Sailor Art: Maritime making in the long nineteenth century
Lead Research Organisation:
Cardiff University
Department Name: Sch of English Communication and Philos
Abstract
This project will situate objects produced by sailors at the heart of current scholarly debates about gendered work and creativity, military masculinity, and citizenship.
It will be the first consideration of the National Maritime Museum's rich holdings of sailor craft, including boxes and other small ornaments decorated with nautical motifs, marquetry, strawwork, ropework, carvings on coconut shells, scrimshaw, woolwork pictures and other embroidered textiles. Work produced by Navy personnel will be compared with that of civilian sailors, and contextualised alongside soldier making, to explore servicemen's distinctive skills, creativity and experience in the context of shifting attitudes to masculinity, empire and patriotism through the long nineteenth century. This interdisciplinary PhD is informed by the supervisors' specialisms in decorative arts, curating, military and cultural history, and masculinity studies to offer a new approach to this unique body of creative work. The appointed student will have the opportunity to enhance the Museum's cataloguing and interpretation of these objects and to contribute to museum programming, such as public talks, educational outreach and, potentially, an exhibition co-curated with the projects' supervisors.
The research will draw out the previously hidden histories of military making, challenging assumptions about gendered work and crafting, and uncovering the personal and political significance of previously under-explored and diverse NMM collection items. While the appointed student will shape their own research pathways in line with their interests and expertise, we envisage that the following research questions will be at the heart of the project:
- How, why and for whom did sailors produce art?
- How does this work challenge preconceptions of gendered labour and what does it tell us about the history of masculinity, art and craft?
- What kinds of narratives have been passed on with these objects? How have they been kept, collected and curated?
- What do these objects contribute to discussions about military experience and skills, and to reassessments of the relationship between military and civilian spheres? How might such works intervene in debates about the incommunicability of combatant experience?
- What is distinctive about art produced by sailors, and by soldiers, and by Prisoners of War, and what are the differences - material, practical, political, personal? How does sailor art reflect distinctive experiences of life on ship, port and at sea? How do objects produced by sailors and soldiers speak to wider shifting attitudes about the navy and army?
- What are the key developments in the making of military art from Waterloo to WW1? How does this history relate to broader military and art histories? And how do these historical objects relate to the work being made now by military personnel?
It will be the first consideration of the National Maritime Museum's rich holdings of sailor craft, including boxes and other small ornaments decorated with nautical motifs, marquetry, strawwork, ropework, carvings on coconut shells, scrimshaw, woolwork pictures and other embroidered textiles. Work produced by Navy personnel will be compared with that of civilian sailors, and contextualised alongside soldier making, to explore servicemen's distinctive skills, creativity and experience in the context of shifting attitudes to masculinity, empire and patriotism through the long nineteenth century. This interdisciplinary PhD is informed by the supervisors' specialisms in decorative arts, curating, military and cultural history, and masculinity studies to offer a new approach to this unique body of creative work. The appointed student will have the opportunity to enhance the Museum's cataloguing and interpretation of these objects and to contribute to museum programming, such as public talks, educational outreach and, potentially, an exhibition co-curated with the projects' supervisors.
The research will draw out the previously hidden histories of military making, challenging assumptions about gendered work and crafting, and uncovering the personal and political significance of previously under-explored and diverse NMM collection items. While the appointed student will shape their own research pathways in line with their interests and expertise, we envisage that the following research questions will be at the heart of the project:
- How, why and for whom did sailors produce art?
- How does this work challenge preconceptions of gendered labour and what does it tell us about the history of masculinity, art and craft?
- What kinds of narratives have been passed on with these objects? How have they been kept, collected and curated?
- What do these objects contribute to discussions about military experience and skills, and to reassessments of the relationship between military and civilian spheres? How might such works intervene in debates about the incommunicability of combatant experience?
- What is distinctive about art produced by sailors, and by soldiers, and by Prisoners of War, and what are the differences - material, practical, political, personal? How does sailor art reflect distinctive experiences of life on ship, port and at sea? How do objects produced by sailors and soldiers speak to wider shifting attitudes about the navy and army?
- What are the key developments in the making of military art from Waterloo to WW1? How does this history relate to broader military and art histories? And how do these historical objects relate to the work being made now by military personnel?
| Description | Caird Library Research Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Talk given in the Caird Library at the National Maritime Museum, with the aim of communicating current and ongoing institutional research to the public. Useful to establish themes in research which have "mass-appeal" and to formulate research into an engaging narrative. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| URL | https://www.rmg.co.uk/see-do/exhibitions-events/sailor-craft-maritime-making-long-nineteenth-century |
| Description | Talk for ORNC Volunteers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | Given as part of the 'Knowledge Bite' series of talks for volunteers at the Old Royal Naval College, Greenwich. The audience have an existing interest in maritime history and the lives of sailors and therefore were very engaged. Talk arose out of a collaboration with the Learning Team on sailors personal belongings and I have been invited back. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | The Last Object in the Museum - Maritime History and Culture Seminar |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | Short presentation on a pair of sailor's trousers, given as part of a public debate on what the last object held by the National Maritime Museum should be, at the IHR's Maritime History and Culture Seminar. Sparked lots of discussion among museum professionals and academics and the trousers were voted the winner. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
| URL | https://networks.h-net.org/node/73374/announcements/899575/last-object-museum |