The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’ Collection, Volume II

Decorative Arts and Design
  Le Salon du Livre de Montréal

On November 15, 2012, at Le Salon du Livre de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) has launched its Decorative Arts and Design book. This is the Volume II of their The Montreal Museum of Fine Art's Collection project. The book is of a large format (25 x 35 cm) and comprises 400 pages and 750 colour illustrations.

The book features some 750 works from the Museum's collection of over 15,000 decorative arts and design pieces. Forty experts have written essays and other various entries in the book. The book's graphic design was entrusted to the Orangetango agency. It will be distributed internationally by Les Editions de La Martinière (in French) and Abrams (in English).

The book was self-published by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. MMFA is actually one of Canada's  leading publishers of art books with its own booth at Le Salon du livre de Montréal, where the Volume I of the same MMFA collection entitled Quebec and Canadian Art was also available to visitors for purchase. All together there will be 4 volumes in this MMFA book project. Volume III will have the title Cultures of the World and Fine Arts and will cover the museum's non-Canadian works. Volume IV will be Graphic Arts and Photography, The Michal and Renata Hornstein Collection of Old Masters, though I am not sure whether this would be its final title.

The just-launched Volume II - Decorative Arts and Design book - provides an overview of the MMFA's international collection which was founded almost 100 years ago in 1916 by F. Cleveland Morgan and was augmented in 2000 by a generous donation by Liliane Stuart of over 6,000 works of 20th century design.

Rather than subdivide the book into such categories as furniture, dinnerware and glassware, etc., under the initiative of the museum's director Natalie Bondil the book was subdivided into these 7 distinct sections: wood, paper, glass, ceramics,  metal, fibre, plastic and composite materials.

Below are photographs of some of the book's pages. This will give you an idea of the book's scope and beauty.

The book can be purchased at the MMFA's boutique and store.

To read more about the Salon du Livre de Montréal and to see pictures of this immensely popular and huge Montreal's book fair, visit the article about it my blog Now Event.