MMFA 2020: Post-Impressionism

Paris in the Days of Post-Impressionism:

Signac and the Indépendants

July 1 - November 15, 2020

This magnificent exhibition by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) reveals the exuberant artistic innovations and experimentations that took place in France at the turn of the 20th century. It features over 500 works from an outstanding private collection that were generously landed to MMFA by an anonymous collector.

Rare loans

In addition to the over 500 works from the private collection, two rare pieces have been loaned to the Museum from the archives of Paul Signac's descendants. One is the portrait Paul Signac as a Yachtsman (1896) by Theo Van Rysselberghe (1862-1926) - see image just below, and the other is a sketch for In the Time of Harmony (1893) by Paul Signac that will enable the public to learn more about this masterpiece, which cannot be transported owing to its size.

The visitors will discover a striking and significant  body of paintings and graphic works by Paul Signac and other avant-garde artists of that era: Impressionists (Degas, Monet, Morisot, Pissarro), Fauves (Dufy, Friesz, Marquet, Vlaminck), Symbolists (Gauguin, Redon), Nabis (Bonnard, Denis, Lacombe, Sérusier, Ranson, Vallotton), observers of life in Paris (Anquetin, Ibels, Steinlen, Toulouse-Lautrec), Cubists (Picasso, Braque), Expressionists (Feininger, Heckel), as well as the Neo-Impressionists (Angrand, Cross, Hayet, Lemmen, Luce, Seurat, Van Rysselberghe).

The exhibition also brings into focus the social and pictorial issues of the era that prompted a group of artists led by Signac to create the Salon des Indépendants in 1884. What was so innovative and special about that Salon? It promoted the  ideal of a democratic exhibition with neither jury, nor award. Instead they believed that art should be accessible to all and could contribute to the common good. From its inauguration in 1884 to the First World War, the Salon des Indépendants served as a platform for major and historical art developments of the time, including: Neo-Impressionism, the Nabis movement, Symbolism, Fauvism and Cubism. The exhibition situates the Indépendants in the sociocultural and political context of Paris during the Belle Époque.

Paul Signac and the Salon des Indépendants, 1884-1914

Paris, 1900: a revolution was underway in the Belle Époque.

“Art for all!” declared artists who exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants under the motto “neither jury, nor reward.” Co-founder of the Salon des Indépendants, Paul Signac (1863-1935) made a name for himself as the theoretician of the so-called “postimpressionist scientists.” Inspired by the chromatic theories of Charles Henry, Ogden Rood and Michel-Eugène Chevreul, he applied pure colour to the canvas in tightly placed dots, such that the form would emerge from the optical blending in the viewer’s eye. With his “divisionist” technique, he sought to create total art somewhere between the paradise lost of the golden age and social utopia. Signac championed positivist painting, which promoted technical and political modernity. The new pointillist style of his “Neo” peers spread quickly from Paris to Brussels, glorifying the better days to come. According to the writings of such critics as Fénéon, Signac positioned himself as an engaged intellectual in the era of the Dreyfus affair.

“Justice in sociology, harmony in art: one and the same thing.” These words by Signac sum up the vision he applied to both politics and his quest for social justice and harmony. His nearly 80 works on display also attest to his pursuit of social and chromatic harmony. In addition, the exhibition also reveals other movements born of that turbulent era, including Symbolism, Nabism, Fauvism and Cubism.

Paris in the Days of Post-Impressionism is the first Canadian exhibition of this scale dedicated to Neo-Impressionism. It offers a unique opportunity to view these works together, many of which have never been exhibited before.

Do not miss this exhibition if you live in Montreal or can travel to Montreal during the next few weeks before the exhibition closes on November 15, 2020. The tickets have to be purchased online. Due to Covid-19, the number of people who can attend at the same time is strictly controlled. I found my visit and the spacing between the visitors very comfortable, and the works on display to be a real delight to my eye!

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Hover over images for description and credits.

All images courtesy of @MMFA, 2020.

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

CATALOGUE: Scholarly publication

The exhibition is complemented by a 384-page catalogue, featuring over 550 illustrations and published in French and English by the MMFA’s Publishing Department in collaboration with Éditions Hazan, Paris. Edited by Gilles Genty and Mary-Dailey Desmarais,it presents research findings and scholarly essays by experts in Post-Impressionism. Contributors to the book include Mark Antliff, Nathalie Bondil, Charlotte Hellmann, Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Claire Denis, Phillip Dennis Cate, Marina Ferretti Bocquillon, Gilles Genty, Hilliard T. Goldfarb, Anne Grace, Jean-David Jumeau-Lafond, Patricia Leighten, Katia Poletti, Véronique Serrano, Nicole Tamburini, Belinda Thomson and Richard Thomson.

P.S.

Unfortunately, due to Covid, MMFA announced a temporary closure of the Museum until October 28, 2020. 

MOB

Centaur Theatre / 51th Season

MOB

English-language Premiere

Written by Catherine-Anne TOUPIN

Translation by Chris CAMPBELL

Directed by Andrew SHAVER

With: Susan BAIN | Matthew KABWE | Adrianne RICHARDS

March 3 – 29, 2020

This play was written by a Quebec TV and film star Catherine-Anne Toupin. The original French production of La meute (the French title of MOB) first played at Montreal's Théâtre La Licorne in January 2018. It enjoyed an immediate box office and critics' success and was re-staged at La Licorne in the summer 2018, and once again in the fall 2019. Catherine-Anne Toupin played the principal character Sophie in all French productions of this play. She is also admired by numerous fans for her roles in highly successful Quebec TV series Boomerang and Unité 9.

Sophie, the MOB's principal character, is a highly skilled professional with a 20 years experience in her field. She loses her job under nerve-racking, sinister circumstances. Disturbed and hurt, she drives out of town, eventually stopping at a B&B run by aging Louise and her engaging nephew Martin. Several booze-fortified evenings lead to more direct verbal exchanges between Martin and Sophie, resulting in an irksome scheming between the two. It is only at that point one becomes aware that the play is a clever psychological chiller with the most revealing ending.

The play deals with a wide-spread and even intensifying phenomenon which also might have touched others in the audience. Under stress, Sophie talks to herself as if in a split-personality type of state. Though this might only be a theatrical device to elucidate better her tragic reality, it is not unusual to experiences a crack, a split in one's psyche under psychological duress. In the world with the falling moral and ethical standards, when ethics and spirituality are being viewed by many as something useless and outdated, the round-about face changes in play's characters point to a much more disturbing phenomenon in the psychological make-up of our society.

Be prepared for explosive shouting and obscenities and other play's sinister and disturbing elements, thought many might also find funny elements in it. Catherine-Anne Toupin positions herself as a black humor comedian.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Set & Costume Designer: James LAVOIE

Lighting Designer: Martin SIROIS

Sound Designer: Jesse ASH

Stage Manager: Sarah-Marie LANGLOIS

Assistant Director: Sarah SEGAL-LAZAR

Apprentice Stage Manager: Trevor BARRETTE

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For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

McCord 2020: Robert Walker-Griffintown

GRIFFINTOWN
EVOLVING MONTREAL
Photos by Robert Walker

February 7 - August 9, 2020

This exhibition represents the first photography commission under the Evolving Montreal program, created by the McCord Museum to document the undergoing rapid transformation of Montreal's neighbourhoods. On displays are some 20 large-format photoprints, along with the projection of another approximately 100 images. Also included are photos from the McCord’s collection.

Robert Walker, a Montreal street photographer, presents a photografic tour of
Griffintown. With his colourful shots from 2018 and 2019, Walker prompts the audience to observe how this Montreal neighbourhood is being transformed by radical changes to its urban fabric. He shows frenzied and haphazard real estate development, and focuses on the loss of the old buildings. This brings into focus the need to preserve our architectural heritage and our common history.

Walker's photoprints are screens that capture the clash of the past and the present, expressing it with colours, shapes and patterns. His photos capture an awkward blend of the remains of the working-class, of the industrial district, and the new contemporary buildings that are replacing them and that are designed for the well-off. A recuring pattern in his photos is vericality of architectural and constraction objects. They contrast with the horizontality of the Grffuntown of the past as shown on the photos from the McCord Museum's collection. This is how the new face of Griffintown, one of Montreal’s oldest and most storied neighbourhoods, is emerging.

Robert Walker:

“I found Griffintown to be a beehive of colourful activity. Demolition shovels, construction cranes, pile drivers, cement mixers, dump trucks, all dramatically highlighted against the dramatic background of the Montreal cityscape. The Transformation of Griffintown turned out to be an exhilarating and challenging project”. 

EVOLVING MONTREAL – A NEW PROGRAM OF PHOTOGRAPHIC COMMISSIONS

To document Montreal’s ongoing urban transformation and promote documentary photography, over the next three years the McCord Museum will be commissioning some well-known local photographers to explore the changes occurring in a neighbourhood of their choice. This program has been made possible thanks in part to funding from the Conseil des arts de Montréal.

Rober Walker presenting his photo book.

Robet Wlker talking to journalists.

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All photos in this article by Nadia Slejskova.

CULTURAL ACTIVITIES THAT ACCOMPANY THE EXHIBITION

Screening of the documentary film Horse Palace by Nadine Gomez
Wednesday, February 19, 6 p.m., free
Between the abandoned factories and decrepit buildings of Griffintown is Montreal’s oldest stable, the last remnant of a bygone era. Like an urban tale, this documentary invites us to reflect on the meaning and value of our cities’ intangible heritage.

Photobook Club: About Griffintown with Robert Walker
Wednesday, April 8, 6 p.m., free
The Photobook Club Montréal invites photography enthusiasts to join the discussion group that has the city as its photographic subject for this edition.

Dialogue with Robert Walker
Wednesday, May 5, 6 p.m., free
In conjunction with the exhibition Griffintown, Robert Walker will speak with Hélène Samson, Curator, Photography at the Musée, about his long photographic practice that has taken him from Montreal to Warsaw and New York.

City Talks – Special Edition
Griffintown – Evolving Montreal
Wednesday, June 3, 6 p.m., free
The McCord Museum and Héritage Montréal offer a discussion on the recent transformation of this neighbourhood.

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

McCord 2019 - 2020: Jean-Claude Poitras

JEAN-CLAUDE POITRAS
FASHION AND INSPIRATION

Ocober 24, 2019 - April 26, 2020

McCord Museum features works by a Montreal fashion designer Jean-Claude Poitras whose career span over three decades from the 1970s to 2000s and made a definitive mark on the ready-to-wear (prêt-à-porter) clothing industry in Montreal and the rest of Canada. He is considered to be an icon in the world of fashion and design.

Jean-Claude Poitras received the Order of Canada in 1995. In 1996 he was appointed a Knight of the Order of Quebec (Ordre national du Québec), and was promoted to Officer in 2012. On October 11, 2019 he received the Prix du Québec. His awards also include Fil D'Or de Monte-Carlo in 1989, and two Griffes D'Or in Quebec, in 1991.

This exhibition was jointly organized by the McCord Museum and the Museum of Civilization in Quebec City.

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All photos in this article by Nadia Slejskova.

Read about Jean-Claude Poitras exibition at Centre d’art Diane-Dufresne in 2017 here.

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

MMFA 2019: Bruce Bailey Collection - Paterson Ewen

Paterson Ewen's Paitings
Bailey Collection

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is currently exhibiting works from a private collection of an Ontario philanthropist and art collector W. Bruce C. Bailey. You can read about this exhibition entitled ForEvery Atom Belonging to Me as Good Belongs to You here.

The exhibition presents 3 impressive works by Paterson Ewen (1925-2002). He was born in Montreal and in the late 1960s moved to London, Ontario. It was there that he developed his hallmark carved-wood style paintings. There are two such striking attention-holders oaintings on display at the MMFA’s Bailey Collection exhibition.

At the top of this article you can see his painting Right Angle Tree, 1977, acrylic and metal on gouged plywood. Just below is his Comet, 1970s - 1980s, acrylic on gouged plywood. 

The third Paterson Ewen’s painting at the exhibition is Forked Lightning, 1971, acrylic, canvas, linoleum, and metal on gouged plywood (see below). It especially attracted my attention when I noticed quite unexpectedly a faded figure of a man at the bottom of one of the lightning's branches, the middle of his head to the left of the lowest leftward zig-zag. Ewen is a non-figurative artist, and this image of a man who appears to admire the nature's powerful light display, was quite a surprise. I invite you to visit the exhibition to discover this hidden image for yourself, as my photo does not do it full justice.

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Hover over images for description and credits.

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

You can read more about W. Bruce C. Bailey's collection here.

MMFA 2019: Bruce Bailey Collection

FOR EVERY ATOM BELONGING TO ME AS GOOD 

BELONGS TO YOU

Selections from the Bailey Collection

December 4, 2019 – March 29, 2020

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents a selection of artworks from a private art collection of an Ontario philanthropist, collector, and MMFA patron W. Bruce C. Bailey. It offers to the public over 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper from different time periods and cultures, all from Bailey's vast collection.

The exhibition borrowed its name For Every Atom Belonging to Me as Good Belongs to You from the title of Walt Whitman's poem Song of Myself (1881). Like this poem, W. Bruce C. Bailey's collection is meant to invite the audience to consider how art expresses unique sensibilities and also some shared commonalities of human experience.

Nathalie Bondil, MMFA's Director General and Chief Curator, has stated:

"So many words could be used to describe Bruce Bailey: gentleman-farmer, magician of the everyday, brilliant intellect, passionate heart, friend to artists, patron of the arts, lavish salonnier and extravagant businessman. An Ontarian who loves Quebec, fiercely proud Canadian and citizen of the world, this man of faith and conviction is unveiling his collection, revealing a deep, complex humanity, with its doubts and its struggles. He is committed to contemporary art that explores the timeliest of topics: gender, indigenous issues, feminism, conflicts. With his generosity and his vision, he encourages the best artists at home and abroad. This steadfast friend of the Museum has loaned works by Peter Doig and Robert Mapplethorpe, and enriched its collections with spectacular pieces by Kent Monkman, Shary Boyle, Geneviève Cadieux, Kim Dorland and Tony Matelli.  Moreover, thanks to his exceptional donations and fundraising efforts, the Museum has been able to purchase remarkable works by old masters and contemporary artists."

Started in 1975, Mr Bailey's collection stands out through its interest in the Other. The collector is strongly attracted to works that deal with the meaning of "being human" and with good, evil, beauty, sadness, neglect and ugliness in humanity. The dichotomies of life/death, black/white, good/bad and love/hate reflect the facets of human condition.

Mr. Bailey is a major patron of the Canadian arts community. Every other year, he holds a country celebration on his estate in Ontario, with all profits going to the MMFA to enrich its collection.  The funds raised made it possible to acquire historical works such as the Modello for the "Portrait of Louis XIV in Royal Ceremonial Robes" (1701) by Hyacinthe Rigaud, as well as recent acquisitions by contemporary artists Shilpa Gupta, Gauri Gill and Betsabeé Romero. Since 2003, Bailey has donated numerous works to the Museum by artists that include Jules de Balincourt, Geneviève Cadieux, Petah Coyne, Evergon, Tyler Bright Hilton, John Massey, Tony Matelli, Kent Monkman and Erik Parker. He has served on the MMFA's Acquisition Committee –International Art after 1900 since November 2010. 

This exhibition is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with W. Bruce C. Bailey.

Curator: Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Curator of International Modern and Contemporary Art, MMFA.

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Exibition Location
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Contemporary Art Square, Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion – Level S2

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

Additionally, you can read a separate article about Paterson Ewen's paintings at the Bruce Bailey Collection ehhibition here.