LEISURE AND PLEASURE AS MODERNIST UTOPIAN D3EAL: THE DRAWINGS AND PAINTINGS BY B.C.BINNING FROM THE MID 1940S TO THE EARLY 1950S by KAORI YAMANAKA B.A., The University of British Columbia, 1994 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of Fine Arts) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA April 1999 © Kaori Yamanaka, 1999 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. Department of The University of British Columbia Vancouver, Canada Date A(^i( 30, DE-6 (2/88) 11 Abstract Bertram Charles Binning's depiction of British Columbia coastal scenes in his drawings and paintings of the mid 1940s to the early 1950s present images of sunlit seascapes in recreational settings; they are scenes of leisure and pleasure. The concern for leisure and pleasure was central to the artist's modernism, even after he began painting in a semi-abstract manner around 1948. In this particular construction of modernism, Binning offered pleasure as an antidote to some of the anxieties he observed in postwar culture. Binning also thought that art could contribute to life in a direct way. In the mid to late 1940s, Vancouver saw a series of artistic community projects which explored the possibility of art as a social force; the Art in Living Group, of which Binning was a member, believed that art could have a therapeutic value in relation to housing projects and community planning. In certain ways, the Art in Living Group was a response to rapid changes in the social matrix of Vancouver. Binning's personal artistic practice, however, appears to have existed outside of what was embraced in his participation in those community projects. His essentially personal, self-authenticating expression in the form of drawings may be seen to resist the idealism of his more 'public' production, that is, his own idealism, his demand for an art thoroughly harmonized with the public sphere. Moreover, in this more personal body of work, his choice of leisurely scenes, rendered in a style reminiscent of Matisse, can be seen as far removed from the urban tensions of the time. It also seems to suggest that the iii leisure-and-pleasure idealism which finds expression in these works was not only class- and gender- specific, but also antithetical to his strong desire to democratize art. Binning's preoccupation with personal expression took a turn when he shifted his concern from representational drawings to semi-abstract paintings. The shift coincided with his career move to the University of British Columbia as a professor of Art History in 1949. From then on, Binning's interest in regional cosmopolitanism became more pronounced in his work. In this sense, it is significant that Binning looked for guidance to Herbert Read's ideas about modern art and art education. At the same time, his reputation expanded beyond the West Coast. In 1954, Binning was chosen to represent Canada at the Venice Biennale. Binning's particular modernism, as represented by this range of work, all of which presents a pastoral version of Utopia, was in some ways profoundly at odds with the social circumstances of the time. Why was the interest in leisure and pleasure significant to his practice? What did it mean to promote this kind of idealism in the local context? And in what ways did it relate to the international art scene — for example, to the work of Matisse or to contemporary concepts of art? My thesis addresses these questions by situating Binning's work both regionally and internationally. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Table of Contents iv List of Illustrations v Acknowledgements vi INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: LAID BACK ON THE WEST COAST — ? 5 CHAPTER TWO: MATTER OF PLEASURE AND ART 27 CHAPTER THREE : TO A HIGHER GROUND 49 Illustrations 67 Bibliography 85 Appendix: B.C. Binning Biographical Notes 91 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure page 1. B.C. Binning View of Fisherman's Cove 1944 1,4,27,41 2. B.C. Binning Seaside Trees no.2 1945 1,4,27,41 3. B.C. Binning Afternoon Boat. Bowen Island Wharf 1944 5,23,41,43 4. B.C. Binning Self Portrait in Ship's Cabin 1945 5,43 5. Jack L. Shadbolt Bombed Building(s) 1945 6 6. Jack L. Shadbolt Ferris Wheel (Cambie Street Fair) 1946 6 7. Jack L. Shadbolt Granville Street at Night (Evening. Granville Street; Granville Street. Wartime) 1946 6 8. Molly L. Bobak A Typical Day in the Life of A.C.W.A.C. 1943 7 9. Molly L. Bobak Canadian Women's Army Corps Laundry Workers Going to Dinner. Bordon.England 1945 7 10. Molly L. Bobak Roman Catholic Church Parade. Ottawa n.d. 8 11. B.C. Binning House 14 12. B .C. Binning Ships at Quiet Anchor 1948 47 13. B.C. Binning Ships in a Classical Calm 1948 47 14. B.C. Binning Fanciful Seascape in Primary Colours 1949 47 15. B.C. Binning Gav Regatta no.l 1949 47 16. B.C. Binning Departure from Bowen Island n.d. 48 17. B.C. Binning yjitltled 1945 51 18. "1923 - 1953 Compared" 1954 63 VI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am greatly indebted to my first reader, Professor John O'Brian, for his patience, continuous support and encouragement throughout the development and completion of this thesis. His expertise in the History of Art in Canada has always been most valuable to the entire process of this work. I also would like to express my gratitude to Professor Serge Guilbaut whose critical perspective on the art of the post-war period significantly affected my understanding of the issues discussed in this thesis. I would like to thank many others whose personal support for me made the completion of this work possible: my friends, Charity Mewburn, Lynn Ruscheinsky, and Professor Maureen Ryan who helped me go through difficult times. I also would like to acknowledge the academic support from Professor Rhodri Windsor-Liscombe as well as Professor F. Graeme Chalmers and Professor Ronald MacGregor whose knowledge in the specific fields related to my study greatly contributed to the broadening of this investigation. And of course, I thank Mrs. Jessie Binning who generously invited me to her much-admired house and spoke to me about the memories of her late husband, and Mr. Adrian Archambault with whom I had very stimulating discussions on Binning. And last, but not least, my very, very special thanks to Jennifer Cullen who had always been my guardian-figure in the Department. 1 INTRODUCTION Binning's drawings produced in Vancouver in the mid-1940 during the course of the war most frequently depict coastal scenes, boats, piers views of small coves, or ferry wharves. The images convey a sense of intimacy; they are private views of those places visited by the artist. The scenes, such as those depicted in View of Fisherman's Cove [fig. 1] and Seaside Trees No.2 [fig. 2], are filled with summer sunshine, as if the blinding reflection of intense white sunlight obscures the surface texture and colour of objects and figures, leaving only strong outlines which define their shapes. On an extremely tipped picture plane, the objects and figures are carefully arranged with controlled lines to produce curiously contained images which hold in place the seemingly whimsical rendition of tree branches, leaves, rocks and even tiny waves on the water. These are not the images of changing urban landscapes or industrial sites and their workers; they are the images of quiet British Columbian coasts which are perceived from the point of view of a person of leisure detached from the grim side of life. What Binning offered to viewers in these drawings were not scenes of disaster or human suffering, but scenes of an idyllic West Coast seascape. Much of Binning's art featured the idea of leisure and pleasure; it was expressed in both the subject matter and the manner of execution. The apparently idiosyncratic character of his work, in the context of war-time art as well as of the British Columbian and Canadian landscape traditions, reminds the viewer of works by Matisse. Matisse also created art in the mode of 'pastoral,' works which were described by Greenberg in 1946 as 'hedonistic': 2 Materialism and positivism when they become pessimistic turn into hedonism, usually. And the path-breakers of the School of Paris, Matisse and Picasso, and Miro too — no less than the surrealists and the neo-romantics, whose pessimism rests on cynicism rather than on despair — began during the twenties to emphasize more than ever the pleasure element in their art. The School of Paris no longer sought to discover pleasure but to provide it.1 Was Binning's pastoral art, then, —like Matisse's — the expression of pessimism manifested as hedonism? Was it created to 'provide' pleasure as an antidote to the world full of violence and destruction? Or, is it possible that there are different kinds of interpretations which may explain why this particular mode of expression was imperative? This thesis explores this latter possibility — the possibility that there might have been issues or ideas specific to the local as well as to international artistic theories and practices, and, especially important for Binning, to the system of art education.