Splendore a Venezia: Christophe Koch Archlute Unveiling

 Christophe Koch Archlute Unveiled

This musical instrument unveiling took place in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' preparation for their upcoming exhibiton Splendore a Venezia: Art and Music from the Renaissance to Baroque in the Serenissima.

The exhibition will be held from October 12, 2013 to January 19, 2014. 

This archlute is one of the most important musical instruments among the 120 different that will be displayed works in the upcoming exhibition.  The Archlute of Christophe Koch is a lute to which an extended pegbox has been added to hold unfretted bass courses. This exceptional piece has arrived from the Cite de la Musique in Paris. It's body is made of kingwood decorated with ivory. It represents an excellent example of the Venetian mid-seventeenth century taste.

In conjunction with the exhibition, the Art Musica Foundation will present a full-scale concert series: 20 concerts, 7 lectures, and two films.

Visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' website for more information on the exhibition and all the upcoming events.

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

Splendore a Venezia: Canaletto Painting Unveiling

Canaletto's painting unveiled:
"The Return of the State Galley to the Pier on Ascention Day"

The unveiling took place at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts today, in a preparation for their new exhibition Splendore a Venezia: Art and Music from the Renaissance to Baroque in the Serenissima.

The exhibition will be held from October 12, 2013 to January 19, 2014. 

Canalleto's real name was Giovanni Antonio Canal. This painting is on loan from the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, United Kingdom. It is one of the most important paintings among the 120 works that will be on display at the exhibition.

Another item that will be on display is "Donatella", the traditional Venetian gondola crafted in the late 20th century by Pietro Amadi. It is composed of various woods, stainless steal and brass. and has already been delivered to the museum, see picture below.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has also launched a new catalogue entitled Art and Music in Venice, published by the museum for the Splendore a Venezia exhibition:

For more information on the exhibition as well as the fees and opening hours, visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts' website

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

The Gardens of Light 2013

The Gardens of Light

Montréal Botanical Garden

September 6 - November 3, 2013

Don't miss this very colourful annual display of light, shapes and artistically conceived lanterns at the Montreal's Botanical Gardens.  

  

Discover the Japanese Garden enhanced by a fine and subtle lighting design. Also not to be missed is the Chinese Garden. It's magnificent The Magic of Lantern display presents many scenes from the traditional Chinese life, culture, and even nature and architecture. At dusk, and until 9 p.m., beautiful pathways emerge in the two Gardens of Light, pathways full of contrasts, mysterious and magic.

For more information, visit the The Gardens of Light website

http://calendrier.espacepourlavie.ca/gardens-of-light

World Press Photo 13: Montreal 2013

World Press Photo 13

The world's largest and most prestigious photo-journalism exhibition returns to the Montreal's Bonsecours Market, the exact location where it was held last year.

This year's event showcases 150 of the year's most memorable press photographs.

There are harsh-reality photographs on display. They show what many people on this planet face every day, which luckily for us does not correspond to our reality. The photo below depicts an explosion in Gaza strip. Incredibly, in the midst of the smoke, right in the centre of the picture, one can clearly see an outline of a white dove, a symbol of peace. The photo is by Bernat Armangue from The Associate Press. It won the 1^st Prize for Spot News Stories.

The picture below is by Rodrigo Abd, The Associate Press. It has won the 1^st Prize General News Singles. It shows Aida crying, as she recovers from severe injuries sustained during a bombardment of her home in Syria, in the northern city of Idlib. Her husband an two children were killed in the attack.

The exhibition also presents a few excellent photos that comment on the pollution of our environment and planet. One of them, just below, shows how oceans are littered with waists of human activity and with plastics. The photo is of a slow-moving, filter-feeding Whale Shark found in tropical and warm waters. It is the largest non-mammalian vertebrates on the planet and is currently listed as vulnerable species. Whale sharks feed by drifting with their mouth open, drawing in plankton, fish and crustaceans. Foreign objects, such as plastics, can also be drawn into shark’s digestive system, causing harm. This photograph by Thomas P. Pescheak has merited the 3rd Prize in the Nature Stories category.

The following photograph by Micah Albert, USA, has won the 1st Prize in the Contemporary Issues Singles category. It offers a lot of hope. It shows the resiliency of the human spirit even in adverse surroundings where, even in a dump, a person can be drawn to books and learning. In the photo, a woman sits on bags of waste she salvaged, at the Dandora municipal dump outside Nairobi, Kenya. She said she enjoyed looking at books during a brake from picking up garbage.

The last photo is by Wei Seng Chen from Malaysia, who won the 1^st Prize in Sports Action Singles category. A competitor and his charge reach the finish of a bull race in Batu Snagur, West Sumata, Indonesia. Pacu Jawi is a 400-year-old tradition in the area, held after the rice harvest. Competitors yoke themselves barefoot to two bulls using a wooden harness, and drive the animals by gripping their tails.

To find more about this exhibition visit the World Press Photo 13 website

http://worldpressphotomontreal.ca

First Peoples Festival - Montreal

23rd Edition: Présence autochtone

First Peoples Festival

July 30, 2013 - August 5, 2013

Montreal is once again hosting its annual and very popular First Peoples Festival at the Place de festival at the down-town's heart of the city.

Among the many activities, that would include, for instance the native dances and crafts workshops, the under the sky projection of an excellent selection of films, and others, I would especially like to stress the presence of the first peoples' works of art featured along with street activities. 

There will be an opportunity to discover recent works by Malecite artist Ginette Aubin in an exhibition titled Le chemin des appartenances, at the Canadian Guild of Crafts, from July 17 to August 10, and view an anthology exhibition of prints created by young Mohawk artists from Kahnesatake during CIEM’s creative internship sessions; Là où est notre maison, at Maison de la culture Verdun, from July 24 to September 1^st (a Conseil des arts de Montréal touring activity). 

For more information on the Montreal's First Peoples Festival visit the festival's website

http://presenceautochtone.ca

MMFA: Dale Chihuly Exhibition

Chihuly: Utterly Breathtaking

June 8 - October 30, 2013

"I'm obsessed with colour - never saw one I didn't like." Dale Chihuly

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting a Canadian exclusive exhibition of works of the American artist Dale Chihuly. He is considered as the “Tiffany” of our times, after having revolutionized the Studio Glass movement, elevating glass from the realm of craft to that of fine art. The fine example of this is his sculpture The Sun seen on the photo above. It consists of 1,200 pieces of glass - sun rays and solar explosions.

This exhibition is made to measure for the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Chihuly paid a special attention to measuring  all the designated spaces at the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion to create a unique layout. This resulted in eight immersive environments, four of which were designed specifically for MMFA. One of them is the arrangement seen in the image on the upper left. This installation is placed just above the staircase which leads to the Chihuly exhibition. The image on the bottom shows Chihuly's sculpure Turquoise Reeds that greet the visitors at the top of the same staircase. (Click on an image to get an enlarged photo view as well as a photo gallery of all the images in the text.)

Chihuly's artistic imagery comes from natural forms seen in nature. Since childhood, Chihuly had a special affinity to nature and vegetation. He attributes this toe to his mother's profound love for gardens and gardening.  

Chihuly's Persian Ceiling is a powerful work. Though the room itself is empty and the installation proper covers only the entire ceiling, the light play on the walls and throughout the space animates the room.

An entire large room is devoted to huge glass chandeliers. Together, they create a chandelier installation which really resembles an enchanted tree forest.

There is another installation at the exhibition which is called a forest, a Glass Forest, quite different from the forest effect created in the chandeliers room. It is a neon light forest.

Another theme is that of boats and water. Two boats on display are quite spectacular, and there reflection in the black surface creates the illusion of water.

 Dale Chihuly's love of natural forms and vegetation and the way he translates it into his art will delight visitors of all ages: small children as well as grown ups.

Visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts's website for more information

You can purchase a superbly illustrated Chihuly catalogue at the Museum's Boutique and Store.

McCord Museum: Grace Kelly-Beyond the Icon

From Philadelphia to Monaco:
Grace Kelly - Beyond the Icon

June 6 - October 6, 2013

This  exhibition is produced by the Grimaldi Forum Monaco in collaboration with the Montreal's McCord Museum. It is based on an exhibition by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK, a first for North America. The exhibition spotlights Grace Kelly's film career as well as her personality, talent and values.

The very first room in the exhibition is devoted to Grace Kelly's film career. The walls are lined with film posters, there are large screens with the extracts from her films, and in the centre are displayed elegant costumes and dresses she wore during her starlet cinema career (see image above). The rest of the exhibition is devoted to Grace Kelly's Princess of Monaco style. 

There are many magnificent gowns at the exhibitions as well as some family photos, love letters, notes of friendship and other memorabilia. The visit to this exhibition could prove to be quite memorable.

To find more about the exhibit visit the McCord Museum website. In addition you can find more about the cinema part of the exhibition in my blog News Reel.

Geoffrey Smedley at CCA

Geoffrey
Smedley's
Sculpture -
Instalation
at the
Canadian Centre
for Architecture

June 6 - August 11, 2013

Geoffrey Smedley is a Vancouver-based artist whose work takes roots in many disciplines such as mechanics and movement, history of science, geometry, philosophy and architecture. He was born in London, England, and for many years engaged in British abstract and constructivist art.

Smedley’s present exhibition at the Montreal’s Canadian Centre for Architecture consists of four sculptures where all four pieces form a one whole. The main philosophical bases of the installation is the mythic figure of the Descartes' Clown, a neurotic and an insecure robot. This offers a critique of the mechanization of man implicit in Descartes’ unfinished treaties The Description of the Human Body, written in 1647.

In addition, the exhibition features a selection of Smedley’s personal notebooks with notes and drawings from the first sketches and through the subsequent illustrated design development. They reveal his conceptual process and practices and the connection to architectural thinking. 

For more information about the exhibition and other activities, visit the Canadian Centre for Architecture website.

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

List of images 
(From top down and from left to right)

1. Geoffrey Smedley, Logos: The memory - the organ of remembering and forgetting, 2013, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova

2. Geoffrey Smedley, Spine: The central nervous system - the organ of extension (Head-Brain), 2013, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova

3. Geoffrey Smedley, Spine: The central nervous system - the organ of extension (3 spine sections), 2013, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova

4. Geoffrey Smedley, Escapement: The pulse - the organ of endurance, 2013, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova

5. Geoffrey Smedley, Roulette: The will - the organ of chance, 2013, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova

6. Geoffrey Smedley, Notebook, CCA Montreal 2013, Photo N. Slejskova