Pointe-à-Callière Museum: Tea Roads

The Tea Roads

April 30 - September 29, 2013


Montreal's Pointe-à-Callière Museum is presenting a new temporary exhibition entitled The Tea Roads. It was inspired by the fact that tea is the most popular beverage after water, with thousands of years of history. Apparently 15,000 cups of tea are consumed around the world in one second!

Here is a famous Chinese poem, an ode to drinking tea, by poet Lu Tong’s (China, 790-835 A.D.):

 Seven Bowls of Tea 

The first bowl moistens my lips and throat;

The second bowl breaks my loneliness;

The third bowl searches my barren entrails but to find 

Therein some five thousand scrolls;

The fourth bowl raises a slight perspiration 

And all life’s inequities pass out through my pores;

The fifth bowl purifies my flesh and bones;

The sixth bowl calls me to the immortals.

The seventh bowl ah, but I could drink no more!

……...............................................................

This exhibition is presented with the collaboration of the Musée Gaimet des arts asiatiques and 20 other lenders. The exhibition takes visitors on a journey along vertiginous roads of the ancient tea roads, a journey that spans centuries, culminating in our modern times. 

Over 200 objects are on display, some of them considered true works of art. They include a number of exceptional pieces, impressive for their beauty, age and rarity as well as for the stories they tell. There are magnificent celadon porcelain pieces, with their subtle jade colour, and the famous yixing teapots that “remember” previous infusions; their high iron content gives the clay a special colour, and the teapots are worth more than gold!

There are also on display terracotta horses, acknowledging the hard work endured by those sturdy animals on torturous, mostly mountainous roads. See photos above, and especially note a valuable Tang period (619-908 A.D.) green glazed terracotta horse at the top of the photo to the right. China required 2,500 new horses each year. Those were acquired through the tea trade, where a horse would be purchased in exchange for 60 kg of tea leaves.

You will also see exhibited tea bricks and cakes wrapped in bamboo leaves in the shape of logs or baskets for the journey on horseback. In the photo to the right, you can see an unwrapped round cake of pressed tea leaves. 

There is also a variety of pouring vessels and superb serving accessories made of fine porcelain. The photo to the left shows “Imperial” teapots and bowls crafted during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). They were even produced in the Emperor’s workshops in the 20th century.

One can also smell a variety of different teas at the central display shown in the very first photo above.

The following photo demonstrates how valuable was the tea during the pre-Victorian era. The box with tea leaves was kept locked with a key, not entrusting the contents to the servants (box to the left).

Vist the PAC Museum's website for more information and opening hours.

http://pacmusee.qc.ca/en

Two New Paintings at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Montreal Museum of Fine Art
Gift and Acquisition


Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is getting two new paintings.  One is a generous gift by Jorisch family. The painting was looted seventy years ago during the Anschluss and later restored to the descendants of its owners. This donation is Jorisch family's tribute to Montreal, the city that offered refuge to so many exiles. Stolen from Amalie Redlich in Nazi Austria, this work - Children on Their Way Home from School - is by the most famous Austrian painter of the Biedermeier period, Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (see image above).

The painting on the left - Woman Tuning a Lute - is by a Dutch painter Gerrit van Honthorst. It represents the museum's most recent acquisition. It was purchased by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts at the recent art fair in Maastricht. The painting was unknown until it re-emerged on the art market earlier this year from a private collection in France. It is signed and dated (G. Honthorst fe. 1624).

These two painting will be displayed at the museum's permanent collection section that is always open to the public free of charge.

Consult the museum's website for more information and events

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

Click on any image to enlarge it.
Hover your mouse over images to see credits.

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts: Old Master Drawings

From the Hands of the Masters: Old Master Drawings

April 11 to July 17, 2013 


The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA)  features the Springtime of Drawing. It represents an exclusive opportunity to view a large selection of works from a private collection belonging to a Montreal collector who wishes to remain anonymous. It includes works by Boucher, Bernini, Jordaens, Le Brun, Natoire, Tiepolo and other renown artists.

The drawings are located at the Museum’s Graphic Arts Centre. This exhibition, from Canada’s Foremost Private Collection, displays some seventy drawings selected in consultation with the collector for their beauty and variety. This is a unique opportunity to see this outstanding Canadian collection, as most of these works will be displayed together for the first time in Montreal.

This exhibit is offered free of charge.

Visit the museum's website for the opening hours.

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

April 11 to July 7, 2013

Graphic Arts Centre

Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion - Level S2

Free admission at all times

PAC Museum: Beatles in Montreal

Beatles in Montreal
POINTE-À-CALLIÈRE MUSEUM

March 29th, 2013 - March 30th, 2014

The Beatles in Montréal, an exhibition  of the legendary British group which revolutionized pop music around the world, is on a Montréal stopover. The group had a profound influence on musical trends that took root right in Montréal and throughout Québec. Designed as an exhibition-experience, The Beatles in Montréal uses this past musical event as a starting point for an examination of Montréal history and the emergence of “yéyé” music in 1960s Québec.

This exhibition displays a great amount of memorabilia items  from the Montreal's legendary show such as photographs and tickets to the show among others. It also features digitally cleaned Beatles' Montreal stage performance - their concert.



In one of the exhibition halls one can even become the fifth member of Beatles by singing karaoke style along with the legendary group. This participatory activity will no doubt prove to be very popular with the visitors to this exhibition, both the very young ones, as well as with those who actually took part at the Beatles' concert in September 1964.

One of the most memorable exhibits is John Lennon's Rolls-Royce that he owned between 1965-1977. On loan from the Royal British Columbia Museum in Victoria, Canada, this car was manufactured in 1965 by Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Limited, in Crewe, Cheshire, UK. The Phantom V was fitted with a limousine body, finished in matte black, measured 19 feet long, and weighed three tons. John Lennon purchased it when he was just 24 years old. Over the years, Lennon had several modifications made to the Rolls: the rear seat was converted into a double bed, and a television, refrigerator, telephone, and sound system were added.

Growing tired of the Rolls’ all-too-classic paint job, John Lennon sought to update its appearance, looking to more daring—and even psychedelic—stylistic influence Shortly after The Beatles had made the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, Lennon and the J. P. Fallon design firm found their inspiration in a gypsy wagon, painted in a flowery style. Artist Steve Weaver was commissioned to complete the work based on the wagon’s design. The roof of the car was painted with Lennon’s zodiac sign, Libra. The newly painted Rolls-Royce was delivered to Lennon in May 1967. But the car’s radical transformation did not meet with unanimous approval. One day, in downtown London, an old woman attacked the car with her umbrella, yelling: “You swine, how dare you do this to a Rolls-Royce?” Proof that the English have a great deal of respect for this symbol of British dignity.

A short film from 1967 gives the exhibition visitors a glimpse of the Rolls, with its new paint job, driving along a country road, and shows the various transformations made to the car.

Visit the Pointe-à-Callière Museum's website for more information and opening hours.

http://pacmusee.qc.ca/en/home

PAC Museum: New Mariner's House Pavilion

The Mariners' House
Inauguration

March 6, 2013

The Mariners’ House is the Pointe-à-Callière (PAC) Museum's first step toward creating the Montréal Archaeology and History Complex. This project is expected to be completed by 2017. The building, PAC Museum's fifth pavilion, is located at the junction of Place d'Youville and Place Royal. It was renovated and redesigned by Dan S. Hanganu and Provencher Roy + Associate architects, the same consortium that designed the Éperon building – the PAC Museum’s main building, as well as the archaeological crypt underneath the Place Royal square.

Two pictures above show two historical faces of the original building. Between 1875-1953 it was the Montreal Sailors’ Institute. Then it was rebuild and from 1954 to 2012 it housed homeless people and was called The Résidence du Vieux-Port (The Old Port Residence).

Presently, the architects have redesigned the building to make the new Mariner's House a contemporary, urban structure that blends seamlessly with the Museum’s Éperon building that was built in 1992. As you can see in the photo at the top of this post, the façade on Place d’Youville has a two-storey glass curtain wall that brings in a lot of natural light. This gives the building a sense of transparency and invites visitors to explore this new space.

During the renovations of the Mariners’ House, the project crew was surprised to find a time capsule buried when the building was erected in 1953-1954. The sealed box contained a number of symbolic items.  In the photo below to the left you can see its content. 

The new Time Capsule (on the right) was displayed at the new pavilion's inauguration ceremony. However, its contents were not shown or revealed. A signed list of dignitaries present at the inauguration ceremony was inserted inside the capsule.

A number of special elements can be discovered in the new pavilion. For instance, the back of foyer opens onto a monumental staircase. Its back wall  displays an original work of art by Montréal artist Nicolas Baier.

The building's many windows, especially those on levels 3 and 4, offer views of the Old Port, the St. Lawrence River, and Old Montréal.

The new pavilion serves many purposes. At the  basement level there is an educational area for children where they can participate in their own "archaeological digs", by searching for pieces of historical treasures in sand boxes.

The temporary exhibition spaces are located on two levels, the ground and the first floor. On the ground level, there is also a large projection-theatre room.

The first floor also houses the PAC Museum's souvenir boutique, as seen on two pictures just below.

The third floor is taken up by the museum's offices. And the top forth floor has a magnificent glassed in reception area, with a superb view of old Montreal.

To find out more about the current and upcoming exhibitions, visit the  PAC Museum's website

http://pacmusee.qc.ca/en

McCord Museum 2013: Benoit Aquin

Haiti: Chaos and Daily Life

February 28 - May 12, 2013

The Montreal museum McCord presents a documentary photo reportage Haiti: Chaos and Daily Life by a Montreal photographer Benoit Aquin. 40 oversized colour photos offer Aquin's vision of Haiti, the day-to day lives of Haitians as they cope with the chaos caused by the January 2010 earthquake and as they try to recover their lives in the aftermath of that devastating event.

Aquin is not only concerned about the subject matter, but foremost with the formal composition of his images: the colours, lines, light and and how various elements in the photograph interact and support each other for the greatest visual effect.

The exhibition is divided into three general areas. The first one documents the immediate situation just after the earthquake took place. It has a predominant colour of light grey-blue.

In his photo reportage Aquin stresses people's resilience to cope with the hardship they have to endure, as well as the emotional stress of having lost friends and family members, not having a proper access to food, water or even shelter. People even find time to play regardless of shear devastation and dis pare that surrounds them.

The very first photograph at the entry to the exhibition, as well as the last area of Aquin's photo reportage is dedicated to documenting carnivals and voodoo ceremonies.

Regardless of the fact that Benoit Aquin does a photo documentation and reportage works, his photographs are avidly collected by art museums. This attests to a high artistic quality of his work.

To find out more about the exhibition, visit McCord Museum's website.

http://www.mccord-museum.qc.ca/en

Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon - MMFA 2013

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

February 24- June 16, 2013

Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon – Identities and Conquest in the Ancient, Colonial and Modern Eras.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts opens its doors to visitors to experience an exceptional collection of Peru's archaeological as well as anthropological, historical and artistic riches. On display are 370 works of art (paintings, sculptures, gold and silver ornaments, pottery, photographs, works on paper, textiles and videos) which came from almost fifty public and private collections, spanning 3,000 years of Peru's history.

The visitor will have a unique opportunity to discover faces of ancient people, the ancestors of the Peruvian land. Here are a few photos of quite unique ancient personalities.

Notice anguish and deep sadness written on the faces of the two people above. Were the prototypes or the sitters for the sculpted objects experiencing these emotions and the artists sensed them and brought them forth? Or did the artists project their own feelings into what they created?  We would never know, and it does not really matter. What matters to us - we have a chance to see faces of very ancient people who are a part of our common human heritage.

Above are two other faces. Surprisingly, the one to the right appears  to have African features. The one to the left is more stylized and even decorative but nevertheless very expressive. Both project some personal predicament, the burden of which has to be endured.

Two personages below are also portrayed in a stylized manner. They both hold a living creature which, most likely, represents a mythological entity or symbol. The one on the left is holding a mollusc called Spondylus, the one on the right is supporting a double-headed snake. Both have the corners of their mouth turned down, projecting not a happy expression. They also look somewhat bewildered and even dejected.

All people portrayed have their heads covered by a hat or a head piece. Were those also worn as if to hide the personal thoughts? Regardless of what we might know of those ancient times, these people's facial expressions speak for themselves and indicate that life for ordinary human beings in those ancient societies might have been quite hard. Their culture and religion were centred around human sacrifice. They all must have accepted this, yet did they indeed accept everything about it deep inside themselves, in the very core of their human nature? Their facial expressions seem to indicate that not all was well in their world, as they seem to tell us with their personal expressions throughout centuries.

Above, top left, is a photo of a funerary mask. Notice blue beads  hanging from the eyes, flowing down like tears. A death, even sacrificial, must have brought a lot of tears into at least some people's eyes, something they most likely had to hide.

Below that mask we see the examples of the gold royal finery. The royalty did not have to worry about being killed in a religious human sacrifice, they were free to enjoy a lavish life.

The exhibition also presents a number of more recent works, like, for instance, a set of exquisitely executed miniature silver furniture  made from silver wire (see to the left). It was made in the 18th century by an unknown artist. Were these pieces toys for girls from well to do families?

If you visit the exhibition, you will also see a number of remarkable paintings. Here are a few examples.

Here is an overview of several exhibition areas.

Click on images to enlarge them.

To find out more about this exhibition or its opening hours, visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts website.

You can purchase the book Peru: Kingdoms of the Sun and the Moon at the Museum's Boutique and Store.