A Glimpse of Walter Potter's Kittens
The wierd and wonderful tableaux of Victorian taxidermist, Walter Potter; some of you out there may remember being taken to see this collection a child?
The museum, which was laterly housed at Jamaica Inn, Cornwall, no longer exists. The fur & feathered exhibits were auctioned off in 2003. At the time, artist Damien Hirst, offered a million pounds to buy the collection and prevent it from being split up. Amid a lot of controversy, the bid was turned down and the collection scattered to the winds. See article from The Telegraph HERE.
However, Hirst did manage to buy several of the exhibits and last Autumn, 2010, many of the pieces were brought together again for a one off show co-curated by Sir Peter Blake at The Museum of Everything.
Click HERE to read the related Guardian article 8th October 2010
Here's a short film by Pathe News from 1965 which gives you a closer look at part of the collection (apologies for the rather abrupt end!).
The museum, which was laterly housed at Jamaica Inn, Cornwall, no longer exists. The fur & feathered exhibits were auctioned off in 2003. At the time, artist Damien Hirst, offered a million pounds to buy the collection and prevent it from being split up. Amid a lot of controversy, the bid was turned down and the collection scattered to the winds. See article from The Telegraph HERE.
However, Hirst did manage to buy several of the exhibits and last Autumn, 2010, many of the pieces were brought together again for a one off show co-curated by Sir Peter Blake at The Museum of Everything.
Click HERE to read the related Guardian article 8th October 2010
Here's a short film by Pathe News from 1965 which gives you a closer look at part of the collection (apologies for the rather abrupt end!).
Comments
The Pathe clip is great to watch with the voice over and background music. I'm loving the BBC4 series about Pathe News, I could watch those programmes again and again.
P.S. I didn't know that you're a classic car fan too! You have such fine taste, M.
(Yes, fascinating collection such a shame it has been scattered)