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Vie des arts

La peinture canadienne d’hier dans les collections du musée des beaux-arts de montréal Pre-Contemporary Canadian in the Collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Paul Dumas

Volume 20, Number 82, Spring 1976

URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/55030ac

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Publisher(s) La Société La Vie des Arts

ISSN 0042-5435 (print) 1923-3183 (digital)

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Cite this article Dumas, P. (1976). La peinture canadienne d’hier dans les collections du musée des beaux-arts de montréal / Pre-Contemporary Canadian Painting in the Collections of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Vie des arts, 20(82), 31–90.

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This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ L'événement La peinture canadienne d'hier dans les collections du musée des beaux-arts

de montréal Paul Dumas

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31 L'événement

Institué en 1860, sous le nom de Montreal vent affligé certains Anglo-Canadiens, ils aient Art Association, le Musée des Beaux-Arts de été portés à négliger les peintres canadien- Montréal a été constitué en musée semi-public français. Fort heureusement, la politique d'ac­ en 1948.C'est donc à la fois une fort ancienne quisition du Musée a bien changé depuis vingt institution et un très jeune musée. Cette dualité ans et a sensiblement corrigé cet état de cho­ de nature nous autorise à y admirer, comme il ses. Il persiste encore, cependant, des insuffi­ se doit, les toiles de qualité que contient la sances. Parmi les peintres du passé, d'aucuns collection de peintures canadiennes antérieu­ brillent encore par leur absence, comme Za- res à 1940 et à accepter ses lacunes avec in­ charie Vincent — il est vrai qu'il a assez peu dulgence. produit —, Napoléon Bourassa, Charles Huot, Une des principales missions d'un musée, Ludger Larose, , Joseph Saint-Char­ c'est de présenter au public un ensemble, le les et, plus près de nous, Randolph Hewton et plus représentatif possible, de l'art créé dans Alexandre Bercovitch. Le Musée ne possède un lieu donné, ainsi que des échantillons, les qu'une huile d'Henri Julien, de Georges Del- meilleurs que l'on soit en mesure d'acquérir, fosse et de Marc-Aurèle Fortin, et il nous sem­ de l'art universel. Situé dans la plus grande ville ble que les groupes de Suzor-Coté — peintre du Canada, le Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mont­ des Bois-Francs qui a fait carrière à Montréal réal se devait de grouper des œuvres suffisan­ — et de — peintre de Mont­ tes en nombre et en qualité pour permettre au réal qui a fait carrière à — pourraient visiteur d'ici ou d'ailleurs d'obtenir une notion être plus étoffés. Autant, en tous cas, que ceux exacte de l'art et de la peinture au Canada. Il de et de Maurice Cullen dont s'en faut de très peu qu'il ait encore atteint par­ le Musée possède quantité importante de fort faitement cet objectif. Sa collection d'art tra­ bons ouvrages. Enfin, le Musée ne contient que ditionnel ancien du Canada français est, par deux et trois Horatio Walker, exemple, moins considérable que celle du Mu­ tous bien caractéristiques toutefois de la ma­ sée du Québec, tandis que la peinture cana­ nière de ces peintres. Toutes ces lacunes, es­ dienne y est, somme toute, moins abondam­ pérons-le, seront sans doute corrigées avec ment illustrée qu'à la Galerie Nationale du le temps. Canada, à Ottawa. Nous venons de signaler les coins d'ombre, il Une collection publique se construit au ha­ nous reste à souligner maintenant les points sard des dons et des achats. Elle obéit de ce forts de la collection de peinture canadienne fait aux fluctuations du goût et aux disponibi­ d'hier. lités du marché. Elle présuppose surtout un Mises à part les quelques faiblesses ci-rele­ plan d'acquisition bien déterminé qui vise à vées, l'on peut affirmer que, tout compte fait, réunir des exemples typiques des divers as­ le visiteur du Musée peut y acquérir une con­ pects du talent des artistes les plus importants naissance satisfaisante touchant l'évolution de de chaque période et à combler les vides qui la peinture au Canada, pourvu, bien entendu, peuvent exister dans cet ensemble. On pour­ que les toiles soient accrochées aux cimaises, suit fort bien une telle politique au Musée de comme ce ne fut hélas! pas toujours le cas Montréal depuis vingt ans, et cela nous a déjà dans le passé. Une promenade au Musée Mc­ valu une ample et fructueuse moisson. Il n'en Cord, avec lequel le M.B.A.M. a conclu une a pas toujours été ainsi, malheureusement, et, entente amicale, permettra à l'amateur de com­ à venir jusqu'à une époque toute récente, le pléter dans une large mesure l'information déjà Musée s'en rapportait presque exclusivement recueillie au Musée. Ce dernier possède peu à la générosité de ses mécènes pour accroître d'exemplaires de nos tout premiers peintres, son fonds1. Ceci explique l'allure capricieuse à qui se cantonnèrent surtout dans le tableau laquelle s'est constituée la collection de pein­ d'église. Un don récent de M. Maurice Corbeil a ture canadienne d'hier au Musée. Un inventaire fait entrer au Musée deux effigies historiques sommaire du catalogue de cette dernière nous peintes par François Malepart de Beaucourt, et conduit à certaines constatations. on y avait acquis, il y a cinq ans, une rare natu­ Tout d'abord — comme dans tous les mu­ re morte de William von Moll Berczy. Paul sées du monde — on note la présence au fi­ Kane, l'iconographe par excellence des Indiens chier d'un certain nombre de tableaux médio­ du Canada, triomphe surtout au R.O.M.A. de cres, fort prisés dans leur temps mais que la et au Musée National, à Ottawa; le postérité n'a pas retenus, œuvres démodées et M.B.A.M. possède de lui deux tableaux qui sont désuètes, maintenant réléguées aux oubliettes de tout premier ordre. Cornelius Krieghoff, d'où on en exhumera rarement quelqu'une à peintre habile et artificiel qui demeure depuis l'occasion d'une exposition sur l'évolution de des décades le préféré des encanteurs et des la mode. Laissons ces gloires déchues à leur financiers anglo-canadiens, figure en bonne repos obscur et soyons assurés d'ailleurs que place avec onze toiles où s'étalent sa dextérité maints artistes contemporains, et non des et son pittoresque de pacotille, tandis que son moindres, iront peut-être les y rejoindre un contemporain William Raphael se défend fort jour. bien et moins bruyamment avec deux ouvrages En second lieu, le choix d'œuvres de chaque caractéristiques. Jean-Baptiste Roy-Audy est peintre est variable et inégal en nombre et en bien représenté par trois portraits solennels et qualité, la plupart n'étant représentés que par guindés et les trois peintres de Québec, Joseph un ou deux ouvrages. La collection comporte Légaré, Antoine Plamondon et Théophile Ha­ des vides, en particulier du côté des peintres mel le sont également, le premier par une com­ canadien-français. Il ne faut pas oublier position curieuse, le second par des portraits et que jusqu'à tout récemment le Musée était des tableaux religieux, fragments d'un chemin le fief quasi exclusif de la gentry anglo-saxonne de croix, et le troisième par deux solides por­ de Montréal et que ses membres en étaient traits. Les petits paysagistes canadiens du 19e à peu près les seuls donateurs. On com­ siècle sont nombreux aux cimaises, avec leurs prend qu'ils aient accordé leur préférence à vues panoramiques dénuées de prétentions leurs compatriotes et que, peut-être desservis autres que descriptives. par cet isolationnisme culturel qui a trop sou­ Mais c'est avec la peinture canadienne du

32 L'événement

20e siècle que le M.B.A.M. conquiert une gran­ de richesse documentaire. Nous avons noté au passage l'excellence des ensembles de William Brymner et de Maurice Cullen, tout en déplo­ rant le nombre insuffisant des Suzor-Coté et des Clarence Gagnon. A peu près tous les peintres valables de l'époque précontemporai­ ne sont représentés dignement ici, et presque toujours par des tableaux de qualité. Trois Ozias Leduc, d'acquisition plus ou moins ré­ cente, dont son fameux L'Heure mauve, illus­ trent à merveille, bien qu'incomplètement, le talent particulier de ce grand solitaire, tandis que John Lyman tient un rang honorable avec sept huiles lumineuses. Un savoureux Adrien Hébert, acheté depuis peu, Le Magasin de ta­ bac Hyman, vient de s'ajouter à sa claire perspective de la place Jacques-Cartier. La réunion de toiles et de croquis des peintres du Groupe des Sept et de leurs épigones, Albert Robinson, David Milne, Lionel LeMoine FitzGe­ rald et Emily Carr est parfaitement représentatif — bien qu'en nombre succinct — de cette école de peinture torontoise dont tous ne raffo­ lent pas, il est vrai, mais qui a néanmoins joué un rôle important dans l'histoire de l'art cana­ 1. (1865-1924) 2. William von MOLL BERCZY (1748-1813) dien. La vieille maison Holton à Montréal, v. 1909. Nature morte aux fleurs, v. 1805. Huile sur panneau; 28 cm x 22,8. La grande vedette de la collection de pein­ (C'est sur son emplacement que le musée actuel a été érigé.) Legs Horsley et Annie Townsend. ture canadienne d'hier au Musée des Beaux- Huile sur toile; 61 cm x 73,6. Arts de Montréal, sinon la grande vedette du Acquis en 1915. Legs John W. Tempest. 3. Ozias LEDUC (1864-1955) Musée tout court, c'est incontestablement la Fin du jour, 1913. collection de tableaux, pochades et aquarelles Huile sur toile; 50 cm 8 x 34,3. de James Wilson Morrice, lequel a été et de­ Legs Horsley et Annie Townsend. meure encore à ce jour le meilleur peintre du 4. William BRYMNER (1855-1925) Canada. Grâces en soient rendues à la famille Nu allongé, v. 1915. de l'artiste qui a généreusement doté le Musée Huile sur toile; Non signé; 45 cm 7 x 87. d'un ensemble incomparable où l'on peut admi­ Don de Mme William Brymner. rer toutes les facettes du talent du peintre. Le 5. William RAPHAEL (1833-1914) M.B.A.M. ne possède pas moins de soixante- Paysans attaqués par des loups, 1870. dix ouvrages de Morrice, de toutes les dimen­ Huile sur toile; 60 cm 3 x 106. sions. De ce nombre, neuf ont été offerts par Don de Mlles Scott.

33 L'événement

différents donateurs anglais, neuf ont été ache­ tés par le Musée grâce à des fonds constitués par d'autres mécènes et le reste a été légué par la famille Morrice, dont une dizaine d'es­ quisses et d'aquarelles en 1974, pendant la fer­ meture du Musée. Si l'on excepte les nus, l'on peut goûter dans cette collection très variée tous les aspects de ce poète attachant et singu­ lier qui s'est égalé aux plus brillants petits maî­ tres de l'Impressionnisme: paysages de ou des Antilles, vues de Venise ou d'Afrique du Nord, scènes de la rue ou du cirque, visages mélancoliques abîmés dans la rêverie, pers­ pectives enneigées du Québec, tout Morrice est là avec son laconisme du trait et de la cou­ leur, avec ses accents discrets comme des murmures et, pourtant, si prenants. Je connais plusieurs amateurs, et nous sommes de ceux- là, qui sont souvent retournés au Musée uni­ quement pour y revoir une fois de plus les Morrice. On nous informe que le Musée rénové aura sa salle Morrice et que l'on y exposera à tour de rôle les différents tableaux de lui qu'on y possède. Pour célébrer la réouverture du Musée en mai 1976, nulle fête ne saurait être plus brillante, selon nous, que d'y voir rassem­ blés une fois, dans un même lieu, tous les Mor­ rice de la collection du Musée. Le regretté Donald Jarvis, qui avait le sens du spectacle, avait persuadé le gouvernement canadien d'acquérir quelques toiles de maîtres provenant de la collection des princes du Liechstenstein (deux Filippo Lippi, un Memling et un Rubens), afin d'enrichir la Galerie Natio­ nale du Canada de tableaux prestigieux sus­ ceptibles d'y attirer les foules et, dans le même ordre de pensée, il avait même rêvé y faire en­ trer aussi le rarissime Portrait de Ginevra Benci, par Léonard de Vinci, maintenant à la Galerie Nationale de Washington. Nous avons souvent interrogé les collections du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal afin d'y déceler des pôles d'attraction populaire. Il y a d'excellen­ tes choses dans notre Musée, mais peu de ve­ dettes éclatantes. A défaut de jocondes ou de venus de Milo, pourquoi ne mettrait-on pas da­ vantage en valeur cet ensemble prestigieux d'œuvres de James Wilson Morrice qui s'avère le joyau de la collection de peinture canadien­ ne d'hier du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Mont­ réal2.

1. Pour combler les lacunes des collections du M.B.A.M. ou de tous les musées du Canada et accélérer leur enri­ chissement, il serait hautement souhaitable qu'on votât enfin, à Ottawa, une loi de dégrèvement fiscal plus souple et plus généreuse, comparable à celle qui est en vigueur aux États-Unis, et qui inciterait davantage les collection­ neurs à céder leurs trésors aux galeries publiques. 2. Nos vifs remerciements à M. Germain Lefebvre, Con­ servateur adjoint de la Collection de peinture canadienne au Musée, dont l'assistance, en cette période de ferme­ ture, nous a été infiniment précieuse.

English Translation, p. 89 vo

6. Adrien HEBERT (1890-1967) 8. Clarence-A. GAGNON (1881-1942) 9. Albert Henry ROBINSON (1881-1956) Le Débit de tabac Hyman, 1937. Bœuts au labour, à Beaupré, 1903. La Baie-Saint-Paul, v. 1923. Huile sur toile; 81 cm 3 x 121,9. Huile sur toile; 51 cm 1 x 71,4. Huile sur toile; 68 cm 8 x 84,1. Legs Horsley et Annie Townsend. Don du Dr J. Douglas Morgan. Don de Mme W. L. Davis. 7. Alexander Y. JACKSON (1882-1974) 10. Paul KANE (1810-1871) Jour gris dans les Laurentides, 1931. Caw-Wacham. Huile sur toile; 63 cm 5 x 81,5. Huile sur toile; Non signé; 76 cm 2 x 61,2. Fonds A. Sidney Dawes et Dr F. J. Shepherd. Legs Gilman Cheney.

34 L'événement

33 communities: Rimouski, from Jan. 16 to Feb. ricton, Oct. 1 to 31, 1975; Thunder Bay, Nov. 20 Bantey handle public relations. Mme Jacque­ 17, 1974; Sherbrooke, from March 10 to 31, 1975, to Jan. 4 1976; Vaudreuil, Jan. 26 to Feb. line Primeau and Miss Muriel Berger look after 1974; Fredericton, from July 4 to Sept. 15,1974; 23, 1976; Timmins, March 6-31, 1976; Saint- administrative and secretarial matters. , from Nov. 21, 1974, to Jan. 12, 1975; Lambert, April 15 to May 3, 1976. To sum up, it is fortunate indeed that the and Winnipeg, from March 13 to June 29, 1975. This exhibition was followed by Eros, a series National Museums have detached the basic This was how the extension service of the Mu­ of by André Théroux, on the theme support grant from general contributions they seum officially began. The task of putting into of the female body; Vibes in Colour, the achiev­ make to associate museums. They thus ensure practice the new policy of the Secretary of ement of Rita Letendre from 1962 to to-day, continuity of extension services, now consider­ State was entrusted to he National Museums. It with one painting representing each year; and, ed essential. If we are still far removed from the became necessary to establish a system of finally, Ritual Sculpture from Black Africa, museum without walls — a Utopian notion if regular grants to enable cultural extension via another exhibition designed to enable Cana­ ever there was one — the museum outside the museums to become a permanent system. dians to judge, on the basis of originals, a walls, on the other hand, is already here. Those who wished to participate in the program form of art which shook the Western tradition were assured of annual support. Obviously, to its foundations. These exhibitions completed certain conditions had to be met and the effec­ the first year of activity of the extension tiveness shown of projects proposed to National services. Museums. In 1975, Mr. Jacques Toupin, who had been The Deputy-director of the Museum was artistic director of La Maison des Arts de La PRE-CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN charged with organizing a team, with conceiv­ Sauvegarde, succeeded Mr. Dumouchel, who PAINTING IN THE COLLECTIONS ing exhibitions, with creating a system of left the Museum to undertake personal projects. OF THE MONTREAL MUSEUM presentation and interpretation, and with organ­ Mr. Toupin brings to the Museum and to its OF FINE ARTS izing circuits. With the assistance of the entire extension services considerable experience in Museum staff, the project became a reality. the field of traditional and contemporary Que­ First, the staff familiarized itself with conditions bec art. He is preparing the 1976 program with By Paul DUMAS in various cultural centres in Quebec and then enthusiasm. The anticipated exhibitions are in the rest of Canada. Mr. Jacques Dumouchel, Quebec, TV and Co., paintings by the self- Founded in 1860 under the name of Montreal assistant curator for extension, hired in 1974, taught artist Ernest Gendron, which even now Art Association, the Montreal Museum of Fine began inspection tours while co-operating in is assured of a cross-Canada circuit; and Arts was established as a semi-public museum the organization of exhibitions. A son of Albert Smiles, forty works by seven Montreal artist who in 1948. It is therefore at one and the same time Dumouchel, whose example and teaching gave use black and white in their drawings and prints a very old institution and a very young museum. birth to contemporary print-making in Quebec, to illustrate contemporary life with a certain This duality of nature leads us to admire in it, Mr. Dumouchel enthusiastically undertook degree of irony. Mr. Germain Lefebvre, asso­ as we should, the fine canvases contained in organization of the exhibition The Fifty-five Sta­ ciate curator of , conceived and the collections of Canadian paintings dating tions ot the Tokaido by the great Japanese artist prepared the exhibition. Mr. Toupin also is from before 1940, and to accept its gaps with Hiroshige. Japanese wood-prints played an working on an exhibition dealing with design indulgence. important rôle in the modernization of methods of the past and present. It will allow the viewer One of the chief missions of a museum is to of contemporary art around the end of the nine­ to compare the practical solutions arrived at offer to the public the most representative teenth century. It was a long-term rôle since the years ago in the fabrication of utilitarian objects ensemble possible of the art created in a given spatial concepts of the Japanese masters even with what present-day designers propose. place, as well as the best examples within its now continue to influence the evolution of gra­ Suzor-Coté is on the program, along with the power to acquire, of universal art. Located in phic creation. The Museum thought it appro­ œuvre of Albéric Bourgeois, the great carica­ the biggest city in Canada, the Montreal Mu­ priate to give the public an opportunity to see turist of La Presse in the 1920s and 1930s. Two seum of Fine Arts should have felt obliged to and admire this extraordinary series of prints consecutive exhibitions will be devoted to him: devote itself to grouping works sufficient in which formerly only had been talked about. the first on the theme of national affairs, the se­ number and quality to allow local visitors and The series had just been given to the Museum cond on international politics. Under study are those from elsewhere to form an exact idea of by Mrs. Mary Fraikin in memory of her father, projets of avant-garde art, monumental outdoor art and painting in Canada. Little is lacking for Maurice Van Ysendyck. sculpture, and women artists. it to attain complete perfection on this point. In mounting this second travelling exhibition The staff in charge of extension services at The Museum's collection of the old traditional after Cultures of the Sun and the Snow, the the Museum works in close co-operation with art of French Canada is, for example, less ex­ practical bases for the extension service had centres which present the exhibitions. Curators tensive than that at the Quebec Museum, while been set. It was decided to present only original and the assistant conservator, Raynald Hardy, Canadian painting is, on the whole, less fully works. Reproductions would be used solely for assist by going on-site when handling or instal­ illustrated here than in the National Gallery of didactic support. lation problems occur. Such visits are valuable Canada at Ottawa. Guided by the old proverb "Charity begins didactically since the information they supply A public collection is assembled at the will at home", the extension service, before taking benefits the heads of the centres. Thus, a slow, of gifts and purchases. And so it obeys fluctua­ to the roads of Quebec and of Canada, first but constant, development of sound museologi- tions of taste and availabilities of the market. It looked after the metropolitan region where cal procedures results in the whole of Quebec presupposes especially a well-defined plan of thousands of persons have only limited access and of Canada. It has even occurred that what acquisition that aims at collecting typical to original works of art. This is how The Fifty- seemed logical at first was later reversed. We examples of the different aspects of the talent five Stations of the Tokaido was launched at were astonished when a number of centres, of the most important artists of each period and Concordia University Dec. 5, 1974. Critics whose galleries were notorious for their inade­ filling the voids that may exist in this ensemble. George Bogardi and Henry Lehmann described quacies, decided to improve them in order to be Such a policy has been followed very well at the the exhibition as the most extraordinary show able to present exhibitions we had offered Montreal Museum for twenty years, and this held in Montreal that year. If one dwells on this them, subject to the meeting of certain condi­ has already brought us an abundant and fruit­ exhibition, it is because it made it possible to tions. Until then, there had been the conviction ful harvest. Unfortunately, this has not always determine standards of presentation and exe­ that one simply had to set up galleries and that been true, and, until a very recent period, the cution. Other than those already described, it exhibitions would follow on their own. Now Museum depended almost exclusively on the was decided that each exhibition would be the wish to receive travelling exhibitions has generosity of its patrons to increase its funds'. accompanied by unilingual French and English become the principal motivation for improving This explains the capricious pace at which the poster-folders available to the public without physical plants. collection of yesterday's Canadian painting charge. These illustrated documents include It would be wrong not to comment on the was acquired at the Museum. A brief inventory an essay containing interesting data on the enormous amount of work carried out by Mu­ of its catalogue leads us to certain findings. works exhibited — data in keeping with the seum preparators and carpenters. Under the Firstly — as in all museums in the world — Canadian cultural and artistic context. The direction of Mr. Albert Couturier, they look we note in the catalogue the presence of a following is a list of centres which The Fifty-five after framing, the construction of bases, dis­ certain number of mediocre pictures, much Stations of the Tokaido has visited or will visit: play cases, and crates for packing. Mr. Donald prized in their time but not retained by pos­ Montreal, Dec. 5, 1974, to Jan. 7, 1975; Shawi­ Youngson handles transport and insurance. terity, old-fashioned and obsolete works, now nigan, Jan. 23 to Feb. 23, 1975; Trois-Rivières, Accounting is administered by Mr. John Wynn. relegated to oblivion whence one might be Feb. 26 to March 22, 1975; Rimouski, April 9 Translation, particularly important in Canada, exhumed rarely on the occasion of an exhibi­ to May 4, 1975; Winnipeg, May 15 to June 22, is the responsibility of Mme Camille Létour­ tion on the evolution of its particular style. Let 1975; Regina, July 15 to Aug. 15, 1975; Frede­ neau. Mme Françoise Saint-Michel and Bill us leave these fallen glories to their obscure

89 rest and let us also be assured that many con­ pompous portraits, and the three Quebec paint­ Rubens), in order to enrich the National Gallery temporary artists, and not minor ones, will per­ ers, Joseph Légaré, Antoine Plamondon and of Canada by prestigious pictures able to attract haps join them some day. Théophile Hamel are represented as well, the crowds and, in the same line of thought, he had Secondly, the choice of the work of each first by a strange composition, the second by even dreamed of bringing in also the extraordi­ painter is variable and uneven in number and portraits and religious pictures, odd parts of a nary Portrait of Ginevra Benci by Leonardo da quality, most being represented by only one or stations of the Cross, and the third by two Vinci now at the National Gallery in Washington. two works. The collection admits of voids, strong portraits. The lesser Canadian landscape We have often examined the Montreal Museum particularly in the class of French-Canadian painters of the 19th century are numerous on of Fine Arts collections in order to discover in painters. It must not be forgotten that until very the walls, with their panoramic views divested them poles of popular attraction. There are recently the Museum was the almost exclusive of pretensions other than descriptive. excellent things in our museum, but few daz­ domain of the Anglo-Saxon gentry ot Montreal But it is with Canadian painting of the 20th zling ones. Lacking Mona Lisas or Venus de Mi- and that its members were almost the only century that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts los, why should we not further show to advan­ donors. It is understandable that they gave achieves a great documentary richness. We tage this prestigious collection of James Wilson their preference to their compatriots and that, have noted in passing the excellence of the Morrice's works that is the brightest jewel of perhaps badly served by that cultural isolation­ representation of William Brymner and Maurice the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts collection of ism which has too often afflicted some Anglo- Cullen, while deploring the insufficiency of Canadian painting of yesterday'. Canadians, they were led to neglect the French- Suzor-Coté's and Clarence Gagnon's works. Canadian painters. Very fortunately, the Mu­ Almost all the important painters of the pre- 1.To fill the gaps in the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts seum's acquisition policy has changed much contemporary period are worthily represented collections, and in all of Canada's museums, and to hasten their enrichment, it is much to be desired that in the last twenty years and has appreciably here, and almost always by fine pictures. Three there should finally be passed in Ottawa a more flexible corrected this state of things. However, there Ozias Leduc, more or less recently acquired, and more generous tax abatement law, comparable to still exist some deficiencies. Among the paint­ one of which is his famous L'Heure mauve, illus­ the one in force in the United States, and which would ers of the past, some are still conspicuous by trate wonderfully although incompletely the further prompt collectors to transfer their treasures to public galleries. their absence, such as Zacharie Vincent — special talent of this recluse, while John Lyman 2. Our warm thanks to Mr. Germain Lefebvre, Curator of although it is true that he produced very little holds an honourable place with seven luminous the Canadian Painting Collection at the Montreal Mu­ —, Napoléon Bourassa, Charles Huot, Ludger oils. A delightful Adrien Hébert, bought re­ seum of Fine Arts, whose assistance, during this period when the museum was closed, has been immeasurably Larose, Henri Beau, Joseph Saint-Charles and, cently, Hyman's Tobacco Shop, has just been valuable to us. closer to us, Randolph Hewton and Alexandre added to his limpid perspective, Place Jacques- (Translation by Mildred Grand) Bercovitch. The Museum owns only one oil by Cartier. The ensemble of canvases and Henri Julien, Georges Delfosse and Marc- sketches by the painters of the Group of Seven Aurèle Fortin, and it seems to us that the and their epigones, Albert Robinson, David groups by Suzor-Coté — painter of Bois-Francs Milne, Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald and Emily who made a career in Montreal and by Clarence Carr is perfectly representative — although Gagnon — Montreal painter who made his in scanty in number — of this school of Toronto Paris — could be more ample. As much, in any painting with which not everyone is infatuated, QUEBEC CONTEMPORARY ART case, as those by William Brymner and Maurice it is true, but which has nevertheless played an IN THE MUSEUM Cullen, of whom the Museum owns a consider­ important rôle in the history of Canadian art. able number of very good works. Finally, the The very best part of yesterday's Canadian Museum contains only two Homer Watsons and painting collection at the Montreal Museum of By Germain LEFEBVRE three Horatio Walkers, all very characteristic, Fine Arts, if not the best of the whole museum, nevertheless of the style of these artists. It is to is undeniably that of the pictures, sketches and In October, 1940, the Art Association of be hoped that all of these absences will be water-colours by James Wilson Morrice, who Montreal — since become The Montreal corrected with time. was and still remains to this day Canada's Museum of Fine Arts — staged a major exhibi­ We have just described the shadowed cor­ greatest painter. Thanks are due for this to the tion of the work of Alfred Pellan who had just ners, and it now remains for us to emphasize artist's family, who generously bestowed on the returned to Canada after a fourteen-year stay the strong points of the collection of yester­ Museum an unrivalled ensemble in which one in Paris. It had the effect of a bomb on Montreal day's Canadian painting at the Montreal Mu­ can admire all the facets of the painter's talent. critics and art-lovers and the Museum, in pre­ seum of Fine Arts. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts possesses senting it, officially recognized the artistic Putting aside the few weak spots mentioned no fewer than seventy of Morrice's works, of all renewal which had begun in Quebec a year above, we can state that, all in all, a visitor to sizes. Of these, nine were given by different before through the foundation of the Contem­ the Museum can acquire there a satisfying English donors, nine were bought by the Mu­ porary Art Society, under the leadership of knowledge of the evolution of painting in Can­ seum thanks to funds provided by other patrons, John Lyman. ada, provided, naturally, that the canvases are and the rest were bequeathed by the Morrice The desire to maintain a close link with con­ hung, as was not, unfortunately, the case in the Family, among them about ten sketches and temporary creative activity was not a new past. A visit to the McCord Museum, with which water-colours in 1974, during the closing of the phenomenon at the Museum where the Spring the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has made a Museum. If we exclude the nudes, we can enjoy Exhibition each year shows the most recent friendly agreement, will give the lover of art in this much-varied collection all the aspects of achievement of painters, sculptors and print- the opportunity of completing in large measure this engaging and unusual poet who was the makers. Even before the Pellanian shock, the the information previously acquired at the Mu­ equal of the most brilliant minor masters of Spring Exhibition catalogues of the late 1930s seum. The latter has few specimens of the work : landscapes of France and the included the names of a number of artists who of our very first painters, who confined them­ Antilles, views of Venice or North Africa, street soon were to participate in the emancipation of selves mostly to church pictures. A recent or circus scenes, melancholy faces sunk in an art centred on the search for new aesthetic donation by Mr. Maurice Corbeil has brought to reverie, snowy vistas of Quebec, all of Morrice values, such as Goodridge Roberts, Fritz the Museum two historical figures painted by is here with his economy of line and colour, with Brandner, Marian Scott, Jean-Paul Lemieux, François Malepart de Beaucourt, and five years his accents discreet as murmurs and yet so and Paul-Émile Borduas. ago a rare still-life by William von Moll Berczy enticing. I know several art lovers, and we are A year after the appearance of Refus global, was acquired. Paul Kane, the iconographer par among them, who have often returned to the whose author drew the censure and anathema excellence of the Indians of Canada, is best Museum solely to see the Morrice works once of the authorities and the Establishment, the represented at the Royal Ontario Museum in more. We are told that the renovated Museum jury of the sixty-sixth Spring Exhibition, pre­ Toronto, and at the National Museum in Ottawa; will have its Morrice room, and that they will sented from April 20 to May 15, 1949, dared the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts owns two of exhibit in turn the different pictures they have accept the works of Marcel Barbeau, Pierre his pictures which are first-rate. Cornelius of his. To mark the reopening of the Museum Gauvreau, Jean-Paul Mousseau, Jean-Paul Krieghoff, a clever artificial painter who has for in May 1976, no celebration could be more Riopelle, all co-signatories of the manifesto, decades been the favourite of auctioneers and brilliant, in our opinion, than to see gathered and topped its audacity by awarding the prize Anglo-Canadian financiers, appears well repre­ together for once, in the same place, all the for painting to Paul-Émile Borduas. It is inter­ sented with eleven canvases in which are dis­ Morrice works in the Museum's collection. esting to note that the exhibition also included played his dexterity and his picturesque shodi- The late Donald Jarvis, who had a feeling entries from Léon Bellefleur, Anne Kahane, ness, while his contemporary, William Raphael, for a spectacle, had persuaded the Canadian Jean McEwen, Alfred Pellan, Jacques de holds his own very well and less noisily with government to acquire some canvases by mas­ Tonnancour, Albert Dumouchel, Louis Ar­ two characteristic works. Jean-Baptiste Roy- ters from the collection of the princes of Liech­ chambault, and Robert Roussil. Audy is well represented by three solemn and tenstein (two Filippo Lippi, a Memling and a Beyond these group exhibitions, the Museum

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