Mcmichael Magazine a Word from the Executive Director and CEO

ISSUE TWO | WINTER & SPRING 2015 $4.95 CAN

From Art to Action The rich artistic legacy of the planet’s frozen frontiers McMichael within the context of climate change / P.8 Eyes on Quebec An intimate glimpse into the art of Quebec and early Canadian modernism through one family’s private Magazine art collection / P.16 The Wonderful World of Arthur Lismer The storied life of a cultural icon, revealed through an From the McMichael Canadian Art Collection unprecedented collection of archival material / P.38

+ Jean Paul Lemieux Karine Giboulo Tony Quarrington Lawren Harris Mary Pratt and more A Northern Narrative

ISSN 2368-1144 Board of Trustees From the Permanent Collection On the Cover Upkar Arora, Chair Joan Bush Lawren S. Harris Peter Carayiannis (1885–1970), Tony Carella Icebergs, Davis Strait, Andrew Dunn Diana Hamilton 1930, Neil Harris oil on canvas, Anita Lapidus 121.9 x 152.4 cm, Linda Rodeck Richard Self Gift of Mr. and John Silverthorn Mrs. H. Spencer Clark, Tina Tehranchian McMichael Canadian Michael Weinberg Diane Wilson Art Collection, Rosemary Zigrossi 1971.17 Ex-officio Victoria Dickenson Executive Director and CEO Guests Meegan Guest, Director-in-Training This painting, along with several others, is currently on Jane Knop, Director-in-Training loan to the Dulwich Picture Gallery in From the Forest to the Christopher Henley, Foundation Chair Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia—the first UK exhibition Mary Hookey, Volunteer Committee President dedicated to Emily Carr, one of Canada’s most beloved and McMichael Canadian Art Foundation esteemed artists. Board of Directors Christopher Henley, Chair Emily Carr (1871–1945), Strait of Juan de Fuca, c. 1936, Victoria Dickenson, President oil on paper laid down on paperboard, 60.7 x 91.3 cm, David Melo, Treasurer Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Max Stern, Dominion Gallery, Montreal, Upkar Arora Jordan Beallor McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1974.18.2 Isabella Bertani Mark Bursey Doris Chan Susan Hodkinson Iain MacInnes Doug McDonald The McMichael Vision McMichael Honorary Council Harry Angus To be recognized as an extraordinary John Bankes H. Michael Burns Jamie Cameron place to visit and explore Canadian culture Robert C. Dowsett Jan Dymond and identity, and the connections between Dr. Esther Farlinger, O.Ont George Fierheller, C.M. Hon. Judge Joyce Frustaglio art and nature. Joan Goldfarb, O.Ont Patrick Gossage Extraordinary place to visit Explore Canadian culture Connections between art David Grace Rev. Edward J.R. Jackman A physical and virtual gathering and identity and nature Hon. Henry N.R. Jackman place that provides an engaging Enables our users to understand Bringing together and integrating Michael W. Johnston and continually changing experi- who we are as Canadians and the visual arts with the natural Joseph B. McArthur Samuel Sarick ence to targeted audiences and where we fit in the global world to create a cultural land- Noreen Taylor communities driving new and context over time, through the scape that combines works of Anthony Webb repeat visits. medium of art. nature and people. Wenda Yenson

Editorial Committee Katerina Atanassova The McMichael Mission Susan Benton Victoria Dickenson To interpret and promote Canadian and Aboriginal art, to attract local, national, Connie Febbraro and international audiences. Rachel Weiner

Art Direction Key Gordon Communications

10365 Islington Avenue, Publication Coordinator Kleinburg, Ontario, L0J 1C0, Canada Jennifer D. Foster, Planet Word 905.893.1121 1.888.213.1121 An Agency of the Government of Ontario Un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario mcmichael.com

II / McMichael Magazine A Word from the Executive Director and CEO

Welcome to the second issue of McMichael print shop in Cape Dorset on Baffin Island. Magazine. We were delighted with your en- Inuit art is one of Canada’s lasting contribu- thusiastic reception of the first issue: tions to global art culture, and this traditional A copy of the magazine has just arrived and form is changing and developing as the North I wanted to say: Wow! Everything in it appealed and the South become more interconnected to me…well done….—A satisfied reader through technology. The McMichael is part We hope you agree that the winter & spring of a major research partnership to provide 2015 issue continues in the same tradition. access to the treasures of Inuit art to schools We’ve taken the theme of our upcoming ma- and artists in the North through technology jor exhibition, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar and through exhibition exchange. Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, a beautiful and Even in the South, we live a good part of the compelling exploration of Earth’s frozen fron- year in a country of snow and ice. For me, some tiers by international artists, as our keynote. The of our most compelling landscape paintings are McMichael sought out this exhibition from the the works of Quebec artists, who celebrate win- Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington, ter (and summer!) in la belle province. Eyes on as soon as the gallery heard about it. We knew Quebec, an exhibition of the Andrée Rhéaume that these sublime images of glaciers, ice fields, Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, an and mountaintops would resonate in the hearts amazing promised gift to the McMichael, is a and minds of Canadians, who live so closely with superb gathering of works from iconic artists the landscapes of ice and snow. The exhibition like Jean Paul Lemieux, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, also underlines the importance of the artist in Clarence Gagnon, and Jean Paul Riopelle. The making us see the world anew, and, in the case McMichael is most grateful to Robert Fitzhenry of many of the images, in becoming more aware and the Fitzhenry Family Foundation for of its fragile beauty. Ice is on our minds today making this exhibition possible. not only in a seasonal sense, but also as a global Enjoy your magazine, and thank you for issue, and Canadian artists have been at the fore- continuing to support the McMichael. We front of concerns around the vanishing ice in our look forward to your visit in person, online, Arctic seas. or through the pages of this issue. The McMichael has a special relationship with the Canadian Arctic through its long- —Dr. Victoria Dickenson, term collaboration with Kinngait Studios’s Executive Director and CEO

McMichael Magazine / 1 CONTENTS 12 Two Media, One Message: A Discussion with winTER & SPRING 2015 Watercolourist David McEown and Photographer Daisy Gilardini on Art and Conservation by Rachel Weiner 03 Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775-2012 by Dr. Barbara Matilsky 14 Tim Pitsiulak on Climate Change Exploring the breathtaking worlds of ice and snow, and the by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements impact of climate change through art. 16 Eyes on Quebec: Treasures from the Andrée 08 From Art to Action: Dr. Barbara Matilsky on the Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Power of Alpine and Polar Imagery by Rachel Weiner Collection by Katerina Atanassova The curatorial process of capturing the beauty and fragility The story of two Canadian collectors and their passion of Earth’s Polar Regions in Vanishing Ice. for art and art education nationwide.

10 A Northern Narrative: Lawren Harris in the Arctic 22 Jean Paul Lemieux and the Figure by Chris Finn by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements A reflection on one artist’s drive to explore and depict the An examination of the artistic evolution of one of spiritual pull of the Arctic. Canada’s most accomplished painters.

26 Karine Giboulo: What Is My Name? by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements

30 New McMichael Publications by Rachel Weiner, Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, and Ola Mazzuca The McMichael adds to its list of publications with p.10 these latest offerings.

34 Painting Pictures on Silence: Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Tony Quarrington Talks Art, Music, and the McMichael by Rachel Weiner How one veteran musician is translating works of art into musical compositions.

36 An Unparalleled Collection: Preserving Cape Dorset’s Creative Cultural Legacy by Victoria Dickenson and Elyse Portal Honouring a long-standing partnership with the West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative and the artists of Cape Dorset.

38 The Wonderful World of Arthur Lismer by Linda Morita, with Chris Finn An extraordinary collection of drawings and p.22 photographs.

40 A House in the Country, A Home for Canadian Art by Linda Morita The story of an extraordinary beginning.

42 New Aquisition: Make-up with Chocolate Box, by Mary Pratt by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements

44 In Memoriam: Itee Pootoogook by Chris Finn

46 With Gratitude—McMichael Supporters

2 / McMichael Magazine By Dr. Barbara Matilsky, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, Curator of Art, Whatcom Museum, introduces the rich artistic legacy of the planet’s frozen fron- Bellingham, WASHINGTON tiers within the context of our changing climate. Showcasing seventy-five works of art, the exhibition unfolds geograph- ically and thematically, tracing the impact of glaciers, icebergs, and fields of ice on artists’ imaginations. International in scope, it features artists from Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Russia, Switzerland, and the United States.

McMichael Magazine / 3 Previous page: Thomas Hart Benton, American, 1889–1975, Trail Riders, 1964–65, oil on canvas, 171.5 x 217 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, Gift of the artist, 1975.42.1

FIG. 1 FIG. 2

“The ice and the long polar nights, with Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes all their yearning, seemed like a far-off in Art, 1775–2012, presents connections among generations of artists who adopt dream from another world—a dream that different styles, media, and approaches to had come and passed away. But what translate the magical colours and fantas- would life be worth without its dreams?” tic forms of ice, as well as the mesmerizing light effects of their remote surroundings. —Fridtjof Nansen, Farthest North, 1897 The exhibition also highlights how artists’ interpretations of alpine and polar terrain helped shape Western consciousness about the natural Fig. 1: Sir John Ross, British, world. Interweaving art, history, and 1777–1856, Snow Cottages of FIG. 3 science, the exhibition seeks to stim- the Boothians, illustration from ulate greater appreciation for alpine Narrative of a Second Voyage in mountains, the Arctic, and Antarctica Search of a North-west Passage, and of a Residence in the Arctic by illuminating their significance for Regions during the Years 1829, both nature and culture. 1830, 1831, 1832, 1833. London: Through the centuries, collaborations A.W. Webster, 1835, between the arts and sciences expanded 33.02 x 26.04 x 5.72 cm, Special awareness of Earth’s icy regions. Early Collections, University of Washington Libraries, Seattle, artist-explorers captivated the public WA; fig. 2: Louis Lebreton, with the first images of alpine and polar French, 1818–1866, Debarquement landscapes, while providing a geographic sur la Terre Adélie, le 21 Janvier understanding of these little-known ter- 1840 (Landing on Adelie Land ritories (fig. 1). During the nineteenth- January 21, 1840) from Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l’Océanie sur les century, depictions of glaciers helped corvettes L’Astrolabe et La Zélée. . . popularize revolutionary scientific dis- 1837–1840 sous le commandement coveries and theories in natural history, de M. Dumont d’Urville, Atlas including the concept of an Ice Age, along Pittorèsque, Paris, 1846, with a vision of the planet’s history and lithograph, 55 x 37 x 4 cm, Courtesy of Linda Hall Library ancient origins. Works by artists, such of Science, Engineering and as William Hodges (British, 1744–1797), Technology, Kansas City, Jean-Antoine Linck (Swiss, 1766–1843), Missouri and Louis Lebreton (French, 1818–1866), appeared in scientific publications, expe- ditionary atlases, popular magazines, and exhibitions (fig. 2). Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, also includes artworks from the twentieth cen-

4 / McMichael Magazine Fig. 3: Herbert Ponting, British, 1870–1935, Grotto in berg, Terra Nova in the distance, FIG. 4 Taylor and Wright (interior), January 5, 1911, platinum print made in 2009 from the original negative, 80 x 58 cm, © Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, England; fig. 4: Frank Hurley, Australian, 1885–1962, Endurance trapped in the ice at night, 1915, printed 2013, Black-and-white photograph, 55.88 x 40.64 cm, Courtesy of Royal Geographical Society, London; fig. 5: Gary Braasch, American, b.1950, Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park from Earth under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World, 2005, archival inkjet print, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Courtesy of the artist, Portland, Oregon; fig. 6: Arthur Oliver Wheeler, Canadian, 1860–1945, Athabasca Glacier, Jasper National Park, 1917, printed 2013, black-and-white photograph, 35.6 x 50.8 cm, Courtesy of the National Archives of Canada

tury’s heroic age of polar exploration epito- of nineteenth-century painters Frederic mized by the expeditions of Robert Falcon Edwin Church (American, 1826–1900) Scott (1868–1912) and Ernest Shackleton and William Bradford (American, 1823– (1874–1922). Their scientific endeavours, 1892), have organized their own expedi- quest for the South Pole, and harrowing tions (fig. 7). Since 2007, David Buckland hardships were documented through the (British, b. 1949) has been coordinating captivating imagery of photographers Arctic voyages composed of artists, sci- Herbert Ponting (British, 1870–1935) and entists, musicians, and writers through Frank Hurley (Australian, 1885–1962) the Cape Farewell project, underscoring (figs. 3 and 4). the expanded role of the artist-activist in A resurgence of interest in alpine and publicizing climate change (fig. 8). polar environments as dramatic indica- While exploring Vanishing Ice: Alpine tors of climate change now galvanizes ex- and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, peditions to the ice. No longer concerned viewers will discover the stylistic evo- with distant geologic time or charting lution of alpine and polar imagery over the planet’s final frontiers, artists, writ- two centuries through the wide array of ers, and scientists awaken the world to materials, media, and techniques that both the beauty and vulnerability of artists have employed to vividly capture ice. The fate of retreating glaciers has the frozen landscape. Initially limited to been captured by many photographers, drawings, prints, paintings, and later pho- FIG. 5 including Gary Braasch (American, b. tography, artists now utilize video, sound, 1950), David Breashears (American, b. and site-specific installations to interpret 1955), and Eirik Johnson (American, these environments (figs. 9 and 10). b. 1974), who compare their views of Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar the Rocky Mountains, Himalayas, and Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, examines Andes with historical photographs (figs. art’s transformative power to shape pub- 5 and 6). Parallel to the nineteenth- lic perception of these starkly majestic re- century artists’ close relationships to gions. Beginning in the eighteenth cen- natural history, these contemporary tury, writers and painters helped foster a images also appear in a wide range of new appreciation for alpine landscapes, venues, including books, documentary which were once fearfully regarded as films, and art and science museums. the abode of demons and dragons. This FIG. 6 Like their nineteenth- and early sentiment began to change when ro- twentieth-century counterparts, artists mantic artists and poets communicated as diverse as Eliot Porter (American, heightened feelings of awe in the pres- 1901–1990), Chris Drury (British, b. 1948), ence of snow-capped peaks. This quality, and Anne Noble (New Zealander, b. 1954) described as the “sublime,” intersected joined government-sponsored expedi- with spirituality and became one of the tions and increased public awareness of defining aspects of a culture in the throes polar research. Many artists, in the spirit of rapid industrialization. Tourism to the

McMichael Magazine / 5 Fig. 7: William Bradford, American, 1823–1892, Caught in the Ice Floes, c. 1867, oil on canvas, 95.25 x 140.3 cm, Courtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum (Kendall Collection), New Bedford, MA; fig. 8: David Buckland, British, b. 1949, Burning Ice, 2004–5, archival inkjet print of projection on the wall of a glacier, 60.96 x 81.28 cm, Courtesy of the artist; fig. 9: David Abbey Paige, American, 1901– 1979, Halo; Wing of the Fokker airplane crashed on March 12, 1934, oil on board, 40.6 x 50.8 cm, FIG. 7 Courtesy of The Ohio State University Archives, Papers of Admiral Richard E. Byrd, 455-53

FIG. 8

FIG. 9

FIG. 10

6 / McMichael Magazine European Alps subsequently developed through illustrated text panels and a and fuelled a craze for mountaineering 4.87-metre-long (16-foot-long) timeline among both men and women (fig. 11). The that highlights milestones in art, liter- quest to escape civilization and experi- ature, exploration history, and climate ence transcendence continued through science. Banners with quotations by art- the decades and later stimulated artists ists, writers, and explorers augment the as different as Lawren Harris (Canadian, exhibition’s themes. 1885–1970) and Thomas Hart Benton The exhibition is accompanied by a (American, 1889–1975) to explore the gla- 144-page-catalogue with seventy-five FIG. 11 ciers of the Canadian Rockies (see page 3). colour illustrations and a dedicated web- site, vanishing-ice.org, which FIG. 12 contains images by each artist, the gallery object labels, text panels, and timeline, as well as additional resources for students and teachers. Before its debut at the Fig. 10: Lita Albuquerque, Artists also interpreted icy imagery to McMichael Canadian Art Collection American, b. 1946, convey complex feelings, ideas, and mes- (January 31 to April 26, 2015), Vanishing Stellar Axis, sages. Edwin Landseer’s painting, Man Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, Constellation 1, 2006, Proposes, God Disposes, 1864, alludes to 1775–2012, opened at the Whatcom archival inkjet print the folly of British Arctic expeditions in Museum, Bellingham, Washington, and by Jean de Pomereu, 53 x 120 cm, search of John Franklin (1786–1847), travelled to the El Paso Museum of Art, Whatcom Museum, while Isaac Julien (British, b. 1960) ad- El Paso, Texas, and the Glenbow Museum, Gift of Jean de dresses racism and the myth of the hero- Calgary, Alberta. mm Pomereu, 2013.17.2; explorer in his video True North, 2004. fig. 11: Bisson Frères In the photomontage Currency Balloon, (Bisson brothers: Louis-Auguste Nicholas Kahn and Richard Selesnick Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Bisson and Auguste- (British and American, both b. 1964) Art, 1775–2012, is organized by the Whatcom Rosalie Bisson), critique the greed and materialism as- Museum. Major funding for the exhibition French, 1814–1876 sociated with climate change through has been provided by the Paul G. Allen Family and 1826–1900, a fabricated “historical” narrative that Foundation and the National Endowment for Ascension au Mont Blanc (Ascent of Mont links early twentieth-century rampant the Arts with additional support from the Blanc), 1860, printed development to global warming (fig. 12). Norcliffe Foundation, the Washington State 2013, albumen print, Despite diverse themes and interpreta- Arts Commission, and the City of Bellingham. 22.8 x 38.1 cm, tions, almost all of the artists respond, in Courtesy of George some way, to the beauty of ice. Eastman House, International More than fifty artists are repre- Museum of sented in Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Photography and Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, including: Film; fig. 12: Nicholas Lawren Harris, Ansel Adams, James Kahn and Richard Balog, Subhankar Banerjee, Olaf Otto Selesnick, British and American, both Becker, Frederick William Beechey, b. 1964, Currency Bisson Frères, Cynthia Camlin, Gustav Balloon, from Doré, Rena Bass Forman, Helen and Eisbergfreistadt, Newton Harrison, Christian Houge, 2008, archival Tiina Itkonen, Len Jenshel, Chris pigment print, 25.4 x 182.9 cm, Jordan, Rockwell Kent, Stuart Klipper, Courtesy of Yancey Nerys Levy, Anna McKee, Paul D. Miller/ Richardson Gallery DJ Spooky, Jean de Pomereu, Alexis Rockman, Camille Seaman, Spencer Tunick, Edward and Arthur Oliver Wheeler, and Edward Adrian Wilson, among others. While focusing on art, Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775– 2012, also presents layers of information

McMichael Magazine / 7 Interview From Art to Action: Dr. Barbara Matilsky on the Power of Alpine and Polar Imagery

By Rachel Weiner, Media Relations and Communications Coordinator

Thirty years ago, Dr. Barbara Matilsky wrote her doctoral dissertation on the landscapes of French artist-naturalist- explorers and their early depictions of the Polar Regions, an interest which, in 2005, began to evolve into the ambitious and change can potentially communicate mations of glaciers and icebergs. When timely exhibition Vanishing Ice: Alpine with the viewer on a more visceral, emo- it came to the poles, the auroras added and Polar Landscapes in Art, 1775–2012, tional level. another layer of enchantment and bliss. on display at the McMichael from January What do you think it is about As viewers become increasingly 31 to April 26, 2015. Vanishing Ice explores alpine and polar landscapes that seem familiar with images of the Arctic the similarities and differences among to fascinate and capture people’s and Antarctic, how are contemporary generations of artists who have captured imaginations? artists meeting the challenge of pre- the beauty and fragility of Earth’s fro- The remoteness, sublime beauty, and senting polar landscapes in new ways? zen frontiers, approaching the subject of opportunity to experience a spiritual Many contemporary artists continue climate change from a cultural perspec- connection triggered a passion for al- to rely on time-honoured media, such as tive. Dr. Matilsky, now Curator of Art at pine and polar landscapes, beginning in drawing, printmaking, and photography, the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, the eighteenth century. This period was to capture alpine and polar landscapes. Washington, spoke to the McMichael also characterized by a keen interest in They often build upon tradition by intro- about her process and curatorial vision. exploration and desire to learn about the ducing a novel way of working within an How do the visual arts bring aware- Earth. This was not always so. People existing technology or abstracting imag- ness to the subject of climate change once believed the Alps to be the home ery based on scientific data. For instance, in a way that other media cannot? of demons and dragons. European re- Anna McKee references Antarctic ice core In many ways, an artist’s creative ligious leaders described mountains as samples and signals from ice-penetrating process resembles that of a scientist: rude distortions in a landscape originally radar (IPR) by mixing media such as etch- observing, looking for patterns in the conceived as smooth before a cataclysmic ing, collography, and chine collé. natural world, and interpreting the re- flood. With the Romantic era, artists, po- Other artists incorporate newer me- sults. Artists work in a space defined ets, and scientists recognized the majesty dia and approaches—sound synthesizers, by the freedom to make unexpected of snow-capped peaks. In this rarified film, and performance-based installa- connections, which they translate met- environment defined by extremes, peo- tions. In Spencer Tunick's Aletsch Glacier aphorically through a diverse array of ple felt closer to the divine. Their ego was #4, Switzerland, hundreds of volunteers approaches, materials, and technologies. subsumed by the immense scale, fantas- posed nude on the slope of a retreating In this way, artists addressing climate tic blue-green colours, and surreal for- glacier to call attention to the effects of

8 / McMichael Magazine climate change. The photograph docu- culture. Two of them—Sir John Ross’s wa- to attribute art’s direct influence to a menting this action riveted the news me- tercolour illustration from his Narrative of particular action, or to separate it out dia and achieved the desired effect. a Second Voyage in Search of a North-west from all of the other factors at play. Was it important for you to select Passage (1835) and Isaac Julien’s video People find motivation in scientific works based both on their aesthetic True North (2004)—showcase the Inuit’s reports, such as the United Nations’ qualities and their relationship to the unique adaptation to the polar environ- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate theme of climate change? How essen- ment and the critical role that they played Change (IPCC), images of meteorolog- tial was it for the works in the show to in Euro-American Arctic exploration. ical events like Hurricane Sandy hitting be beautiful? Julien’s video poetically illuminates the New York City, and popular films, in- For me, curating exhibitions always fact that four Inuit men and one African- cluding Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth begins by selecting visually compelling American were truly the first to reach the (2006), and animations, such as the Ice work. Art must capture the viewer’s North Pole (although it is now known that Age series. Art is just one very impor- imagination and invite an experience. they were a few miles shy of the mark). tant component in a mix of influences So, I began the process by including art- Do you feel that art has the power to that shape people’s perceptions. mm work that potentially opened the door to drive people to take action where envi- an emotional and spiritual connection ronmental conservation is concerned? to alpine and polar regions. This ap- Yes, I do, which is one reason why I proach, I believed, would make the re- organized the exhibition. Many artists alities about our changing climate more are similarly motivated by the belief accessible. The artworks reflect the in- that their work will help people under- herently awesome beauty of alpine and stand the accelerating effects of climate polar landscapes—magical colours, con- change. I don’t think that it is possible stantly changing ice formations, ethereal atmosphere. They do not conform to the classically defined notion of “beauty,” but, rather, express the romantic “sublime” sensibility. The themes explored in Vanishing Ice have direct implications for the lives of the Inuit people, which is a topic of much importance in Canada and at the McMichael. How do the Inuit fit into the narrative of the exhibition? Above: photograph courtesy of Dr. Barbara Matilsky; opposite page: Isaac Julien Above: Anna McKee (b. 1959), Depth Strata V, In general, through their intimate (b. 1960), True North, 2004, 16mm film 2011, etching, collography, and chine collé, connection with the Arctic landscapes fea- transfer to single screen, DVD video, 14:58 image size: 61 x 45.7 cm, paper size: 76.2 x tured in the show. More specifically, there minutes, Courtesy of the artist and Metro 55.9 cm, Courtesy of the artist and Francine are three works of art highlighting Inuit Pictures, New York Seders Gallery

FAMILY PROGRAM Artists’ Talk with David McEown and Daisy Gilardini Sunday, March 15 Vanishing Ice Festival 1:30 pm February 8 & February 15 to 16 Attend Winter Carnival and partake in snowshoe hikes led by the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, see live animal presentations, and SPEAKER SERIES view the Melting Ice Sculpture, to be installed on the McMichael’s grounds. Part of the McMichael Signature Performance Series

Colour Exploration, Watercolour Painting with David McEown Vanishing Ice, Revealing the Underwater History Saturday, March 7 to Sunday, March 8 Speaker: Ryan Harris 10 am to 4:30 pm (two classes) Saturday, March 28 David McEown has used the medium of watercolour for the 11:30 am to 12:30 pm past twenty-five years to explore and express many of Earth’s Few people would realize that the latest exciting discovery of the lost disappearing wilderness areas. His paintings, from Antarctica to Franklin Expedition was made possible due to climate change. Vanishing the North Pole, are represented in collections worldwide. In this Arctic ice has opened a sea of opportunities for marine archaeology in two-day class, explore essential watercolour techniques and embark this region. Ryan Harris, senior underwater archaeologist with Parks on perception exercises, enhancing ways of “seeing” that enable Canada, will tell the story of this recent famous discovery and comment participants to paint directly from nature and interpret photographic on other searches in the region being investigated by his team. FIG 13 references. Registration required. Registration required.

McMichael Magazine / 9 A Northern Narrative: Lawren Harris in the Arctic

By Chris Finn, Assistant Curator

10 / McMichael Magazine The arrival in the Arctic of southern artists trained in Western European traditions introduced a different cultural perspective in representing and interpreting the land and its indigenous population. Their literary and visual responses to the northern experience were those of outsiders and were not embedded in intimate knowledge drawn from lived experience with this land and people. The Inuit, who had inhabited this territory for hundreds of years, maintained cultural cohesiveness and connections to the land by communicating the practical knowledge necessary for surviving in the harsh Arctic environment. In addition, their traditional stories were shared with each successive generation. These narratives contained expressions of spiritual beliefs that served to nurture and shape people’s attitudes by engendering respect for all things in nature. For non-Aboriginals, particularly artists, the drive to explore the North was fuelled by a sense of its presence as an imagined, powerful place. Lawren Harris expressed his belief that “…the top of the continent is a source of spiritual flow….”1 In 1930, Harris and A.Y. Jackson, his Group of Seven colleague who had undertaken a previous sketching trip to the Arctic in 1927, arranged to travel on the Beothic, a supply vessel that delivered provisions to outposts in the far North. Their journey took several weeks. According to Harris’s description, he painted many sketches under conditions that allowed for only brief periods of time in which to capture a specific scene while the ship was moving from one destination to another. These paintings were made Opposite page: Lawren S. Harris at a time of personal transition in the artist’s life. Although his (1885–1970), stated aim was “…to get to the summit of my soul and work from Ellesmere Island, there…”2, Harris was not convinced about the results of his ef- c. 1930, forts, expressing concern that he had not achieved what he had oil on wood panel, originally intended. 30.4 x 37.7 cm, Gift of Mrs. Chester A new element that Harris introduced in this series of paint- Harris, ings was ice forms, which became the focus of several works. In McMichael Canadian particular, his large canvas titled Icebergs, Davis Strait, fore- Art Collection, grounds almost otherworldly monumental architectonic ice 1981.40.2 structures that dominate the space of the painting. Visually, the Above: Lawren S. contrast between the luminous exterior of the smooth, unde- Harris (1885–1970), tailed ice in comparison to the dark-valued colour palette of blues Icebergs, Davis Strait, and greys in the foreground and background inspire notions of 1930, the sublime in nature. Harris’s dramatic handling of light, co- oil on canvas, lour, and form communicates a perception of this northern land 121.9 x 152.4 cm, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. as a forbidding, uninhabited, and isolated place, contradicting H. Spencer Clark, the reality that, despite extreme conditions that affect survival McMichael Canadian in this land, it has served as the home of indigenous peoples for Art Collection, hundreds of years. mm 1971.17

ENDNOTES 1. Lawren Harris, “Revelation of Art in Canada,” The Canadian Theosophist, vol. VII, no. 5 (1926): 86. 2. Lawren Harris to Emily Carr, December, 16, 1930, as cited by James King in Inward Journey: The Life of Lawren Harris (Toronto: Thomas Allen Publishers, 2012), 218.

McMichael Magazine / 11 Interview Two Media, One Message: A Discussion with Watercolourist David McEown and

Photographer Daisy FIG. 1 Gilardini on Art and Conservation

By Rachel weiner, media relations and communications coordinator

FIG. 2

FIG. 5

FIG. 3

FIG. 6 FIG. 4

Photographer Daisy Gilardini and water- awards, including an IPA International colourist David McEown have visited and Photography Award and BBC Wildlife documented some of Earth’s most remote Photographer of the Year. and fragile ecosystems, having travelled McEown is a graduate of the Ontario by plane, research vessel, icebreaker, College of Art and Design University and sailboat, and skis through the Arctic and has been working in the watercolour me- FIG. 7 Antarctic numerous times over the last dium for the past twenty-five years. He decade. The couple, who married in 2011, is an elected member of the Canadian share their extraordinary adventures, in- Society of Painters in Water Colour, which Fig. 1: David McEown (b. 1962), Paradise Bay, Antarctica, cluding close encounters with penguins awarded him the prestigious A.J. Casson watercolour, 56 x 112 cm, Courtesy of the artist; fig. 2: and polar bears, as well as their message Medal in 2005. His paintings are repre- Daisy Gilardini (b. 1968), The Melting Globe—Franklin Strait—Boothia Peninsula—Nunavut—Canadian Arctic, of conservation, through presentations sented in collections worldwide. Courtesy of the artist; fig. 3 Painting the Emperor Penguins, and workshops. Both artists will be speaking at the 2006. Photograph by Daisy Gilardini; fig. 4: David Gilardini’s images have been pub- McMichael on Sunday, March 15, at 1:30 McEown (b. 1962), Lemaire Channel Sunset, watercolour, lished internationally by leading maga- p.m., and McEown will run a Master Class 18 x 38 cm, Courtesy of the artist; fig. 5: Daisy Gilardini zines and organizations, such as National at the gallery entitled Colour Exploration: (b. 1968), Emperor Penguin Family—Snow Hill Island— Antarctica, Courtesy of the artist; fig. 6: David McEown Geographic, Smithsonian, BBC Wildlife Watercolour Painting with David McEown (b. 1962), In the Ice #2, East Antarctica, watercolour, Magazine, Greenpeace, and the World on Saturday, March 7 and Sunday, March 25.5 x 17 cm, Courtesy of the artist; fig. 7: Daisy Gilardini Wildlife Fund, among others. And both 8. For more information and to register for (b. 1968), The Laughing Seal—Weddell Seal—Antarctic Gilardini and her work have also received these programs, please visit mcmichael.com. Peninsula, Courtesy of the artist

12 / McMichael Magazine Combined, you have made thirty- ronmental and cultural conservation order to anticipate any possible negative seven expeditions to the Arctic and through ethical photography. Awe- interactions. So while enjoying the com- thirty-eight to Antarctica over the inspiring photography is a powerful pany of my new friend, I was looking out past decade. What continues to draw force for the environment, especially for the mother, as well as a 3,500-kilogram you back there? when presented in collaboration with bull elephant seal on the move. The porta- Daisy Gilardini (DG): Many times I scientists and decision-makers. ble studio must be easy to pack up, as well have tried to understand this irresistible DM: Art and conservation really as water- and guano-proof! attraction to the poles, which I would de- complement each other. It is important In addition to your individual ar- fine almost as an addiction or obsession. to have those first-hand experiences to tistic practices, you regularly hold pre- These extreme adventures transport me bring back and share with others, and sentations and lead workshops. What out of my ordinary worldliness and lead painting is a great way to do that. Even stimulated your interest in teaching? me to discover some of the most pristine being quiet in one’s studio in the contem- DG: My passion for the natural world regions on Earth. By returning to the plative act of painting, I believe, is a great has grown into a lifelong commitment to foundation of existence, in a world bal- source of positive energy and a form of disseminate conservation messages and anced by the rhythm of nature, I feel the conservation, but one needs to get out inspire others to respect and preserve our urgency to document the changes hap- and share the experience sometimes to fragile planet. I strongly believe in the ed- pening in order to inspire respect and reach a broader audience. ucation of younger generations, impres- awareness about the importance of these Some of your most spectacular sionable minds that will one day become delicate ecosystems. images are of wildlife. Can you re- the decision-makers of the future. David McEown (DM): The sheer call a particularly memorable animal DM: Being an artist is often a soli- wonder and beauty of these places are sub- encounter? tary occupation, so teaching and sharing lime, inspiring, and rejuvenating. It’s like a DG: I still remember my first trip to what one loves to do is rewarding. I learn reset button for the soul. From a waterco- Antarctica in 1996, and the first land- so much from my students and gain new lour painting and aesthetic point of view, ing on Half Moon Island in the South insights into my art form. mm the stark minimal icescapes illuminated Shetlands. With a lump in my throat, I by endless surreal light allow an artist to was shaking from the emotion of being work with exciting abstract forms. surrounded by hundreds of chinstrap Since you began painting and pho- penguins. That day I couldn’t even take tographing the Polar Regions, have a picture, and the few I did shoot were all you observed first-hand any changes blurred because of the shaking. It was the to the environment? trip that changed my life! DG and DM: Since we started explor- DM: In such a vast and seemingly ing and documenting the Polar Regions, empty place, one can be surprised by huge visible changes have occurred. Some sudden encounters. Many of the ani- of the Arctic routes that were possible to mals have not de- From top: Daisy Gilardini navigate only by icebreaker ten years ago veloped a fear of (b. 1968), The Hug—Polar Bears are now mostly free of ice in the summer. humans, so they Sparring—Wapusk National Park— The Greenland and Svalbard ice caps are are often curious. Manitoba—Canada, Courtesy of melting at an incredible speed. To give When painting on the artist; Close Encounters with you an idea in numbers, the Greenland the sea ice near an an Elephant Seal Pup in South Georgia, 2013. Photograph by ice cap is losing ice at a net annual rate of emperor penguin Greg Bukoski; David McEown 200 gigatonnes. colony, we observe (b. 1962), From Danco Island In the Antarctic Peninsula, precip- from a five-metre #1, watercolour, 18 x 28 cm, itation has increased due to the rise in distance; however, Courtesy of the artist temperature and evaporation. This trans- the penguins often lates into more snow, which is affecting come closer to inspect us. It is hard not the penguin populations. The population to anthropomorphize these penguins. I of Adélie penguins is decreasing because swear, sometimes, these birds are critiqu- their diet is made up of krill, which de- ing the painting! pend on ice, while the population of gen- On South Georgia, the elephant seal too penguins, who have a more varied pups are numerous along the shore early diet, is increasing dramatically. in the season. While painting at Gold How do you balance the roles of Harbour, a pup came out of the water and artist and conservationist? calmly lay down against my tripod. Truly DG: I’m a member of the International a wonderful experience looking into those League of Conservation Photographers, big eyes, but setting up to paint in wilder- the mission of which is to further envi- ness areas requires a keen awareness in

McMichael Magazine / 13 Interview A skilled hunter and a versatile artist, Tim Pitsiulak was born in Lake Harbour (Kimmirut), Nunavut, Tim in 1967. In his native community he developed an interest in jewellery-making and metalwork Pitsiulak for which he earned a diploma from Nunavut Arctic College in 2007. In the early part of the on Climate twenty-first century, he moved to Cape Dorset (Kinngait), where he became involved with the Change West Baffin Eskimo Co-operative. Pitsiulak has

By Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, further developed skills as a carver, draftsman, Assistant Curator, Collections and printmaker. His imagery evolved from animals and hunting on the land to daily life scenes with a focus on air, land, and sea machinery, as well as the changing Arctic environs.

Tim Pitsiulak (b. 1967), Climate Change, 2011, coloured pencil on black paper, 65 x 50 cm, Purchased with the generous support of The Dr. Michael Braudo Fund of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, © Dorset Fine Arts, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2013.2.3

14 / McMichael Magazine Pitsiulak’s graphic work Climate Change Changes in the weather over the past years man communities. That is normal. They (2011), which was featured in the McMichael are of greater preoccupation to me. It par- are known for coming into camps. To 2013 exhibition Where Do We Come From? ticularly affects me as a hunter who relies on my knowledge, they are leading healthy, What Are We? Where Are We Going? Identity animal hunting as food source. The [com- normal lives. They are very patient. They in Contemporary Cape Dorset Art, recently munity] Elders are the people to go to about wait for the ice to come and if it doesn’t, became part of the gallery’s permanent col- environmental issues. They say that climate they catch walruses and seals. In my life, lection. The drawing represents an image change has been happening a lot in the past. since I was a small child, I haven’t noticed of an Inuk man whose identity is tied to the They say not to panic. What is happening to any changes in the polar bears’ behaviour Arctic landscape of his birthplace and home. the weather has happened before. Animals and way of life. The lines on one half of his face reveal some- come and go. They always have. They say My late father has always taught me to thing about him—his old age and, perhaps, that caribou numbers are down, which be patient, just like the polar bears, and the wisdom that comes with a long-lived life might be a result in changes in weather, but things will work themselves out. —just as the ice forms on the other half of I don’t fear that. This has been going on all SAC: You sound very optimistic about the face describe the natural environment the time. I just take it day by day. the future in the North. to which he belongs. This is a powerful work SAC: Do the Elders see global warming TP: I don’t know if things will be okay that speaks of the spirit of the Inuit’s north- as a natural occurrence, a gradual change because I cannot tell the future, and I don’t ern land and is an expression of the connec- in weather over time? think about it. But my hope is that my fu- tion between human life and the physical TP: Yes. The Elders who lived on the ture generations will still see the snow and world in which we live. To any discerning eye, land claim that changes in the weather ice, and that they would not disappear. it seems to act as a warning: our humanity is happened before. SAC: The McMichael has recently ac- one with the world on which we depend for SAC: There has been lots of talk about quired your graphic work, Climate Change. survival, and any adverse environmental the effects of global warming and climate Can you tell me more about this work? changes, such as global warming, inevitably change all over the world and particularly TP: This is an image of an Elder with will have a harmful effect on us. in the Arctic. What can you tell me about half his face breaking up just as the ice Climate Change is a unique image this accelerating phenomenon and its im- is breaking. This work came out of the amongst Pitsiulak’s oeuvre. Its proud and pact on the Arctic environs, in terms of ongoing discussion on global warming, a political overtones reveal the assertive side retreating glaciers and changing temper- very important topic that I constantly heard of this Inuit artist, who uses his art to pro- atures in winter and summer? about in the year that I made this work. As vide commentary about Inuit identity and TP: In the last couple of years, winter an artist, I responded to that. I did a number the Arctic as a backdrop to the discussion has been normal, and we had ice forms. of images that related to global warming be- of climate change. Unlike other communities, I find that in cause it was on everyone’s mind. But it’s not In light of his compelling drawing, Cape Dorset, after the ice forms, it is always a topic that hugely troubles me personally and the McMichael’s current exhibition moving. Every year the ice formation is dif- in my daily life. Vanishing Ice: Alpine and Polar Landscapes ferent, but we certainly see the formation SAC: So climate change hasn’t truly in Art, 1775–2012, I sat down with Pitsiulak of ice around us. impacted your professional work and ar- to discuss this pressing issue of climate SAC: How has global warming tistic practice? change and global warming, the effects affected life on the land, and how has it af- TP: No, I can’t say that it has a real ef- of which are particularly evident in the fected you and your family? fect on me. I mostly think about my hunt- Arctic. Surprisingly, I found the artist TP: I have been a hunter for many ing and how I can turn my hunting activi- maintained a positive attitude in the face of years, and I am not sure how hunting would ties and my daily catch into images of art. changing times. Taking a long view, and in differ in the future and what animals would SAC: What would you like to see done conversation with the Elders, he remains be available for hunting. People say that we in the Arctic to mitigate the devastating resilient in the face of inevitable changes must change our ways because of global impact of climate change? to come. One particular comment remains warming, but I think that it is too late now. TP: I do not believe in talking about with me: “My late father has always taught When I go out to hunt, I don’t really think the future. I take each day at a time. I me to be patient, just like the polar bears about what needs to happen. I just take don’t know what must be done; I am not [when they hunt for food], and things will each day at the time and do the best that I an expert. But I do hope that my great- work themselves out.”1 can to live my life. grandchildren will be able to enjoy the land Sharona Adamowicz-Clements When I go south, I am often asked about as I have in my life. mm (SAC): Lately, there has been an increase in the polar bears and how they are surviving industrial activity in the Arctic. What with the disappearance of ice. Polar bears are your thoughts about the advantages are known to swim very long distances. or disadvantage of the ongoing mining Even if there is no ice, I see them catching ENDNOTE and exploitation of natural resources in seals and bringing them inland to feed. 1. This quote is an excerpt taken from an the North? SAC: Do you think that they are adapt- interview, which is to follow, that was con- Tim Pitsiulak (TP): I don’t pay at- ing to a new way of life? ducted between Tim Pitsiulak and the au- tention to industrial activity around me. TP: They are frequent visitors of hu- thor on October 27, 2014.

McMichael Magazine / 15 Eyes on Quebec is organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and curated by Katerina Atanassova, Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, and Chris Finn. The exhibition and publication are made possible thanks to the generous support of The Andrée Rhéaume and Robert Fitzhenry Family Foundation.

16 / McMichael Magazine Eyes on Quebec:

Treasures from the Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection

A SHARED JOURNEY THROUGH ART—THE COLLECTORS’ STORY

By Katerina Atanassova, Chief Curator

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection began with and their passionate commitment to art and art ed- the private collection of Robert and Signe McMichael, ucation in Canada. The collection of works repre- avid collectors of Tom Thomson and the Group of sented focuses on Quebec art through its artists and Seven, beginning in the 1950s. They enjoyed viewing subject matter, ranging in date from nineteenth-cen- and collecting art together, a passion that not only tury artist Cornelius Krieghoff’s 1848 landscape to established an unbreakable bond between them, but Léon Bellefleur’s 1995 abstract painting. The careful also contributed to the creation of a public forum for selection of works speaks not only to the depth and understanding and appreciating the work of artists scope of artistic expression in Quebec, but also to the they admired. Since the original gift of their art col- diversity in styles and theme. Opposite page: lection and their home in Kleinburg, Ontario, to the Andrée and Robert acquired their works with Clarence province of Ontario in 1965, their legacy has been the same verve and commitment that inspired Gagnon (1881– kept alive through the ongoing acquisition of new the artists who created them. Robert was born in 1942), Winter Moonlight, Baie masterworks for the permanent collection of the Hamilton, Ontario, and studied economics and po- St. Paul, 1909, McMichael gallery from other donors. From its cre- litical science at university. He went on to build the oil on canvas, ation, the gallery has demonstrated a strong interest Woodbridge Foam Corporation into a successful in- 50.8 x 63.5 cm, in celebrating the stories of private art collectors. ternational business, and the Robert E. Fitzhenry The Andrée The exhibition and publication, Eyes on Quebec: Vector Laboratory at McMaster University is named Rhéaume Fitzhenry Treasures from the Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and in his honour. and Robert Robert Fitzhenry Collection, celebrate the story of two Andrée was born in Saint-Côme, a small village Fitzhenry Canadian collectors, Robert Fitzhenry (b. 1930) and in the Beauce region of Quebec. Her father worked in Collection, his late wife Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry (1941–2013), the logging business and moved his family from one L2014.45.17

McMichael Magazine / 17 lumber camp to another. A stable contract took the the elegance and beauty in art, and who regarded family to Newfoundland for several years, until they everything around her as a potential subject for her finally moved permanently to Montreal. painterly eye. Andrée started painting at the age of twelve, Robert supported Andrée’s artistic practice while at a boarding school in Maine. As an adult, she by ensuring that, wherever they lived, she had her attended classes for many years in the home studio own studio to which she retreated to work early in of Margaret Roseman, a well-known Ontario artist. the afternoon. “Her life was all about art,” Robert The well-educated and widely travelled Andrée ap- recalls, while glancing lovingly at a bright painting proached painting with vigour and enthusiasm, ea- across from the dining table where we are sitting. It ger to learn and explore new possibilities. “She had is a still life with apples and a water jug painted by a discerning eye from the start,” recalls Roseman. Andrée. Robert and I talk about the collection and the The key to her quick progress was her discipline and romance that brought him together with his gentle, dedication. Although Roseman usually suggested the beautiful, and vivacious partner. “She always liked subject matter for the paintings, she encouraged her to move, to explore, to create,” he adds. Robert knew students to express their own ideas. Andrée was ea- that art would be the binding force between them ger to share her love for her native Quebec through when he received his first gift from her—a landscape her art, as well as the broad experience she had gained painting featuring her favourite vessel, a rowboat. from her travels. “The thirty years we were married were the happiest From the 1950s to the 1970s, Andrée painted time of my life,” he says. “We wed on St. Jean Baptiste in oil. As her technical skills improved and her co- Day, June 24, 1984.” lour palette expanded, her preference for landscape Andrée, who also had a strong interest in de- painting gave way to more complex still-life compo- sign and architecture, surprised Robert one day in sitions and portraits. During the 1980s and the first 1998 by handing him a finely drawn design for their half of the 1990s, she opened herself to painting in future home south of the border. The location was watercolour and was willing to experiment, “always perfect, on Lake Champlain in Vermont, the house with a sense of adventure,” Roseman says. Andrée surrounded by water on three sides. Her art studio on was above all an artist, a creative soul who enjoyed the second floor had magnificent views, opening on

Left: Andrée and Robert Fitzhenry, Courtesy of the Fitzhenry Family

Fig: 1: Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry, Still Life with Grandmother’s Water Jug, Courtesy of the Fitzhenry Family; fig. 2: Clarence Gagnon (1881–1942), Baie St. Paul en été, c. 1910, oil on canvas, 38.1 x 50.8 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.13; fig. 3: Clarence Gagnon (1881–1942), Quebec Village, Winter, oil on canvas, 55.2 x 72.4 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.14; fig. 4: Cornelius Krieghoff (1815–1872), Crossing the St. Lawrence, 1869, oil on canvas, 32.4 x 43.8 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.20; fig. 5: Cornelius Krieghoff (1815–1872), Habitants Driving in a Blizzard, 1854, oil on canvas, 33 x 45.7 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection,L2014.45.21

18 / McMichael Magazine to a heavily forested area, similar to the landscape of the Beauce in Quebec. During the day, large windows provided an abundance of light, while in the evening the fireplace lent a different glow and warmth to her working space. According to Robert, Andrée strove for perfec- tion in everything she did. When she prepared a meal, it was sheer artistry. She assembled, refined, and published some of her favourite recipes in two cookbooks. For Christmas dinner, she would pre- pare a special venison stew, cooked over an open FIG. 1 fire, based on a recipe that had been in her family for generations, allowing her to remain true to the traditions with which she grew up. Andrée’s interests were as wide-ranging in life as they were in art. In addition to cooking, she loved music, and she played the piano and the guitar with a strong passion. Although Andrée was the driving force behind the collection that she and Robert had built, he was the supportive impulse who created the syn- ergy between them. Robert shared her vision of developing a collection that would keep the link with her native Quebec alive. He, too, lived in the province for some years and had come to appreci- ate its distinctive qualities. They were always on the lookout for new paintings and, at the wedding FIG. 2 of one of their daughters, they bought two works

FIG. 4

FIG. 3 FIG. 5

McMichael Magazine / 19 FIG. 6

FIG. 7 FIG. 8 Fig. 9

Fig. 6: Jean Paul Lemieux, by Jean Paul Lemieux from a guest that Donations such as this one are a welcome (1904–1990), La Nativité, 1966, oil they met. Whenever a new acquisition was addition to the McMichael’s permanent col- on panel, 71.1 x 101.6 cm, delivered, there was tremendous excitement lection, ensuring its growth and relevance. The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, in the Fitzhenry home, especially if any of The McMichael is grateful for the oppor- L2014.45.24; fig. 7: Marc-Aurèle their children or grandchildren were visiting tunity to showcase the living legacy of the de Foy Suzor-Coté (1869–1937), at the time. collectors by researching, contextualizing, Nude Woman, c. 1918 pastel The Fitzhenry Collection reflects the and exhibiting their collection along with on paper, 31.1 x 26 cm, The couple’s love for the Quebec countryside masterworks from the gallery’s permanent Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, and its artistic heritage. It is not surpris- collection. mm L2014.45.43; fig. 8: Helen ing that the first work they purchased was McNicoll (1879–1915), Cherry Sainte-Rose c. 1922 by Marc-Aurèle Fortin. All of these efforts are dedicated to the Time, c. 1912, oil on canvas, The works they subsequently acquired are memory of Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry. 81.7 x 66.4 cm, McMichael varied in taste, from landscape to the figure Canadian Art Collection, Gift of Hubert B. Sceats, 1995.30.3; and abstraction. Robert felt the most affin- fig. 9: Helen McNicoll (1879– ity for the paintings by Fortin and Clarence 1915), Easter Lilies, c. 1907, oil Gagnon, all of which he proudly displayed in on canvas, 54 x 43.4 cm, The his office. Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and The specific focus of the Fitzhenry Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.31 Collection affords an intimate glimpse into the art of Quebec and early Canadian modernism. As they created the collection together, Robert says that they always wanted it to be used for informal art education and teaching purposes. This desire fits well with the McMichael’s own mandate. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue will add tremendously to one’s knowledge of Quebec art, as well as patronage and collecting in Canada.

20 / McMichael Magazine FIG. 10

FIG. 11 FIG. 12

Fig. 10: Helen McNicoll (1879–1915), An English Beach, c. 1910, oil on canvas, 35.6 x 45.7 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.30; fig. 11: Helen McNicoll (1879–1915), The Blue Sea (On the Beach at St. Malo), c. 1914, oil on canvas, 51.4 x 61 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.32; fig. 12: Robert Wakeham Pilot (1898–1967), Cap Diamant, Quebec, 1933, 1933, oil on canvas, 45.7 x 55.9 cm,The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, L2014.45.33

McMichael Magazine / 21 Jean Paul Lemieux

22 / McMichael Magazine By Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, Assistant Curator, Collections and the Figure

Biography One of Canada’s, and certainly Quebec’s, most ac- received his diploma and began teaching at École complished painters, Jean Paul Lemieux was born des beaux-arts de Montréal. A year later he took up in Quebec City on November 18, 1904. He spent his a teaching position at École du meuble. In 1937, he childhood between the city of his birth and nearby was appointed instructor at École des beaux-arts de Montmorency Falls. It was at Montmorency where Québec, where he remained until 1965. He died in he met American painter Charles Parnell, who Quebec on December 7, 1990. first inspired him to paint. In 1917, after a brief stay Throughout his career as a teacher, Lemieux in California, Lemieux and his family moved to also worked as a writer, book illustrator, and artist. Montreal. He took up watercolour drawing, appren- He travelled frequently, absorbing new ideas and ticing for several years in an artist studio, and in trends, and painting wherever he went, which al- 1926 he went to study art under Marc-Aurèle de Foy lowed him to develop his craft. But he undoubtedly Suzor-Coté. After several months with the master felt most at ease sketching the Quebec outdoors, artist, Lemieux enrolled at École des beaux-arts de particularly the charming Charlevoix region that Montréal, where he was most impressed by the work was a favourite site of many other well-known art- of Edwin Holgate, one of his teachers. Three years ists, including some members of the Group of Seven. Opposite page: later, before completing his studies, he travelled to He also quickly became a prominent figure in the Jean Paul Lemieux Europe to explore its modern art scenes first-hand. Montreal art scene as an exhibiting artist of pro- (1904–1990), Solstice d’hiver, 1961, Amongst his studio visits in Paris, he met compa- found artistic and intellectual insight. Lemieux was oil on canvas, 100 triot artist Clarence Gagnon, who was, at the time, a recipient of numerous awards, most notably in x 168 cm, Gift of working on illustrations for Louis Hémon’s novel 1968, when he was named Companion of the Order ICI Canada Inc., Maria Chapdelaine. (These works would eventually of Canada, and in 1973, when he was awarded the ©Gestion A.S.L. Inc., become part of the McMichael’s permanent collec- Canada Council Molson Prize. copyright holder of the artwork of tion.) In 1931, he resumed his art studies following a In his lifetime and after his death, he has been Jean Paul Lemieux, brief and failed business venture with commercial featured in several solo and retrospective exhibi- McMichael Canadian art firm JANS, which he cofounded with fellow art- tions that toured across Canada and abroad, one Art Collection, ists Jori Smith and Jean Palardy. In 1934, Lemieux of which, Homage to Jean Paul Lemieux, travelled 1995.19.31

McMichael Magazine / 23 to the McMichael in 2005. Today Lemieux is collected by major art institutions, including, but not limited to, the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Museum London.

Artistic Development: The Figure Lemieux’s artistic oeuvre is considered in three phases. The early years of the 1930s until the early 1950s were marked by an interest in a variety of styles, from American social realism, the Group of Seven, and French symbolism (particularly Paul Gauguin) to primitive and folk art, while he searched for an artistic vision all his own. Although he did not paint a great deal in the 1940s, this was a stage of rapid growth, when Lemieux experimented with a range of methods from lyrical to geometric painting. The mature period of the mid- 1950s to 1970 is viewed as the height of his artistic career and saw him move toward a subdued palette and a simple and flat form of representation. Two works in the McMichael permanent collection, Solstice d’hiver (Winter Solstice) and La Soeur blanche (The White Nun), both dated 1961, were painted during this rich artistic phase. This coming-of-age period was inspired by his views of the social environs of Quebec and by his own growing pessimistic philosophical Above left: Jean Paul Lemieux attitude toward the human condition. The introspective and (1904–1990), La Soeur blanche, poetic feel of his work of this time also stemmed from his 1961, oil on canvas, 133 x 76 cm, desire to recapture his childhood and a bygone era. Finally, Gift of ICI Canada Inc., © Gestion from the early 1970s and throughout the 1980s, his paintings A.S.L. Inc., copyright holder of the artwork of Jean Paul Lemieux, tend to be more expressive in tone as the artist was further McMichael Canadian Art contemplating the nature and future of humanity. Collection, 1995.19.30 In spite of the technical evolution of his work, Lemieux had maintained a consistent sensibility toward his favourite Above right: Jean Paul Lemieux subject matter: the figure in the landscape. Through it he (1904–1990), Les Copains, 1978, oil on canvas, 50.8 x 40.6 cm, painted the everyday, ordinary life that he saw and knew The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry intimately, and that offered a glimpse into the artist’s most and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, pressing thoughts. He explained that “in landscapes and ©Gestion A.S.L. Inc., copyright figures, I try to express the solitude in which we live. In holder of the artwork of Jean each painting, I try to recall my inner memories. The mi- Paul Lemieux lieu which surrounds me interests me only because it allows Opposite page: Jean Paul me to depict my inner world.”1 Lemieux (1904–1990), Printemps, Lemieux’s figurative paintings, particularly those of 1968, oil on canvas, the second phase of his creative development, are his most- 76.8 x 57.2 cm, The Andrée sought-after works. His unique treatment of the figure gar- Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Collection, ©Gestion nered him great attention. Although they may represent A.S.L. Inc., copyright holder of distinct people, they seem nonparticular and generic, the artwork of Jean Paul Lemieux normally rigid and emotionless set against nondescript

24 / McMichael Magazine landscapes. Occasionally, their demeanour and clothing help define them. The desolate backgrounds stretching out endlessly behind them also help describe the world they “In landscapes inhabit and are evocative of a mood, often sombre and se- and figures, I try to rious. In paintings such as Solstice d’hiver, the background landscapes are seen as reflections of the anonymous fig- express the solitude ures’ states of mind: emptiness, silence, and loneliness. in which we live. In At times, they also represent the harsh and inhospitable each painting, I try environment that surrounds and affects the figures. The sublime and immense landscape stands in contrast to the to recall my inner smallness of humankind, its fragility and ephemerality. memories.” Lemieux himself noted about his works that “what fas- cinates [him] most is the dimension of time; time which —Jean Paul Lemieux passes on and man before this passage of time.”2 Lemieux’s stern yet pragmatic views about the human condition continued to shape his art to the end. Nevertheless, in spite of their poetic musings of human life in the face of nature and time, the paintings do not seem eerie. In fact, his figures often betray a smile—as does the nun so subtly in La Soeur blanche—and, at times, are accept- ing of their fate. There is even a sense of quiet reverie. Lemieux was also able to celebrate the simple and joyful moments of life through the figure in both winter and summer scenes.Les Copains (The Friends), 1978, and Printemps (Spring), 1968, two of several paintings promised for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, evoke a sense of nostalgia of a time of innocence and beginnings. In the first, there is the hope of a budding friendship, and in the second, rebirth and youthful beauty. In the history of Canadian art, Lemieux has remained distinct in his treatment of the figure and deeply affected by his observation of the human experience. His contribution to this area of practice is invaluable, particularly in light of the fact that the figure has not been as an important genre as was the landscape in the development of Canadian art. Through Lemieux’s work one learns about the figure in its geographical, cultural, and social context. It is the unique Canadian human subject and its condition that Lemieux has fundamentally captured in his art. mm

ENDNOTES 1. Luc d’Ilberville-Moreau, Jean Paul Lemieux. Montreal: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1967, p. 6. 2. Ibid.

McMichael Magazine / 25 Karine Giboulo:

Karine Giboulo (b. 1980), What is my name? / Quel est mon nom?, 2013, India ink and watercolour on paper, 23.5 x 30.6 cm, Gift of the artist, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2014.3.2

26 / McMichael Magazine By Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, Assistant Curator, Collections

In autumn 2013, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection organized a solo exhibition of Quebec artist Karine Giboulo. Karine Giboulo’s Small Strange World(s) focused on her stylistic and con- ceptual development since 2002. At the close of the exhibition, the artist generously offered to the McMichael a unique work, What Is My Name?. The sculpture and drawing were conceived especially for the exhibition and grew out of discussions between the artist and me, the exhibition curator, and demonstrate the collaborative relationship between a contemporary Canadian artist and the gallery. Inspired by the gallery’s strong interest in Aboriginal art and culture, these works deal with the tainted historical relationship between indigenous peoples and Canada’s governing bodies. The acquisition of artworks, particularly those that ensue from a McMichael-curated exhibition, is a reflection of the gallery’s commitment to work in partnership with promising Canadian talents who are gaining international reputation for their art. Under its legislation, the McMichael is mandated to acquire for the permanent collection work by any artist who is making a contribution to the development of Canadian art, and Giboulo is increasingly being recognized for her work. The acquisition of What Is My Name? is a valuable addition to the Collection and solidifies the gallery’s leadership role in understanding contemporary trends in Canadian art and building a new legacy for the future.

What Is My Name?

McMichael Magazine / 27 Background Art Karine Giboulo (born Gibouleau) is a native of Since 2006, Giboulo has been creating miniature di- Sainte-Émélie-de-l'Énergie, Quebec, who currently oramas, composed of meticulously hand-sculpted lives and works in Montreal. A young artist, she is figurines and toy-like objects, which she feels help to already earning her living by her craft. Since the express her artistic ideas, including those which she early 2000s, she has been creating work in a vari- first captured in her paintings, drawings, and prints. ety of media, from paintings and works on paper to The dioramas represent half-real and half-fictional three-dimensional art, particularly gaining increas- world societies that are mostly set in the present. ing attention for her dioramas of miniature human They reflect on serious topics about the human environments. A sought-after artist, fast rising on condition, from environmental concerns to con- the national and international art scenes, Giboulo sumerism and globalization. Her two-piece project has participated in many solo and group exhibitions, What Is My Name? is in keeping with her practice and is collected by public institutions, including the of representing her ideas on multiple levels. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and 21c Museum three-dimensional format allows her to create sev- Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky, as well as private col- eral viewpoints all at once, and in the accompanying lectors in Canada, the United States, France, and work on paper, she can concentrate on a detail taken Belgium. Following the success of the exhibition from the diorama, focusing on the particular rather Karine Giboulo’s Small Strange World(s), she was than the general. When viewed within the context of chosen Visual Artist of 2013 by the Montreal French- the referenced diorama, the complementary drawing language daily newspaper La Presse. This honour suggests a heightened sense of mood, and provides a is given annually to one nouveau visage (new face) different perspective on a particular subject. A rather who is making a difference in the arts. Recently, the all-inclusive approach of narration, stemming from McMichael co-published with EXPRESSION, Centre the in-depth and field research she conducts for her d'exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe the first book on the artistic undertakings, Giboulo is generous in her of- work of the artist, titled Karine Giboulo: Through the fering, demonstrating that there is always more than Eyes of the Groundhog. one way of looking at the subject at hand.

Karine Giboulo with her artwork, City of Dreams, polymer clay, acrylic, plexiglass and mixed media, dimensions variable: footprint approx. 9.16 x 18.375 ft., 2013

28 / McMichael Magazine “When we talk about others we are actually talking about ourselves.” —Karine Giboulo

Unlike most of her large-scale dioramas, the In her previous projects, Giboulo focused on sculpture What Is My Name? is set in the historical the social, economic, and political situation of “the past and is based on actual events. It deals with the other” in foreign lands, and the role of the Westerner theme of forced cultural assimilation by a dominant or the outsider was minimized. The latter would group of people over the indigenous minority, and usually make an appearance as a guest (or intruder) the resulting long-term repercussions. It exposes in the world of “the other.” The outsider’s presence the history of the “Indian” residential school system, was used as a narrative device to illustrate issues which saw thousands of Aboriginal children taken of globalization in the contemporary world. In this away from their families and homes, and put into diorama, Giboulo focuses her attention on her own the harsh and often abusive environment of church- country. Claiming (as she often does about all of her administered, government-funded schools from the work) that “when we talk about others we are actually nineteenth to the mid-twentieth centuries. talking about ourselves”, here she is committed to Like a play staged in two acts, the work depicts directly critiquing the self, while assuming the part scenes of traditional camp life and school life. It rep- of the oppressor.1 resents the physical and mental transformation of the What Is My Name? is an acknowledgment by children set against a real life-sized tree. The specially the artist of the historical plight and suffering of the treated tree is composed in parts from two differ- Aboriginal peoples of Canada. It is meant to help ent hemlock trees that separate the trunk from the the artist come to grips with wrongdoings from the branches. The base of the tree contains scenes of life perspective of a descendant of the transgressor. It is on the land, referencing the idea of family and cultural about exposing an abhorrent history through com- roots, the place where one comes from and to which passion and regret. Giboulo states that this project one belongs. The branches, comprised of scenes from was “a labour of love”, and that she treated each of life at the residential schools, symbolize the growth of her delicately hand-sculpted figures with sensitivity, ill, even fatal, effects of contact with non-Aboriginals sympathy, and respect.2 on Aboriginal peoples. Like the branches in a genea- Since its founding, the McMichael has been ex- logical tree, they also suggest that future generations ploring Aboriginal art, history, and contemporary must deal with the consequences of the loss of cultural issues through exhibitions and programs, providing identity and ancestral languages. a forum for discussion and reflection on the signifi- Giboulo has taken one aspect of the school scene— cant role indigenous peoples have played and are the dormitory—and reimagined it in the accompany- continuing to play in the creation of the nation and Images on this page: Karine ing black and white drawing. Here she depicts rows its cultural identity. The acquisition of What Is My Giboulo (b. 1980), What is my of empty white-sheeted beds that signify a graveyard Name? reinforces the gallery’s ongoing engagement name? / Quel est mon nom?, 2013, wood, plexiglas, polymer clay, with hovering hostile black crows representing the with themes that contribute to one’s understanding acrylic paint, and mixed media, dark-cloaked priests or nuns who were responsible of Canada and its peoples. mm 249 x 125 x 133 cm, Gift of the for the care, and the suffering, of the innocent chil- artist, McMichael Canadian Art dren. The tree, a recurring image in her entire artistic Collection, 2014.3.1 oeuvre, stands desolate but central to remind us of a disappearing but not forgotten past. A symbol of life, it ENDNOTES prevails in the presence of death. The drawing’s serene 1. Interview between Karine Giboulo and Sharona yet dramatic dormitory-cemetery scene is devoid of Adamowicz-Clements, Montreal, May 2013. the children or the classroom. Its only allusion to the 2. Telephone discussion between Karine Giboulo and school is in the symbolic value of the repetitive beds. Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, August 2013.

McMichael Magazine / 29 New McMichael Publications By Rachel Weiner, Media Relations and Communications Coordinator

These books are available to purchase in the Gallery Shop and online at mcmichael.com.

Kim Dorland by Katerina Atanassova, Robert Enright, and Jeffrey Spalding

Figure 1 Publishing, 2014 Morrice and Lyman in the Company of Matisse Hardcover, 192 pages Essays by François-Marc Gagnon, Michèle Grandbois, and John O’Brian In October 2013, the McMichael unveiled an in- novative new exhibition entitled You Are Here: Firefly Books, 2014 Kim Dorland and the Return to Painting, which Hardcover, 256 pages introduced the work of Toronto-based contemporary artist Kim Dorland (b. 1974), while Morrice and Lyman in the Company of Matisse is a simultaneously paying homage to the century-old beautiful and insightful companion to the exhibi- tradition of landscape painting in Canada as repre- tion of the same name mounted at the McMichael sented by works from the gallery’s renowned per- from October 10, 2014 to January 4, 2015. This book manent collection. Co-published by the McMichael, juxtaposes works by three highly individual artists, this visually stunning and intellectually intrigu- revealing the ways in which they were connected, ing catalogue represents a timely addition to the both personally and artistically, during a period of discussion of the role of painting in contempo- dynamic cultural change. Essays by exhibition cu- rary Canadian art. Kim Dorland features essays by rator Michèle Grandbois of the Musée national des McMichael Chief Curator Katerina Atanassova, beaux-arts du Québec, as well as noted art historians acclaimed art critic Robert Enright, and Artistic Lucie Dorais, Richard Foisy, François-Marc Gagnon, Director of Contemporary Calgary Jeffrey Spalding, Marc Gauthier, and John O’Brian, shed new light on as well as a preface by McMichael Executive Director the intersecting paths of two pioneers of modern art and CEO Victoria Dickenson. More than 100 dra- in Canada, James Wilson Morrice (1865–1924) and matic full-colour reproductions, along with studio John Lyman (1886–1967), and the French master of and installation photographs, offer a comprehensive colour, Henri Matisse (1869–1954). This richly illus- vision of Dorland’s signature painting style—at once trated catalogue, co-published by the McMichael referential, material, psychological, uncomfortable, Canadian Art Collection, features 150 full-colour and beautiful. reproductions that reflect the painters’ quest to capture shimmering light and vibrant colour.

30 / McMichael Magazine New McMichael Publications By Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, Assistant Curator, Collections

Opposite left: Kim Dorland (b. 1974), You are Here (detail), Paul and Mary Dailey Desmarais III, Montreal. Photograph by Eden Robbins

Opposite right: James Wilson Morrice (1865– 1924), Fruit Market, North Africa (Tunis) (detail), 1914, oil on canvas, 50.4 x 61.3 cm, The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, David R. Morrice Bequest. Photograph by MMFA

Above left: Jean Paul Lemieux (1904–1990), Les mi‑carêmes, 1962, oil on canvas, 91.4 x 137.2 cm, The Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Eyes on Quebec: Treasures from the Andrée Karine Giboulo: Through the Eyes of the Fitzhenry Collection, Rhéaume Fitzhenry and Robert Fitzhenry Groundhog by Danielle Lord and Sharona © Gestion A.S.L. Inc., Collection by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, Adamowicz-Clements copyright holder of the Katerina Atanassova, and Chris Finn artwork of Jean Paul McMichael Canadian Art Collection and Lemieux. Design by Elliot Law for Business McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 2014 EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de and Office Centro Inc. Softcover, 75 pages Saint-Hyacinthe, 2014 | Softcover, 90 pages

Above right: Karine This commemorative catalogue features master- In the past two years, up-and-coming Quebec art- Giboulo, HYPERLand (detail), 2014, polymer pieces by renowned Quebec artists from a private ist Karine Giboulo has been recognized for many clay, acrylic paint, collection, a promised gift to the McMichael that firsts in her young career. Her first retrospective Plexiglas and mixed will augment the Collection’s permanent holdings exhibition, Karine Giboulo’s Small Strange World(s), media, variable of Quebec art. The book includes an introductory which was developed by the McMichael Canadian Art dimensions, Collection essay about the collectors, Robert Fitzhenry and Collection in 2013, led to her being named Artist of of Karine Giboulo. Cover design by Elise Eskanazi his late wife Andrée Rhéaume Fitzhenry, and their the Year in Quebec by La Presse, then a subsequent passion for the art of Quebec. Two other essays offer exhibition at EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition a closer view on the landscape and figurative tradi- de Saint-Hyacinthe in Quebec. This first publication in Quebec and Canadian art, respectively. The tion about her work, Karine Giboulo: Through the first focuses on the landscapes of Clarence Gagnon Eyes of the Groundhog, features two major essays and the other focuses on the often-overlooked figu- inspired by her whimsical art and philosophical vi- rative tradition in the history of Canadian art, with sion of the human condition of the current age. The a special discussion on the human subject in Jean French essay “Réalité / Utopie” in this bilingual Paul Lemieux’s practice. More than forty artworks monograph is written by freelance curator Danielle by these artists and others, including Marc-Aurèle Lord, and the English article “Between Home and Fortin and Jean Paul Riopelle, are pictured in this the Absurd” is by McMichael Assistant Curator, limited edition. Collections, Sharona Adamowicz-Clements. This is a co-publication between the McMichael and EXPRESSION, with the support of the Angell Gallery of Toronto.

McMichael Magazine / 31 New McMichael Publications The Art The Art of Inclusion of Inclusion

By Ola Mazzuca, Project Coordinator, EnAbling ChangE

“Everyone can experience art” is the theme behind accessible art programs at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Initially a two-year Seven Steps EnAbling Change project supported by the A Guide to Developing and Government of Ontario and spearheaded by Delivering Accessible and Inclusive Programs within the McMichael’s EnAbling Change Steering Arts and Cultural Organizations Committee, the venture concluded in a wide- spread publication entitled The Art of Inclusion— Seven Steps: A Guide to Developing Accessible and Inclusive Programs within Arts and Cultural

Organizations, which shares best practices on An Agency of the Government of Ontario Un organisme du gouvernement de l’Ontario developing and providing art programs for people living with special needs. The Art of Inclusion is a guide that follows seven steps (inspired by the Group of Seven), from defining organizational goals, developing partnerships, and assessing target audiences to designing and delivering the programs and sharing these initiatives through various accessible means. Nottawasaga Inn in Alliston, Ontario. The team By partnering with organizations that service delivered a presentation to an audience of more individuals living with various cognitive disabil- than fifty people, including members of the Royal ities and accessibility challenges, the McMichael Ontario Museum, the Peel Art Gallery Museum + garnered expertise in designing accessible and Archives, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, inclusive art programs. Instructors and educators as well as other prominent cultural organizations in developed programs based on “creative learning,” Canada. Attendees were intrigued by the concepts a concept that combines hands-on activities and and inspired to develop their own accessible pro- social interaction. The McMichael’s natural land- grams and also expressed interest in partnerships. scape and rich Canadian history provide educa- The McMichael Canadian Art Collection hopes tional activity themes, which vary from tactile that readers will use The Art of Inclusion to create multimedia sculptures inspired by the grounds in their own organizations a more engaging and to contemporary art and landscape paintings pro- participatory environment for individuals with duced with iPad technology. special needs. The McMichael is continuing to spread the To download a copy of The Art of Inclusion, word on inclusion in the public sphere. In October visit mcmichael.com/artofinclusion. To learn 2014, three members of the McMichael Creative more about accessible programs at the McMichael, Learning and Programs Department delivered contact Anna Stanisz, Associate Director, Creative a concurrent workshop at the annual Ontario Learning and Programs, at 905.893.1121, ext. 2249 or Museum Association Conference, held at the [email protected]. mm

32 / McMichael Magazine Fig. 1: LIFE Academy: Members of the LIFE Academy Program, in partnership with Kerry’s Place Autism Services, pose in front of the McMichael sign with their final works in December 2013; fig. 2: ArtVenture Accessible Children & Youth Programs promote inclusion through hands-on art activities, social interaction, and dramatic play. Caregivers and family members are invited to join in on the fun; fig. 3: iPad Art: The Woodland Inspired iPad® Program at the McMichael offers benefits for individuals with limited fine-motor skills and provides a range of engaging visual supports. Liam, pictured to the lower left, produces a colourful sketch using an application; fig. 4: LIFE Academy: A Norval Morrisseau-inspired painting produced during the LIFE Academy Program in December 2013

FIG. 1 FIG. 2

FIG. 3 FIG. 4

McMichael Magazine / 33 Interview Painting Pictures on Silence: Acclaimed Jazz Guitarist Tony Quarrington Talks Art, Music, and the McMichael

By RACHEL WEINER, MEDIA RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS COORDINATOR

“There was something Veteran musician Tony Quarrington has been a magical—almost fixture of the Toronto music scene since mak- historical—about the recent McMichael ing his debut at the Mariposa Folk Festival in concert by Tony 1966. Since that time, he has played in clubs and Quarrington and Friends, and their festivals across Ontario and collaborated with tribute to Emily Carr. an all-star lineup of Canadian jazz musicians, It was a remarkable show, and every including Julie Michels, Brian Dickinson, and person in the room Jane Bunnett. On October 30, 2014, Quarrington felt extremely fortunate!”—Jaymz delivered a captivating performance of new Bee of JAZZ.FM91 compositions dedicated to artist Emily Carr as part of the McMichael Concert Series. In a recent interview for McMichael Magazine, Quarrington shed light on the inspiration behind his songs and his unique process for translating works of art into musical compositions.

34 / McMichael Magazine How would you describe the experience What is your process for of playing in an art gallery? Does the creating a piece of music based setting shape your performance? on a work of art? The experience of playing in an art gal- I love this Leopold Stokowski lery is wonderful for me. It’s inspiring just to quote: “A painter paints his pictures be so close to the works. It helps me summon on canvas. But musicians paint their up an appropriate mood to create, to impro- pictures on silence.” My process vise. I think for my whole band it elevates for composing the Group of Seven the playing. I have played at innumerable pieces was to sit at a piano, with the small galleries like Toronto’s Painted City or pictures right in front of me. We Spazio dell’Arte, as well as at the Art Gallery also recorded it that way, with co- of Ontario [AGO], the Varley Art Gallery, and lour Xeroxes of the paintings hung the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. on the studio walls. But I especially enjoy the McMichael for My reason for composing at the piano was musical work. Maybe someday I could do a all the wood and stone and history, and, of to try and retain a broad, basic quality in the sort of a “gallery collection” that would have course, the beautiful grounds. melodies and harmonies. Because I don’t play David Milne, David Blackwood, Mary Pratt, In 2001, you recorded the Group the piano very well, I wanted to lose some of Alex Colville, Clarence Gagnon, and more. Of of Seven Suite, a tribute to the famed the sophistication I would have on the gui- course, other artists would draw out a very Canadian painters, and you recently tar. We also purposefully didn’t rehearse different kind of composition and a different performed new songs at the McMichael too much, and I made a point of not learning style of playing. dedicated to Emily Carr. What about my own compositions very well. We wanted There are a number of musicians these artists inspires you? a kind of Zen, in-the-moment approach to who have also taken up the fine arts and With both the Group of Seven and Emily the recording. I should also point out that I vice versa. How would you describe the Carr, you have Canadian landscapes that are wrote fairly short and simple melodies, which relationship between the two media? themselves inspiring, seen through the lens were just springboards to the improvisations Joni Mitchell, Patti Smith, and Bob Dylan of the painters’ eyes. I tried to offer some which actually made up the majority of the come to mind, as well as Miles Davis, Tony kind of tonal counterpart to their overall recorded work. Bennett, and Django Reinhardt. In some palette and their bold brushwork. With Tom With Emily Songs, I chose short texts and cases they went to art school and only later Thomson and the Group of Seven, you have then set them to melodies. I did this with a discovered music, like John Lennon or Ian a kind of shared vision and aesthetic that, I guitar in hand, but I was always singing the Dury. You can always find commonalities hope, I was also able to convey in what I did. In tunes out loud too. Eventually I wound up in their graphic and musical visions. Joni terms of Emily Carr, you have a very forceful with six “movements” that have some kind Mitchell provocatively calls herself a painter and eccentric personality, which comes out of internal coherence and dramatic arc. first and a musician second. She has painted in her remarkable choice of words. I spent a Do you find yourself interpreting the many of her own album covers to great effect. couple of months this year dabbling around visual elements of a work, such as colour Myself, I collect art in a small way, in a way in her journals, letters, and published books, or composition, musically? limited by a musician’s income. But I have and I chose sentences and paragraphs that I I do try to match or mirror some of the quite a few paintings, including four portraits found striking and inspiring. paintings’ qualities in my writing and playing. of me, which I treasure. Several of the songs from the Group In Group of Seven Suite, you could look at two of Seven Suite, including “October Gold,” clearly contrasting pictures: Harris’s Grey To learn more about the McMichael “Mountain Portage,” and “Patterned Day in Town and MacDonald’s The Tangled Signature Performance Series and Hillside,” are based on paintings that are Garden. Grey Day in Town is a muted city- the McMichael Concert Series, visit part of the permanent collection of the scape, a winter scene in Toronto’s old “Ward.” mcmichael.com. mm McMichael. How did you select the works It looks and feels bleak and cold, so my music of art referenced on that album? is slow, minor key, a little discordant, and a Opposite page: Tony When I composed the Group of Seven bit broken in rhythm. The Tangled Garden, on Quarrington performing Suite in 1994, I was basically working from the other hand, is quick, major key, exuberant, at the McMichael in 2013. a couple of art books that I owned. I wrote and multi-chordal. Photograph by Rachel about twenty-five pieces and then chose Are there any other visual artists who Weiner, McMichael eight. I selected canvases where both the you could see yourself paying homage to Canadian Art Collection picture and the title were evocative to me, on an album? Above: Emily Carr and it turned out that the McMichael had Among Canadians, I could probably do (1871–1945), New Growth, three of them, because the collection is so the same album-length concept for Tom c. 1936, oil on canvas, good. The others are spread out between the Thomson, in a similar vein to what I did with 46.4 x 65.1 cm, Purchase AGO, the National Gallery of Canada, Hart the Group of Seven. I’d also like to try Norval 1972, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1972.10 House [University of Toronto], and the Art Morrisseau. There are other artists I love, but Gallery of Hamilton. I feel they might not sustain a long, complex

McMichael Magazine / 35 Collections: Cape Dorset Archives By Victoria Dickenson, Executive Director & CEO, and Elyse Portal, An Unparalleled Collection: Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage Research Assistant Preserving Cape Dorset’s Creative Cultural Legacy

Since its founding almost fifty years In addition to worries over cata- preserve images of the works with Bottom left: Delegation ago, the McMichael has collected strophic loss, Ryan and Thom real- what was, at the time, cutting-edge from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and exhibited the work of Inuit art- ized that there were issues with hous- technology—analogue LaserDisc. (MCAC) visits the ists in Canada. In 1990, a new col- ing the works themselves. Works By the early 2000s, however, West Baffin Eskimo laboration with the artists of Cape on paper are sensitive to light and LaserDisc was no longer a viable Co-operative (WBEC) in Dorset’s West Baffin Eskimo Co- moisture, but the discovery that felt- platform, replaced by the newer Cape Dorset, July 1988. operative (WBEC) made the collec- tip pens used by many Cape Dorset technology of digital imaging. In From left to right: Barbara A. Tyler (Director tion and study of Inuit art a central graphic artists had begun to shift 2011, twenty years after the col- and Chief Executive part of the McMichael’s mandate. hues, and were even transferring lection had first been housed at the Officer, MCAC), Jean Cape Dorset, on southern among stacked works, made them McMichael, the gallery reassessed Blodgett (Chief Curator, Baffin Island, is considered the look for a solution to the long-term how it might best make these trea- MCAC), G. Frank Suma spiritual home of Inuit art as it preservation of the growing collec- sures accessible not only to schol- (Vice-Chairman, Board of Trustees, MCAC), is thought of today. It was in that tion. After months of negotiations ars, collectors and researchers in Terry Ryan (General community in the 1950s that James and visits between the McMichael’s the South, but also to those for Manager, WBEC), Atsiaq Houston founded with local resi- trustees and staff, and the print shop whom they have the most mean- Allasuaq (President, dents the WBEC print shop (now and Co-operative’s management, an ing—the children and grandchil- WBEC), Ashevak Ezekiel called Kinngait Studios). Between agreement was reached in November dren of the original artists, many (Director, WBEC), Jimmy Manning (Translator), 1959 and 1989, the print shop saw 1990. The McMichael would house of whom were artists themselves. H. Michael Burns the creation of more than 100,000 the WBEC collection in specially de- In 2012, the McMichael part- (Chairman, Board of drawings and prints that form a signed vaults in Kleinburg, Ontario, nered with York University Trustees, MCAC), and priceless archive depicting Inuit and ensure its preservation and Professor Anna Hudson to develop Joanasie Solomonie culture and lifestyle, dating back documentation. The following year, a proposal for the Social Sciences (Director, WBEC). Photograph by Leslie to the early 1900s. These images the archives were carefully crated and Humanities Research Council. Boyd, Dorset Fine Arts drawn in pencil and pen, or printed and loaded onto an airplane in Cape The two organizations share a from stone, embody shared stories, Dorset, and in spring 1991, three personal memories, mythology, decades of the work of Cape Dorset folklore, and depictions of material artists arrived at the McMichael. culture. The archive also docu- Since that time, the McMichael ments the evolution of individual has been dedicated to not only artists, from their first tentative preserving the works, but also to drawings to the mature works that making this remarkable collection have so captivated people around better known. When the shipment the world. arrived in 1991, a large-scale proj- In the late 1980s, the Co- ect was initiated to photograph and operative’s legendary general manager, Terry Ryan, and the then- curator of the McMichael, Ian Thom, began to discuss the preservation of the works housed in the Cape Dorset print shop. The loss of the Sanavik Co-operative Association collection, destroyed in a fire at Baker Lake, made them anx- ious for the safety of the WBEC archive housed in the print shop. The following year, the Co-operative in Sanikiluaq was also lost to fire.

36 / McMichael Magazine “The collection is portrait with his family, welcoming the singular: there is no other viewer to Nunavut—“our land”—with its promise of shared physical, emotional and collection like it...It is material wealth, including the animals with uniquely and distinctively whom Inuit co-existed…” Canadian: there is no The Cape Dorset Archive records a generation’s transition from camp to community life. parallel for this collection The artists all had memories of the old ways and of drawings and prints by understood the urgency of preserving a collective cultural memory in the post-war period. Cape Dorset artists.” In 2014, the McMichael received addi- —Jamie Cameron, former tional funding from the federal government’s McMichael Canadian Museums Assistance Program (MAP) to engage Jessica Kotierk from Igloolik, Nunavut, Art Collection Board of who is trained in collections management, Trustees member to manage the project at the McMichael. With funding for student assistance through York University, the McMichael team un- common vision for the role of the archive. der Kotierk has, to date, digitized more than By making the material in the archive available 2,000 works from the Cape Dorset archives. through classrooms, community centres, mu- High-resolution images have been created for seums and art galleries, workshops, exhibitions thirteen artists, including Parr, Pudlo Pudlat, and festivals, and, ultimately, the World Wide Pootoogook, Paulassie Pootoogook, Alashua Opposite right: Parr (1893–1969), Web, it is hoped that teachers, students, and Aningmiuq, Tuckyashuk, and Atamik Tukikie. My People, 1961, stonecut on paper, 76.7 community members, along with academic and The focus of the team has been to digitize all x 51 cm, Collection of the West Baffin non-academic researchers, would enter into a of Parr’s drawings in the collection (more than Eskimo Co operative Ltd., on loan to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, dialogue about art as a foundation of Inuit tra- 2,000 works produced in the last eight years of © Dorset Fine Arts, CDP.18.9.1 ditional knowledge. The partners in Nunavut his life). By December 2014, more than 1,400 identified cultural health as the core element Parr drawings were complete. Along with Above top: Transfer caused by “rogue” of this knowledge, and the basis for every other standard digital images of the front and back felt-tip pen. Paulassie Pootoogook (b. kind of health for Inuit, because in it resides the of each work, Kotierk has made it a priority to 1927), Untitled, felt-tip pen on paper, 51.3 x 66 cm, Collection of the West sense of identity, the collective social supports create records of all of the signatures and in- Baffin Eskimo Co operative Ltd., on for the individual, and the sense of belonging scriptions on each work, including syllabics. loan to the McMichael Canadian grounded in positive relationships that nurture “As a previous long-term resident of the Art Collection, © Dorset Fine Arts, individuals and communities. Northwest Territories, and witness to the es- CD.114.38 In 2013, York University, the McMichael, tablishment of Nunavut as a territory in 1999, Above bottom: High resolution digital and its partners were awarded more than it has been a privilege to work with MICH on image, colour corrected using the $3.4 million to undertake a six-year research the digitization project at the McMichael. The digitization software Capture One. project—Mobilizing Inuit Cultural Heritage shared goal of MICH and the McMichael is Pudlo Pudlat (1916–1992), (not titled), (MICH)—that would allow the McMichael to create accurate and accessible records of 1976–1977, coloured pencil; felt-tip pen; and other organizations (including IsumaTV the WBEC collection for family members, acrylic paints on paper, 56.2 x 75.9 cm, Collection of the West Baffin Eskimo Co and the National Gallery of Canada) to digitize northern communities, and researchers,” operative Ltd., on loan to the McMichael their holdings and make them readily available says Elyse Portal. Canadian Art Collection, © Dorset Fine to artists, students, researchers in the North, The McMichael continues to honour its Arts, CD.24.1706 and worldwide at a time when this cultural leg- long-standing partnership with the West acy is increasingly relevant to new generations. Baffin Eskimo Co-operative and the artists The McMichael Canadian Art Collection acknowledges the financial support of Professor Anna Hudson has written: of Cape Dorset through protecting and show- the Government of Canada. “No image from the Cape Dorset Archive ing the work in the collection. Along with the better encapsulates the goals of this project digitization project, the gallery is developing than Parr’s stonecut, My People (1961). Parr, a major touring exhibition to tell the story of an artist born on the land who lived a tradi- this exceptional art form, and to ensure that tional camping life until 1961, when he settled these immediate and revealing drawings in the new community of Cape Dorset, had and prints have a place of importance in the no art formation before being encouraged Canadian art world. mm by the West Baffin Co-operative to record, through drawing, his worldview. My People, printed in the Kinngait Studios, is Parr’s self-

McMichael Magazine / 37 Collections: Archives

The Wonderful World of Arthur Lismer FIG. 1

By Linda Morita, Arthur Lismer’s iconic paintings and contri- him, and how he used art to observe and com- Librarian/Archivist, bution to art education are well-documented ment on the world around him. The content with Chris Finn, subjects. While there have been glimpses of was either produced by Lismer himself or ap- Assistant Curator his lively personality through his cartoon preciated and lovingly preserved by the artist drawings about Canadian art, the life of this or his family. artist is about to be more fully revealed. The Presented here is just a small sampling of McMichael Archives has acquired, from the the content of this unique collection, high- Estate of Arthur Lismer, an extraordinary col- lighting its special capacity for evoking an lection of original primary source material of immediate personal connection with the art- unprecedented comprehensiveness and rarity. ist. First and foremost, viewers gain a sense of Ranging from the 1890s to the late 1960s, there how important family was to Lismer, followed are more than 800 drawings and sketches, and by art and education, in tandem. The photo- more than 1,300 original photographs, sup- graphs and drawings are largely unseen and plemented by diaries, correspondence, manu- unknown gems, which introduce Lismer in a scripts, ephemera, memorabilia, and more—in way which exists for no other Group of Seven essence, the autobiography that Lismer never artist. And because photographs of Group of had time to publish. Seven artists are rare, this opportunity to Currently being catalogued and photo- see Lismer throughout his life in both photo- graphed, it will be available for research as a dig- graphs and drawings is remarkable. ital resource to help celebrate the McMichael’s The Arthur Lismer Collection of art and 50th anniversary in 2016. The personal nature archives holds almost infinite potential for of the artworks and archival documents pro- primary source research on Arthur Lismer, vides invaluable insight into the artist’s life by specifically, but also Canadian art and culture revealing the subjects that were important to in general. mm

38 / McMichael Magazine Fig. 1: The Lismer Family at McGregor Bay in the La Cloche Mountains, 1929; fig. 2: Arthur Lismer’s first trip to Algonquin Park with Tom Thomson in May 1914 was recorded in his sketchbook with the drawing entitled “The cabin on the portage from Ragged Lake into Canoe Lake.” Many of the cartoons are of a more intimate nature and show the private, endearing side of the artist, enhanced by photographs of a similar character. After 1924, Lismer no longer went on sketching trips with other artists, as his teaching schedule limited his holiday time. Vacations were devoted to his family; fig. 3: FIG. 2 If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it is clear why Lismer was internationally renowned in the field of art education for children, seen here at the Art Centre of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1951; fig. 4: Arthur, his wife Esther, and daughter Marjorie on holiday at a favourite location, McGregor Bay, circa 1933; fig. 5: A typical summer day in La Cloche is FIG. 3 FIG. 4 recorded in a cartoon

All images: Arthur Lismer Collection Purchased with the assistance of a Movable Cultural Property grant accorded by the Department of Canadian Heritage under the terms of the Cultural Property Export and Import Act, and with the generous support of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation / Acheté avec l’aide d’une subvention des biens culturels mobiliers accordée par le Ministère du Patrimoine canadien en vertu de la Loi sur l’exportation et l’importation de biens culturels et grâce à l’appui généreux de la Fondation McMichael d’art canadien. FIG. 5 McMichael Canadian Art Collection Archives

McMichael Magazine / 39 Collections: Archives By LINDA MORITA, Librarian/Archivist

A House The McMichael is an extraordinary place, in the Country, unique in its setting and in its collection. a Home for And the story of its beginning is just as extraordinary. In 1951, Robert and Signe Canadian Art McMichael found ten acres of hilly, wooded farmland to purchase in the village of Kleinburg, Ontario. Living and running a busy photography business in downtown Toronto, they longed for a retreat in the country.

Fig. 1: Prefab cabin where Robert and Signe McMichael lived on weekends, before Tapawingo was built, c. 1951; fig. 2: Aerial view of property, 1951. Photograph by Hugh Thompson; fig. 3: The McMichaels’ first Christmas card, 1954. Drawing by Gordon Crocker; fig. 4: Tom Thomson Shack, 1964

FIG. 1

FIG. 4

FIG. 2 FIG. 3

40 / McMichael Magazine Fig. 5: Visitors in the original living room of Tapawingo (now part of Gallery 14) were asked to remove their high heels and wear disposable slippers to prevent damage to the oak floors, 1967; fig. 6: Tapawingo, c. 1955; fig. 7: Christmas at Tapawingo, 1956; fig. 8: Construction of the new entrance, lobby, waterfall pier, and Inuit art wing, 1972

FIG. 6

FIG. 5

Motivated by post-war nationalism, Signe the Group of Seven, their contemporaries, and Robert wanted to build a home that paid and Aboriginal artists, with the dream of homage to both the Canadian spirit and the one day turning their private collection into natural landscape which inspired it. Over a public one. However, they began sharing the next few years, they searched abandoned their art collection with others long before barns and farmhouses in the area to salvage Tapawingo became a public gallery. By the square-hewn hemlock logs for the construc- early 1960s, school groups and the general tion of the building. public were already visiting their home. The McMichaels contracted Leo Additions to the original home were nec- E. Venchiarutti, a prominent Toronto essary to accommodate the McMichaels’ architect who specialized in contemporary growing art collection. Between 1963 and design, to realize their dream. The L-shaped, 1972, Venchiarutti designed five major ad- four-room structure, which was made of ditions—both before and after the donation massive logs, fieldstone walls and fireplace, to the province—thus ensuring that the orig- a floor-to-ceiling glass wall, and a roof of inal character of the building was preserved FIG. 7 hand-split cedar shakes, reflected its natu- over time. ral setting. The building and its furnishings As always, inspired by their devotion incorporated elements of the typical Ontario to the art of the Group of Seven and Tom log cabin, along with the clean, simple Thomson, the McMichaels purchased the design of the modernist movement. It also Tom Thomson Shack and moved it from revealed Signe’s natural sense of style Toronto to Kleinburg, where it was recon- and design. Buck Bayliss, a local builder, structed in 1963. executed the McMichaels’ vision and Signe and Robert McMichael be- Venchiarutti’s design. gan welcoming visitors to their home Construction began in the early spring as soon as Tapawingo was built in 1954, FIG. 8 of 1954 and, despite a scare from Hurricane more than sixty years ago. This per- Hazel in October, was completed by the end of sonal tradition continued and grew the year. One week before Christmas in 1954, until they donated their home, art col- Signe and Robert moved into their new home, lection, and land to the people of Canada which they called Tapawingo. in 1965, with the official opening of the Between 1955 and 1965, Robert and Signe McMichael Conservation Collection of Art amassed a collection of 194 works of art by in 1966. mm

McMichael Magazine / 41 New Aquisition By Sharona Adamowicz-Clements, Assistant Curator, CollectionS

Mary Pratt Make-up with Chocolate Box

The exhibition Mary Pratt (who is one of Canada’s leading women artists) was the hit of the winter 2013 season at the McMichael. Just before the opening of the exhibition, the McMichael acquired a new artwork by the East Coast artist. Make-up with Chocolate Box is a welcome addition to the permanent collection and is in keeping with two of Pratt’s favourite subjects: family portraits and the female figure. It is an intimate depiction of daughters Anne and Barbara, whose reflection in the mirror alludes to the artist’s method of painting an image from a secondary source—the photograph or, in this case, the mirror. Painted in watercolour, the work captures the subtle nuance of daylight on the young women, who appear to be caught in a private bonding moment between sisters. This work is one of many images of Pratt’s children, whom she painted at different stages of their lives.

Background Born Mary Frances West on March 15, Newfoundland. They married in 1957 and 1935, in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Mary travelled to Scotland, where Christopher Pratt was the daughter of William John studied at The Glasgow School of Art. For West, at one time the Attorney General the next few years, the Pratts travelled be- and a Justice of the Supreme Court of tween Scotland and Canada. Back home, New Brunswick. Early in her life, she Pratt resumed her studies and welcomed had developed a keen interest in the arts. the birth of two of their four children in 1959 Throughout her high-school years, she took and 1960. She finally completed her studies art classes under the instruction of prom- and received a BFA in 1961. That same year, inent art figures such as Fritz Brandtner, the family settled in Newfoundland, which Lucy Jarvis, and Alfred Pinsky. Upon was to become their permanent home, graduation, Pratt continued her studies splitting time between St. John’s and St. at Mount Allison University in Sackville, Catherine’s on the Salmonier River. New Brunswick. Among her teachers While raising a family, Pratt found the were Alex Colville, Lawren P. Harris, and time to teach art, develop her craft, and Ted Pulford. There she met fellow student exhibit her work. She also assumed pub- and future husband Christopher Pratt of lic service roles, supporting provincial

42 / McMichael Magazine government initiatives in education and the fishing industries. In 1980, Pratt became a member of the Federal Cultural Policy Review Committee, which allowed her to travel across Canada and gain an understanding of arts administration. Since then, Pratt continued to devote herself to promoting the arts: between 1987 and 1993, she served as a board member for the Canada Council for the Arts; in 1988, she became a member of the Cultural Industries Sectoral Advisory Group on International Trade; in 1994, she served on the Memorial University of Newfoundland Art Gallery Advisory Committee; and in 1999, she was the co- chair of a committee that founded The Rooms, the central cultural institution of Newfoundland. To date, Pratt has participated in numerous exhibitions, both solo and group, and her work can be found in private, corporate, and public collections, including The Rooms, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada. She has been the subject of several books and documentaries, and is the author of A Personal Calligraphy. Her contribution to the arts and cultural sector in Canada has been well-recognized: in 1993, she received the Canadian Conference of the Arts Commemorative Medal for the 125th sonal themes of her everyday life, she mood in the works, and elevated common Anniversary of Confederation; in 1997, painted with careful visual accuracy the everyday imagery to a level of elegance, she was the recipient of the Molson Prize domestic sphere, interior scenes, private grace, and significance. Twice removed from the Canada Council for the Arts; spaces, still life, family portraits, and the from the real, the final polished paint- and in 2007, her work was reproduced female figure. ing, a copy of a copy, with its close-ups on Canada Post stamps. Amongst her es- In her paintings, Pratt paid partic- and vibrant colours, gave the mundane teemed associations, she is a member of ular attention to the interplay between a symbolic presence. mm the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, an natural light and object surface, stress- honorary fellow of the College of Fellows ing the heightened sense of immediacy of the Royal Architectural Institute of and beauty that this interaction pro- Canada, an honorary life member of duced. She soon realized that the fleeting the Society of Canadian Artists, and a moments which she sought to represent Companion of the Order of Canada. through changes in light conditions could not be quickly translated in paint. Art Through the help of her then-husband Over the past five decades, Mary Pratt has Christopher Pratt, she began working Mary Pratt (b. 1935), been consistently refining her trademark from photographic slides. The photo- Make-up with Chocolate style of photorealism. Dedicated to the graphs captured transitory moments Box, 1983, watercolour practice of high realism in painting, par- that allowed Pratt to focus on certain as- on sketchpad paper, ticularly at a time when many Canadian pects of the depicted image, reinterpret- 42.9 x 35.5 cm, Gift artists were moving into trends that fo- ing, magnifying, and even exaggerating of Mimi Fullerton in Memory of Charlotte cused on abstraction, Pratt was searching certain physical traits. The soft or crisp Maude Fullerton, for a direct and honest representation of light effects and detailed description of Reproduced with her subject matter. Inspired by the per- the image produced a dramatic sense of permission of the artist

McMichael Magazine / 43 In Memoriam

Itee Pootoogook (1951–2014)

44 / McMichael Magazine By CHRIS FINN, ASSISTANT CURATOR

Cultural interchange has shaped ideas and practices between peoples, leading to the rethinking of artistic conventions within neighbouring regions or on an international level. The history of art making contains numerous occasions when traditional art forms were altered by artists who embraced diverse philosophies, imagery, and media from outside their own culture, which ultimately served to transform visual styles, as well as introduce opportunities to work with new choices of materials to be used in the production of art.

For millennia, Inuit established and maintained their Colour pencil drawing on paper was Pootoogook’s own artistic traditions, but the significant increase chosen medium. The artist’s images are notable for in exchange between north and south has not only their contemporary content and the distinct reduc- altered the way of life of the people, but is also re- tive stylistic approach that he uses in visualizing flected in new methods used for artistic production his subjects. that have been introduced for art making. One out- His landscape drawings demonstrate his keen come is that the Inuit visually interpret contempo- sense of observation expressed through his emphasis rary northern life not only to maintain traditional of key formal elements in his compositions. In some interest for their work, but also to engage with a works, large dominant shapes are rendered with rich, growing international audience. carefully considered colours that engage the viewer In presenting his vision of the North, Itee by virtue of their strong visual impact. At the same Pootoogook focused his art making on depicting time, by using an economy of detail, the artist evoc- a range of subjects, from northern landscapes to atively presents the scene within a nearly abstract the transformation of the built environment that frame of reference. emerged in northern communities during his life- Pootoogook’s imagery showed his appreciation time. The artist also represented many aspects of and perception about the metamorphosis of the the Inuit way of life that have been altered due to the contemporary northern community. Through his impact of southern cultural influences throughout work, the artist succeeded in elevating the day-to- the twentieth century in the region (now known day activities of the people who shared his life, either as Nunavut) and, in particular, Cape Dorset. family or friends. Also, by electing to present views Pootoogook’s command of his chosen medium reflecting the changes in the environment in Cape addresses ideas of place and culture in transition in Dorset, Pootoogook’s drawings also provide obser- Opposite page: an engaging and compelling manner. vations about the prevailing forms of vernacular ar- Itee Pootoogook, Victoria Dickenson, Born in 1951 in Kimmirut, Pootoogook, while chitecture in the North that have replaced traditional and Janine Butler still a child, settled with his family in Cape Dorset. indigenous building methods and materials. view drawings Originally, he earned his living as a carpenter and Shortly before his passing, Itee Pootoogook vis- by Paulassie it was not until the 1980s that he began to draw as ited the Cape Dorset Archives at the McMichael, to Pootoogook (the a practice. Largely self-taught, the artist did re- see the drawings made by his father. His interest and artist’s father) in the Cape Dorset ceive some training in drawing and printmaking delight in seeing these works spoke to the importance Archives at the at Nunavut Arctic College, but he has stated that of the preservation of this significant archive of Inuit McMichael. what had the most significant impact on his artistic culture. Pootoogook’s work has received significant Photograph by development was what he gained through his own critical acclaim during his lifetime and is represented Pat Feheley drawing activities. in many private and public collections. mm

McMichael Magazine / 45 A.Y. Jackson (1882–1974), Lake Superior Country, 1924, oil on canvas, 117 x 148 cm, Gift of Mr. S. Walter Stewart, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1968.8.26 With Gratitude The McMichael acknowledges the following supporters for their contributions made between September 1, 2013, and November 15, 2014. Their generosity makes it possible to connect people with art, artists, and art making through exhibitions that explore Canada from coast-to- coast-to-coast and programs that engage people of all ages. Thank you for helping to keep the McMichael an extraordinary place to visit.

46 / McMichael Magazine CORPORATIONS & $500 to $999 Schuyler Bankes and Family George Elliott and Noriko Yui FOUNDATIONS Cambic Ltd Avie J. Bennett Elinor Gill Ratcliffe $100,000 and Above Gallery Gevik Austin and Nani Beutel Fred and Eleanor Hirshfeld A.K. Prakash Foundation Shantelle and Yannick Bisson Mary and Robert Hookey McMichael Canadian Art PATRONS COUNCIL Deborah Bongard and Reid Bowlby Patrick and Barbara Keenan Foundation Benefactor’s Circle ($25,000+) Rick and Margot Byers James Leech Robert and Signe McMichael Trust Charles and Kathryn Brown Councillor Tony Carella Megan Long Michael and Sue Burns Doris Chan TBK Martin $50,000 to $99,999 David and Susan Chong Joyce and Jim McAlpine The Andrée Rhéaume and Guardian ($10,000 to $24,999) Linda Clemow Karin McCaskill Robert Fitzhenry Family Upkar and Nita Arora Dr. Esther Farlinger Kevin and Mary Russell Foundation Andrew and Christine Dunn Julia and Robert Foster Judy and Patrick Ryan McMichael Volunteer Committee Neil Harris and Katie Taylor Avi Goldfarb Harlan Schonfeld and Ruth Mesbur RBC Wealth Management Christopher M. and Baila Goldfarb Wayne E. Shaw and TD Bank Group Sheilagh Henley Joan and Martin Goldfarb Marilyn L. Pilkington Anita and Leon Lapidus Barry and Helen Goldlist Belinda Stronach $25,000 to $49,999 Kim Good Terry L. West Heenan Blaikie Champion ($7,500 to $9,999) David J. Grace RBC Emerging Artists Project Mark Bursey and Jane Wells Mark and Lorraine Inglis $500 to $999 Tina Tehranchian and John and Mary Kot Anonymous $10,000 to $24,999 Shahdad Bekhrad Michael Lang James Appleyard and BEST Consultants Inc. Rand and Lynda Lomas Tamara Rebanks CIBC Director ($5,000 to $7,499) Derek and Lisa Melo Dr. Terrence D. Aurini Deloitte Jamie Cameron and Petra and Lionel Newton Isabella and Maurizio Bertani Gowling Lafleur & Henderson LLP Christopher Bredt Charles Price Murray and Ellen Blankstein Guardian Capital Dr. Victoria Dickenson and Peter and Belinda Priede Christina Bogdanow The Harris-Taylor Family Jeffery Harrison Brian and Marion Richardson In Memory of Foundation George Fierheller Judy and John Rumble Dr. Elizabeth Ann Bridges Sass Jackman Foundation Greg Latremoille Barry Sampson and Judi Coburn Susan Bright and Peter Rowlands The Leonard and Gabryela Osin Iain MacInnes Dr. and Mrs. J.M. Stewart Vernon and Maya Chilton Foundation Doug McDonald Allan and Shirley Taylor Michael Chortyk TransCanada Corporation The Melo Family Tony and Mimi Webb Howard and Halle Cohen The City of Vaughan Linda G. Rodeck and Dr. Michael Weinberg and Lois I. Cullis Arron Barberian Dr. Laura Schiffer Leslie and Marijane Dakens $5,000 to $9,999 Samuel and Esther Sarick Wenda Yenson and Ken Hurdle Jean B. Eadie Angell Gallery Richard and Nancy Self Charles and Donna Zuckerman W. Robert and Gail Farquharson Kim Dorland Rosemary Speirs Scott Foster Firinn Investments Limited INDIVIDUALS Marianne Gelbert-Serrani and The Michael and Sonja Koerner Companion ($2,500 to $4,999) $25,000 to $49,999 Mario Serrani Charitable Foundation Joan Bush and Farsad Kiani Estate of Gerard Lucien Bedue Gwendolyn R. Goodearle Donald R. Sobey Foundation Peter Carayiannis and C. Groenewegen U.S. Consulate General Angela Nikolakakos $5,000 to $9,999 Balfour Halevy Robert C. Dowsett Estate of Egon Homburger Edwin F. Hawken $1,000 to $4,999 Diana and Ian Hamilton Iain and Marianne Thomson Liz Hopley The Bennett Family Foundation Susan Hodkinson Geoffrey and Lorraine Joyner The Boiler Inspection & Insurance Esther Lee $1,000 to $4,999 Gerda Kaegi Co. of Canada Beverley Richardson Anonymous John and Jane Kean Chestnut Park Real Estate Limited, John Silverthorn Simon Armstrong Rev. Dr. Keith R. Knill Brokerage Denny and Dennis Starritt Michael Aubrey Michele McCarthy and CIBC Mellon Diane and Jonathan Wilson In Memory of Sheilah Banikin Peter Gooderham Edwards Charitable Foundation Rosemary Zigrossi Sharon Baptista Don McCutchan Hamilton Capital Partners R. Brian Cartwright Patricia D. Miller Liberty Development Supporter ($1,000 to $2,499) Peter Cipriano Kathryn Minard Portfolio Management Corporation Sara Angel In Honour of Paul Desmarais III Christopher Palin and RJO Contracting Harry and Kathryn Angus and Mary Dailey Pattee Desmarais Susan Middleton Sotheby’s Canada Inc. George and Elizabeth Baird Robert Dunigan and Werner and Karin Platz Cindy Ball Robert McDonald Dr. Neville G. Poy

McMichael Magazine / 47 Fred and Beverley Schaeffer David and Sandra Hannaford John and Maire Percy Estate of Ann MacNab Sima Sharifi and Arnold Witzig Charles Hantho Christina Peterson Dr. Phil Nuytten Reta C. Smith Michelle Harcourt Leo A. Prendergast and Lynn Belfry A. K. Prakash David Ticoll and Tracey Macey Richard and Peggy Harcourt Nancy Ralph and Closten Ball Stewart Sheppard Jim and Sue Waddington William and Anne Harker Robert and Celia Rasmussen Bill Vazan Peter and Louise Walter Ronald and Sherry Haynes Garry Revesz and G. Earle and Sonia Wight Gabriel Hayos Ingrid Hamburger IN-KIND DONORS Jennie Wildridge Janet C. Heagle Bruce Roberts Joan and Martin Goldfarb Alan Hill and Bev Nicholson Richard Robinson and John McEwen $100 to $499 Gordon and Scharley-May Horne Pauline McKitty-Robinson Joan and W. Ross Murray Anonymous Naomi Horodezky Gordon Robison and David Grant David and Renee Adams Christine Hughes Ian Robson and David Gilmore 2014 MOONLIGHT GALA Eric Amos and Shawna Robinson Lois E. Hughes Brian and Beatrice Ross Fred and Marlene Ash Kim Hutchings Michael and Nancy Ross SPONSORS Kenn and Christel Baker Adele and David Imrie Elaine Rowe and Dan Kirby Coventry North Jaguar Land Rover Pauline Jennifer G. Bell John Jacenty Arthur and Janet Rubinoff Crowe Soberman LLP Rudy and Gloria Bies John and Audrey Jacob Francine Ruggles Deloitte In Honour of Rudy and Gloria Bies Maryann Jefferies Lawrence Sax Herzig Eye Institute Joyce Bingham Seona Jennings Peter and Gundy Schloen John Paul & Co. Betty A. Boyce Marian Jones Peter and Heather Scott Kleinburg Crown Estates Edward and Krista Bridge Alexandra Jonsson Diana Scoville and Brian Donnelly Merit Travel Group Sheila Browne Joan and Jay Kaufman Dr. Nicola Simmons Nashville Developments Inc. Simon Burke and Dixie Kee Nora Sirisko RBC Magrelys Rodriguez M. June Knudsen Cheryl Smith TD Bank Group Ken and Helen Byles Bernard and Ryna Langer William Snow and The Source John and Theresa Caldwell Rob Lapper Dorothy Krouskie Frank and Bev Callaghan Joe and Gillian Lavery Peter Stanisic CORPORATE SUPPORTERS Paul and Barbara Cameron In Memory of Marcia J. Lay Carol Stanley Altas Partners LP Jane and Ken Campbell Ruth Leeman Joy R. Takahashi Assante Wealth Management David and Susan Chong Siiri Lepp Richard and Glenna Talbot BMO Financial Group Pat Conway Robert and Dawn Loucks Ulrich Tepass and Dorothea Godt CIBC John A. and Lina Corelli Kenneth and Mary Lund Barbara J. Thompson Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg Susan Crawford Maria Maingot-Douketis Ann Tottenham Ensil Canada Beth and Ian Croft Nancy Martin Carol Ann and Les Trabert Ernst & Young Ralph Cunningham and Richard C. Martin Wendy Wacko Grant Thornton LLP Sheila Croft P. Mateas Reinhilde E. Walwyn Hatch Helen and Susanne Dobos Eugene and Ginette McCallen Karen Webb PIMCO Mr. and Mrs. William C. Dowsett Nancy and John McFadyen Dave Wilson and Patricia Hinton PowerStream Marc Egnal and Judith Humphrey Donald and Helen McGillivray Murray and Mary Witiuk Progressive Waste Solutions John and Beverley Ellis Maura and Margaret McGroarty Michael Wolfish and Helene Bick Ritchie Bros. Dinah and John Emery William Morgan McKenzie Ms. E. G. Worth Timbercreek Asset Management Mercy Espinosa James and Joan McKinney Joyce and Fred Zemans Torys LLP Rod and Susan Finlayson Ian and Anne McLachlin Karel and Vicki Zlata Abraham and Marcy Fish Matthew and Moira McQueen MEDIA PARTNERS Neil Garscadden Wil Moens ART DONORS Bell Media Lorraine Gauthier Sue Morris Dr. Michael Braudo Fund at the CP24 Suzanne Gauthier Murray D. Morton McMichael Canadian Art CTV Andy Gemmell Joseph M. Mulder and Foundation The Globe & Mail Barbara Goldberg Richard Malo Edward Burtynsky JAZZ.FM91 Karen and Sidney Goldenberg Neville and Kowsillia Nandlall Jamie Cameron and WNED Mrs. C. Warren Goldring Willy and Giselle Nuebling Christopher Bredt Jeanne Gould Keith and Marjorie O’Brien Toni Ann Chowne Charlotte Graham Michael and Adele Ostfield Brian Dougherty Peter and Ruth Grant Else Pankratz Mimi Fullerton Hartley and Lorna Greenbaum Gary and Kathy Parkinson Karine Giboulo M. Elaine Hamilton and Penny Pattinson Pat James M.A. Kearns-Viola Lee Pearson and Gail Whiteside Rev. Dr. Keith R. Knill

48 / McMichael Magazine Distinctly Canadian art and stories...in a remarkable setting

Leave your legacy to preserve it forever.

You can help keep the McMichael an extraordinary place to visit by remembering the gallery in your will.

If you are interested in finding out how a legacy gift to the McMichael can make a difference, please contact Linda Clemow for a confidential discussion about giving options. You can reach Linda at 905.893.1121, ext. 2217, or toll free at 1.888.213.1121, or [email protected].

mcmichael.com 10365 Islington Avenue Kleinburg, ON 905.893.1121 · 1.888.213.1121

Norval Morrisseau (1931–2007), Artist’s Wife and Daughter, 1975, acrylic on hardboard, 101.6 x 81.3 cm, Purchase 1975, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1981.87.1; Franklin Carmichael (1890–1945), Autumn, 1940, oil on hardboard, 96.5 x 122 cm, Anonymous Donor, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1980.17; Tom Thomson (1877–1917), Autumn Birches, c. 1916, oil on panel, 21.6 x 26.7 cm, Gift of Mrs. H.P. de Pencier, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1966.2.3

McMichael Magazine / 51 THE McMICHAEL SIGNATURE PERFORMANCE SERIES

ART. MUSIC. CONVERSATION. M O O N L I G H T G A L A 2 0 1 5 ſċĐſćąĆĊ

Moonlight Gala—the party of the summer season!

The McMichael Signature Performance Series, which Indulge in an evening of sensory delights. Enjoy live jazz and gourmet cuisine along with fine wines and scotches, at a captivating night under features music, dance, theatre, and conversation, gives the stars.

visitors the unique opportunity to enjoy a complete cultural Saturday, June 6, 2015 experience that combines the performing arts with the 6:00 pm – Midnight Dinner Reception gallery’s world-class collection and picturesque grounds. Join us for this spectacular moonlit soirée.

To purchase tickets: [email protected] 905.893.1121 ext. 2710 mcmichael.com/moonlightgala

CALL 905.893.1121 EXT. 2209 OR VISIT MCMICHAEL.COM FOR DETAILS

Media Partners Just 20 minutes north of Toronto. Start your trip at mcmichael.com M O O N L I G H T G A L A 2 0 1 5

ſċĐſćąĆĊ

Moonlight Gala—the party of the summer season!

Indulge in an evening of sensory delights. Enjoy live jazz and gourmet cuisine along with fine wines and scotches, at a captivating night under the stars.

Saturday, June 6, 2015 6:00 pm – Midnight Dinner Reception

Join us for this spectacular moonlit soirée.

To purchase tickets: [email protected] 905.893.1121 ext. 2710 mcmichael.com/moonlightgala

McMichael Magazine / 53 Professional Native 7 Indian Artists Inc.

Coming to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection MAY 2015

Daphne Odjig (b. 1919), Thunderbird of Courage, 1977, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 50.8 cm. Private Collection. © Daphne Odjig. Photo credit: Don Hall