PAC Museum: Pirates or Privateers?

Pirates or Privateers?
Pirates ou corsaires?

Point-à-Callière Museum's New  Permanent Exhibition


The Montreal's Point-à-Callière Museum (PAC) has just inaugurated it's new permanent exhibition Pirates or Privateers? It is housed in the Old Custom House now named J. Armand Bombardier Foundation Building thanks to the foundation's generous $1 million donation.

This exhibition is geared largely to children, to school and family visitors. The most prominent exhibit is the large scale replica of a ship from the Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville's flotilla. Read more about the ship capitain, explorer and and adventurer Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, who was also a founder of the French colony of Louisiana of New France here.

This exhibition spotlights the a historical period of the New France. It offers a unique experience and brings to life the world of Pierre Le Moyne D’Iberville who was at the time a Montréal  privateer. It is set during the Franco-British war in the late 17^th - early 18^th century and offers young visitors a chance of playing: to serve on an armed vessel, manned by individuals in possession of an authorization from the King of France to attack enemy trade ships, mainly English ships.

Pirates and privateers, often mistaken for one another, dealt with similar tasks. One group worked legitimately while the other didn’t. Privateers were sailors on armed civilian ships. In times of war, they were authorized by their government with a “letter of marque” to attack any ship, especially a merchant one flying an enemy flag, and claim their goods as war retribution. 

Pirates, however, were sea-adventurers who attacked trade ships and stole their cargo, sometimes also attacking small seaside towns. Pirates are generally considered to be sea bandits.

On display are historical-period items of military as well as of everyday use.

One can also see the sailor's living conditions as well as the type of food available to them. To see better the sailors' daily menu and rations, click on the lower right image to enlarge it.

There is also a short video of a sea battle projected on a screen, which the children present at the exhibition's opening very much appreciated.

Visit the Point-à-Callière Museum's website for more information.

http://www.pacmusee.qc.ca/en/home

Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal 2013

Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal 2013

December 6 - 22, 2013


This annual Salon at Place Bonaventure is the place where craftsmanship and art blends. The creations of the local Quebec artisans are all unique and a true discovery. Intended as the place where people should go to buy Christmas presents, many items displayed, along with  their utilitarian purpose, attract attentions as to their artistic execution as well as their presentation.

  

This year, a special tribute is paid to works of Rosie Godbout. Hew fashion creations are all striking examples of functionality, art and beauty.

There are many of one-of-the-kind artistic expressions in this Salon not to be missed.

There is Free Admission to this Salon.

Salon des métiers d’art de Montréal website:

https://www.metiersdart.ca/en

Lands of shadow and light - MMFA

Lands of shadow and light
Quebec and Canadian Drawings from the Museum’s Collection

December 2, 2013 - March 23, 2014

The Graphic Arts Centre of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents a new exhibition Realms of Shadow and Light: Quebec and Canadian Drawings from the Museum’s Collection. All the drawings on display are from before the 1940s. There are works by such artists as Heriot, Bainbrigge, Edson, O’Brien, Suzor-Coté, Leduc, Carr, Carmichael, Brandtner and Milne which are showing their own specific vision of both familiar or unexplored territories. 

The works range from Berczy’s Saint Michael the Archangel, with its roots in the Baroque, to Hébert, Muhlstock and Taylor’s industrial landscapes, with their assertive modern view and the examinations of the everyday. The majority of the drawings, including some sketches made either in a studio or from life, were conceived and created as works of art in their own right. The individual drawing techniques as well as the effects of shadow and light define the works' essence and influence their interpretation.

The drawings on view place emphasis on the historical specificity of graphically representing both people and distinctive landscapes. 

There is a specific focusing on the vastness of the Canadian landscapes, documenting the topographical description of a territory and showing a country in the making.

There is Free Admission to this exhibition.

Vistit the Museum's website for more information.

http://www.mbam.qc.ca/en

Claire Beaugrand-Champagne, McCord Museum

Claire Beaugrand-Champagne

Touching Reality, Photographs from 1970-2013

December  5, 2013  - April 13, 2014

This exhibition is dedicated to works of a celebrated Montreal photographer Claire Beaugrand-Champagne who was the first female press photographer in Quebec. In the image below to the left she is seen posing next to her large and expressive photo.

The present exhibition at the Montreal's McCord Museum is featuring close to 200 mostly black and white photographs, and except for three they are all of people, many of them portraits. Since 1970, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has photographed people she met and who inspired her. Her works state that every individual is unique, and each is worthy of respect, acknowledgement and special attention.

One of the most remarkable portrait at the exhibition, right in the first hall, is that of the Quebec's chansonnier Félix Leclerc.

Through her work, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne has been portraying, expressing the mosaic of the society. Yet it is clear that she does not judge, she simply documents.

The exhibition is organized in groups of what she herself calls Projects. As she explains, this is how she approaches her work: she establishes the current Project and then searches for the subjects to express it. Below are photos from her Furriers Project.

Only the original photographs shot in Quebec are displayed on the Museum's walls. Those taken outside of Canada are projected on the wall, as is the case of the image below from the Refugee Camps Project. 

The last room of the exhibition is devoted to the Montrealers. Below is a fine example of a Montreal man's portrait.

McCord Museum's website:

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en

MMFA 2013: Jules de Balincourt

Jules de Balincourt
Paintings 2004-2013

November 28, 2013, to March 23, 2014

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is premiering the Franco-American artist Jules de Balincourt. He is an important figure belonging to the New York community's new-generation-painters scene.

Jules de Balincourt's work has been exhibited at prominent international galleries and museums such as Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Palais de Tokyo in Paris, Mori Museum in Tokyo (solo), MOMA in New York, and the Royal Academy in London.

Balincourt's works are featured in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.

One of the paintings on display entitled Boys' Club (see just below) was gifted to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts by W. Bruce C. Baily in honour of Stéphanie Aquin, curator of Contemporary Art at the MMFA and curator of this exhibition.

There is Free Admission to this exhibition. 

For more information visit the Museum's website

http://www.mbam.qc.ca/en/