Posted 8 years ago
Gillian
(22 items)
"The Beaver Hall Group", although initially considered to be a Montreal counterpart to Toronto’s Group of Seven, stood apart through their work: rather than offering an image of Canadian identity through depictions of the untamed landscapes of a northern country, the Montreal artists imbued the inhabited landscapes of a northern culture with the colours of modernity.
They also painted many portraits that convey this same quest for modernism; these works rank among the most remarkable in the history of Canadian art. The male-female parity within the group — a first in Quebec as in Canada — is another resolutely modern trait.
The exhibition, (1920's Modernism in Montreal), shows how the question of gender goes hand in hand with the idea that the group’s diversity fuelled rich and fruitful exchanges. Although short-lived, the Beaver Hall Group provided rich soil for abundant and substantial art-making, now inextricably linked with the history of art in Montreal, Quebec and Canada."
Many moons ago when my sister and brother-in-law were living in Montreal, I went to stay with them for a few days. (I lived close to Toronto.) While I was there she wanted to take me to an art exhibition that was showing at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I don't remember the name of the exhibition, but I purchased my favourite of the advertising posters. It had the name, location and dates of the exhibition, plus details about the artist that painted the original picture.
It sat for many months in the cardboard tube I'd brought it home in. It got carted around from house move to house move. When I finally decided to have it framed, in my infinite wisdom, I asked them to cut off all the information from the bottom, so all that was left was the painting.
Fast forward over 35 years and I'm living in downtown Hamilton, Ontario, a few blocks from the Art Gallery of Hamilton. By chance in late Spring this year I checked online to see what was on at Hamilton's Gallery. On the first page of their site I found myself looking at the very same painting/poster I'd bought in Montreal. They were advertising an exhibition of paintings by the Montreal group I mentioned at the beginning of this long saga! I don't think the exhibition that I visited in Montreal was the same as the one here, that's why I was falling off my chair surprised that they had picked that piece of art to advertise it. (Does that make sense?) My daughter came with me to the gallery - it was amazing to see that painting again after so many years. It brought back many, many memories that were shared with my daughter.
Credit 1st Photo: Randolph S. Hewton, 'Miss Mary Macintosh', 1924 or earlier, oil on canvas. Photo David Barbour.
Credit 2nd Photo: Prudence Heward’s 'At the Theatre' / Horsley and Annie Townsend. Robert Everett-Green, Montreal — The Globe and Mail, Oct. 27, 2015.
Credit 3rd Photo: Prudence Heward (1896-1947) 'The Immigrants 1928' Oil on canvas from a Toronto private collection. Photo Sean Weaver (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts). Article CBC Montreal by Jeanette Kelly, Arts Reporter at CBC Montreal.
Some favourite artists: Dominguez; Jack Vettriano & Michael J. Austin. I really love paintings, art cards etc. by these artists - gorgeous paintings of women's backs. Very mysterious pictures.
Thank you for taking the time to look at my post, and hopefully read it.
really very life like paintings.love the hair in the ladies as well. thank you for the post gill
*of the ladies (sorry for my grammar):p
these ARE wonderful! my family is from Quebec [my great grandparents came here to the states around 1910]. we knew a very old woman named Miss Mary Macintosh too - everyone called her Miss Mary Mac, and she spoke French w/ my grandparents too.
Preparing for the moment !!!
Lovely post Gillian.
The art is wonderful, as is your story.
I love your story as I do these paintings..there eyes are quite penetrating...very beautiful...:-)
Wonderful paintings! I love specially the unusual seing of backs in #2, and the light coming from!
Thank you for this post and the story, Gillian!
:-)
Thank you so very much all of you for your kind and generous comments - lovely to wake up, come to the comp. and read them all. I'm so happy you like these paintings.
ho2 - What a coincidence about Miss Mary Mac!
vetraio50 - you're a wise man! Kyra got the correct one although she probably may not have known it. It's the one in the middle. Glorious turquoise, blues and black. The first one has my colours all over it - sumptuous even.
I'm really chuffed to get such a response, thank you too, to all who hit that love button.
These are beautiful and I'm about to get it handed to me, but I don't know anything about true art.
I don't understand the 2nd pic. (open for explanation) What's up with the huge butts?
I do understand how difficult hands are. The 3rd pic looks to me like a sister/twin comforting the other in mourning but the hand is killing me.
Yes, I'm clueless, for that I apologize, but thank you for sharing. I just don't get the meaning, yes I read it twice. Maybe I'll try later?
Do you mean buns not butts? As in hair style? I will come back and 'splain some things if I can.
The third pic is named "The Immigrants 1928". I think they are sisters as well, but the background being quite angular is reminiscent of a ship. Can you see the two sea gull looking motifs at the top? I think too that they are in mourning. They have said goodbye to their country, for whatever reason, and are coming to a new land. They look quite anxious, the one on the right is very forlorn, and perhaps the older sister is trying to comfort her. To me I see the one on the right has been crying, her eyes are puffy(?)
You are certainly not clueless, and have no need to apologise for anything. I don't understand when art historians are explaining what's going on in a Rembrandt - I do try! I just know what I like to look at, and that makes me curious. Oh, and the colours have to be right. (For me).
The first picture is so beautiful especially her eyes. Great post
First looks like Natasha Rambova, Rudolph Valentinos 2nd wife, a designer of silent movie sets with a "flair" for the exotic art deco. mid to late 1920s.
Wonderful paintings Gillian!!!
Thank you so very much OGF, Caperkid, PostCardCollector and Austro for dropping by and commenting.
~ HAPPY NEW YEAR 2017 ~ Thanks for following me !! All the best to you and your family !!
The very same to you Rose. A wonderful 2017 to you.
Really love the first one!!!
What a wondeful post and amazing paintings! Very interesting. I love all 3 of them but no 1 and 2 are my favourites. It´s always interesting to a jewerly collector to see how women wore their jewelry at the time so no 1 is interesting to me in more than one way. The most special one to me is no 2, what a unusual angle and you can see how the woman to the right notices "our" presense. It´s almost like if we are sitting near them. Thankyou for sharing these and the interesting infomation!
My apologies to vintagelamp and Elizabethan for not responding to their posts until now. Thank you so much to both of you, for your visit and for your kind comments.
I read your comment on another post. Here is the copy and paste "I just wanted to say how good it is not to see a Cocola or a Shell sign on the front page. Keep it to yourself eh!"
Not so cool.....eh?
love the write up on the post.....
Thank You for challenging me about Ken's "whereabouts".
I learned a long time ago to do research before posting comments.
Take a look at this link and clue me in where his posts are.
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/user/nutsabotas6
Thank You.
Kurt, glad to see you are still here. I am too, watch for me. Your real friend Ken. :)
Beautiful paintings Gillian, the clothing styles and colors are really wonderful. Well deserved compliments & fascinating commentary