1st May: Russell-Cotes Museum

With friends Zoe and Wendy, visited the Russell-Cotes Museum in Bournemouth. I hadn’t been there for years and was reminded that it is both a splendid, varied collection of artefacts and art work and also an amazing building in a beautiful location. The Russell-Cotes were hotel owners who clearly made a lot of money at the time (about 1900) when Bournemouth was first developed as a resort, and used the proceeds to travel the world as well as to purchase works of art.

A special exhibition of John Thomson’s photographs provided a fascinating glimpse of 19th century China. Taken with a large plate camera, the photos were exhibited at a size where the superbly fine detail could be seen.

I’ve chosen the photos below, mainly taken by Zoe, to illustrate the diversity of the collection (including a bit of 19th century pornography!) and the nature of the building.