The new Dickens and London exhibition at the Museum of London explores the life and works of the great 19th-century novelist against the backdrop of the city that inspired him.
This fascinating show runs until 10 June 2012 and forms part of the celebrations marking the 200th anniversary of the writer’s birth.
A visit to the exhibition is an atmospheric experience. Throughout, the ambience is one reminiscent of gaslit streets, moonlight or shadows – the type of backdrop against which one could easily imagine a Dickensian scene being played out.
As they enter, visitors are met with three giant screens that flick from scene to scene of Victorian London, showing not only how busy the place was, but also the wide variety of people who made a living within it.
They are also treated to some of Dickens’ most vivid character names and portrayals. For example we are reminded of Mr Mould, the undertaker; the nauseating Uriah Heep and the pompous Reverend Mr Chadband, who ‘moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright.’
Above visitors’ heads a host of letters hang and gently rotate, while a large, wooden sun and moon hint at Dickens’ day- and night-time perambulations around the city in search of inspiration.
Alex Werner, head of history collections at the Museum of London and lead curator of Dickens and London, believes such wanderings gave the writer a unique insight into the city.
‘He knew its alleys and streets better than anyone,’ he says, ‘Dickens is the first author to describe the modern city of the 19th century and its profound impact on society and, in particular, on ordinary people.’
Many aspects of life in 19th century London that affected Dickens still resonate today. The writer attacked government fraud and administrative red tape (a phrase he coined) and was appalled by the gulf between rich and poor in the city.
Dickens himself experienced both sides of that particular coin. Despite his later wealth he had a stressful and often unhappy childhood. His father was sent to a debtors’ prison and he found himself working in a factory sticking labels on bottles at the age of 12.
The exhibition considers how that experience coloured his later writings and uses contemporary works and artefacts to show how unrelentingly grim live in London could be for those with little or no money.
Among the latter is Luke Fildes’ painting Applicants for Admission to a Casual Ward, which depicts a queue of unfortunates hoping to gain shelter in a hostel.
It is clearly a cold evening. A policeman checking documents is wrapped up in scarf and cloak while a man in top hat and a ragged suit is rubbing his hands in a futile bid to stay warm.
The children in the picture, though, all have bare legs and arms, making their plight seem even more dismal even than that of the adults.
Also on show are manuscript pages from The Mystery of Edwin Drood describing the scene inside a London opium den, Dickens’ writing desk and chair and relics, such as clay pipes and fragments of pottery, excavated from Jacob’s Island in Rotherhithe – a place where, in Victorian times, poverty-stricken inhabitants would lower buckets in the Thames to source their water.
The exhibition ends with a film by documentary film-make William Raban. Entitled The Houseless Shadow this explores the similarities between night-time London today and in the time of Dickens.
With a sound-track taken from the writings of the novelist, it provides an intriguing and thought-provoking link between the centuries.
www.museumoflondon.org.uk
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