The Bluecoat in Liverpool is celebrating the 300th anniversary of its building, a handsome early 18th-century brick structure, tucked neatly behind Church Street in the city centre. It was only in 1907 that the building began to be used as an arts centre, the first of its kind in Britain.
But the arts venue claims the three centuries of history of that site as its own – rightly, because the Bluecoat has been shaped by its building and its location at the heart of the city centre and Liverpool’s cultural life.
For many decades – before Tate Liverpool, Fact (the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and the Liverpool Biennial – the city had only the Walker Art Gallery and the Bluecoat, and made excellent use of them both.
Like many northern cities, Liverpool is a place where art, music and theatre have played an important role in the lives of its residents. So many people, from all walks of life, have come through the doors of the Bluecoat Chambers, to see exhibitions, have music lessons, perform or take exams.
My family in Liverpool have been among them. This desire for art and for taking part is what we must hold on to when funding cuts and austerity are grinding down the variety and vivacity of our cultures.
The 300th anniversary has been seized on as an excuse to look at the history of the building and the artistic endeavour that has taken place in it. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, among others, the Bluecoat is mounting a year- long series of exhibitions that will throw light on its past: the first is Art at the Heart of Bluecoat.
Slavery and soap
All these small exhibitions will be prefaced by a semi-permanent museum-style panel and flat- screen display running through a historical timeline, from the opening of the building in 1717 to now. This is nicely done and describes how the charitable Bluecoat School was founded by the master mariner Bryan Blundell for orphan boys in 1708, originally at St Peter’s Church.
As with many aspects of Liverpool history, most things lead to the topic of slavery; in the case of the Bluecoat School, the connection is straightforward – the school was supported by profits drawn from the city’s place in the triangular slave trade.
The display charts the school’s move out to the suburb of Wavertree and the building’s subsequent cultural revolution, being taken over in 1907 by the newly created Sandon Studios Society.
The society had been formed by artists and designers who occupied “The Art Sheds” at what was then University College Liverpool. Led by the professor of architecture, Charles Reilly, this group moved into the school building, renamed themselves the Bluecoat Society of Arts and persuaded Lord Leverhulme, the local soap baron, to buy the place so that they were secure.
It’s at this point that the display and accompanying archive exhibition begin to amaze with the list of truly great artists and musicians who have exhibited or performed alongside Liverpool artists.
Monet’s work was shown at the Bluecoat in 1908; in 1911 Roger Fry’s post-impressionist exhibition toured there from London, showing Picasso, Van Gogh and Cézanne; Stravinsky performed in the city in 1934 and dined at the Bluecoat; in 1967 Yoko Ono was there, being wrapped up in bandages by the public; Simon Rattle visited as a child for violin lessons; Mark Leckey, born not far away on the Wirral, won the Turner Prize in 2008 and went
on to show at the Bluecoat in 2013.
Liverpudlian links
From this historic display we move to the exhibition Public View, the first in a series reflecting on the art shown at the Bluecoat over the past half century. Curated by the longstanding artistic director, Bryan Biggs, the exhibition sets out to bring these diverse artists together in one show, sometimes with the works originally exhibited, at other times new works; it features 100 works and the labels tell us when each artist first showed.
Visitors are introduced to the earliest works in the first room, but strict chronology is soon abandoned in favour of loose visual connections and packing lots of art in. It’s great to see a video of Yoko Ono’s Music of the Mind from 1967, her first paid performance work. Sonia Boyce is included too, having exhibited at the Bluecoat four times since 1985: her print So Amazing, like many other works in this show, has been sold in aid of the gallery at a recent auction.
Keith Piper’s slideshow, The Trophies of Empire (1984), is redisplayed, this time digitally. But as Piper says, it’s “the same old tune, the same old popular morality”, the Falklands War back then, and now Brexit, Trump and the rise of the right.
Pavel Büchler, a great teacher of Glasgow and Manchester artists, shows the sound work Encore from 2005, developed from a 1999 Liverpool Biennial project.
At the top of the narrow stairs is a little watercolour by Tony Oursler, Dummy Sky, which he made as a background for a video installation for his solo show at the Bluecoat in 1993. John Akomfrah, this year’s winner of the Artes Mundi prize, shows six photographs recalling The Unfinished Conversation, his brilliant installation about the great Jamaican-born thinker Stuart Hall, which was shown in the 2012 Liverpool Biennial.
These pieces are shown alongside good work by many Liverpool artists, including Nina
Edge, Leo Fitzmaurice, Paul Rooney and Imogen Stidworthy. The art is bold, thoughtful and beautiful and it’s a tribute to the Bluecoat that it can show so many of these artists and remind us of the contribution it has made to contemporary art, encouraging artists at all stages of their careers to make work that connects with this great city, its people, and beyond.
Mary Griffiths is the senior curator (modern and contemporary art) at the Whitworth, University of Manchester
Cost Undisclosed
Main funder In house
Exhibition design In house (Public View); Nonconform (Art at the Heart of Bluecoat)
Exhibition graphics Mike Carney; Benson Signs
Lighting In house
Interpretation In house
Display cases Harrison Display Systems
Admission Free
Exhibition ends Public View, until 23 April; Art at the Heart of Bluecoat, until 9 April
But the arts venue claims the three centuries of history of that site as its own – rightly, because the Bluecoat has been shaped by its building and its location at the heart of the city centre and Liverpool’s cultural life.
For many decades – before Tate Liverpool, Fact (the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) and the Liverpool Biennial – the city had only the Walker Art Gallery and the Bluecoat, and made excellent use of them both.
Like many northern cities, Liverpool is a place where art, music and theatre have played an important role in the lives of its residents. So many people, from all walks of life, have come through the doors of the Bluecoat Chambers, to see exhibitions, have music lessons, perform or take exams.
My family in Liverpool have been among them. This desire for art and for taking part is what we must hold on to when funding cuts and austerity are grinding down the variety and vivacity of our cultures.
The 300th anniversary has been seized on as an excuse to look at the history of the building and the artistic endeavour that has taken place in it. Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Arts Council England, among others, the Bluecoat is mounting a year- long series of exhibitions that will throw light on its past: the first is Art at the Heart of Bluecoat.
Slavery and soap
All these small exhibitions will be prefaced by a semi-permanent museum-style panel and flat- screen display running through a historical timeline, from the opening of the building in 1717 to now. This is nicely done and describes how the charitable Bluecoat School was founded by the master mariner Bryan Blundell for orphan boys in 1708, originally at St Peter’s Church.
As with many aspects of Liverpool history, most things lead to the topic of slavery; in the case of the Bluecoat School, the connection is straightforward – the school was supported by profits drawn from the city’s place in the triangular slave trade.
The display charts the school’s move out to the suburb of Wavertree and the building’s subsequent cultural revolution, being taken over in 1907 by the newly created Sandon Studios Society.
The society had been formed by artists and designers who occupied “The Art Sheds” at what was then University College Liverpool. Led by the professor of architecture, Charles Reilly, this group moved into the school building, renamed themselves the Bluecoat Society of Arts and persuaded Lord Leverhulme, the local soap baron, to buy the place so that they were secure.
It’s at this point that the display and accompanying archive exhibition begin to amaze with the list of truly great artists and musicians who have exhibited or performed alongside Liverpool artists.
Monet’s work was shown at the Bluecoat in 1908; in 1911 Roger Fry’s post-impressionist exhibition toured there from London, showing Picasso, Van Gogh and Cézanne; Stravinsky performed in the city in 1934 and dined at the Bluecoat; in 1967 Yoko Ono was there, being wrapped up in bandages by the public; Simon Rattle visited as a child for violin lessons; Mark Leckey, born not far away on the Wirral, won the Turner Prize in 2008 and went
on to show at the Bluecoat in 2013.
Liverpudlian links
From this historic display we move to the exhibition Public View, the first in a series reflecting on the art shown at the Bluecoat over the past half century. Curated by the longstanding artistic director, Bryan Biggs, the exhibition sets out to bring these diverse artists together in one show, sometimes with the works originally exhibited, at other times new works; it features 100 works and the labels tell us when each artist first showed.
Visitors are introduced to the earliest works in the first room, but strict chronology is soon abandoned in favour of loose visual connections and packing lots of art in. It’s great to see a video of Yoko Ono’s Music of the Mind from 1967, her first paid performance work. Sonia Boyce is included too, having exhibited at the Bluecoat four times since 1985: her print So Amazing, like many other works in this show, has been sold in aid of the gallery at a recent auction.
Keith Piper’s slideshow, The Trophies of Empire (1984), is redisplayed, this time digitally. But as Piper says, it’s “the same old tune, the same old popular morality”, the Falklands War back then, and now Brexit, Trump and the rise of the right.
Pavel Büchler, a great teacher of Glasgow and Manchester artists, shows the sound work Encore from 2005, developed from a 1999 Liverpool Biennial project.
At the top of the narrow stairs is a little watercolour by Tony Oursler, Dummy Sky, which he made as a background for a video installation for his solo show at the Bluecoat in 1993. John Akomfrah, this year’s winner of the Artes Mundi prize, shows six photographs recalling The Unfinished Conversation, his brilliant installation about the great Jamaican-born thinker Stuart Hall, which was shown in the 2012 Liverpool Biennial.
These pieces are shown alongside good work by many Liverpool artists, including Nina
Edge, Leo Fitzmaurice, Paul Rooney and Imogen Stidworthy. The art is bold, thoughtful and beautiful and it’s a tribute to the Bluecoat that it can show so many of these artists and remind us of the contribution it has made to contemporary art, encouraging artists at all stages of their careers to make work that connects with this great city, its people, and beyond.
Mary Griffiths is the senior curator (modern and contemporary art) at the Whitworth, University of Manchester
Project Data
Cost Undisclosed
Main funder In house
Exhibition design In house (Public View); Nonconform (Art at the Heart of Bluecoat)
Exhibition graphics Mike Carney; Benson Signs
Lighting In house
Interpretation In house
Display cases Harrison Display Systems
Admission Free
Exhibition ends Public View, until 23 April; Art at the Heart of Bluecoat, until 9 April
