Lost Southwark is the new temporary exhibition at the Cuming Museum chronicling the built history of the borough.
In the 1920s, when the ‘South London Group’ of artists showed an annual exhibition at the South London Gallery, the council used to buy selected works each year for their own collection, with the aim of documenting life in and around the borough. Over time, and with budgets becoming increasingly stretched, the practice died out and the council collection ceased to grow.
But now there’s more money around and the collection is booming once again. Some of the best pieces in the collection are now on display at the Cuming Museum. Together they document the architectural and social history of Southwark, including Dulwich, and serve as a reminder of the vibrant history of this area.
Dulwich Village by Thomas Morris
In 1850, Thomas Morris created this oil painting of the village. A dwarf, Morris was a local personality and sometime doorman at the South London Gallery.
There are also a number of images of the Crown and Greyhound pub over a range of time – it was already known to locals as ‘the Dog’ many years ago.
Interestingly the collection features no photographs. There are oil paintings, watercolours, sketches, engravings, lithographs and line drawings. And while the pieces chosen for this display document how life has changed in the borough, they also capture a certain atmosphere or sense of place that perhaps a photograph can’t portray.
While this exhibition gives us a chance to look back and view streets and scenes we know well in a different light (during wartime, or when trams ruled the public transport of the area) it also gives us glimpses of places that no long exist. The canal which used to run across Burgess Park is featured from a variety of perspectives, for example.
Dulwich Hill by John Hassell
The engraving of Dulwich Hill by John Hassell (1767–1825) is dated to around 1817. It shows Casino House (or Casina as it initially seems to have been called) as a country retreat on Dulwich Hill, later known as Denmark Hill. The house – designed by John Nash – was demolished in 1906 and the grounds are now the Sunray and Casino Estate. The lake survives as Sunray Gardens.
It’s often easy to think that much of the past is forgotten. But images like these – often very simple ones – act as wonderful reminders of the huge cultural heritage we have in our local area. And each one gives us a new persepective on somewhere we might take for granted.
Dulwich OnView has featured some articles previously encouraging local residents to look at the differences between postcards from years ago and modern photos on the same spot, like this now-and-then article with an image from 100 years ago.
Do you have a favourite local historic image? If so, let us know.
The exhibition runs until 29 August at the Cuming Museum: 151 Walworth Road (Elephant and Castle end).
Open Tuesdays to Saturdays, 10am to 5pm.
Images: with thanks to the Cuming Museum and Southwark Art Collection.
