McCord Stewart 2023: James Duncan

BECOMING MONTREAL

THE 1800s PAINTED BY DUNCAN

From town to metropolis: Montreal revealed though five decades of watercolours

June 2, 2023 - April 21, 2024

This exhibition at the McCord Stewart Museum, Montreal, pays homage to the 19th century Canadian painter and watercolourist James Duncan. This is his first retrospective as the museum continues with its cycle of exhibitions dedicated to the transformation of Montreal’s urban landscape, this time focusing on a pivotal period in the growth of Montreal into the metropolis it has become today.

Curated by Christian Vachon, Curator of Documentary Art and Head of Collections Management at the McCord Stewart Museum, and Laurier Lacroix, C.M., Professor Emeritus, Université du Québec à Montréal, the exhibition presents the artist’s many views, which, when combined, provide a vivid and detailed portrait of the city from the 1830s to the late 1870s. Visitors will discover the island’s topography, Montreal’s cityscape, and scenes from the life of its inhabitants. The exhibition is presented by La Presse.

James Duncan was a true chronicler of his time, who documented the city’s evolution over the five decades. The scenes he painted - some of which were published in the British press - provide an invaluable visual record of then current events, before the invention of photography. Duncan chronicled the happy and tragic events that made the everyday life in Montreal. During that period, Montreal grew from a medium-sized town of about 27,000 people to a metropolis with a population of more than 140,000. The exhibition visitors could see this rapid transformation from the artist’s favourite viewpoints: Mount Royal and St. Helen’s Island. 

Duncan also witnessed the construction of Montreal’s Canadian identity within the British Empire, this identity with a clear desire to distinguish itself from the United States and Great Britain, and involved appropriating Indigenous practices as popular recreational activities. Works illustrate lacrosse games, snowshoe races and tobogganing.

He was particularly interested in local customs and painted the city dwellers going about their daily lives. He was sensitive to the changing seasons and celebrated the changing colours of the fall as well as the winter activities. Since he mainly earned a living from commissions and sales to tourists, James Duncan’s work focused on aspects of Montreal that were perceived as exotic by foreign audiences: winter, clothing, market scenes, transportation, recreation, and features of the urban physical environment. 

Co-Curater of the exhibition Christian Vachon stated:

 “Duncan was one of the first British artists to settle permanently in Montreal. Looking at his work, you can see that he loved his adopted city. I hope that people will discover a side of the city’s history that they didn’t know, and will remember that Montreal is a splendid and unique city, and always has been.”

Co-Curater of the exhibition Laurier Lacroix stated:

“I had a superficial understanding of Duncan from the few images most often reproduced. I discovered a painter who’s attentive to the city’s evolution, a unique witness to the habits and customs of urban life, a talented artist involved in Montreal’s community and educational life. Through Duncan, we get a glimpse at a little-known chapter of Montreal’s history.” 

As an epilogue, a digital artwork studio Iregular reinterprets Duncan’s work in the form of computer-generated images depicting a composite world of dreamscapes of a Montreal that no longer exists. 

Click on Images to enlarge them

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

For more information about current exhibitions and activities, visit the McCord Stewart Museum website.

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