Macleay Collections.

11 Scottish natural historian. The idea to explore the deep ocean was in part Trawling for knowledge a reaction against fellow Scottish naturalist Edward Forbes’ theory that – the ocean was azoic (without life) – he posited that below 300 fathoms was When the scientific expedition HMS Challenger an abyss where no life could exist. The expedition was also motivated passed through Sydney in 1874, initial excitement by a desire to provide evidence in support of Charles Darwin’s theory of gave way to lasting influence. evolution through natural selection: it was possible that marine organisms By Chris Jones that existed only as fossils on the land could be found alive in the deep ocean.

The expedition was supported by the The arrival of HMS Challenger in The excitement generated by news British Admiralty and also the Royal Sydney on Monday 6 April 1874 caused of the Challenger was justified. Society, via Thomson’s friend William quite a stir. Newspapers were full Starting from Portsmouth, England, Carpenter, its vice-president. In the of stories of the ship’s adventures. in December 1872, it had been summer of 1868, Carpenter convinced Its arrival was highly anticipated by circumnavigating the globe, gathering the Admiralty to allow Thomson use of the public, who had been following scientific information about the HMS Lightning. the ship’s achievements for months. ocean and dredging the ocean floor William John Macleay mentioned to uncover lifeforms. This was the Two important discoveries were the Challenger in his diary as early first trip of its kind and would lay made during this trip. Firstly, the as January, noting that “Professor the foundations for the sciences of crew managed to dredge remnants Thomson who is in command of the oceanography and marine biology. of organic life at a depth of greater scientific staff on board the Challenger than 600 fathoms. Secondly, they is now probably near the South Pole The expedition was the brainchild learned that below 200 fathoms, and may be expected here by May.” of Sir Charles Wyville Thomson, a water temperatures were no longer

12 Main image: Track of HMS Challenger December 1872 to May 1876 showing the dredging and trawling stations, engraved by Malby & Sons, circa 1900

Above: Ernest Haeckel, ‘Radiolaria’ from Report of the Radiolaria collected by the HMS Challenger during years 1873–76, 1887, Lantern Slide, Macleay related to latitudinal patterns like the Collections, HP90.28.1294 surface of the ocean. This discovery Left: Gastropods collected was evidence that the deep ocean by HMS Challenger on 29 December 1874 (1375 contained water currents that have f a t h o m s), M a c l e a y Collections, NHMO.8016 their own temperature and physical characteristics unaffected by conditions on the surface. physical analysis of the seawater, number of specimens. The visit had specimen collection and to conduct a lasting effect on Macleay; following This success was followed by three natural history observations. A the visit he expanded his interests and further expeditions, leading to the 50-volume report was produced at subsequently began collecting a wide ambitious Challenger voyage. HMS the end of the expedition. range of marine life. Challenger was a corvette – a small, fast naval vessel ranking in size below HMS Challenger’s visit to Sydney The Macleay collection contains a frigate. There were 300 crew and was marked by a number of social a number of items relating to the six scientific staff led by Thomson. events, including a ball held at the expedition, including specimens, The captain was George Strong Nares, Masonic Hall. Thomson and Nares photographs and lantern slides of a Royal Navy officer with a lot of dined with Macleay and his friends: illustrations from the report. These experience in scientific exploration. “We had a good dinner and spent a are evidence of a remarkable act of Nares was recalled in November most delightful evening and had a human achievement that some people 1874, and Frank Tourle Thomson took look at some of the curious things have compared to the moon landing over the role of captain until the collected. It was 11 o’clock before we of 1969. The expedition caught the expedition’s completion in May 1876. left.” During the two months that the public’s imagination through regular ship was in Sydney, the crew actively reports via telegraph – the Victorian During the three years, the engaged with the locals. era’s internet – and continues to scientists made measurements inspire future generations seeking and observations at more than The scientists on board visited new knowledge. The Space Shuttle 300 individual ‘stations’ in the Macleay’s entomology collection and Challenger, launched in 1986, was ocean. The goals were to produce a discussed crustacea and other marine named after HMS Challenger. comprehensive record of the world’s animals. Although Macleay did not oceans through temperature and participate in the dredging, his friend Chris Jones is Assistant Collections depth measurements, chemical and Dr James Cox did, bringing Macleay a Manager, Sydney University Museums.

13 Bauhaus Now! – A new exhibition in Melbourne examines the ongoing influence of the Bauhaus on contemporary artists.

By Ann Stephen

14 Lanterns made The carnivalesque aspects of the early Bauhaus In the central gallery, Dwyer and Williams by students Weimar were brought back to life in Melbourne created Mondspiel (Moon-play), a new at a workshop organised by in July this year, when a lantern parade marched collaborative work that embodies the artists Mikala through the city to celebrate the centenary regenerative possibilities of those cast out as Dwyer and Justene Williams. of the school as part of the Bauhaus Now! weeds – a fitting metaphor for the Bauhaus Photograph © Christian exhibition at Buxton Contemporary. diaspora that is the central theme of this work. Capurro, courtesy A thistle garden is visited by the lost souls of of Buxton Contemporary, The parade was the culmination of a lantern- four Bauhäuslers, resurrected via video, who Melbourne making workshop organised by artists Mikala perform a zombie dance in a boxing ring. Dwyer and Justene Williams. After the parade, Dwyer and Williams channel irrational, expelled the lanterns went on display in the gallery, along and repressed elements of the Bauhaus, with other artworks by contemporary artists reworking them as a feminist performance/ inspired by the Bauhaus. installation for the 21st century.

15 “Our future demands human beings who have the logical and truthfully working brain of an engineer and, at the same time, [can] develop the soul and mind of the artist.” Upstairs, the exhibition included a recent Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack Bauhaus-inspired weaving series by Elizabeth Pulie that intersects art with questions of gender and material studies. Pulie taught herself to weave on a handloom in a deliberate procedure of amateur self-education, The interdisciplinary field of projected coloured Above: Elizabeth Pulie’s Bauhaus- creating a series of five body-referencing light was another offshoot of Bauhaus ideas inspired weaving works from recycled clothing. As Bauhäusler developed by Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack, a Top right: Rose Anni Albers observed, “by playing with renowned Bauhäusler who was transported Nolan’s models made from material amateurishly” and “unburdened by to Australia as an enemy alien in 1940. Artist packaging any consideration of practical application Michael Candy has reconstructed Hirschfeld- consideration”, the Bauhaus weavers on Mack’s Farbenlichtspiele (Colour-Light Play) their antiquated handlooms developed an of 1923, a machine for interactive play. Candy’s “unprejudiced attitude towards the materials”. version allows for various levels of interactivity, from the casual museum visitor who turns the Rose Nolan also scavenges from the litter of handles to manipulate the lights, to musicians domestic life, using old cardboard boxes and who improvise on the play of colours. other cast-off packaging for her strangely beautiful and witty architectural models. Both Other Bauhaus experiments with colour, artists embody the advice of Johannes Itten light and photography have been reprised who, in his preliminary course on material by Jacky Redgate. As the artist explains, “it studies, encouraged students to discover is the Bauhäusler Florence Henri’s work that “a whole new world” by rummaging “through the intersects with my interest in Mondrian”. drawers of thrifty grandmothers, their kitchens Henri’s photography used prisms and mirrors, and cellars” and ransacking “the workshops of as her teacher László Moholy-Nagy explained, craftsmen and the rubbish heaps of factories to exploit “the ambiguities of present-day and building sites”. optical creations”.

16 The series of four new monochrome works in the exhibition, entitled Light Throw (Mirrors) Fold, comprises works in the three primaries and a black-and-white version.

These contemporary artists offer ways to reimagine the Bauhaus. To leave the final words to Hirschfeld-Mack, who saw the urgency to reconcile such a rupture: “our future demands human beings who have the logical and truthfully working brain of an engineer and, at the same time, [can] develop the soul and mind of the artist”.

Dr Ann Stephen is Senior Curator, University Art Collection

The Bauhaus Now! exhibition will tour to the Museum of Brisbane in 2020 and then to our new Chau Chak Wing Museum in 2021. The exhibition and related book, Bauhaus Diaspora and Beyond (see Muse issue 23), are based on research undertaken as part of an Australian Research Council Discovery Grant (DP160103820), ‘Bauhaus Australia: Transforming Education in Art, Design and Architecture’, with Reconstructed Professor Philip Goad (University of Melbourne), Farbenlichtspiele Professor Andrew McNamara (Queensland by Michael Candy

University of Technology), Dr Ann Stephen All photographs (University of Sydney), Professor Harriet Edquist © Christian Capurro, courtesy (RMIT University) and Professor Dr Isabel of Buxton Contemporary, Wünsche (Jacobs University, Bremen). Melbourne

17 White-ground lekythos, Athens, Greece, 470-430 BC, CT slice (virtual cross-section) showing interior donated by the National Archaeological Museum of chamber and ventilation hole Athens 1948, Nicholson Museum, NM48.15

Hidden depths –

Recent CT scanning of a Greek lekythos at the University’s new Sydney Imaging Hybrid Theatre has uncovered a curious secret.

By Candace Richards and Zoe Williams

18 In 1948, the Nicholson Museum contents poured over the grave, the received 12 ancient Greek pots from containers left as offerings to the the National Museum of Athens. dead. The quantity of liquid could Professor AD Trendall, Honorary be monitored by putting a false Curator, had written to the Greek bottom within the container. In and British Schools of Archaeology around 470 BC, the workshop in Athens about the possibility of belonging to the ‘Bedlam obtaining any superfluous pottery that Painter’ introduced a short, would assist in teaching ancient Greek secret chamber within the body ceramics. Trendall was notorious of the lekythos, invisible to the for (and very successful at) sending outside eye. While some scholars these types of letters to governments, suggest the chamber was intentional excavations and other museums deception, others have theorised that around the world in order to bolster it was merely put in place as an added the Nicholson collections and the control for libation use. development of archaeology courses. The new acquisition was an important Not all lekythoi have a false bottom Detail from NM48.15, a woman with black hair pours a libation over range of vessel types dated from the or were used for libations. More a grave mound Geometric to late Classical periods commonly they were used as simple (circa 800–350 BC), and included a grave offerings, either full or empty, complete white-ground lekythos. or were intentionally broken at the funeral and burnt on the pyre with years the Nicholson Museum has Lekythoi (singular lekythos) are a the body. To determine whether a been working with the facility to gain distinctive type of oil or perfume lekythos has a false bottom, there is a deeper understanding of Egyptian vessel with a long, cylindrical body, one telltale sign. The sealing of the animal mummies, Fayum funerary a very thin neck and a bowl-shaped lower portion of the vessel, due to portraits, Bronze-age offering tables mouth. Their decoration varies, but a the insertion of a short container, from Jericho and even a Roman- distinctive type called white-ground needs a ventilation hole; otherwise period leather shoe. emerged in the late 6th century BC the ceramic would explode during and was used throughout the 5th the firing process. These were often Using cone beam computed century BC as a special type of grave discreetly placed in the shoulder tomography (CT) and X-ray imaging, offering and in funeral rituals. of the vessel near the handle, or we were able to scan the lekythos sometimes near the foot of the vessel, and view a full 3D reconstruction The white-ground lekythos in the portion covered in deep black within minutes. Using this non- received in 1948 (NM48.15) has faded to disguise the hole and thus the destructive technique we were able considerably. The once-black gloss vessel’s true internal structure. to virtually slice through the lekythos that bordered the figurative scene and visualise the interior structures is now a dull red, and a large uneven The hole in the lower portion of this and surfaces. Almost instantly we hole is visible in the lower portion. lekythos is irregular for a ventilation confirmed the presence of an internal The main scene depicts a woman, hole, as it is large and not at all chamber. It is one of the few times her dark hair tied into a bun, wearing as discreetly placed as one might when a result has been so startlingly a dark-coloured himation (cloak) expect. However, its presence was clear and immediate. standing in front of a tymbos (funeral worthy of further investigation. A mound or tomb), her outstretched quick skewer test through the neck of Future questions will further our arm either holding a ribbon or the vessel did not extend to the depth collaboration with the University’s pouring a libation over the grave. expected but was obstructed at a leading research centres. Residue depth of roughly 13 cm. analysis, volumetric studies and The pouring of libations, or liquid pigment characterisations are all new offerings, was a routine part of To determine whether our lekythos avenues that we can explore to delve many rituals in Ancient Greece. It was indeed an example of one with deeper into the use and importance was performed at religious festivals, a false bottom, we turned to our of this vessel in antiquity. as part of prophecies and before colleagues at the Sydney Imaging banquets, and was an important Hybrid Theatre. The facility has a Candace Richards is Assistant part of funeral rites and subsequent variety of medical imaging equipment Curator, Nicholson Museum. visits to tombs. Lekythoi were often that can be accessed by researchers Zoe Williams is Senior Technical used for libations: their precious from any discipline. In the past two Officer, Sydney Imaging.

19 Curiously, given the provenance of the The enigmatic work and the fact that Greenham was represented by legendary gallerist Denise René, we had very little Lily Greenham information on file about the work or about Greenham herself. In 2017, – I began to research the artist. What The legacies of an overlooked artist I have discovered to date has been remarkable. I am slowly uncovering come into focus. the complex life and work of the enigmatic Lily Greenham.

By Katrina Liberiou Born in 1924, Greenham spent her childhood in Vienna before fleeing Nazi-occupied Austria after the “Why do we wish to create?” asked and to visit numerous archives and Anschluss in 1938 for the relative the artist, performer and sound poet collections in both countries. safety of Denmark, where she Lily Greenham (1924–2001) in 1995. commenced singing lessons and Facing her mortality, though not for My particular curiosity about Greenham started performing publicly (her the first time, she sought to question stems from a work held in the mother was a renowned opera singer). the role of the artist in society and Power Collection of the University In the 1950s she returned to Vienna her own position as an artist. of Sydney, titled Study in visual and studied music at the Akademie perception (1962–65). It was one of für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien It is this question, among others, that four works by female artists acquired (University of Music and Performing has been the basis of my research by curator Gordon Thompson in the Arts). She came into contact with the degree in art history at the University Power Collection’s inaugural year, Wiener Gruppe (the Vienna Group), of Sydney. In June and July of this 1967, and it is Greenham’s only work an experimental theatre group of year, I made a research trip to London held in an Australian collection. The Austrian poets and writers, and met and to Vienna and Graz in Austria, work was previously shown in the and performed the work of Gerhard to meet and interview a number groundbreaking exhibition Lumière et Rühm, co-founder of the group and of Greenham’s friends who are mouvement at Musee d’Art Moderne an influential author, composer and artists, performers and musicians, de la Ville de Paris in 1967. artist who became a close friend.

20 Left: Lily Greenham, Study in visual perception 1962–65, collage on board, lights, JW Power Collection, the University of Sydney, managed by the Museum of Contemporary Art, PW1967.14.1-2

Right: Lily Greenham, Tune into reality, artists’ book, published by Writers’ Forum, London 1974

Far right: The Responsive Eye exhibition catalogue, via https://monoskop.org

Greenham sets up an environment where the spectator activates the work by navigating into the ideal position to uncover the hidden patterns.

In the late 1950s Greenham moved to adopter of the use of light, and an patterns, and also adds coloured Paris, initially training as a painter, and innovator within the Op/kinetic scene lights to increase the optical effects. made contact with several European of the 1960s. neo-avant-garde groups including Perhaps feeling restless and wanting the Lettristes, Groupe de Researche Study in visual perception is to explore new possibilities, in 1972 Visuel (GRAV) and Nouvelle Tendance. the culmination of a substantial Greenham made another change, It was during this period that she was amount of research that Greenham moving to London where she created included in the seminal exhibition The undertook in perception, observation, poetry-sound compositions that Responsive Eye (1965) at the Museum communication and light. She also she edited into electro-acoustic of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, assumed personal study in the soundscapes. She called her music curated by William C Seitz. areas of philosophy, psychology ‘lingual music’, using her own voice and aesthetics. Her consideration in many of her compositions and The exhibition was a defining moment of the role of the spectator was drawing on words, sounds and phrases in art history and a phenomenal always forefront in her mind, and from several languages in which she success for the recently refurbished the work is conceived as a whole- was fluent, including English, French, MoMA, drawing the largest single-day room environment. German, Spanish and Danish. crowd in the museum’s history up to that point in time. It saw Greenham It comprises a collage on board In 1974, as a guest of the BBC exhibited alongside significant artists with three vertical sections, each Radiophonic Workshop, she created including Josef Albers, Carlos Cruz- consisting of a geometric pattern her best-known sound work, Relativity, Diez, Ellsworth Kelly, Agnes Martin, in luminous green and purple. It is an electroacoustic piece for six voices Bridget Riley, Frank Stella and Victor intended to be viewed from a distance in stereo, using linguistic material Vasarely. This was followed by major of 10 m, from where each section drawn from Albert Einstein’s Special group exhibitions in Paris, Vienna appears to have an identical pattern. Theory of Relativity. Her involvement and London, and solo exhibitions However, on closer inspection each with the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Germany. section reveals an altogether different brought her into contact with geometric pattern, only apparent new audiences, and Relativity has Frank Popper, the French art historian as you move closer to the work. continued to be a touchstone for and theorist of the European neo- Greenham sets up an environment renewed interest in her work. avant-garde, was an early advocate where the spectator activates the of Greenham’s work, viewing her as work by navigating into the ideal Katrina Liberiou is Assistant Curator, an artist of huge potential, an early position to uncover the hidden University Art Collection.

21 A collector’s gift –

Paintings by several major Australian artists will soon go on public display for the first time, thanks to a generous bequest.

By Ann Stephen

It is an unforgettable experience to see a finely It came as a shock when, less than a week after honed art collection hung in its owner’s home. our visit, Grace died. For some years he had In November 2017, Sydney lawyer and noted art indicated an interest in supporting the museum, collector Neville Grace invited me and David and it later emerged that he had left 62 paintings Ellis, Director of Sydney University Museums, – the bulk of his collection – to the University, to see his paintings. At Grace’s Elizabeth Bay where he had studied arts and law. penthouse, grand harbour views competed for attention with exquisite coastal landscapes. Several of Grace’s paintings will be on view when the new Chau Chak Wing Museum opens in Since the 1970s, Grace had been collecting 2020. Here is a selection of highlights. works by the finest Australian painters from the colonial era through to early modernism. He loved seascapes and still lifes.

Nicholas Chevalier, South Seas Beauty, 1881 UA2018.33 This work is an example of Grace’s fascination with European artists who looked beyond their own immediate world. Nicholas Chevalier, born in St Petersburg to a Swiss father and a Russian mother, studied in Munich, London and Italy before arriving in Australia in 1854. This painting from a voyage he took to Tahiti is closely related to a major work in the collection of the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Race to the Market, Tahiti, Society Islands, 1880.

22 23 Emanuel Phillips Fox, On a French Beach, c.1909 UA2018.60 The great strength of the Grace bequest is a remarkable group of 27 paintings by the artist couple Ethel Carrick Fox and Emanuel Phillips Fox. British-born Carrick studied at the Francophile Slade School of Art in London before meeting her future husband, an Australian, at an artists’ camp in Cornwall. They began a life of travel and painting, moving to Paris in 1905. They stayed at French seaside resorts in summer and this lively painted sketch dates from this time. They travelled further afield to Venice, Spain and Morocco to sketch and paint, before returning to their Paris studio in the winter months to complete their works.

Ethel Carrick Fox, Morning in Kairouan c.1920–21 UA2018.48 After her husband’s death in Melbourne in 1915, Carrick Fox moved between Paris and Sydney. She continued to travel widely, painting in Italy, Morocco, India and Tunisia. Carrick Fox was an impressionist and this work, painted in the northern desert of Tunisia, shows all the spontaneity and vigour of plein air painting. It captures fleeting moments with bold splashes of colour. For decades, Carrick Fox’s work and reputation was overshadowed by that of her husband (she actively promoted his work after his death). Recent publications and exhibitions are beginning to recognise her individual vision.

Roy de Maistre, On the Beach St-Jean-de-Luz, c.1924 UA2018.36 An expatriate Australian painter drawn to France in the 1920s was Roy de Maistre. He first visited the Basque seaside town of St-Jean-de-Luz in southwestern France in 1923, after winning the NSW Society of Artists Travelling Scholarship. De Maistre was immediately drawn to the area’s dazzling summer light. He painted a number of views of the beach with its distinctive striped canvas sun shelters, using a high-key palette.

24 Tom Roberts, Untitled (Seated Arab), c.1884 UA2018.80 Some of Grace’s first acquisitions were 19th- century works by such major artists as Nicholas Chevalier, Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts. Grace favoured exotic subjects, like this rare orientalist portrait of an Arab man, painted by Roberts during his Spanish sojourn. The man’s shimmering green costume is highlighted against a rough masonry wall. The only trace of Roberts’ later interest in Impressionism is the more loosely painted laneway that frames the figure on the right.

Margaret Preston, The French Jug, 1929 UA2018.77 This still life dates to the heroic modernist decade of Margaret Preston’s career. Inspired by Aboriginal art, she flattened and simplified her still life compositions and favoured native plants as subjects. She arranged the aptly named coral tree flower with daisies and agapanthus in a jug from Quimper in Brittany, France, paying homage to the local and French sources of her modernism. The same jug also features in another Preston painting of flannel flowers – also held in the University’s collection.

Dr Ann Stephen is Senior Curator, University Art Collection.

25 The Thutmoses III illustration created for the Connections exhibition at the Nicholson Museum

Drawing on the past – New technology is helping to reveal and recreate lost details from the past.

By Bernadette Drabsch and Andrew Howells

26 As research illustrators working in academia at the University of Newcastle, the opportunities to work with inspiring and talented people on a diverse range of projects are what drives us. We were therefore very excited to be invited to collaborate with the Nicholson Museum under the supervision of Dr Jamie Fraser.

Our first collaborative venture was to produce an illustration for display in the Connections exhibition: a wall mural to provide context for a relief fragment of Thutmoses III. The background design was based on the meticulous work carried out by Monica Dolińska and a team from the Polish Centre for Archaeology in Warsaw: the linework from their proposed scene became the foundation of our coloured reconstruction. The illustration is an artistic interpretation based on careful research into the original colour palette and aesthetics. Digital manipulation of many layers in Adobe Photoshop produced a complex design that corresponds with the fragments that are known and those that are still missing. The tableau was printed and displayed behind an original fragment held by the Nicholson Museum to provide more context for the spectacular artefact.

Our current venture is the recolouring of the Mer-Neith-It-es coffin. This ongoing practice- based research project challenges us to apply our skills in new ways. It presents many questions: What did the coffin originally look virtually impossible to see with the naked eye, Digital imaging begins to reveal like? What hieroglyphs and designs were scribed and what processes will we need to employ surface details onto its surface? How vibrant were the colours? to repaint the designs back onto a massive and colours on the cedar coffin Can we bring the handpainted surface designs multi‑part digital file? of the woman back to life using modern digital techniques? M e r-N eith-It-es, Nicholson Museum, Fortunately, these sorts of challenges are N M R.2 9.1-4 Our role in the larger collaborative team is to not new to us. In our practice as research visually represent what the coffin might have illustrators, we are often required to produce looked like and digitally recolour the surface scientifically accurate works that are published of the high-resolution 3D scans. It might sound in journals, textbooks and educational straightforward, but it has proven to be a resources. In that process we collaborate with greater challenge than we ever anticipated. specialists, researchers and other creative How can we bring back to life things that we practitioners to learn as much as we can about cannot see? The coffin’s true colours, markings the subjects/objects, processes, themes and and finish quality have slowly disappeared over events that we need to illustrate before we start time. How can we recreate hieroglyphs that are to make illustrations in response.

27 We often spend time observing in the field, through microscopes and from a wide range of resources and references. We study forms, proportions, structures, surface qualities and broader contexts to produce informed representations and narratives. Without this approach, our works couldn’t stand alone as visual representations of knowledge. While our visualisations will inevitably be interpretative, the goal is to remove as much subjectivity as possible and to let the work effectively communicate what is collectively known and understood.

In the case of the Mer-Neith-It-es coffin, the challenge was to better see the faded and damaged surface, and identify who might help us understand and interpret our observations. Fortunately we are privileged to be part of an expert team and, through regular collaborative sessions with various specialists, using a range of software packages, we now can see a little further back in time to what the faded designs might have looked like. The basis of our reconstruction is an incredibly high-resolution 3D laser scan of the coffin – a resource that enables us to explore the surface in ways we couldn’t through direct observation, while also providing numerous trials and challenges itself.

The digital file consists of two parts: a 3D model and a high-resolution photogrammetry scan (texture map) that documents the surface detail. The model arrived in numerous sections that had to be digitally reassembled with the corresponding sections of the texture map before we could carry out any further work.

The large digital scan could now provide us with the ability to amplify sections of the coffin’s individual hieroglyphs and pictorial designs A resource map of the hieroglyphs surface and to examine the marks emerging with more clarity. These are recorded as line on the back of out of the timber grain, while allowing us to illustrations, providing the Egyptologists with the coffin adjust the image’s contrast and colour gamut a comprehensive resource map enabling to gather more visual data. To do this we have collaborative discussions that in turn inform been using a combination of Photoshop and, the iterative design process. more ingeniously, a software plug-in called D-stretch (which is more commonly used To ensure that we produce the most accurate in rock art research) to produce a range of recolouring possible, we are liaising with the reference images that enable us to see the spectroscopy team from Sydney Analytical who,

28 Recolouring process The coffin’s true Deconstruction - Experimentation - Reconstruction

colours, markings <- Surface finish and finish quality (lacquer/varnish) have slowly <- Hieroglyph linework

disappeared over <- Hieroglyph fill colour time. How can we recreate hieroglyphs <- Substrate treatment

that are virtually <- Substrate impossible to see?

through their carefully targeted samples, are technical research assistant Luke O’Donnell to Top: Screenshot of the coffin in providing insights into the materials used to unwrap the texture maps from specific areas of digital form decorate the coffin, its linework, colour palette the coffin to do experimental recolouration and Above: Examples and lustre. animation tests. of the animation tests that will be used in interpretive As research illustrators we need to experiment We still have a long way to go, but the solitary displays with media, materials and techniques to faded timber coffin is now slowly coming back to arrive at the best approach to make an image. life with colour. Recolouring the coffin is no exception. We have been experimenting with a process Dr Bernadette Drabsch and Dr Andrew Howells for recolouring using Photoshop, Illustrator, are from the School of Creative Industries at Substance Painter and Blender. We are the University of Newcastle. considering what combination of digital brushes/tools, textures and lighting effects will enable us to represent, as faithfully as possible, The coffin and related illustrations will form a the original handmade marks, grain and finish of key feature in our new Egyptian galleries in the the timber. We are currently working with our Chau Chak Wing Museum, opening in 2020.

29 The Nicholson Museum will close on The end of Friday 28 February 2020, as we prepare an era to move all our collections into the Chau Chak Wing Museum.

Keep up to date with the project online: sydney.edu.au/museum Nicholson Museum 1951, photograph by Max Dupain, donated by Nicholson Museum 1951, photograph by Max Dupain, donated Diana Dupain, University Art Collection, UA1996.81.65 Nicholson Museum 1951, photograph by Max Dupain, donated by Diana Dupain, University Art Collection, UA1996.81.65 from Abydos from shabtis scanning to use, laser skills modelling 3D their putting rsity, nive U Macquarie from Michelle Whitford with Spratt Wyatt candidate Simon of PhD Sydney Right: University +61 2 8627 8819 (fax) (fax) 8819 +61 28627 8807 +61 28627 Australia 2006 NSW Sydney, of University The Administration Building (F23) Road City and Avenue Eastern of Corner 2, Level Advancement Services £ £ £ to: donation my allocate to like I would ( £ of: gift my accept Please Email: Phone: �� Address: Name: grow and to us conserve help Please history Making sydney.edu.au/museums [email protected] Donations of $2 or more are tax deductible tax are more or $2 of Donations Collection Art University Nicholson Collection Macleay Collections $50 �� £ �� $100 £ $250

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£ Master of Museum Museum of Master withyear a thisgraduated both Munro, who and Eleanor f, Cooper f a Arabella t s m u e s u M Nicholson dedicated of to our two Congratulations Above: Bauhaus Now! Bauhaus of opening Left: At the Studies Heritageand Katarina Paseta Katarina e n and e t s Williams u J r, e y w D Stephen, Mikala Keyes, Melissa Ann Cath Underhill, From left: Melbourne. in Diners Club

Find your muse at Sydney University Museums

Whether you want to view an exhibition or attend a talk, we have plenty on offer. To view the latest timetable, visit sydney.edu.au/museum and click on ‘What’s on’. Unless otherwise stated, all events take place at the Nicholson Museum.

Nicholson Museum tours Free tours of the Nicholson Museum take place at 3.30–4.30pm each Monday.

Clockwise from above: Trefoil mouth jug, Etruria, Italy, 500–400 BC, donated by October November Sir Charles Nicholson 1860, Nicholson Museum, NMR.550 – – A page from a photograph album Wednesday 2 October, 10am–4pm Saturday 2 November, 2–3pm relating to Egypt, Macleay Collections, HP2017.2.384 School Holiday Activity Day: Heat, History and Hummus: on the Ancient Rome trail of the Crusaders in the Holy Land Bronze cat figurine, Egypt, Late Period to Ptolemaic Period, A free fun day of activities for Matthew Gibbs, President of the 712–30 BC, donated by ML St children aged 5–12. Friends of the Nicholson Museum Vincent Welch 2017, NM2017.222 Cost: free Rotating shutter, part of SUSI, Paul Wild Observatory, Saturday 5 October, 12–1pm Narrabri, NSW, 1980s–90s, Geometric Greek pottery Thursday 7 November, 6pm transferred from the School of Physics 2017, SC2018.82.2 masterclass with Dr Stavros Paspalas Is it possible to reconstruct Cost: $25 ancient Greek music? Dr Sylvain Perrot, Centre national Saturday 5 October, 2–3pm de la recherche scientifique, Paris Vivified Vikings Cost: free Dr Alix Thoeming, Educational Designer, University of Sydney Friday 8 November, 6pm Cost: free* Being Collected Lecture 2019 Tina Baum, National Gallery of Wednesday 16 October, 6 for 6.30pm Australia Osirian Cult Songs: How noisy were Cost: free Ancient Egyptian funerals? Professor Martin Bommas, Wednesday 20 November, Macquarie University 6 for 6.30pm Cost: $40** Greek Theatre in early Sydney Bookings: nicholson.museum@ Dr Laura Ginters, Performance sydney.edu.au Studies, University of Sydney Cost: $40**

Friday 22 November, 2–3pm Free Indigenous heritage walking tour of the University campus Cost: free Bookings: museums.education@ sydney.edu.au

32 Current December January exhibitions – – – Friday 6 December, 6 for 6.30pm Wednesday 29 January, 6pm Nicholson Museum The Sir Charles Nicholson Museum Celebrating the remarkable history –– Actors, Athletes and Academics: Lecture 2019: The Ark before Noah of the Nicholson Museum and its Life in ancient Greece collection Dr Irving Finkel, British Museum –– The Art of Storytelling Cost: $40** Dr James Fraser, Candace Richards, –– Connections Dr Finkel’s Australian visit is Dr Craig Barker, Nicholson Museum presented by the FNM, NEAF and AIA. Cost: free –– Death Magic –– Lego Pompeii Thursday 5 December, 4–5pm February –– Memento: Remembering Saturday 7 December, 12–1pm, 1–2pm Roman Lives Monday 9 December, 4–5pm –– The Sky and the Sea: Cuneiform masterclass with – Saturday 1 February, 2–3pm Ancient Cypriot Art Dr Irving Finkel Derring Do and Derring Don’t: Cost: $20 –– Tombs, Tells and Temples: The Palmer Sinai Expedition of 1882 Excavating the Near East Dr James Fraser, Nicholson Museum Friday 6 December, 2–3pm Sponsored by Academy Travel Free Indigenous heritage walking At the end of February 2020 the Venue: General Lecture Theatre, tour of the University campus Nicholson Museum will close, Quadrangle Cost: free as we will be moving into the Cost: free Bookings: museums.education@ new Chau Chak Wing Museum, sydney.edu.au due to open in August 2020. Wednesday 26 February, 6pm Nicholson Museum’s Closing Saturday 7 December, 2–3pm Find us online: Gala Evening Troy: Beyond Homer sydney.edu.au/museum Following the Friends of the Dr Jennifer Lawless, Academy Travel Twitter: /nicholsonmuseum Nicholson Museum AGM Cost: free Facebook: search for Cost: free Nicholson Museum

All details are correct at the time of publication; however, events may change due to * Part of the Travellers in Time series circumstances beyond our control. sponsored by Academy Travel Please visit our website for ** $30 for Friends of the Nicholson Museum up‑to‑date information: and their guests; $10 for students sydney.edu.au/museum

33 Search our collections online collections our Search You never know what you might find. collections_search sydney.edu.au/museums/

[Young boy dressed in a Mickey Mouse costume] 1920–40, glass plate negative, Macleay Collections, HP99.21.133