Seaside scene a window into a magical world
Awindow into a magical world: our picture shows only half the story of this fascinating object – the aperture that leads into this seaside scene is only a small rectangle at the top of a person-sized wooden cabinet.
The peepshow has layers of images which, viewed from the correct angle, join seamlessly together to give a 3D image of a seaside pier, with a jaunty Union Flag flying and holidaymakers about to enter the ‘Blue Lagoon’.
It was designed by the much-admired English printmaker, graphic designer, illustrator and painter Edward
Bawden (1903-1989) and was commissioned by Scarborough hotelier Tom Laughton, who gives a charming account of his first meeting with Bawden in his memoir, Pavilions by the Sea.
Talking about his interest in art as a young man, which was encouraged by his brother Charles, the Hollywood actor, he said: “I discovered Edward Bawden myself. I saw some illustrations of murals in the Illustrated London News... the principal subject was a lodging house with a classical pediment and with the front walls taken out, so that the life in the house was shown from the basement to the attic. I found it delightful.
“I managed to find out where he lived... I rang his bell; waiting on the steps I looked across the road and recognised the building that was the subject of the mural.
“At length a young and seemingly timid man came to the door; “There is your mural,” I said. He told me that I was the first person to spot his subject.
“The outcome was that he designed a wine list for the [Pavilion] hotel, decorated a large ordnance map of Scarborough (which when I left the hotel I gave to the children’s public library) and also made an amusing perspective peepshow, which is still in my possession [Pavilions by the Sea was published in 1977].”
The much-missed Pavilion Hotel stood at the top of Westborough diagonally opposite the Stephen Joseph Theatre; it was demolished in 1973. The map can still be seen in Scarborough Library.
The peepshow is now part of the Seaside Heritage display upstairs at Scarborough Art
Gallery, where visitors can see it alongside other fascinating vintage seaside memorabilia.
It is part of the collections of Scarborough Museums and Galleries, which runs the Rotunda, Scarborough Art Gallery and Woodend.
Scarborough Museums and Galleries is a member of the Museums Association (the only organisation for all museums in the four nations of the UK, which campaigns for socially engaged museums) and adheres to its code of ethics.
• Photo shows the scenic layers which form a seaside peepshow created by Edward Bawden and commissioned by Tom Laughton.