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INTERARTISTIC MODERNISM in CANADA, 1930-1960 Michèle

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BETWEEN THE LINES: INTERARTISTIC MODERNISM IN CANADA, 1930-1960 Michèle Rackham Department of English McGill University, Montreal November 2011 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy © Michèle Rackham 2011 for David TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT / RÉSUMÉ i-iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v-viii INTRODUCTION Contextualizing the Rise of Interartistic 1 Modernism in Canada CHAPTER ONE ―Not nature alone, but nature‘s relationship to man‖: 46 Emily Carr‘s and Dorothy Livesay‘s Landscapes of Affect CHAPTER TWO Montreal Modernisms, Little Magazines, and the 130 Agency of Visual Art in the 1940s CHAPTER THREE ―Let A- / tomic unsplittable REALITY / now at last / 225 be exploded to hell‖: The Energy of Canadian Modernist Poetry and Visual Art in the Fifties CHAPTER FOUR P.K. Page-Irwin‘s ―Geometry Awash‖: Negotiating 332 Modernist Aesthetics Via the Visual Arts CONCLUSION Canada‘s Interartistic Modernism and National Culture 430 WORKS CITED 450 Rackham i ABSTRACT This dissertation offers the first comprehensive examination of the diverse inte- ractions and collaborations among Canadian modernist poets and artists, as well as the aesthetic, thematic, and idiomatic relationships between their poems and works of art. The project incorporates archival and historical research to demon- strate the interartistic nature of modernist poetry in Canada between 1930 and 1960. By establishing that paintings, sculptures, and book designs and illustrations by Canadian artists who knew and worked closely with Canadian modernist poets informed and affirmed the content and aesthetics of the poetry, the dissertation argues for a consideration of the social dimension of literary modernism in Cana- da. Chapter One investigates the personal relationship between the poet Dorothy Livesay and the artist Emily Carr and reveals the aesthetic and thematic conver- gences of their paintings and poems as they relate to landscape and affect. Chapter Two deals with the Montreal little magazines of the 1940s as interartistic sites of collaboration among artists and poets and argues that the artists‘ paintings pro- vided models of human agency for the poets. Chapter Three considers the small press movement and gallery space of the 1950s as similar sites of interartistic col- laboration and contact; it suggests that this contact inspired Canadian modernist poets to translate the aesthetic and thematic tensions of Canadian art into their poems. Chapter Four concerns both the poetry and visual art of P.K. Page-Irwin and argues that the poet addressed an ongoing aesthetic conflict in her poetry through the visual arts. Where the first chapter examines the relationship between a single poet and a single artist, the second and third chapters analyze the dynam- ics of groups of artists and poets working closely together on little magazines and Rackham ii on small press publications and encountering each others‘ work within the space of a gallery. The final chapter considers the work of a poet who is also a visual artist. This framework reveals the diversity of interartistic relationships that flou- rished throughout the rise of modernism in Canada. Rackham iii RÉSUMÉ Cette thèse de doctorat offre le premier examen approfondi des diverses interactions et collaborations parmi les poètes et les artistes modernes du Canada et les relations aesthétiques, thématiques, et idiomatiques entre leurs poèmes et leurs oeuvres d‘art. Le projet prend en compte la recherche historique et archiviste pour démontrer la nature interartistique de la poésie moderniste au Canada entre 1930 et 1960. En démontrant que les peintures, sculptures, et con- ceptions et illustrations de livres par les artistes Canadiens qui connaissaient et travaillaient de près avec les poètes modernistes du Canada ont informé et affirmé les sujets et l‘aesthetique de la poésie, cette thèse de doctorat soutient que la di- mension sociale de la litérature moderniste au Canada soit considérée. Chapître un enquête sur la relation personnelle entre la poète Dorothy Livesay et la peintre Emily Carr et révèle les convergences aesthétiques et thématiques de leurs pein- tures et poèmes comme ils se rapportent au paysagisme et aux émotions. Chapître deux traite sur le sujet des petites revues de Montréal dans les années 1940 comme étant des sites interartistiques de collaboration parmi des artistes et des poètes et soutient que les peintures par ces artistes fournissaient des modèles de l‘agence humaine pour les poètes. Chapître trois considère le mouvement de pe- tites maisons d‘édition et l‘espace des galeries d‘art dans les années 1950 comme étant de semblables sites interartistiques de collaboration et contact; il suggère que ce contact a inspiré les poètes modernistes du Canada à traduire les tensions aesthétiques et thématiques d‘art Canadien vers leurs poèmes. Chapître quatre concerne et la poésie et l‘art visuel de P.K. Page-Irwin et soutient que la poète ab- ordait un conflit aesthétique continuel dans sa poésie à travers les arts visuels. Où Rackham iv le premier chapître examine la relation entre une seule poète et une seule artiste, le deuxième et le troisième chapîtres analysent les dynamiques des groupes d‘artistes et poètes travaillant ensembles sur les petites revues et les publications de petites maisons d‘édition et qui devenaient exposés aux oeuvres des uns et des autres dans l‘espace de la galerie d‘art. Le dernier chapître considère l‘ouvrage littéraire et artistique d‘une seule poète qui est aussi une artiste visuelle. Ce cadre révèle la diversité des relations interartistiques fleurrissant durant la hausse du modernisme au Canada. Rackham v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My sincere and heartfelt thanks to those who supported and stood by me through- out the duration of the dissertation. First among them is my loving husband, Da- vid Hall, who encouraged me and supported me both emotionally and financially from start to finish. He also gallantly chauffeured me to remote locations to con- duct interviews and photograph artworks. To my parents, James and Diane Rack- ham, and my in-laws, Wayne Hall and Patricia Hall, I am forever grateful for your encouragement. I am also thankful for the generosity of my uncle and aunt, Ro- bert Robb and June Robb, who let me stay with them while working on this project, fed me many hearty dinners, and even prepared bagged lunches for me to bring to school: your kindness will never be forgotten. This project benefited enormously from the broad and profound know- ledge of Brian Trehearne. His inspiring enthusiasm for Canadian poetry and visu- al art, keen editorial eye, and candid advice were indispensible to the completion of this project. I am deeply grateful for his dedication, patience, and exceptional supervision. The idea for this project grew out of many conversations with Collett Tra- cey, my MA supervisor, and Michael Gnarowski, who offered preliminary guid- ance. Their passion for Canadian modernist poetry and literary history was inspi- rational and their encouragement will forever be appreciated. Jenn Macquarrie was also involved in these seminal conversations, and I am grateful for her know- ledge and assistance with interviews and early research. Of great assistance to the chapter on P.K. Page-Irwin was Zailig Pollock, who not only made his high resolution photographs of P.K. Irwin‘s paintings Rackham vi available to me, but also offered detailed information about these paintings, bio- graphical information about the artist, and insight into her interest in Sufism. He also arranged a meeting with Page at her home in 2009, where I was able to speak candidly with the artist about her artwork and view her paintings and those of oth- er artists she admired—James Wilson Morrice, Jori Smith, Portinari—hanging on her walls. Sincere thanks to Aileen Collins and Stanley Rozynski, who both gra- ciously hosted me at their homes to discuss their work with CIV/n, share their knowledge about Montreal poets and artists they knew and worked with, and show me original paintings and drawings by these artists. Thank you, also, to Max Layton, who shared with me details about his mother‘s art and information about her life in Montreal during the 1940s and 1950s. Other people offered guidance and assistance with the research and writ- ing of this project. Miranda Hickman gave me useful advice and insight on sources related to material modernism. Dean Irvine shared a catalogue of a CAS exhibition that includes an introduction by Patrick Anderson. Sandra Djwa gra- ciously provided me with excerpts from a draft of her unpublished biography on P.K. Page and her general knowledge about Page‘s interest in the visual arts and relationships with artists, such as Jori Smith. Nathalie Cooke read an early draft of Chapter Two and provided some helpful direction. Jeff Weingarten read drafts of a few of the chapters and offered his keen advice and assistance as an editor. Joel Deshaye pointed out a few sources on poet-artist relationships in Canada. Emily Ballantyne shared her MA thesis and discussed P.K. Irwin‘s artwork with me. I am grateful for each of their generosity, advice, and our wonderful conversations. Rackham vii Other students and organizations contributed less directly, but nonetheless helpfully, to the completion of this project. Sarah Skoronski benevolently hosted me in Montreal on numerous occasions while working on this project. Emily Es- sert and Caroline Krzakowski were wonderful listeners as well as fonts of infor- mation about British and American modernism. I am also grateful to the Editing Modernism in Canada (EMiC) project for funding my participation in seminars and conferences related to my work on P.K. Irwin. The EMiC community, fur- thermore, has been incredibly supportive of this project, and I would like to thank its numerous members for their candid conversations, invaluable insight, and sharp advice.
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