Canadian Art Students Respond to Klimt and Schiele
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No. 1/2002 CULTURE CANADIAN ART STUDENTS RESPOND TO KLIMT AND SCHIELE One of the undoubted cultural in Edmonton from August 3 to 12, ingly recognized. As a result, the Ca- highlights of Canada in the year 2001 2001. The final engagement was at nadian Centre for Austrian and Cen- was the first major North Amer-ican the CityScape Community Art Space tral European Studies decided to Gustav Klimt retrospective held at the and at the Bel Art Gallery of North Van- sponsor two competitions, one in Al- National Gallery of Canada from June couver from October to December. At to September. As reported by Oe Cul- each of these venues, a series of spe- ture (2001/2), in order to give this cial opening lectures on different as- unique event in our national capital as pects of the work of Gustav Klimt by much profile as possible, the Cana- Professor Franz Szabo, the Director of the Canadian Centre for Austrian and Central European Studies and one of Canada's leading Austrian cul- tural historians, were held. Caitlin Wells, University of Alberta, Depart-ment of Art and Design. berta and one in British Columbia, Jane MacVicar of Port Moody, B.C. First prize in the British Columbia Competition. challenging art students to produce works of their own "in response to dian Centre for Austrian and Central Klimt and Schiele." European Studies of the University of Three winning entries were se- Alberta, with the assistance of the Aus- lected by specially designated juries trian Cultural Forum in Ottawa, ar- in each province, and an additional prize was sponsored in Edmonton by ranged to bring two travelling exhibi- Dara Humniski, University of Alberta, Depart- tions of facsimile drawings by Gustav ment of Art and Design. the University of Alberta's Department Klimt and Egon Schiele to Canada to of Art and Design. The prizes con- tour other parts of the country during Although the response of mu- sisted of the purchase of the winning the "Gustav Klimt Year" of 2001. seum professionals to the facsimile entries by the Canadian Centre for The tour opened at the annual Or- exhibitions was hesitant, the public re- Austrian and Central European Stud- ford Festival in Mount Orford, Québec sponse was overwhelmingly positive ies. in June and then moved to the Univer- and enthusiastic. Above all, as the ex- Students were asked to submit sity of Alberta at the beginning of Au- hibit moved to Western Canada, its drawings on any aspect of the human gust, in time for the 8th International pedagogical value for art students figure directly inspired by any or all of Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) who would otherwise have no oppor- the 92 works of Klimt and Schiele that World Championships that were held tunity to see these works was increas- were on exhibit. The response mir- 5 CULTURE No. 1/2002 rored the enthusiastic reaction that BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF AUSTRIANS students had shown to the exhibition itself. The competitions drew well over IN CANADA PUBLISHED 50 submissions, with the juries select- The compilation of the Bio- tria) for Canada (1871-1996); ing those that showed signs of most graphical Dictionary of Austrians in ! a chart on place of birth (Austria) clearly being inspired by Klimt or Canada, initiated in 1997 with the by provinces (1851-1996); Schiele without being a slavish imita- support of the Austrian-Canadian ! a graph on the ethnic origin of im- tion of them. Council and the endorsement of the migrants from Austria (1901- Austrian Embassy, has now been 1995); and completed. The book is expected to ! a chart on the immigrants' ethnic be published in April. origin by provinces. This project follows a confer- b. the intended occupation of ence and the publication of two Austrian immigrants in Canada books on the migration of Austrians (1954-1996); to Canada and is intended to include c. the number of Austrian immi- all Austrian-Canadians, not only grants by province of destination high-profile personalities. Especially (1954-1996); women of Austrian origin—who tend d. the number of Austrian immi- to undervalue their accomplish- grants to Canada per year (1900 to ments—were encouraged to submit 1996); an account of their life in Canada, e. a glossary of terms explaining and it was gratifying to receive a very characteristics of the Austrian large number of responses to the school system); questionnaire from them. Published f. an alphabetized list of the oc- in English, this soft-cover book will Cynthia Gardiner, University of Alberta, De- cupations of the Austrian immi- partment of Art and Design. be 6 in. by 9 in. in size and will con- grants to Canada listed in the Bio- The winners of the Alberta Com- tain more than 500 entries on ca. 250 graphical Dictionary; petition were Caitlin Wells (first prize), pages. g. an alphabetized list of the Cynthia Gardiner (second prize) and Following a brief introduction places of birth of these Austrian- Dara Humniski (third prize), while the surveying the Austrian presence in Canadians; and winners of the British Columbia Com- Canada, the entries provide informa- h. a chronologically organized petition were Jane MacVicar (first tion on the Austrian-Canadians' bio- list of the year of their arrival in Can- prize), Tannis Turner (second prize), graphical details, such as place and ada. date of birth, name of spouse and and Rita Valine (third prize). The Uni- To order a copy, please send a children as applicable, year of arrival versity of Alberta's Department of Art check—made out to “Manfred Pro- in Canada, places of residence, edu- and Design Prize went to Joel kop"—for $10.00 per copy (which in- cation, career, honours, interests, Yatscoff. cludes postage) to: Manfred Pro- and accomplishments. The Index All seven winning drawings were kop, #25, 1601 Cloverbar Rd., will contain on display at a special "Prize Winners Sherwood Park, AB, T8A 5Y8. a. a brief section on the charac- Exhibition" in the University of Al- An Web version of the Dictionary teristics of data regarding Austrian berta's Fine Arts Building from mid- is also being developed at migration to Canada collected by December until early February 2002, www.arts.ualberta.ca/CCAuCES/ the Canadian censuses and the De- and are now housed permanently at dictionary/start.htm. It will make it partment of Immigration. It intro- the Canadian Centre for Austrian and possible to keep the database up- duces: Central European Studies. to-date and to add new entries. ! a graph on place of birth (Aus- Manfred Prokop M.P. 6 No. 1/2002 CULTURE AUSTRIA-CANADA: CO-OPERATION ON THE BASIS OF COMMON VALUES Dr. Wendelin Ettmayer Having been Austrian Ambassa- Austria and Canada rank at the very As far as the employment struc- dor to Canada for two years, I know top with regard to the quality of life in ture of the population is concerned, that the relations between Canada the respective countries. Life expec- 6.6% of the Austrians and 3.7% of the and Austria are very good, that we co- tancy, schooling and the efforts in in- Canadians work in agriculture, 32% operate effectively in many fields, and ternational co-operation have been versus 22% in industry, and 62% ver- that there are many friends of Austria measured repeatedly, and they al- sus 74% work in the service sector. As all over Canada who are eager to sup- ways show the same picture: Both regards living standards, several indi- port our efforts to enhance co- countries have achieved an outstand- cators show great similarities: Private operation between our two countries. ing quality of life. consumption per capita amounts to At the same time, I can see some diffi- about US $14,000 per year in both culties arising in the near future: Can- countries; the number of passenger ada is getting more and more in- cars per 1,000 inhabitants is 481 in volved in intra-American affairs, espe- Austria and 452 in Canada; and we cially with a view to tackling security find two doctors per 1,000 inhabitants questions following the events of Sep- in Austria and 2.3 doctors for the tember 11. On the other hand, the Eu- same number of people in Canada. ropeans are increasingly concentrat- The infant mortality per 1,000 live ing on their own agenda, from intro- births is 6.6 in Austria and 5.5 in Can- ducing the euro as their common cur- ada. rency to the enlargement of the Euro- In my opinion, these statistics pean Union. demonstrate not only how close our Therefore we have to use every two countries resemble each other nu- opportunity available to remind our merically, but also to what extent we Canadian and European friends that share the same approach towards we live in countries which cherish the guaranteeing a high quality of life and same values and share the same per- defining the role of the state. spectives vis-à-vis our internal as well Our mutual economic rela- as our international affairs. Europe- According to the Organization for tions. Austrian exports to Canada in- ans can note with satisfaction that Economic Co-operation and Deve- creased by 29.3% in the year 2000 Canada has established a social wel- lopment (OECD) Economic Surveys and reached an overall volume of fare state of the highest calibre and published in September 2001, Austria CAN $700 million. Austria's exporting that it wants to co-operate with Austria had a population of eight million while companies profited from a good eco- in international affairs.