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ARTS THIS WINTER
Visual Arts
by JULIE BEAULIEU
VALÉRIE BLASS,
FEMME PANIER
PHOTO Max Tremblay
TOP RIGHT:
Lyonel Feininger,
Façades I, Lunebourg
BOTTOM RIGHT:
in Traffic: Theodore
Wan, Bridine Scrub
(For General Surgery)
What does this winter’s 2012 artistic and cultural scene have in store
for us? As the cold-weather season approaches, here are some exhibitions
I suggest you see this winter, along with a reminder of what is
currently on show this fall. Enjoy your visit!
For the first time in almost 50 years, Quebeckers will be able to see
the first North American Lyonel Feininger retrospective (Jan. 20 to
May 13). “Lyonel Feininger: From Manhattan to the Bauhaus” at
Musée des Beaux-arts de Montréal is a comprehensive panorama of
the works of the painter featuring his early satirical cartoons, comic
strips, little-known photographs and hand-made wood figures, emblematic
depictions of carnival scenes, architecture and seascapes.
Feininger was not just an artist, but also a musician, a talented violinist
and composer. Music, which played an influential role in the work
of the artist, holds a special place in this exhibition.
The Montreal Musée d’art
contemporain makes way for
women artists. The “Ghada
Amer” exhibition (Feb. 2 to
April 22) presents some of the
most significant works of this
Cairo-born American artist.
“Egyptian artist Ghada Amer
is inspired by pornography,
popular culture and ancient
legends to evoke womanly
pleasure, obsessive desire and
erotic awareness,” says Marie
Christine Eyene, art critic and
freelance curator.
Also on show at the Musée
d’art contemporain is the exhibition
“Wangechi Mutu”
featuring the museum’s recent
acquisition, the installation
Moth Girls (Feb. 2 to April
22). The remarkable work by
Mutu, a Nairobi-born New
York artist, merges poetic
symbolism with socio-political
critique anchored in the memory
of a land, its roots and ancient
traditions in a unique
collection whose aesthetic and
political issues are still current.
Still at the Musée d’art contemporain,
Montreal artist
Valérie Blass will be honoured
(Feb. 2 to April 22) in an exhibition
that will unveil her
newest works alongside some
of her earlier ones.
Jointly curated by several curators from across Canada, “Traffic: Conceptual
art in Canada – 1965-1980” will be shown concurrently in
Toronto, Guelph and London and at Concordia University’s Leonard and
Bina Ellen Art Gallery (Jan. 13 to Feb. 25). It is the first major exhibition
on the influence and diversity of Canadian Conceptual Art.
LSM
• “Up Close and Personal with the Caillebotte
Brothers. Painter and Photographer: an inside look
at France in the age of Impressionism” exhibition
invites you to an intimate meeting between two
views, two visions. Although photography was still
in its early stages in the 19 th century, Martial produced
at least 150 unedited photographs, which
are hung alongside some 40 paintings produced
by his brother Gustave—a patron and great friend
of the Impressionists—including Degas, Monet
and Renoir. On exhibition at Musée National des
Beaux-arts du Québec until January 8.
• Also at the Musée National des Beaux-arts du
Québec: the exhibitions “Napoleon Bourassa. A
Quest for the Ideal” (until January 15) and
“Steichen. Glamour – Fashion and Celebrities. The
Condé Nast Years – 1923-1937” (until Feb. 5).
• “Dorothea Rockburne: In My Mind’s Eye” is the
first retrospective exhibition of the Montreal-born
NOW SHOWING
G. CAILLEBOTTE,
UN BALCON
artist Dorothea Rockburne, bringing together
about 50 of her works. Following her studies at
Montreal’s École des beaux-arts and the MBAM,
she continued her training at Black Mountain
College in North Carolina, notably with Franz Kline,
Jack Tworkov and Esteban Vicente. On exhibition
until April 8 at the Musée des Beaux-arts de
Montréal, where the Quebec public will discover
the development of a Montreal artist’s abstraction
abroad. There is no entry fee.
• The 50 or so portraits of Quebec artists painted
by Richard-Max Tremblay since 1983 are currently
on display in the exhibition “Tête-à-tête” at Musée
des Beaux-arts de Montréal until February 5. It is
worth mentioning that the MBAM collection, which
has grown significantly since 1980, has resulted
in the exhibition, “Quebec and Canadian Art 1980-
2010” and includes some of its outstanding
acquisitions.
TRANSLATION: LYNN TRAVERS
52
DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012