Month: June 2021

A major new exhibition at the Walker Art Gallery will open in September and run until the end of February next year. Sickert: A Life in Art will be the largest retrospective of Walter Richard Sickert’s work to have been held in the UK for more than 30 years, showcasing drawings from the Walker’s own unique collection, along with paintings loaned to the Gallery from national and international collections of the artist’s work.

The Walker Art Gallery holds 349 of Sickert’s drawings, making it the largest collection in the world. Most of the 200 drawings that will feature in the exhibition have never been displayed before, and the new exhibition promises to give us real insights into how these drawings influenced Sickert’s major works and the vital role they played in his artistic practice.

Walter Sickert (1860-1942) is one of Britain’s best known and most successful artists, whose importance was recognised by his contemporaries, and whose reputation as one Britain’s most influential artists of the 20th century has only grown over time. Munich-born Sickert was a member of the Camden Town Group, a group of Post-Impressionist artists who met on a weekly basis in his London studio in Camden Town.

Sickert was a radical painter, who in a career spanning six decades repeatedly reinvented himself while maintaining a characteristic realism and rawness in his work, which often saw him tackle somewhat seedy subject matter. He profoundly believed that art should hold a mirror up to the modern world and strive to depict the unvarnished truth about society. He was also a colourful and fascinating character who was fond of courting controversy and changing his appearance. He has even been touted as a suspect in the Jack the Ripper murders, including by well-known crime author Patricia Cornwell in her 2002 book Portrait of a Killer.

Pre-sale members tickets for Sickert: A Life in Art went on sale today, 24th June, and the exhibition promises to be one of the highlights of Liverpool’s cultural scene when it opens in 12 weeks time. The Walker Art Gallery is open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm. You can find out more about the Walter Sickert retrospective from our friends and partners at the Walker Art Gallery below:

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/walker-art-gallery/exhibition/sickert-life-art

In the latest electric scooter accident to hit the headlines, an Italian woman was killed after being hit by an e-scooter while walking along the Seine in Paris. She was knocked over and hit her head on the pavement, suffering a cardiac arrest and later died in hospital. The two female e-scooter riders did not stop at the scene of the accident, and French police have opened an investigation into “murder, aggravated by failure to stop”.

E-scooters are becoming a common sight in towns and cities including London, which launched a 12-month rental trial earlier this month. Pilot schemes have taken place in more than 40 locations across the UK, as the government considers legalising their use on UK roads. E-scooters are popular among the young (the minimum age to legally ride one in 14), commuters, tourists and those looking for an ecological and quick way to get around urban areas. The main problem is the risk they pose to other road users, particularly pedestrians, as the recent tragic case in Paris illustrates.

While it is illegal to ride privately owned e-scooters on roads, cycle lanes and pavements, rented electric bikes and scooters can be used on roads and cycle lanes. This is just one example of the confusion surrounding their use. The speed limit for e-scooters in the UK is 15.5mph (25km/h), but many are available to buy which can travel much faster, and it is also relatively easy to increase their speed using a conversion kit. Earlier this year, French police stopped a man riding an e-scooter at 61mph (98km/h), which shows the scale of the challenge in enforcing the law.

Many e-scooter riders are unaware of the rules regarding their use or else simply disregard them. A trial scheme in Coventry was suspended after five days due to riders using e-scooters in pedestrianised areas, including on pavements and in shopping centres. E-scooters are clearly fun to ride leading to irresponsible use among a minority, while rented e-scooters are often hired by tourists and others who are not regular riders, and are therefore unable to use them safely or unaware of where they are permitted to ride them.

If you are a cyclist or pedestrian and have been injured in an accident involving an e-scooter, contact our firm for expert legal advice from solicitors who are themselves cyclists, and have many years of experience with all types of cycling accident claims. Find out more:

https://www.bartlettslaw.co.uk/road-accident-claims/who-is-reponsible-for-an-escooter-accident.html

Liverpool’s World Museum houses the Ancient Egypt gallery, the second largest gallery of ancient Egyptian antiquities and artefacts in the UK after the British Museum.

The collection of objects from ancient Egypt and Nubia covers a timespan of over 5,000 years of human life in the Nile Valley, with highlights including one of Egyptology’s rarest discoveries – the Ramesses Girdle – a wonderfully well-preserved item of royal clothing originally worn by Pharaoh Ramesses III (1186 – 1155 BC).

The evolution of the collection began in 1852, when goldsmith Joseph Mayer opened his Egyptian Museum in Liverpool. Many of Mayer’s objects came from the same sources as those now in the British Museum and the Louvre, and there is no doubt that Liverpool’s status as a port city, supplying cotton from Egypt to Lancashire’s cotton mills, helped him build such a substantial and diverse collection.

In 1867, Mayer donated the collection to The Liverpool Free Library and Museum (now World Museum), establishing it as the most important public collection of Egyptian antiquities outside London. 3,000 objects were destroyed when the museum was bombed in 1941, but the collection subsequently increased in number by 10,000 over the next 40 years, and currently stands at around 20,000 objects – 1,2000 of which are showcased in the current ancient Egypt gallery.

Apart from the world famous Ramesses Girdle, the collection includes a gold ring that belonged to King Amenhotep II, a four-metre long Book of the Dead illustrated papyrus, and ‘Papyrus Mayer B’ – a unique account of a tomb robbery in the Valley of the Kings. The exhibition tells the story of how the collection came into being, and Liverpool’s connections with archaeological digs in both Egypt and Sudan.

As we regularly highlight, our friends and partners at National Museums Liverpool are the custodians of some of not just the UK’s, but the world’s most famous art and antiquities. Following the reopening of NML’s museums and galleries on 17th May, we encourage both locals and visitors to explore these free venues, including taking a ‘journey through time’ at World Museum’s magnificent Ancient Egypt gallery.

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/whatson/world-museum/exhibition/ancient-egypt

On 31st May 2021, a new regime came into force for road traffic accident victims, with the small claims limit for RTA claims increasing from £1,000 to £5,000. This means that legal costs for personal injury claims with a value of under £5,000 can no longer be recovered. Instead, unrepresented claimants will have to run their own claim via the Official Injury Claim online service:

https://www.officialinjuryclaim.org.uk/

The controversial new system will be run by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) on behalf of the Ministry of Justice, with the reforms expected to save insurers £1.2 billion or £35 for every motorist, savings which the government and insurance industry promise will be passed on to motor insurance policyholders. 

The government is aiming to reduce the ‘unacceptably high’ number of whiplash claims made in the UK every year, which the Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland QC has condemned as ‘greedy opportunism’. It is targeting the so-called ambulance chasing claims management companies and lawyers who are seen as assisting dishonest whiplash claimants.    

For obvious reasons, road traffic accident lawyers (including Bartletts Solicitors) strongly disapprove of the new system, feeling that innocent victims will not get the compensation they deserve. Claimants will receive significantly less compensation than before due the new fixed tariff for whiplash injuries, while the 64 page guide to making a claim under the new guidelines has led to concerns about whether they will be able to navigate the portal and handle a claim in their own best interest. 

There are also serious doubts as to whether the savings from the reforms will actually result in lower premiums for ‘honest’ policyholders. The system was designed and will be operated by the MIB, an organization that essentially represents the interests of its member insurers. Fundamentally, victims of road traffic accidents caused by the carelessness and negligence of a third party have the same right to legal advice and compensation as any other claimant. This can therefore be viewed as a human rights issue.

There are two exceptions to the new rules. Children and ‘protected parties’ are exempt from the new small claims limit for whiplash claims arising from road accidents, while for ‘vulnerable road users’ (or those whose claims have other complicating factors), the small claims limit for personal injury claims arising from road accidents remains at £1,000. Children and protected parties are also classed as vulnerable road users for the purposes of this second exception, where there is no whiplash injury. Both categories of claimants will still be able to recover the cost of legal advice and representation. Specifically, these are:

Exception one:

Children aged under 18 at the date they make their claim
Others unable to manage their legal affairs (protected parties)

Exception two:

Vulnerable road users (because a collision with a car is likely to cause more serious injuries):

Motorcyclists
Pillion/sidecar passengers
Pedal cyclists
Pedestrians
Horse riders
Mobility scooter users
Children and protected parties

If you have suffered a car accident with multiple injuries, including whiplash, contact Bartletts Solicitors for free legal advice and to get started making a No Win No Fee car accident claim.