ANNUAL REPORT 2019| 2020 CONTENTS A STAGE FOR THE ARTS OF ONE WORLD NEW WING UNVEILED AT THE MMFA IN 2019 ............................................................. 4 CHAIR’S REPORT .......................................................................................................................... 8 EXHIBITIONS THIERRY MUGLER: COUTURISSIME ...............................................................................................10 OMAR BA: SAME DREAM ............................................................................................................12 EGYPTIAN MUMMIES: EXPLORING ANCIENT LIVES ........................................................................14 “FOR EVERY ATOM BELONGING TO ME AS GOOD BELONGS TO YOU”: SELECTIONS FROM THE BAILEY COLLECTION ................................................................................. 16 ABOUT FACE: PHOTOGRAPHS BY CINDY SHERMAN, LAURIE SIMMONS AND RACHEL HARRISON FROM THE COLLECTION OF CAROL AND DAVID APPEL ............................. 18 DISCOVERY EXHIBITIONS ............................................................................................................20 EXHIBITIONS ON TOUR ...............................................................................................................24 EDUCATION AND WELLNESS DIVISION PROJECTS THAT UNITE US .............................................................................................................26 EDUC-EXPOS ...................................................................................................................................28 REPORT FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF VOLUNTEER GUIDES ........................................................29 THE RESTORATION OF WORKS IN OUR COLLECTION .............................................. 30 OUR ARTWORKS ON LOAN AROUND THE WORLD ................................................... 32 ACQUISITIONS 2019-2020 A YEAR SYMBOLIZED BY DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND OPENNESS TO THE WORLD ...................................................................................................34 LIST OF ACQUISITIONS INTERNATIONAL ART ..................................................................................................................36 QUEBEC AND CANADIAN ART .....................................................................................................40 DECORATIVE ARTS AND DESIGN ..................................................................................................48 REPORT FROM THE ADMINISTRATION ........................................................................... 52 REPORT FROM THE COMMUNICATIONS DIVISION.................................................... 53 REPORT FROM THE DIRECTOR GENERAL AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF THE FOUNDATION............................... 54 GOVERNANCE AND TRIBUTES 2019-2020 ANNUAL FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS .........................................................................58 MUSEUM BALL ................................................................................................................................ 59 IN TRIBUTE TO OUR GREAT PATRONS ...........................................................................................60 MAJOR FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGNS (2008-2013 AND 2014-2019). .............................................60 MAJOR DONATIONS .......................................................................................................................................60 MUSEUM OFFICERS, TRUSTEES AND COMMITTEES..........................................................................61 MUSEUM FOUNDATION OFFICERS, TRUSTEES AND COMMITTEES ...................................................61 ▶ MUSEUM STAFF Yinka Shonibare, C.B.E. (born in 1962) ...............................................................................................................................62 Pan, 2018. Loan from a private collection © Yinka Shonibare, C.B.E. / SOCAN (2020) ARTE MUSICA AND BOURGIE HALL ....................................................................................64 Photo courtesy James Cohan, New York 2 A STAGE FOR THE ARTS OF ONE WORLD NEW WING UNVEILED AT THE MMFA IN 2019 cultures in our world, which have never been so closely connected. This wing represents at once a journey toward the Other and an awakening to our common fate in the face of issues of sustainable development and the preservation of our planet’s diversity. “ONE WORLD”: A TRIBUTE TO ÉDOUARD GLISSANT The MMFA’s World Cultures collection underwent a complete re-envisioning and renaming, inspired by the concept of One World (Tout-monde) introduced by Martinique poet and philosopher Édouard Glissant (1928-2011). “Relationships” are the cornerstone of his thought on diversity and plurality. Questioning the ethnocentric views of our world and History, Glissant interprets modernity as a process by which all peoples and all cultures enter into relation with one another in a non-hierarchical world. “I call ‘One World’ our universe as it changes and persists through our interactions, as well as our ‘vision’ of this. A One World in the totality of its physical diversity and the representations it inspires in us: let us no longer suffer to sing, speak or work from our single place without plunging into an imagining of this totality,” wrote Édouard Glissant in his Traité du Tout-monde. In November 2019, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts unveiled A GEOPOETIC STROLL THROUGH THE ARTS OF the Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery Wing for the Arts of ONE WORLD One World. Located on the 4th floor of the Jean-Noël Desmarais The wing is laid out along broad geocultural zones, which communicate Pavilion, the wing’s 10 fully refurbished galleries create a dialogue with each other through openings that offer multiple vantage points between works of ancient cultures and those of local and inter- from one gallery to the next. Their borders are therefore not dividing national contemporary artists by presenting them in a renewed, lines but places of exchange that mirror the circulation of worlds. intercultural, transhistorical perspective. This ambitious reinstal- Through this permanent exhibition, the Museum seeks to spark a lation was made possible thanks to the outstanding support of conversation with the public about issues of contemporary society. Stephan Crétier and Stéphany Maillery. To this effect, the layout connects the past and present by means of various current and cross-disciplinary themes, including the use and An exceptional tool for discovering and understanding cultural diver- exploitation of natural resources (gold, ivory, coffee, tobacco), pollution, sity across the globe, and among Canadian artists, the wing displays migration, consumption and climate change, among others. In these a rich selection from the MMFA’s collection. Comprising over 10,000 thought-provoking juxtapositions, the wing expresses the humanist and achaeological objects and works by artists from cultures the world socially engaged vision of a museum that is oriented to the world. The over, the Museum’s encyclopaedic collection is one of the oldest and various materials used to frame the galleries were chosen in reverence most prestigious in Canada. The new space housed in the Jean-Noël to the cultural environment from which the displayed objects hark: Desmarais Pavilion, the largest and most visited of the Museum’s five corroded steel, with its rust-like appearance, recalls African red soils; pavilions, presents treasures from Africa, Asia, the Mediterranean, the charred wooden beams resemble the Japanese technique of preserving Middle East, Oceania and the Americas dating from the 4th millennium wood buildings; and mashrabiya structures pay homage to the traditional B.C.E. to today. It invites visitors to take a fresh, 360-degree look at architecture of Arab countries. our ancient heritage and contemporary creations. The path through the galleries highlights an intermingling between cultures past and LOCAL ARTISTS AN INTEGRAL PART OF THE ARTS OF present, while at the same time explores current disciplines and social ONE WORLD concerns that reach beyond the discourse of art history. Tucked in the Alongside works by international artists are presented those by about heart of a humanist and socially engaged museum, the wing promotes 70 Canadian and Quebec creators, including Shary Boyle, Léopold L. inclusive values that aptly reflect Montreal, a city made up of close Foulem, Isabelle Hayeur, Richard Milette, Françoise Sullivan, Barbara to 120 cultural communities. It invites a coming together with a view Todd and Kim Waldron, resulting in an interplay among cultures to better understand one another in a 21st century in which living from every continent. The wing also gives visitors an opportunity together harmoniously is an issue of vital importance. to view the photography of Quebec creators such as Darren Ell, Michel Huneault and Valerian Mazataud, who were invited to portray “These values of celebrating diversity are deeply held convictions. their visions of the world for La Balade pour la Paix: An Open-Air In our work, we meet people every day from all backgrounds and Museum, in 2017. In addition, the wing showcases works by emerging cultures, all around the world, from the Americas, to Europe, to Africa Canadian artists from our diverse cultural communities: commissions by to the Middle East. Art is often the gateway, the universal language Arwa Abouon, Maria Ezcurra and Nuria Carton de Grammont, by which we can understand others