Musée des Hospitalières: Jana Sterbak

CORPUS INSOLITE: JANA STERBAK

Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

29 January 2025 - 24 August 2025

The Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, renowned for its unique collections of historical, medical and religious artifacts, presents a new exhibition, Corpus Insolite: Jana Sterbak.This exhibition invites visitors to experience Sterbak’s thought-provoking works in dialogue with the museum’s collections.

Jana Sterbak is a globally acclaimed, Montreal-based artist. She explores in her works the themes of power and desire, often incorporating unconventional materials. Her works explore the themes of mortality, transcendence, and transformation, which in this exhibition are brought into dialog with the medical and religious artifacts from the museum's collection.

For this exhibition, Jana Sterbak and curator Johanne Sloan worked closely together to integrate Sterbak’s artworks into the museum’s exhibition spaces, while also selecting objects to be brought out of storage for the first time. 

For example, Sterbak’s internationally recognized Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, (the so-called meat dress), which was first shown in 1987, has been re-made for this exhibition, and is displayed in the proximity of anatomic models and holy relics. This offers a unique opportunity to re-discover the work of Jana Sterbak in dialog with the exhibits from the museum’s collection.

In addition to the two works Sylvanus and Hot Crown, which have never before been shown in Montreal, Jana Sterbak's internationally acclaimed Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic, first exhibited in 1987, was remade for this exhibition, contrasted with the museum's anatomical models and sanctified relics. It is a long, white feminine dress with the real male chest-hair woven into it.

The sculpture of a crown which lights brightly every 80 seconds also seems to reflect on both the worldly and spiritual powers.

Also of interest are the skeleton bones displayed under the glass and looking very much like real human skeleton bones, especially in contrast with other bone remain in the same room, are actually made of chocolate. 

The Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de MontréalThis offers a unique opportunity to rediscover the work of Jana Sterbak while, at the same time, discovering the museum's collections through an artistic imagination.

Sterbak's pieces also reflect on the human stages of life, like the closed circle and the spiral-like progression.

The top-most image in this article, curtesy of the the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal.

All other photos @Nadia Slejskova

For more information visit the museum's website.

About the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal

The mission of  the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal is to transmit the history of Montreal and its foundation, to publicize the history of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal, to exhibit the tangible and intangible heritage of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, and to explore the history of healthcare and the health sciences.

Four centuries of history can be traced through the museum’s unique collection, which is linked to the development of Montreal, to hospital, medical and pharmaceutical practices, and to religious art.

Located within Mount Royal’s protected area, in a special natural setting, the museum is a part of one of the city’s best preserved convent complexes, home to the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph. The ensemble, built in 1861 to plans by the architect Victor Bourgeau, includes the order’s original monastery and garden, the hospital, three chapels, a crypt and the museum itself, housed in the former chaplains’ residence.

MMFA 2024: UUMMAQUTIK-ESSENCE OF LIFE

UUMMAQUTIK: ESSENCE OF LIFE

ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ

A new presentation of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art's Inuit art collection

Starting on November 8, 2024

With this exhibition, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) invites the public to experience Inuit art in newly conceived premises. Shown in brightly lit renovated and modernized galleries totalling 200 m² on the ground floor of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik: essence of life doubles the Museum's exhibition space dedicated to Inuit art.

Conceived by Inuk artist and curator Asinnajaq, this new presentation of the Museum's Inuit art collection prompts the visitors to meditate on the rhythms of life particular to the circumpolar territories known together as Inuit Nunangat (Inuit homelands in Canada). It brings together works dating from 1949 to today that demonstrate richness and diversity in contemporary Inuit artistic expression.

Prioritizing a bold storytelling approach, this evolving display will be periodically updated over the next five years, allowing the public to admire a rotation of some 120 works by 70 Inuit artists from Nunavik, Nunavut, Nunatsiavut, and the Inuvialuit Nunangat. Many of the works are being presented at the Museum for the first time.

ᐆᒻᒪᖁᑎᒃ uummaqutik: essence of life

This inaugural presentation of uummaqutik comprises 60 works from the MMFA's collection – prints, drawings, textile works, photographs, paintings, sculptures and installations – by artists such as Siku Allooloo, Darcie Bernhardt, Lucassie Echalook, Charlie Alakkariallak Inukpuk, Niap, Gayle Uyagaqi Kabloona, Joe Talirunili and Jessica Winters, not to mention the eye-popping motorbike sidecar by Mattiusi Iyaituk and Etienne Guay, on loan from Avataq Cultural Institute, as well as a selection of works that are promised gifts from Lois and Daniel Miller. Later on, the space will also feature works by Kudluajuk Ashoona, Shuvinai Ashoona, Annie Pootoogook and Johnny Pootoogook, among other renowned artists.

In addition, artist Couzyn van Heuvelen has created Qulliq (2024), the MMFA's second Indigenous art commission this year. This impressive glass sculpture, whose shape and title embody the qulliq oil lamp, widely used by Inuit, is also the artist's first work to enter the Museum collection.

The energy that unites living beings and transforms our universe

Through these artforms, artists share with visitors their views on the simple and at times extraordinary moments of life, including childbirth, child rearing, everyday activities and seasonal community work. Together, the works on view portray these moments as a sharing and transmission of energy between humans and all other living beings with whom they coexist, including the plants, stones and stars.

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All photos @Nadia Slejskova

This article's dedicated internet address or also click on the title above the very first photo in this article.

Visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts website to check on the opening hours and to purchase your tickets online.

McCord 2024: Manasie Akpaliapik

MANASIE AKPALIAPIK: Inuit Universe

Immersion in the legends of the Far North

October 4, 2024 - March 9, 2025

The Montreal’s McCord Stewart Museum presents a new exhibition, organized and circulated by the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and adapted by the McCord Stewart Museum. It features the contemporary artist from Ikpiarjuk (Arctic Bay) on Baffin Island (Nunavut). It features sculptures from the remarkable Inuit art collection of the late Raymond Brousseau and offers a unique insight into the work of Manasie Akpaliapik.

Considered one of the most gifted artists of his generation, Manasie Akpaliapik uses his favourite materials – whale bone, caribou antler and stone – to create works inspired by oral tradition, cultural values, the supernatural world, as well as the wildlife and environment of the Arctic. Drawing from the mythology of the world of snow and ice in which he grew up, the artist turns to nature for inspiration and raw material, from which his unique, captivating and multidimensional works emerge spontaneously. Manasie Akpaliapik doesn’t plan what his works will look like. He combines materials and his sculptures emerge as individual and unique narratives. His fascination with whale bone - his medium of choice, though particularly rare and difficult to access - adds to the uniqueness of his works.

For five decades, Manasie Akpaliapik’s creations have been objects of fascination. Visitors will discover 40 of the artist’s sculptures at this exhibition. They tell a fragment of the story of the Inuit people and inspire reflection at a time when the relationship between humanity, nature, and climate is at the front-page. Wildlife, the tales and legends of the North of the sea goddess Talilayuq and the sacred Owl, as well as the shamanism, the transmission of knowledge and the Arctic environment are embodied in an impressive amalgam of materials that characterizes each of Manasie Akpaliapik’s creations.

Manasie Akpaliapik elaborated:

“Everything that I am doing is trying to capture some of the culture of our traditions, about simple things like hunting, wearing traditional clothing, and using legends. I feel that the only way we can preserve the culture is if people see it.”

Daniel Drouin, curator of the exhibition, stated:

“A virtuoso with hammer Manasie Akpaliapik is without doubt one of the most important sculptors of his generation. Equipped with both a masterful sense of material and technical perfection, the artist has succeeded in infusing his work with a highly personal reaction to the upheavals and transformations of his world, the Canadian Far North, and the people around him. At once humble, simple and reserved, Manasie transforms the bones found in the Arctic soil into inspiring stories. His mission: to transmit a sense of pride to succeeding generations.”

Manasie Akpaliapik grew up in Irpiarjuk on Baffin Island. In the 1980s, he migrated to southern Canada, first to Montreal, then later to the Greater Toronto Area. Although he works from his studio in the “South,” his materials come almost exclusively from the Far North. Every year he returns there since his creative process hinges on the use and combination of materials gathered from the ground in the region where he was born. The forty works presented in the exhibition, with a few exceptions, are entirely made from a combination of materials collected during his annual trips to Nunavut. As he explained:

“My art helps me preserve my connection between north and south, and thus helps me find my place between the Western world and Inuit culture.”

Art as salvation

While Manasie Akpaliapik’s work reflects Inuit history and traditions, it also touches on his own personal story with a profoundly human and universal sensitivity. Art becomes a means of expressing the challenges he has had to overcome, but also of externalizing the demons he has long battled. In his own words: 

“When life gets really tough, my art is always there to pull me up."

His exceptional work demonstrates the influence of contemporary art and culture.

Anne Eschapasse, McCord Stewart Museum President and CEO stated:

“As the custodians of a collection that bears witness to nearly 12,000 years of Indigenous history and presence on the land, the McCord Stewart Museum has long worked to highlight the vitality and diversity of contemporary Inuit, First Nations and Métis artists. Thanks to our collaboration with the Musée national des beaux-arts duQuébec, we are delighted to be able to present the work of Manasie Akpaliapik, who is unquestionably one of the greats of his generation.”

Manasie Akpaliapik

With a career spanning four decades and his art displayed in institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Civilization, and several private galleries, Manasie has created art inspired by his deep love for animals and for Inuit legends and their narratives in which the relationship between humans and animals is one of mutual respect.

Manasie is also a practised drum dancer, drum maker and is versed in kayak building. He continues to travel to the Arctic every year to search the shores for ancient whale bones and to connect with his family and community. He enjoys passing the Inuit legends to the younger generation and works tirelessly to keep the oral tradition of storytelling alive.

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

For more information about current exhibitions and special evens associated with this exhibition, visit the McCord Stewart Museum website.

For this article's dedicated internet address click on the title above the very first image or here.

MMFA 2024: Georgia O'Keeffe and Henry Moore

Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore:

Giants of Modern Art

February 10 – June 2, 2024

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is presenting the Canadian exclusive Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore: Giants of Modern Art. This large-scale exhibition sets for the first time the work of American painter Georgia O’Keeffe (1887‑1986) in dialogue with the British sculptor Henry Moore (1898-1986).

The exhibition is organized by the San Diego Museum of Art. It examines in parallel the lives and the artistic paths of these two 20th-century icons. Through their over 120 works, as well as the additional recreation of each artist’s studio, visitors can discover the evolution of O’Keeffe’s and Moore’s artistic practices, and how the artists emphasized the fundamental relationship between the humanity and the natural world.

Though they lived on separate continents, O’Keeffe and Moore shared a coherent vision and approach to Modernism. Their commonality lies in their intense sensitivity to the natural world and their ongoing exploration of their rural and open environments surroundings. Natural forms were both for O’Keeffe and Moore central to their individual artistic creation.

Both O’Keeffe and Moore, on their daily excursions and travels, both artists collected stones, animal skulls and bones, gnarled roots, pieces of wood, and coiled seashells with which they filled their studios. Their vast collections of such found objects reveal striking similarities. The first ever, the meticulous recreation of their respective studios enables the public to see how these found objects shaped their creation and inspired some of their most important works.

Georgia O’Keeffe's studio

Henry Moore's Studio

A remarkable collection of works

O’Keeffe and Moore have been the subjects of innumerable exhibitions but never before has their work been brought together. The artworks in the exhibition come mainly from the Henry Moore Foundation, in Hertfordshire, England, and the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, in New Mexico, as well as from approximately 20 museums and private collections.

The works on display comprise paintings, works on paper and sculptures in diverse media, ranging from plasters and bronzes to lead, rare woods like elm and lignum vitae, marble, as well as Hopton Wood stone, Cumberland alabaster and even a sculpture carved from stalactite. 

Masterpieces include in MMFA exhibition:

Moore’s stringed Bird Basket (1939), Reclining Figure (1959-1964), Working Model for Three Piece No. 3: Vertebrae (1968) and Working Model for Oval with Points (1968-1969),

and O’Keeffe’s Jack-in-the-Pulpit No. 3 (1930), Ram’s Head, Blue Morning Glory (1938) and Pedernal – From the Ranch #1 (1956). 

In addition, the present Montreal exhibition includes works from its own collection, including a transformation drawing and four sculptures by Moore, as well as a portrait of O’Keeffe photographed by Yousuf Karsh.

The exhibition also integrates a selection of video interviews conducted with the two artists at certain points in their careers.

Mary-Dailey Desmarais, MMFA Chief Curator, states:

“We are thrilled to collaborate with the San Diego Museum of Art to present the work of pioneering modern artists Georgia O’Keeffe and Henry Moore in Montreal. Illuminating the singular and powerful, if unspoken, dialogue between O’Keeffe and Moore, this exhibition sheds new light on their shared appreciation for the interconnection between humans and the natural world, an essential subject for our time.”

Anita Feldman, Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, San Diego Museum of Art, and Curator of the exhibition comments:

“The two artists met only once that we know of, on the occasion of Moore’s solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1946. O’Keeffe had also had a solo exhibition there the same year. We have to wonder what this formidable institution was saying to devote their program to these two artists just as the world was reeling from the trauma of war. Could it be that their art offered something life affirming, positive and healing through its humanistic connection with nature?”

Iris Amizlev, Curator – Community Engagement and Projects at the MMFA and curator of the Montreal presentation, elaborates:

“Given the many similarities in O’Keeffe’s and Moore’s artistic interests, habits, formal explorations and iconographic vocabularies, it’s difficult to fathom that no extensive exchange of ideas ever occurred between them. Linked by an intangible connection that transcended time and space, they followed parallel trajectories of prolific output inspired by natural forms.”

After Montreal, the exhibition will be presented at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (October 13, 2024 – January 20, 2025).

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos @ Nadia Slejskova

This article's dedicated internet address, or click on the title above the very first photo.

Visit the the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts website to check on the opening hours and to purchase your ticket online.

The grandson of the artist Henry Moore, whose name is also Henry Moore and who works at the Henry Moore's Foundation in England, was also present at the Press Conference. He is captured in the two photos below.