MMFA 2017: Henry Moore

Henry Moore

Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1

THE MONTREAL MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS

ADDS A BRONZE MASTERPIECE BY HENRY MOORE

GIFTED BY CIBC TO THE MUSEUM FOR ITS COLLECTION

September 27, 2017

Henry Moore’s Three Piece Reclining Figure No 1 (1961-1962), the artist's key work, has a new home in the MMFA’s Sculpture Garden. The CIBC gift-donation highlights both institutions’ commitment to preserving Montreal’s public art.

Purchased from the artist by CIBC in 1962, Three Piece Reclining Figure N^o 1 was the first large-scale outdoor sculpture by Henry Moore to be installed anywhere in Canada. It exemplifies the British artist’s well-known talent for blending human and natural forms. 

Originally installed near Dominion Square in the forecourt of the Montreal CIBC Tower, the artwork is now on permanent display in the Museum’s newly expanded Sculpture Garden. Presently it is located in front of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion, by the entrance door at 3410 Du Musée Avenue. But it considered it might get relocated in the future to a different location, even possibly to be displayed on Sherbrooke Street.

This large-scale bronze sculpture is a major contribution to the MMFA’s holding of the artist’s works. It is a welcomed addition to the major collection of 40 works by Moore held by the Museum, including six smaller bronze sculptures of reclining figures

The CIBC donated this sculpture to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in recognition of the CIBC’s 150th birthday and the Montreal’s 375th birthday, to be enjoyed by everybody.

Henry Moore’s Semi-abstract Art
Figures and landscapes animate Three Piece Reclining Figure N^o 1 (1961-1962). The human form is divided into three. The leftmost piece rises vertically to a wedge shape that looks like a head. Two large concave depressions on either side of the “spine,” boulder-like forms in the middle section, call to mind the lower torso and hips. The sculpture’s smallest piece is composed of two parallel rounded shapes that may be interpreted alternately as the peaks of rolling hills or bent kneecaps.

This acquisition is one of only two three-piece-reclining-figure sculptures Moore created between 1961 and 1963. From an edition of seven, with casts in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Tate Gallery, London, this bronze sculpture stands out as a particularly compelling example of Moore’s self-professed obsession with semi-abstract reclining figures, the subject to which he would most consistently return throughout his career.

Timeline of the Sculpture’s History

1961-62: Henry Moore’s Three Piece Reclining Figure N^o 1 was created at the request of CIBC. The financial institution sought the advice of Canadian artist and art consultant Cleeve Horne on the purchase of a sculptural piece to put in the outdoor plaza in front of the new office tower at 1155 Dorchester Blvd (now René-Lévesque Blvd West).

October 30, 1962: It was unveiled by Mayor Jean Drapeau. Unfortunately, during the official unveiling ceremony, it snowed so much that photographers could not get any good pictures before the piece became covered in snow.

Moore’s work was hailed as a masterpiece. Dr. Evan Turner, then the Director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts said, “Not in one hundred years has Montreal seen such a distinguished new work of public sculpture. [CIBC’s] new Moore is, easily, the most important single work of contemporary public sculpture on exhibit anywhere in Canada.”

January 19, 1963: Dorothy Pfeiffer of The Gazette stated, “I consider the sculpture a marvel of invention, dignity and artistic integrity. I think of it as a contemporary masterpiece… I believe it to be a magnificent art asset not only to the Province of Quebec, but to the whole of Canada.”

Early 1990s: Following renovations to the building, the sculpture was moved indoors, to the building’s atrium.

2017: CIBC celebrates its 150^th birthday and Montreal its 375^th – thus providing an ideal opportunity to offer the work a new home at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Photo above:

Natalie Bondil (right), Director General and Chief Curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Curator of International Modern Art, MMFA
Sylvain Vinet, Senior Vice President and Region Head for Eastern Canada, CIBC

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For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.


All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

MMFA 2017: Claude Cormier TOM IV

CLAUDE CORMIER

Flower Power - TOM IV

Summer-Fall 2017

This installation was designed at the request of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and realized with the support of the Ville de Montréal - City of Montreal. It celebrates the city’s 375th birthday, as well as the 50th anniversary of EXPO 67.

On Montreal's Du Musée Avenue, the TOMs in their 10 different colours radiate like a shower of sparks in a night's fireworks display, and the tangle of circular motives with their separate hues blending into each other reflect the psychedelic spirit of the 1960s.

This work consists of 15,000 temporary overlay markers (TOM) that are regularly used in road-pavement work zones.

This is the 4th work by Claude Cormier exhibited in the Montreal Museum of Fine Art's Sculpture Garden. Read about his previous MMFA installations:

• MMFA 2012-2013: Carpet of Daisies - TOM I & Field of Poppies -TOM II here.
• MMFA 2014: Mirage - TOM III here.

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For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

Renzo Carbonera: Stop and Listen

Stop and Listen
Documentary film by Renzo Carbonera 

Italy / 54 min. / 2010 / English subtitles

Polyphonic Choir of Ruda is one of hundreds of all-male choirs in Italy. Regardless of the fierce competition, it gained musical international hights of recognition and appreciation.

Polyphonic (polyphony) in vocal musical tradition implies singing simultaneously more than two parts, each with a melody of it's own. Choral tradition has deep roots especially in Northern Italy where local choirs are a pride of their communities. A small town of Ruda, with a population of less than 3,000 people, is located in Italy's north-est corner, about 10 km from the border with Slovenia. Their choir underwent a major decline at the turn of the millennia and a solution was sought in finding a new choir director. Unusual and maybe even controversial, the choice fell on Fabiana Nato, a female, who became the choir's director in 2004. This broke with the well established tradition of all-male-choirs being directed by a man.

The film little by little introduces a spectator to the Italian tradition of vocal choir music and to the history of Ruda's choir. It shows the type of men who let their lives to be intertwined with the life of the choir, and their reasons why they join on a purely voluntary bases without any pay. It reveals their true passion for the music they sing, their deep need to express their worldly existence through this artistic activity, and their respect and appreciation for their choir director.

The true focus of the film is Fabiana Noro, the lovely and enigmatic choir's director, the only salaried person, who resurrected the choir from their slumps and brought them to the world's recognition. This slim and elegant lady, who at first appears to be too fragile to manage a 40 men choir, became a driving force in their lives, with her iron will reinforcing their motivation and commitment to achieve perfection. Amazingly, none of the singers can even read a musical score. Their mastery is all based only on their auditory and vocal skills that they continuously train and perfect.

The film shows the problems with finding funds and the appropriate repertoire that would attract audiences. Fabiana is searching for new songs for their program, new musical challenges. Not all her venues are fruitful. Luckily, she avoids disasters that brake many creators when they try to catch the "in" styles and forms, or try to appear advanced and innovative, which could lead to their art becoming quite banal, regardless of the public's initial interest.

It is only after a conversion with a choir member that Fabiana realizes what her choir is all about, how it has to be based on what comes deep from the choir members themselves, from inside their beings, what resonates with their hearts and souls, since they are the ones who are the true instruments of their art. With that insight, Fabiana is finally able to navigate her choir to their highest successes and achievements.  

This is an inspiring film to see. It raises questions of what is true artistic authenticity, what makes true art, how to gain audiences' attention and appreciation by simply honouring and being your true self.

This documentary served as an inspiration for Renzo Carbonera to create his first full length feature film RESINA (2017), which was shown at the Montreal World Film Festival 2017 in the category FIRST FEATURE FILM. You can read more about it here.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Director: Renzo Carbonera

Story Line: Gino Pennacchi, Dino Gentili, Renzo Carbonera

Participants: Fabiana Noro, Adriano Bon, Pierpaolo Gratton, Anedi Sdrigotti, Gianni Casatto

Photography: Luca Coassin

Editing: Alessandro Sabbioni ed Ennio Guerrat

Sound: Francesco Morosini

Music: Coro Polifonico di Ruda

Production: Tico Film (Sarah Pennacchi, Gino Pennacchi)

International sales: Poorhouse International ltd (Dr Moritz Reiner)

Stop and Listen FILM TRAILER  

MMFA 2017: Meryl McMaster

MERYL McMASTER

IN-BETWEEN WORLDS

September 8 – December 3, 2017

Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion – Level S2

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents MERYL MCMASTER – IN-BETWEEN WORLDS, as part of MOMENTA / Biennale de l’image (formerly Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal). This is a first-time presentation in Quebec of In-Between Worlds (2015) and Wanderings (2010-2015), two series by the indigenous Ontario photographer.

The exhibition presents a dozen larger scale photos - McMaster's self portraits in which she plays the lead role in an imaginary world  where she explores the feelings that arise from her pluralistic heritage: Cree from the Great Plains, member of the Siksika nation, Canadian and European. Borrowing from sculpture and from performance, she integrates costumes and accessories as talismans. Her fantastic universe evokes childhood, animal kingdom and myths related to indigenous culture.

In the Wanderings and In-Between Worlds series, McMaster employs a 

plethora of props – clothes, jewellery, talismans – which become extensions of the body and lead to telescoping of identities. She positions herself in the middle of nature, considering the landscapes and the seasons as part of a cultural context in which myth and narration come together. Her different images become parables of her identity.

About Meryl McMaster

Meryl McMaster (born in 1988) is a Canadian artist who lives and works in Ottawa. Through portrait and self-portrait photography practices, she explores self-construction through lineage, history, and culture. Her work is presented throughout Canada and the United States. Recent solo and group exhibitions include 25 x 25, National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 2017); From the Belly of Our Being, Oklahoma State University Museum of Art (Stillwater, 2017); Collected Journeys, Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax, 2016); Back Where They Came From, Sherry Leedy Contemporary (Kansas City, 2016); Meryl McMaster: Ancestral, Bockley Gallery (Minneapolis, 2015); and Meryl McMaster: Second Self, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (New York, 2015). She has received the Hnatyshyn Foundation REVEAL Indigenous Art Award (2017) and the Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship (2013), and was long-listed for the 2016 Sobey Art Award.

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Hover your mouse over images for description and credits.

For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.

Meeting with Meryl McMaster

A discussion with the artist takes place on October 4 at 6 p.m. in the exhibition space at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. By reservation.

World Press Photo 17

World Press Photo 17 - 60th Edition
Montreal 17 - 12th Edition

August 30 - October 1, 2017

The 12^th Montreal edition of the most prestigious press photography contest on the planet, World Press Photo, presents the 152 prizewinning photographs of 2016 along with complementary exhibitions and activities at Bonsecours Market in Old Montreal. The exhibition offers daily admission from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., and until midnight on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Having attracted some 53,000 visitors in 2016, Montreal’s flagship cultural event of the fall season welcomed three guests of honour this year: actor and musician Sébastien Ricard, spokesperson for World Press Photo Montreal 2017; Turkish photographer Burhan Özbilici of the Associated Press, winner of the 2017 World Press Photo of the Year; and Canadian photographer Amber Bracken, a first prize winner in the Contemporary Issues category.

  

Burhan Özbilici Presenting at the Opening Ceremony

For its 60^th edition, the international exhibition presents the 152 prizewinning photographs singled out by the World Press Photo 2017 competition jury, which sifted through more than 80,000 images submitted by over 5,000 photojournalists hailing from 126 countries. They awarded prizes to 45 photographers from 25 countries. The winners and the 2016 Photo of the Year were announced in February.

The exhibition offers a visual journey through the year’s major events, broken down into eight categories: Spot News, General News, Contemporary Issues, Sports, Nature, Daily Life, People and Long-Term Projects.

Among the themes and topics explored: the conflict in Ukraine; the mobilization of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation in North Dakota to oppose the construction of a pipeline; the ascent of the Black Lives Matter movement against police brutality; the surge of refugees in Macedonia; the violence of the ongoing drug war in the Philippines; the battles being waged in Mosul, Iraq; the overcrowded refugee camp in Debaga; Fidel Castro’s funeral procession; the ancestral traditions of people living in the northern reaches of Russia; the popularity of chess tournaments in the Czech Republic; animals photographed at night in their natural habitat; the resurgence of Monarch butterflies; the measures taken by China to protect the habitat of panda bears; and many others.

Often dubbed the Oscars of photojournalism, the World Press Photo takes visitors to the heart of pressing international issues, all the while favouring creative, high-quality photojournalism.

About World Press Photo

www.worldpressphoto.org

Founded in 1955, World Press Photo is an independent, non-profit organization with its headquarters in Amsterdam. The foundation is committed to supporting and advancing high standards in photojournalism and documentary storytelling worldwide. The World Press Photo receives support from the Dutch Postcode Lottery and is sponsored worldwide by Cannon.

Each year, the exhibition travels to more than 100 cities in over 45 countries, attracting more than 4 million visitors. In 2017, four Canadian cities will host the prestigious exhibition: Ottawa (Canadian War Museum, from July 21 to August 13), Montreal (Bonsecours Market, from August 30 to October 1^st), Saguenay (La Pulperie, from October 20 to November 12) and Toronto (Brookfield Place, from October 4 to 24)., the international exhibition presents the 152 prizewinning photographs singled out by the World Press Photo 2017 competition jury, which sifted through more than 80,000 images submitted by over 5,000 photojournalists hailing from 126 countries. They awarded prizes to 45 photographers from 25 countries. The winners and the 2016 Photo of the Year were announced in February.

The exhibition offers a visual journey through the year’s major events, broken down into eight categories: Spot News, General News, Contemporary Issues, Sports, Nature, Daily Life, People and Long-Term Projects.

Click on images to enlarge them.
All Photos @ Nadia Slejskova