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Vie des arts
Vie des arts
Texts in English
Volume 18, numéro 71, Été 1973
21
92
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Publisher(s)
La Société La Vie des Arts
ISSN 0042-5435 (print)
1923-3183 (digital)
21
92
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"Texts in English." Vie des arts 1871 (1973): 86–98.
Tous droits réservés © La Société La Vie des Arts, 1973
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TEXTS IN
ENGLISH
TOWARD ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION
By Andrée PARADIS
Two principles guide our policy on artistic
information. The first, to present the range of
present trends while limiting ourselves to
what seems to be registered in a line of
evolution. The second consists of making the
work of art understandable, that of yesterday
and that of today, since there is no creation
without communication.
We are often asked to what extent we
endorse the new experiments we present.
One might as well ask us to guarantee the
lasting quality and the established price of
the works of art. This seems difficult to us.
Our aim is very different. Through our authors,
who have to defend certain choices, we must
render an account of the art which is being
produced, fit it into context, so as to renew
interest in the accomplishments of the past,
transmitters of myths and witnesses of a continual human ideal. We wish to make the
works accessible and to induce around them
a need for curiosity, if not desire. We seek
also to reflect the climate of artistic interest,
as it presents itself around us, of which the
least one can say is that it is eclectic if one
takes into account the variety of the exhibitions shown to a public which follows them
more and more regularly, without omitting the
success of numerous showings and publications of artistic character.
It is almost superfluous to add that the
magazine article is neither a book nor a
catalog; at best, it remains a good introduction to a better knowledge of the artistic
phenomenon. Thus, the section which we
devote to engraving is far from being thorough.
It simply attempts to fix attention on a form
of art which is making great strides at this
time. This is the golden age of engraving
within the reach of all. The productions on
the Canadian market are numerous and
varied. Some are of high quality.
Another point in fact commands attention
which concerns the artist and his political
involvement. We are attentive to all which
has to do with the betterment of the social
and economic status of the artist and we do
not refuse to inform our readers of these
problems. But, we avoid taking part in the
controversies that engender certain very negative excesses and that cause the loss of precious time.
Finally, in an era of great confusion in
perspectives it seems timely to us to seek
constantly to reinterpret the standards of
creation or at least to show to advantage the
efforts of those who very specially apply
themselves to these new definitions.
86
ENGRAVING IN QUEBEC .
WITHOUT A HISTORY
By Gérard TREMBLAY
In the history of humanity, the art of
engraving is certainly one of the most ancient.
Previously, prehistoric man used to engrave
with flint on the walls of his cave the form
of the animal he was going to hunt. Engraving
and sculpture seem to have preceded the
other forms of plastic art; while making use
of material in the natural state —
stone,
wood, bark — primitive man began to inscribe
his system of signs and created for himself
a visual language which would provide him
with a greater communication with his
fellows.
Much later, with the appearance of paper,
the engraved image, before the letter, rapidly
became a means of communication with the
greatest number who did not yet know how
to read.
The art of the engraver is a major art,
primordial, and not, as many believe or claim,
a simple technique for reproducing an image
in numerous copies. In the hands of artists,
engraving has been for a long time, has
always been, a genuine means of expression.
In Quebec, for only a few years, engraving
has occupied a more and more important
position. The first prints made here were
produced in very few copies and available
only to a small number of connoisseurs.
During the last few years, we have been
witnessing an astonishing proliferation of the
arts of engraving and the production of the
engravers is, we believe, of a quality no less
astonishing. The quantity of engraved works
then poses the problem of their distribution
to the public at large. Some attempts have
been made in this direction by studios of
engravers, by guilds of graphic works, by
groups of artists. L'Association des Graveurs
du Québec was formed parallelly, which tries
to find solutions to this same problem by
uniting the greatest possible number of Quebec engravers and by increasing the activities
tending to promote the arts of engraving. The
principal aim of the A.G.Q. is to inform the
public of the existence of engraving in Quebec
and of its vitality, to give information on the
techniques used in the production of the
works in order that we may be able to
distinguish an original print from a simple
reproduction or a facsimile, and finally, in
time, to make engraving accessible to all and
not solely to a small group of enlightened
amateurs.
The popularity and the success of the
A.G.Q. booth at the Salon des Métiers d'Art
in the course of the last two years allow us
to think that our aims and intentions are
entirely realistic and achievable if we can but
continue this action of becoming sensitive to
an art which, in Quebec, does not cease to
assert itself and to blossom.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
EDOUARD LACHAPELLE,
A NAIVE PAINTER?
By Edwige ASSELIN
Bear in mind that the aim of painting is t
render the invisible visible, and that with sue
a goal, it is not astonishing that paintin
should be a foolish thing at which one ca
simply laugh. (Edouard Lachapelle, type
manuscript, September 1971)
An exact definition has never been foun
of those who are called for want of a bette
name, the Naive. Naivete is a state which goe
against logic, which, itself, records the acquii
ed and makes it coherent. Naive art, autc
nomous, does not develop by a successio
of the acquired; contrary to other forms t
expression, it passes through history.
The naive painter cannot lay claim to log
cal structures where he loses his own charat
ter. Let us bring out certain common trail
which distinguish him from other painter;
only very rarely does he make a profession c
painting; he does not have the culture whic
involves judgment, but that, more subtli
which awakens sensitivity; he paints what h
dreams of or what is nostalgic to him,
simple life, daily deeds, a friendly worli
the dialogue of flowers, children and star:
pleasant celebrations.
He has also in common, with primitiv
artists, this unity of tone which makes it poi
sible for us to think that beyond the coi
cepts of nationality man always has mutu.
aspirations.
Present art is becoming more and moi
intellectual, is tending progressively to t
dehumanized, to being no longer the expre
sion of a man but the sensitive plate <
collectivity. The artist no longer produces
work, emanation of his sensitive Id, bi
establishes a system of references (objec
found, chosen, assembled) to signify a sta
of collective thought.
Naive art passes through the event as c
legends. If it sometimes undergoes the coi
sequences of certain exterior occurrences, tr
latter, curiously enough, are quickly absorbe
The world of the naive painter rests on
series of principles and simple dreams. Tecl
nical skill varies, but it is a matter less i
distinguishing the criteria of the trade thé
of thought. A naive thought almost alwai
gives rise to an expression worthy of tt
same qualification.
Edouard Lachapelle, born in Montreal
1943, studied at Assumption College the
took a degree in arts at the University i
Montreal. He had been drawing since the a;
of five, but it was only about 1965 that I
began to make an almost daily activity i
drawing. His first solo exhibition, a matter i
drawings in ink, took place at the library i
Saint-Viateur College, at the beginning of
1966. In November, 1968, he presented Les
Poissons et autres marins at the ClaudeChampagne Hall in Outremont, and then came
the Hiboux exhibited at the same place, then
at the Chasse-Galerie in Toronto, in May 1971.
In mid-summer of the same year, the Centre
du Livre, at the National Centre of the Arts
in Ottawa, showed thirty-seven small works.
The winter of 1972 found him in Morocco,
where he painted a decoration in the style
of the Thousand and One Nights, at the AïtBaamrane Hotel in Sidi Ifni. The work lasted
three months with a salary of a Pantagruelic
meal every day, given by the manager of the
hotel.
Shortly before this Arab episode, Edouard
Lachapelle became artistic advisor to the
Marie-Calumet dance troupe. This group
ordered a series of lino cuts on the theme of
the legend of Marie Calumet from him. As
he was much gifted in the work of engraving
which satisfied his taste for minute detail,
Lachapelle prepared sixty-eight subjects, printed in black and white and in colour.
Marie Calumet serves here as pretext. The
person who actually lived at the end of the
nineteenth century was a servant at the home
of the parish priest at I 'Islet. Her love for the
beadle entered into legend and she became
the subject of folk songs. In 1904, Rodolphe
Girard created a new scandal by publishing
her biography, which was placed on the Index
by Monseigneur Bruchési. The author, for
having written this impious book, found himself without work.
The series is of a graphism at the same
time naive and refined. Alone, a song illustrated in two versions. Une chanson et Trois
points de suspension (more indecent I) is
close to the legend. We find Marie Calumet
with Julie, the niece of the painter, in different comical or burlesque situations, in
historic or ethnic disguises or occupied in
playing tiddlywinks.
Two engravings are especially beautiful.
Le Fleuve noir and Les Vases à jeux, with
very fine lines and lettering which serves as
decorative motif. Linoleum not being suitable
for lines and fine cutting, because it crushes
and shreds too easily, these two works allow
us to appreciate the artist's great mastery of
the medium. Besides, graphism sometimes
becomes fancy-work. "Be careful, you are
going to fall into kitsch," warns the author of
the danger.
Compositions with large surfaces and lines
such as Une grosse Marie Calumet, placid,
attractive, which fills the page fully, and Au
Concert, where three pears serve as string
instruments, demonstrate the versatility of
the artist. Three engravings take up again a
favourite theme of the author: Urgame ou la
chouette dans un chêne, Hibou-Houx and Les
Hiboux dans le neige, all three plastically successful and whimsical. In the poetic mood.
Les quatre saisons enchant the eye, especially
L'Été with a very beautiful setting, with an
enormous sun and little Julie, whom we
discover in the midst of rank weeds. To
classify is restrictive, and far be it from me
to have the intention of attaching an awkward
label, but we can without doubt qualify the
original development of Edouard Lachapelle
as naive in this sense that it does not have
the implications proper to certain artists of
today and that his work is detached from the
contemporary attempts of avant-garde. A
fresh, fanciful development, which amuses
and enchants the eye.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
masterpiece of the Spaniard, and does
with success.
it
Lithography-Black-Night
The first element of his success seems to
me to rest in the choice which he has made
of lithography to accomplish the works which
his reading inspired in him. Mellow, this
technique allowed him, indeed, to create
plates more vibrant than they would have been
if he had used copper-plate or etching, and
which seem animated by a kind of breathing,
the same serious and large breath as the
verses of the Castilian. I shall also approve
of André Bergeron for having refused colour.
Does not the black of lithography better suit
the translation of a text in which, it has often
been noticed, the notations of colours are
very rare, in which frequently the image of
night comes back, this "noche oscura" which
is at the very heart of the mystic experience
of the Carmelite friar?
A privileged image, doubtless, this image
of the night is only one of innumerable images
by which he tries to transmit this experience
to us and to cause us to perceive God. Stags,
sheepfolds, flowers, wild animals, forests,
pastures, meadows, merely in the first four
stanzas of the Cantique spirituel, one gleans
this harvest of images. The temptation would
therefore have been great for the artist to
translate them plastically. He did none of
this, thank goodness! because he understood
or felt that these pictures are precisely only
pictures, makeshifts to which the mystic has
recourse to express the inexpressible, and
that to give them a reality, to embody them
plastically, would have been to misjudge, and
to lead us to misjudge, what they actually
are. What shall we do then? We will be told
by the study of the little book, the Poèmes
mystiques de saint Jean de la Croix, that he
had in his hands, and on the margins of
which he wrote, with a fast pencil, the first
thoughts of his lithographs such as they
welled up in him at the reading of these
stanzas.
ANDRÉ BERGERON:
LITHOGRAPHY IN BLACK
By Bernard DORIVAL
A n d r é Bergeron of Quebec is a painter, a sculptor and an engraver. A t the t i m e of a stay in
Paris ( 1 9 6 7 - 1 9 6 9 ) , he studied at the A c a d é m i e
Julian w i t h Shurr and Gouanse, at the Ecole des
Beaux-Arts w i t h Esther Gorbato and Jean Berthote,
and engraving w i t h Lorraine Bénie and Henri
Goatz. On his return t o M o n t r e a l , he was n a m e d
director of the studio at the Rosemount CEGEP
( 1 9 7 0 - 1 9 7 1 ) . During a second sojourn in Europe,
this t i m e in Geneva, he devoted h i m s e l f exclusively to engraving. It was there that he created his
Cantique s p i r i t u e l , w h i c h was e x h i b i t e d at the
Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris, last A p r i l ,
before going to Canada House in London, this
month.
One proof, among many others, of the fact
that our era, so materialistic and more and
more paganized, is also deeply moved by the
nostalgia of the spiritual and the sacred, is,
it seems to me, that, for the first time in
history, if I am not mistaken, artists have
taken their inspiration from the Cantique
spirituel of Saint John of the Cross. It was
Manessier, about twenty years ago, who produced according to it a dozen engravings of
such quality and so monumental that in
1970-1971 weavers Jacques and Laure Plasse
Le Caisne interpreted them in a series of
admirable tapestries. And now André Bergeron takes an interest in his turn in the
In the Wake ot Sketches
On pages 50 and 5 1 , reading the
lines "le visage penché sur l'Aimé
( . . . )
Parmi les fleurs des lis, oublié", he immediately produces in a spontaneous little sketch,
a form — a face, perhaps? — which seems to
incline toward another form, placed below it
in the lower left corner, while, in the lower
right corner bloom the plants called forth by
the Carmelite friar. Then, in three sketches,
this first image changes completely. The
flowers disappear, the reference, too precise,
to a human being, vanishes, the positions are
overturned, Bergeron having understood that
the beloved — God — must have more importance than the creature which seeks him.
Thus, what asserts itself, in the final sketch,
is a sort of omega, a traditional symbol, in
Christian iconography, of Christ, end and
outcome of all. We could multiply the examples. They would only confirm to us that the
stages of the lithographer have always been
accomplished in the same sense of a transposition, less and less figurative, less recognizable, of the images that the Castilian poet
suggests to him. It was on this condition
alone that he was able to translate them well,
giving them their meaning of a thing which
is nothing in itself, if it is not the means to
which, for want of better, the mystic necessarily has recourse to communicate the incommunicable to us and to make us share his
indescribable adventure.
87
Transpositions — Music
Thus André Bergeron succeeds — not in
illustrating a text which it was not possible
to illustrate, under pain of betrayal, to an
even greater degree, that it was not necessary
to illustrate to remain faithful to its spirit, to
its message — but in holding up, in the face
of such verses, the images which are a kind
of transposition of them. Let us, for example,
look at those which, in poem 1, answer the
first line of the first stanza and the second line
of the fifth verse; and we will immediately
feel, I am sure, with what good fortune are
expressed there (figure 3) the "nuit obscure"
and here (figure 2) "the aurore aimable". An
abundance of stars in the sky of the first
lithograph, which shine through I know not
what mysterious ray of spiritual light; a wide
band of clarity which stretches to the horizon,
in the second, and whose reflections already
reach the earth and the clouds; these are two
moments of the night, two stages of mystical
life, two states of the soul in the presence of
God, which Bergeron expresses in these two
plates.
We understand, consequently, what he
intended to make and what he made. It is not
— fortunately — an illustration of the Cantique spirituel, which rejects al! illustration.
It is rather an accompaniment to his verses by
a lithographed music. The work of Bergeron
thus makes me think of the lieders by which
a Schubert established a harmony parallel to
that of the poems he illustrated. Musical, his
book is such right from its cover (figure 1),
I ought rather to say from its opening, where
the unfurling of great organs creates the
cosmic dimension on which is found the
dialogue of the Soul and God. It remains such
during the course of his pages, well rhythmed
by the stanzas of the Spaniard and the pictures of the Canadian. So that we, the readers,
can enter better into the luminous shadows,
through which the great mystic guide us, and
better feel one of the most beautiful poems
to have come from the pen of a human being.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
ss
JENNIFER DICKSON —
AN ART THAT TRANSCENDS TIME
By Judy HEVIZ
The forewarning of early death can affect
individuals in different ways. It may result
in a defenseless surrender to the hands of
fate, or perhaps a desperate fight to extort the
maximum from each day. The annals of art
hold many cases in which the knowledge of
an abreviated life-span acted as a creative
fertilizer that concentrated a tremendous
strength in the oeuvre of those who died
young.
The impulse that drove them to their heights
was felt last year — but fortunately without
the ensuing tragedy — by Jennifer Dickson.
The South-African born, British printmaker,
who settled in Montreal four years ago,
became seriously ill with blood toxemia,
brought about by two decades of breathing
fumes from the nitric acid she had worked
with as both artist and teacher.
Recovered from the ordeal, her reaction
was one of great courage and strength.
Instead of giving up her work in the field of
etching she set about creating her eighth
major suite, concretizing the results of her
dramatic trial in an impressive body of work.
Done in ten months, the suite holds more than
60 pieces; a remarkable achievement for such
an incredibly short span of time, especially
when one considers that she executed alone
every step of her complicated printing process.
Entitled Sweet Death and other Pleasures,
the series comprises as well as prints, paintings, shadow boxes and low relief sculptures
based on plates of her earlier prints. First
revealed in simultaneous exhibitions in Montreal's 1640 and Martal Galleries this winter,
the suite is to be presented at Dresdnere
Gallery, Toronto, and the prints at Oxford,
England, in solo shows this Spring.
These works serve to confirm the qualities
Jennifer Dickson has previously displayed in
her art. She was already an artist of great
maturity who, in any case, would have followed a path of creative devotion. Her route was
marked by such sign-posts — to mention but
a few — as the Prix des Jeunes Artistes pour
la Gravure at the 1963 Paris Biennale, participation in more than 200 group exhibitions,
18 solo shows, prints in the permanent collections of major museums (among them the
Victoria and Albert and British Museums,
Hermitage, Metropolitan and Smithsonian
Institute) and teaching activity in England,
the U.S.A., Jamaica and Montreal.
Her impressive solo retrospective at the
Saidye Bronfman Centre in 1970 unveiled to
the Montreal public the many facets of her
art, her mastership as a printmaker (she was
associated for five years with S. W. Hayter's
famous Atelier 17 in Paris) and the lyricism
of her inspiration. Since then her art has
widened in dimensions and deepened in
profoundness, but preoccupations stemming
from her basic gifts, natural inclinations and
feminine sensibility continue as permanent
factors.
Throughout her total oeuvre there is an
obvious concern for eternal human feelings
such as love and tenderness, man's ties with
nature, the inner need for beauty or reconciliation with the universal powers that direct
our destinies. Their resonance in her art is
as diverse as the expressive manners whicr
embody them; their linking chains, the use o1
symbolism, sometimes easily deciphered, ir
other cases requiring a profound immersior
in her interior world.
In her silkscreen series Out of Time, foi
example, there often appears (almost as i
trade-mark of lighthearted, unchallenged hap
piness) a couple backed by a peaceful see
and broad sky. However, in her latest work
this naked joyfulness is replaced by a mys
terious symbol of secret love, hidden behinc
the masked imagery of 18th century Venice
couples.
She places the lovers in the refined settin;
of the Venetian Carnival, where their identiti
can be disguished by cloak and mask. Thei
are surrounded by the frivolous crowd, ye
they seem to be as alone as the pair on thi
deserted beach.
It was no accident that she turned ti
Venice. As a student she studied the oeuvn
of Canaletto, Guardi and Longhi, and a visi
to the city produced a déjà-vu impact on her
Also, Venice of the 18th century was idea
for her purposes because this was the timi
when its earlier glory as Pearl of the Adriatic
had faded so tragically that only the masque
rade of carnivals and the glitter of theatrica
mise-en-scène kept it in the public eye.
Jennifer Dickson filters the mistery of i
Ridotto and the splendour of Venetian archi
tecture through Canaletto and Longhi compc
sitions, reworking them to serve her means
Her identification with the spirit and mood
of the bygone century and her time-trans
cending capacity enable her to capture th
strange atmosphere of the day. To exprès
particular mystery and morbidness she some
times uses a fine aquatint in a style harmc
nious with the minuteness of Canaletto. I
other cases she utilises etching to transpos
Longhi paintings. But always her approach —
focusing on specific aspects in order to mee
her own concepts — reveals her person:
interpretation.
Although Jennifer Dickson has built u
this body of work in an intuitive step by ste
process, each composition is perfectly in tun
with her personal philosophy. What make
these pieces differ f r o m previous w o r k s t h o u g h ,
is their total frankness: her state of m i n d
w h e n elaborating Sweet D e a t h a n d other
Pleasures liberated her f r o m i n h i b i t i o n s , a l l o w ing the open expression of her m o s t i n t i m a t e
feelings.
Consequently her w o r k emits artistic sensib i l i t y at a h i g h frequency that makes her
messages easily receivable. The generator is
her h i g h esthetic sense, revealed t h r o u g h the
lyrical beauty of her imagery and the obvious
exigence of her professional k n o w l e d g e . A n
excellent example is her color etched S o n g
of Songs series in w h i c h she identifies the
b e l o v e d w o m a n w i t h plants a n d f l o w e r s as
expressions of supreme splendour. In a more
enveloped w a y the lilies that embrace the
b o d y of a h i g h priestess in her latest series
become a magic s y m b o l of purity, relating
w e l l to the vestals of ancient m y t h s . In b o t h
cases she relies on a f o r c e f u l and m o n u mental image that has i m m e d i a t e i m p a c t . In
the first the accent is on the sculptural
virulence of dense f o r m s ; in the second she
exploits the large contrasting light and shad o w areas that are achieved through abstracting the figure.
In other w o r k s one can also f o l l o w an
affinity for particular images because of their
expressive p o t e n t i a l . The labyrinthic crisscross of tree branches near her f o r m e r Sussex
h o m e , several years ago inspired an experim e n t w i t h a negative p h o t o g r a p h i c image
p r i n t e d on glass; placed over a painted
b a c k g r o u n d it p r o d u c e d a special graphic
beauty. A similar expression, but more dram a t i c , is achieved in the newest w o r k f r o m
the bare limbs of a w i n t e r tree stretched
over a frozen lake. Photographed, and i n c l u d ed in several c o m p o s i t i o n s , it is at its best
w h e n p r i n t e d on the plexiglass of a s h a d o w box in w h i c h a backing water-color enhances
the effect of deep perspective and endless
desolation.
Jennifer D i c k s o n often prints f r o m photographic images, but her t e c h n i c a l security
permits
their
inclusion
alongside
minute
etchings and f u s e d or s u p e r i m p o s e d painted
sequences, w i t h o u t any risk of
upsetting
c o m p o s i t i o n a l balance. Her unerring judgem e n t w e i g h s the various t e c h n i c a l effects so
that they do not compete w i t h , but instead,
c o m p l e m e n t each other. The results are fine
textures, close t o n a l shades, a l m o s t m e r g i n g
c o l o u r values and a t i g h t l y k n i t t e d unity.
For e x a m p l e in M e d i t a t i o n , her s i t t i n g
masked figure takes on simultaneous appearances of w a t e r - c o l o u r , lino-cut, w o o d - c u t
and l i t h o g r a p h y t h r o u g h the r e w o r k i n g of the
photograph negative, w h i c h is the image's
base. T y p i c a l l y , the e n r i c h m e n t of the initial
print is due to the f a c t that Jennifer Dickson
does not use the photograph for a q u i c k
s o l u t i o n , but as a p o i n t of departure to an
expressive e n d , and she w a t c h e s that its rôle
is not h i g h l i g h t e d in her cast, but integrated
h a r m o n i o u s l y into the f u l l play of elements.
D i c k s o n has used photographic images in
the past but the photogravure f a c i l i t i e s at the
Fine A r t s D e p a r t m e n t of the University of
W i s c o n s i n in M a d i s o n , w h e r e she taught last
year, e q u i p p e d her f o r the first t i m e to
execute every stage of the process herself.
T h a t she s h o u l d w a n t to do this is characteristic of the type of artist she is — a scientific
experimenter w h o m u s t explore all paths.
W i t h the spirit of a Renaissance creator, she
c o n t i n u a l l y seeks new means of expression
that correspond to her potential and sensib i l i t y . She k n o w s no f o r b i d d e n or bordered
territories.
THE S U M M E R OF FERNAND BERGERON
DEVOTED TO
LES N U I T S B L A N C H E S DE N I N I DE
S a i n t - H LA P E T I T E
By Bernard LEVY
Fernand Bergeron has been living in BaieComeau since the autumn of 1970. He teaches
French there. But, especially, he does engraving.
Yet Fernand Bergeron originates from Montreal,
where he was born in 1942 and where he studied
before settling on the North Coast.
A pupil of Dumouchel at the Ecole des BeauxArts (1964-1968), then a member of the Pierre
Ayot studio, it was in March 1969 that he published his first album of lithographs. Tour d oignon,
such was the title, was exhibited at the National
Library of Quebec, where is achieved great success. Since then, he has shown engravings in
Paris, in Basle and in Vancouver, with the Graph
group, and he plans to perfect his art in Lausanne,
Switzerland.
The recent work of Fernand Bergeron is strongly marked by his sojourn at Baie-Comeau. We
perceive in it the friction between small industrial
and commercial towns, at the crossroads of rural
traditions and urban customs. It is in large part
this contrast that Fernand Bergeron expresses in
the album Pour les nuits blanches de Nini de
Saint-H la petite.
W a r m Quebec: one can dream about it.
S u m m e r in Quebec: w e can believe it. W e
can at least stop for the t i m e necessary to
examine the nine engravings of
Fernand
Bergeron w h i c h make up the a l b u m Pour les
n u i t s blanches de N i n i de S a i n t - H la p e t i t e .
A f t e r w a r d , w e can s t i l l dream about it; w e
can believe it w i t h still more o b s t i n a c y ; but
w e can no longer forget " t h a t s u m m e r " . The
pleasure is too keen. As for n i g h t s , w h i t e or
not, they are in the image of this season, too
short, or in that of the engravings, t o o
beautiful.
Nine engravings. W e are struck right at
first by the s i m p l i c i t y of the c o m p o s i t i o n . W e
w o u l d be t e m p t e d to speak of the natural, so
m u c h does the tone appear direct. The m a i n
o b j e c t surges f o r t h w i t h o u t a m b i g u i t y . T h e
s i m p l i c i t y of the w h o l e and the c o m p o s i t i o n
w i t h o u t overlays w e l l f u l f i l the intentions of
the artist: he tries to surprise and to awaken
c u r i o s i t y . He succeeds w o n d e r f u l l y in this but,
s p e c i a l l y , w i t h h u m o u r . T h u s , f o r e x a m p l e , he
does not hesitate in La Lune rose de m i d i to
place a person w h o s e c o l o u r i n g goes f r o m
turquoise blue to dark k h a k i , s t r e t c h i n g his
l i m b s , hair in the w i n d , on a b a c k g r o u n d of
earth, sea a n d green a n d blue-green sky. Or
a g a i n , in Belle g r a n d ' f o u r c h e d ' A d o n , there is
a pair of w h i t e lace panties w h i c h catches the
v i e w at the top of t w o pink legs on a blue
background.
" p o u r les nuits blanches de Nini de Saint-H la
petite".
These sleepless nights first go to the essent i a l . They s t r o n g l y define its outlines. Then
attach themselves t o e v e r y t h i n g that makes
up its atmosphere and texture. The nine
engravings are inspired by the same psychological phase and reconstruct in their w a y :
d r e a m s , m e m o r i e s and n o t - f o r g o t t e n anecdotes.
W e q u i c k l y establish ourselves in the heart
of this little w o r l d . A n d s o o n , just like one
of the people, w e take t i m e to stretch out
under an apple tree and enjoy it . . . the
s h a d o w of girls in the b l o o m of y o u t h . T h e
w i t , let us not m i s j u d g e , is less r i b a l d t h a n
bantering and m o c k i n g . Fernand Bergeron is
satisfied to play the game of the seer — seen
in different degrees. A n d the seer in A u x vues.
C'était pas encore le temps des p o m m e s , 77cul-boule-à-mites is not a l w a y s the one w e
think.
Here are s i m p l e , real places, far f r o m
sterotypes for t o u r i s t s : the North-Coast seen
f r o m b e l o w . Let us not confuse it w i t h the
shady side of the North-Coast under pain of
c o m p l e t e l y m i s s i n g the subtle h u m o u r of Fernand Bergeron. It is a matter of a c o u n t r y
seen f r o m i n s i d e : the taste is not the same.
In this line of t h o u g h t , w e w o u l d easily c o m pare Bergeron's engraving to songs; those of
a Gilles V i g n e a u l t , or, better s t i l l , those of a
Claude Gauthier. These engravings are like
visible songs.
W h a t remains of these songs if not a t r u e ,
true, true c o u n t r y ? For sure. Not that w e are
involved in an established s o c i o l o g i c a l or
anthropological fact crammed with arguments
or w i t h objective and precise signs, but rather
in a k i n d of actual experience grasped at a
certain distance and no longer that only of the
artist but already our o w n .
Bergeron paints nature w i t h o u t being either
naturalist or naive. He paints people and t h i n g
in their e s s e n t i a l , w i t h o u t caricature or a f o r m
of new n e o - r e a l i s m . W i t h o u t being s i m p l i s t i c ,
either. He perceives s u m m e r in w h a t is the
m o s t intimate and the rarest. He does not go
so far as pastel tones, w i d e l y spaced, w h i c h
t r y t o c o n t a i n the c o n t r a d i c t i o n of a space
w h i c h is too free and a t i m e w h i c h is t o o
pure. T h u s , the apple tree, the w i n d o w , the
waves of the river, the r o c k s , are persons
w h o are q u i c k l y f a m i l i a r and party to a story
that is t o o short, o n l y p u n c t u a t e d enough by
details to increase the flavour of it.
(Translation by M i l d r e d Grand)
S i m p l i c i t y , not s i m p l i s m . For d e t a i l surprises again and once more arouses c u r i o s i t y .
In these nine engravings there is a s o l i c i t u d e
for perfection and a delicate precision in the
c a r e f u l l y noted detail w h i c h make all their
art a n d c h a r m . The lithograph t i t l e d A u x vues
shows a special care of the artist f o r a f l o w e r y
curtain w h i c h uncovers, on the side, on a
b a c k g r o u n d of night, t w o buttocks of tender
p i n k . Elsewhere, M o n t r a n t - c u l s , the attention
p a i d by Fernand Bergeron to the hair of the
nude c o u p l e , surprised behind the rocks, gives
an idea of the o d d h u m o u r of this a l b u m .
A n d then comes about a sort of unselfconscious pleasure in the spectacle of a little
w o r l d so a u t h e n t i c a l l y itself. A w o r l d w h e r e
virtues or semi-virtues of the holy-water
basin slumber side by side w i t h unleashed
passions on a b a c k g r o u n d of the North Coast,
in summer. Fernand Bergeron paints a sensual
and h e a l t h f u l c o u n t r y . A n d a l m o s t happy. The
t i m e of a too short s u m m e r , the t i m e of
experienced or imaginary m e m o r i e s , briefly
8y
THE GRAFFOFONES OF GRAFF
By Michèle TREMBLAY-GILLON
Graff, an exhibition gallery, centre of research and graphic conception, is also a
centre of achievement and a work studio
open to all artists each day of the year,
twenty-four hours a day. The serious and
painstaking work of the artists, their zest and
their imagination, the deep involvement of
their director, Pierre Ayot, and the desire
of all of them to create have caused the
obtaining of grants which have endowed the
studio with more and more complete equipment. Most of the techniques concerning the
arts of the image on paper and sometimes
even of books are now at the disposal of the
artists. An artist must know how to do
everything today, according to Ayot. The
roads of poetry will certainly be enlarged
by this.
This year, Graff has become a publishing
house and a distributing centre as well. The
editions which Ayot has humourously named
Graffofones are presently on the market, but
for the launching Graff has published fourteen
oo
new deluxe albums. We know that Graff previously published in 1967 Pillulorum and in
1970 Les Plottes, two albums which were
exhibited across the country and which grouped the works of several artists of the studio.
This time, each book was conceived and
accomplished by one single artist who sometimes sought the collaboration of a poet, a
story-teller or simply of someone who would
add the art of writing to the art of the
image. These artists are figurative and depart
from reality, be it to transform it into a poem,
a symbol, a fantasy, be it to endeavour to
clarify its components precisely. The image,
like what is written, besides, maintains with
the real particularly ambiguous relationships
and pictural realism remains more than ever
a trap.
At a time when precision of line and of
drawing could seem to be one of the surest
means of achieving a faithful representation
of reality, the drawing of the three following
artists reflects, on the contrary, the mark of
interior forces, imaginary worlds, in sum the
escape from the extroverted proper to the
image of objective reality.
Carl Daoust, poet of the image as well as
the word, invites us to penetrate the secret of
a black box with a metallic clasp whose
interior lined in mauve contains ten yellowed
envelopes bound with a red ribbon and
enhanced by an etched stamp. Each letter
contains a text and a little engraving dedicated
to a woman who, however, has little connection with the content of the text or the
picture, these "dead letters" being especially
letters of recognition, Daoust tells us. The dry
and concise style of the drawing gives the
details of a cruel, indifferent and artificial
reality while everywhere humour and tenderness are evident. While sometimes making
use of certain idioms of symbolic and surrealist language, the thought of Daoust is
different, at the same time more complex
and more concrete.
Before the Sept péchés capitaux, an album
of engravings where imagination makes itself
master. Normand Ulrich published Fantasmes
which brings to its ultimate end the control
of this ardent and delicate graphism. The
latter entrenches itself especially in the
shadows and the semi-darkness of a main
subject whose composition reveals itself little
by little. Each silk-screen is a visual hallucination where the least element is exploited and
sometimes follows, in an original manner, the
tradition begun by Cosimo, Botticelli and
Vinci. The precision of the line and the abundance of themes elaborated only render more
alive the reality of the objects, the persons
and the human masses which swarn and
which, one might say, move the times perhaps to escape their fate.
Fantasy and lyricism further characterize
the moving waves of Lyne Rivard's drawing.
Humans, animals, plants and things of all
kinds pour from a horn of plenty filled with
images which come alive one after the other.
Histoire d'A. as the artist says, is a sort of
comic strip where live a multitude of elements
all calling themselves " A " and with which
writings are intermingled. Rivard, who also
works as a lay-out illustrator in a publishing
enterprise, translates in a liberating manner
his research in composition, integrating image
and text as well as a research of escape
which is intended to be total.
Lino-engraving, which by its very material
whose unctuousness and velvety quality
caresses the eye and encourages touching,
introduces into the image realities of another
kind which, for want of being more concrete,
will at least be more tangible.
Josette Trépanier's album conquers right
from the first by the real attraction of the
material and the colour-form, rich and generous. The spirit of L'Apprivoiseau is playful,
sometimes the most mysterious, in symbols
or even in certain realities in which men and
animals seem to be tamed and ready for
their circus trick that is often life. Man finally
loses everything, even his head, for the
benefit of a beautiful costume. The text of
Carl Daoust, which accompanies the six linoengravings, expresses well the intangible and
symbolic character of the work. The calligraphy itself, done by J. Trépanier, expresses,
on the other hand, a perfect continuity of the
written image where flora and fauna are
always present in the latent drama created
by man himself.
Pour les nuits blanches de Nini de St-H
la petite, Fernand Bergeron tells in his big
book of lovely stories printed on a bed of
summer leaves, when the nine pictures speak
of trees, sun, water, beaches and the enjoyment which comes out of this nature that is
probably, in part, that of the north coast
where Bergeron lives. He previously produced
a series of engravings in black and white, a
genuine collection of old Canadian houses
steeped in mystery where one felt the same
serenity and the same love of nature. The
new book, thanks in a small way to the
technique of impression, on account of a
more definite line, and due to the use of
pastel tones, gives off greater warmth and
humanity, a sort of invitation to natural happiness which makes Rousseau so present and
so timely.
Nature is also what allows Jean Brodeur to
find his individuality. Fauna, flora and plants
in particular, tied to woman, make of his
album, Animofemmes et plantoiseaux, a book
symbolic and humorous at the same time,
sensitive and very strong. The pictures and
texts of Jean Brodeur seem to bring about a
merging of what surrounds him and the
abandon to certain interior turbulences, conscious or unconscious. The line is free, powerful and expressive. In a few lines, much is
said. The lyricism of the drawing which
animates this intuitive work implies something
tragic and sincere, which one feels through
the form-colour of each of the ten linoengravings.
Hannelore Storm is German and she is
the only one to use the technique of lithography as a means of expression. Having
lived a little everywhere, she tries to channel,
in what she calls her "landscapes", the
spirit, the atmosphere of these countries,
these cities and these country areas she has
known and felt. While Seattle, for example,
was for her hard and cold, Montreal is all
melancholy, snow, intimism and poetry. Better
than the Montrealers themselves, she knew
in her own way how to capture in her album
En marchant vers l'atelier the especially
human ambiency of Montreal East, where the
Graff studio is located. Sometimes mixing
lithography and silk-screening she obtains
violent contrasts. Here, in spite of the vaporous mildness of her pastels and her grays,
strength is presented in some corners more
delineated than others and in the composition
of the whole.
Silk-screening, in bright and varied colours,
expresses better, for André Dufour, the profound nature of man. He wishes to touch on
his basic needs such as "dreams, liberty,
sleep, T.V., pink elephants and chewing gum."
. . . and others still more fundamental as his
callipygian Venuses here shown express it.
This series of nine pictures is full of humour
as are the texts of Jean Gauguet-Larouche,
poet, sculptor and friend, a native like him
of the north coast. Les Primates à patates is
the title of this work, the primate with the
banana being the monkey and the primate
with the potatoes being man. The sounds, the
words, as well as the colours and the picture
itself, form an observation directed toward
the world and research which aims at the
original and the basic.
Pierre Thibodeau, also, goes back to sources. He works with small, almost bacterial
elements in the shape of sticks, spirals or
simply rounded whose tones are in general
pastel. The artists, who is only twenty-two
years old, and who teaches at the School of
the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, now
superimposes on these elements the power
of enlarged objects on which great size and
photographic precision bestow an astonishing
vitality and strength. The eye, especially,
takes on an inordinate importance, while it is
for the artist "the sublime organ and it is
necessary to train oneself each day and each
moment by what one sees". What one sees
here is also a tribute to the eye of the animal,
of man, of the artist or of the observer.
The eye of the camera, it too, today, has
all power. This attention to the world, of
which Lichtenstein speaks so often, has become such among artists that only the
methods and instruments of photographic
reproduction seem to capture a Sufficiently
adequate and real image. Photography has
become characteristic of our daily and artistic
life.
Ring side offers a convincing force. The
twelve photographs of Jacques Lafond roar
out the power and the density of violence,
of masks, of play and of life. It is the
ascendancy of man. Clipping from newspapers, glued to the first page, announce
exciting matches, anticipating being worthy
of displacement. Like a photographic report,
the eye is seized by the images which follow
and pursue each other right to the punctuation of reviews in tomorrow's newspapers
glued to the last page. Appearance and "Visual
boomerang", according to the word of Rosenquist. From the broad composition of formal
and emotional elements of the image emanates something of the great romantic
tradition.
Fait à la main is the title of the second
album of photographs published by Éditions
Graffofones this year. The twelve photographs
are in black and white, and André Panneton
relates in them the plasticity of the hand
such as it is, but especially its deeds and
gestures, its space-time actions. It is the
exact moment when the hand is on the point
of doing or not doing, the divergence between
acting and touching, between desire and goal,
which the artist fixes on the picture. Only the
essential is there, resounding like a truth.
It is the greatest destitution, the most complete deprivation. Often, the artist adds, outside the photograph, an object which he has
glued on or against the photograph or vice
versa, thus creating a special dialogue between
the hyperrealist reality of the picture and the
objective reality of the object.
More and more the painted image is obsessed by the photographic image which
becomes its basic material. The futurists,
the dadaists, Durer and still many others
previously took a back seat in a certain way
behind mechanical reproductions; but, never
so much as today have we felt so intensely
the confused relationship which the image
maintains with the real.
Gloria Deitcher-Kropsky has been using
snapshots since the beginning of the century
as basic elements of her photo-silkscreen
work in colour which she assembled in her
album Blockes, Dreams and other Folks. She
uses especially photographs of the Blockes
family and gives them a character of family
album and intimate journal. Some pastel tones
emphasize the faded quality of memory as
well as the atpmosphere of melancholy and
docility that she suggests through the face
of her persons. She speaks of "the dreamlike quality which emanates from simple
ordinary people" and gives her version of it.
The text which accompanies the picture, in
most of the albums, is replaced here by the
preliminary plan, the conceptual plan of the
final picture which she presents. The two
images complete each other, making a sensitive and interesting work of this book.
For Michel Leclair, the environment is nocturnal and of Quebec. As with Michel Tremblay, artisan of this new lease on life in the
theatre and author of the text of Leclair's very
beautiful book, the tavern and the bar are
cross-roads and privileged places. They are
the source of research and become, here, the
principal theme. The ten silk-screen works in
colour have their origin in the secret of the
photographs which the artist takes himself
unknown to everyone, of certain nooks and
corners of the taverns, of the customers or of
those who work there. Chez Fada, name of a
club on St. Lawrence Boulevard, is the title
of this rich, strong work. Beer, alcohol, forgetfulness, solitude, yes, but above all a symbol,
an identity, the joy of drinking and of living.
Leclair seems to realize the world from a
strictly positive point of view and reflects our
environment in a clear and noncritical fashion.
Pierre Ayot, guiding spirit of Graff since
its beginning and professor at the University
of Quebec, is the urban artist par excellence,
this city whose very culture is, as we all
know, of a productive, continuing and consumer character. Accumulations, piling up of
boxes, of perforations, of gum balls ("two
for a cent") also have certain connections in
poetry, in the new novel, etc. The album or
rather the magnificent box of candy that the
artist offers to all of us this year, and which
he titles Rose nanan comprises a multitude
of sweet things of all colours. Ayot presents
them in the form of photo-silkscreenings and
even has their recipe given by Jehane Benoit.
These tempting things are clad in a suspicion
of mystery and elegance, sometimes losing
their identity, to the benefit of mass and
structure. The artist works with the latent and
not yet perceived quaintness of current, new
or worn-out objects, and finally creates a
reality more subjective than objective.
The ambiguity of this reality is, in truth,
what causes to be born this desire and this
impulse to create in a thousand directions.
We find here this variety of expression and
this disparity of thought which give Graff all
its vitality and all its richness. Far from setting
a school, since anyone at all can come to
work there, they have surely in common the
compulsion toward technical perfection and
the mastery without reservation of their trade.
Let us mention, in closing, that the fabulous
binding of each of these de luxe albums was
carried out by Pierre Ouvrard 1 .
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
1. Cf. Hélène Ouvrard, Pierre Ouvrard, in Vie des
Arts, Vol. XVII, No. 69, pp. 94-95.
THE MULTIPLES OF MEDIA GRAVURES
By Luce VERMETTE
Creativity and originality, united with a
great vitality, with a great dynamism, that is
what characterizes the Groupe Média Gravures et Multiples 1 .
Objectively, these epithets can easily be
applied to different artistic events. But how
do they qualify those of the Groupe Média
Gravures et Multiples, and, first, what are
their achievements?
91
In November 1969, young Montreal artists
united and formed the Groupe Média Gravures et Multiples. The primary aim of this
group is to distribute their works by an
organization managed by themselves. The
group is presently made up of Jean Noël,
Yvon Cozic, Gilles Boisvert, Lise Bissonnette,
Michel Leclair and Marc-André Gagné. Their
field of action is vast and experimental. In
this, they depart from the frames of traditional media. It is an art of integration by the
individual, of environment and life in general.
It is also the art of the transitory. The objects
created are "parts of l i f e " and live only for
the time of their endurance, a very precious
moment since it is no longer possible of being
recovered. These visual and temporal manifestations demand the physical involvement of
the individual and aim at bringing forth visual
and tactile perceptions, which cause an
awareness of forms, space and time.
One of the first showings of the Groupe
Média was their participation at the Salon
des Métiers d'Art du Québec, in 1969. Since
that time, the experiment was repeated until
last year. At the same time, a group project
came to pass. Because, if each of the members individually followed his own research,
the need for producing a group work soon
became apparent. After several plans. Packsack took shape. An exhibition of multiples
and engravings — the whole comprising
twenty-five copies — , Packsack is also a
mounting in which spectators and members
of the group take part. A travelling exhibition
was organized; it went to Basle, Lausanne,
Paris, Toronto, Winnipeg, Stratford, Rouyn,
Sherbrooke and Montreal. The film that was
produced about this event was presented at
the quarters of the Groupe, last February.
In November 1971, the Groupe Média
opened quarters on Sherbrooke St. in Montreal, with the intention of presenting its own
exhibitions and receiving other groups or isolated experiments. Thus in January 1973 they
welcomed Serge Lemoyne, who put on a
happening. Party d'étoiles. The latter consisted of tournaments of hockey matches —
hockey games of different periods — and the
winners carried off trophies produced by the
artists. Following this came the exhibition of
slides, photographs and tapestries of the Moins
de 35, then the slides of Jean-Marie Delavalle,
the works of Jean-Serge Champagne and
Claude Mongrain, and. finally, those of Andrée
Page.
Groupe Média reserved for itself an exhibition — happening, at Christmas 1972, titled
Noël, c'est pas un cadeau à 990. It will also
present, in May 1973, a group exhibition of
works with erotic themes. This latter exhibition will be used in exchanges with other
exterior groups. Because, if Group Média
intends to present the works of its members
at least once a year in solo exhibitions or in
groups, it wishes, on the other hand, to send
their works out and to execute exchanges with
outside spheres, be it in Canada or out of the
country. In that lies the proof of the great
dynamism of this group, whose survival we
ardently desire.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
1 . (cf. Le Pop au Québec, by M i c h a e l W h i t e , in Vie
des A r t s . V o l . X V I , No. 6 7 , pp. 3 5 - 4 0 ) .
92
The high technical quality of the engravings
presented by the Guilde Graphique is no
longer a matter to be discussed. The work
done by this body can compete with work
production. Thus, on different occasions, ai
biennial international exhibitions, notably ir
Paris, London, Cracow, Tokyo, Santiagc
(Chile), Grenchen (Switzerland) and Ljubljana
(Yugoslavia), works of the Guilde Graphique
have represented Canada brilliantly.
In a parallel direction to its activity as i
publishing and distributing house, the Guilde
Graphique expands its action by organizing
exhibitions in different museums, galleries anc
shops, and even in universities, schools anc
public buildings. The public can see the
engravings of the Guilde Graphique in severa
museums and galleries, where they are per
manently displayed, as well as at the exhibi
tion hall of the Guilde, located on SaintDenis Street in Montreal.
By its concern for perfection and its production of works of high quality, the Guilde
Graphique has raised the level of Canadiar
engraving, forcing other engravers to perfect
their art if they wish to tackle the internationa
market.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
TRENDS IN THE GUILDE GRAPHIQUE
By Luce VERMETTE
Founded in 1966 by Richard Lacroix, the
Guilde Graphique was at the beginning only
a co-operative orientated toward the publishing
of Canadian engravings. To-day it is a professional establishment and a commercial enterprise, publishing and distributing the works of
contemporary painter-engravers.
At the Guilde Graphique are produced, by
the processes of lithography, silk-screening,
etching, relief and moulded plastic, the works
of more than thirty artists, among whom are
Ferron, Hébert, Lacroix, McLaren, Molinari,
Pellan, Savoie, Steinhouse, Tousignant and
many others as eminent.
Presently the Guilde Graphique is announcing the publication of Kittie Bruneau's album.
Entre chien et loup and of three silk-screens by
Alfred Pellan. The Kittie Bruneau album comprises six etchings in colour, with a poem by
Michael La Chance. There one finds a picture
of the animal tribe in a strong and original
work, where imagination and fantasy are
dominant (La Chouette, La Licorne, La Chimère). Alfred Pellan's three silk-screens in
several colours are related to the series
Polychromées (Polychromée B, M and T):
three female figurations, woven from a network
of forms and geometric signs high in colour
give evidence of Pellan's involvement in the
picturing of the human person, which he
recreates entirely.
THE EARLY SCULPTURE OF QUEBEC,
A MANIFESTATION OF POPULAR ART?
By Jean TRUDEL
The term popular art is extremely difficult
to define; it has given rise to definitions as
numerous as there are people to make those
definitions. To try to apply this term to the
early sculpture of Quebec is not an easy
task. The personal approach made here is in
no way definitive, far from it. If it can
contribute to advancing, however little, the
state of knowledge on the early arts of
Quebec, we shall have attained our goal.
In order to simplify this approach, we are
going to deal only with religious figurative
sculpture. In a colony, which, since its beginnings, has been very strongly structured by
the Catholic religion, it is not surprising to
see sculpture on wood become one of the
principal exterior manifestations of this religion. In the interior of the churches, the clergy
and the faithful create a religious environment
of prime importance in the life of all and in
everyday life. This religious environment is
at the basis of a decor sculptured in the
chancel of the church which includes, in an
architectural frame, ornamental sculpture and
figurative sculpture. Without this need of
religion to create a physical setting which
is the most beautiful on earth, there never
would have been attempts, from the 17th
century, to establish viable artistic traditions
in New France.
Sculpture of a figurative character is only
one aspect of the craft of the sculptor who
works in the decoration of churches, but it is
doubtless the one which is the most characteristic of him. It allows him to present persons
or scenes about which worshippers so often
hear in the interior of churches and which
resound outside the churches. We know, for
instance, that there were in Quebec at the
corner of certain streets niches in the walls
of the houses, niches which held statues
having, it seems, a connection with the names
of the streets. The best known is the one
which, before containing a statue of Wolfe,
had in it a statue of Saint John the Baptist
and formed the corner of St. John St. and
the Street of the Poor (Palace Hill) in
Quebec 1 . Figurative religious sculpture was
not limited to the interior of churches; it
also occupied the façades of the churches, the
intersections of roads, the cemeteries. In this
sense, it was a sculpture of the people, a
sculpture with which the people lived every
day as they lived with the religion whose
symbols and devotion it represented. The
user, if one might say it, of the sculpture at
the same time as its sponsor (directly or
through the clergy) was the Quebec people
for whom the Catholic religion formed a
unifying part of their customs and of everyday
life. If one went no- further, there would
truly be no very complex questions concerning
Quebec sculpture - as popular art, but we
would have put aside the sculptors and the
works in order to consider only the environment which gave rise to them and conditioned
them.
Let us examine a few works, which, by their
stylistic characteristics, come nearer to a
generalized conception of popular art. The
first of these works is a Saint Joseph à
l'Enfant Jésus preserved in the Museum of
the General Hospital of Quebec. Tradition has
it that this sculpture was placed on the front
of this institution by its founders, the Hospitalières de Saint-Augustin, in 1693 2 . Since
1624, Saint Joseph had been the patron of
New France; he was also its protector as he
had been that of the infant Jesus. An inscription on a manuscript paper glued behind the
sculpture could perhaps give us other information if it wers deciphered. We do not know
who could have done this work, but it must
have involved, in spite of its awkwardness,
a professional sculptor. The too large hands,
the too long feet, the stiffness of the infant
Jesus, must not make us forget the admirable
treatment of the folds of the cloak and the
hair of Saint Joseph. In spite of its tendency
to excessive stylisation, this sculpture seems
to us, through its plastic expression, nearer
to an art called scholarly than to an art called
popular. The technique demanded to create
it implies on the part of the one who made
it an education more extensive than that of a
simple man gifted in tinkering.
A polychrome relief picture preserved in
the Convent of the Ursulines of Quebec
would also be near to a general conception
of popular art. It shows the Vision de sainte
Angèle de Mérici, the founder of the Ursulines,
and, formerly as today, it would have been
placed in the part of the convent reserved
for the novices, to be offered to their meditation. According to tradition, it might have
been sculpted by a nun; it is not possible for
us to accept this tradition, perhaps founded
on the clumsiness of the work. At the bottom,
at the right, we can read "Th.Ch.F.(?)
Scul/1808". An Ursuline, through humility,
would not have signed this work while there
are already very few signed works in the early
sculpture of Quebec. We have not yet been
able to trace the name of the sculptor through
these initials.
The use of painting and the techniques of
the painter to create background and depth
is not unusual; other examples are known.
However, the iconography is unique. Saint
Angèle is shown as a Virgin of the Annunciation at her prie-Dieu. She is dressed like an
Ursuline and wears the rosary at her belt. The
lily represents the virginity to which she
vowed herself very early. Her usual symbol,
a flowered crucifix, has been broken; she
holds it in her hands. Her empty eyes doubtless refer to her temporary blindness. The
pilgrim's staff recalls her journey to Jerusalem.
In the upper left corner of the picture there
is, in a frame, a display of the vision which
was the inspiration of her decision to found
the order of the Ursulines: a ladder comes
down from the sky and virgins wearing a
royal crown on their heads go up two by two,
accompanied by angels. Above Saint Angèle
appears a mass of clouds in which we see
an angel holding in one hand a crown of
stars and in the other a flowering branch 3 .
Such a work is not a spontaneous creation,
inspired by fantasy and imagination. Each
of the elements of the composition was carefully chosen and thought out by the nuns
who ordered the work. What it is important
to know is that Angèle de Mérici lived from
1474 to 1525 and that she was beatified in
1768 to be canonized in 1804*. We know
now why the relief was made in 1808; it
presents a résumé of the principal events of
the life of the saint, as well as her canonization. The means of expression of the sculptor
are awkward, but can one really say that it
is a question of a work of popular art? And
in what sense?
Let us take an iconographie theme which
does not have the unique character of the
relief of the Ursulines, that of the adoring
angels. The examples are numerous in the
churches of Europe in the 17th and 18th
centuries; adoring angels appear on in the
chancels and on the tabernacles of the altars.
Nearer to us, a pair of angels in sculptured
wood, gilt and polychromatic, is preserved in
the Convent of the Ursulines in Quebec.
These angels were probably imported from
Europe in the first half of the 18th century
and were perhaps used as a model by Quebec
sculptors. They are, however, quite far from
the Ange adorateur which the National Gallery
of Canada owns and which must have come
from the Lotbinière church. This angel has
been credited by Gérard Morisset to FrançoisNoël Levasseur (1703-1794) and dated about
17755. These exist several very similar others
among which, in particular, are those of
Saint-Charles de Bellechasse; that was a kind
of work which the sculptor used to repeat —
with minor variations — in many places,
according to orders. It was a work done in
series, which takes nothing from its plastic
qualities.
Almost a century later, toward the middle
of the 19th century, adoring angels were
used, very probably, on hearses. They are,
in any case, originally painted black. They too
are repeated in several copies and made by
the same sculptor whom we do not know.
A pair of those angels is in the National
Gallery of Canada. This is the same iconographie type as Levasseur's angel, but reduced
to its simplest expression. The drapery is
indicated only by wide lines made with a
gouge. The hands have disappeared. The
position of the limbs is scarcely shown and
the feet do not exist. Levasseur's angel appears
to us in contrast to the angels of the hearse,
like a work of scholarly art. And yet all these
angels fulfil their duty well, since they are
all produced in series. Among them there are
noticeable stylistic differences which, upon
the whole, come only from the different
training received by the sculptors. And, finally,
how could one qualify the angel of Levasseur
in relationship with European models?
It seems to us that it is a false problem to
wish to establish at any price, in what concerns the early sculpture of Quebec, a line of
demarcation between a popular art and a
scholarly art. The early sculpture was born
of the precise needs of society; it is completely integrated into the structures of this
93
society. One must not believe that the sculptors were free to do what they wished; they
too were part of this society which supported
them, and, still more, their means of individual expression were strongly conditioned by
their education. Perhaps there were marginal
sculptors who did not make a living by their
art, but if we consider what remains to us of
the early sculpture, how can we distinguish
their works from those of the professionals,
whether we name them artists or craftsmen?
It would perhaps be necessary to conclude
that the early sculpture of Quebec is very
simply a provincial art having its own characteristics, conditioned by its forms, the very
diversified aspects of this environment and its
evolution. It is in this sense that one could
consider it as a manifestation of art of the
people.
(For foot-notes, see French text.)
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
94
MARCEL JEAN — AT THE GRAND
THEATRE OF QUEBEC, COLUMNS FOR THE
OCCUPATION OF SPACE
By Michel PARENT
The building technique of this big montage,
which designs and occupies space, is simple
but especially ingenious and adequate. To
metallic wires stretched vertically on the
whole height (nearly 70 feet), component
units of styrofoam of different dimensions
are attached, wedged by small incisions. The
lightness of this material allows the superposition of several components on a single
wire, which further emphasizes the airy
appearance of the montage. In the evening,
projectors with concentric rays, placed at the
base, dramatize the appearance of this
structure, giving value to the contrasts of
bright colours and bringing out the basic
character of the whole.
Seen from certain angles, from below for
example, what the work loses in structural
clearness it gains in theatricality. Momentarily,
on account of its colour and its extent, it
takes on a startling effect of size. A sort of
architectural construction, whose norm and
scale one loses and which becomes almost
dizzying, splashed with colour and which
completely takes refuge in its appearance.
The object, at first realized in this way,
gives an indication at the end of a moment
of the structure of its planning. Slowly, a
reading of it becomes possible. It is necessary for us to isolate a shape according to the
angle of view, to prefer one volume rather
than another, to confer importance on certain
space relationships, etc. A reading changing
according to the movements of the spectator,
but always conceptually clear since related
to a simple plan: that of two columns of
different perimeters placed one within the
other and both made up of superimposed
cubes and prisms. The volumes, outlined by
yellows and blues, compel our attention and
contain secondary variable reds and greens
whose chromatic divergence is less marked.
According to the same conditions, blacks and
whites can be discerned as having a static
value, supported by the less relative character
of their shades. All that is of a clearness of
intention without fault.
It is fortunate that the architecture of the
Grand Theatre of Quebec allows very different
views of the montage. Thus, according to the
ability of each, he will be able to set up for
himself a more measured, more analytical
appreciation, until the latter, at its limit,
proceeds from a very abstract system of
reference, in truth conceptual.
This structure of space, one sees, is not
delivered to us complete. It is for the spectator to restore its harmony of organization.
We are given only its visual elements. Space
is the real object of this structure and this
space is found between the components or,
better, beyond them. According to his visual
habits, his insight and his level of information,
each will find in this work a different degree
of complexity and a different pleasure. This
participation, whose thoughtful character is
not lacking, could seem barren to a few
persons and rebuff them, but it is never
passive or linear and, in any case, not
demagogic. That changes us!
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
FUSELI IN VANCOUVER
By Harold KALMAN
Visitors to the Vancouver Art Gallery are
treated from time to time to a painting that
may be one of the most alluring — and
important — old master canvasses in Canada:
The Dream of Belinda (fig. 3) by Henry
Fuseli (1741-1825). Four principal figures
emerge from the mysterious chiaroscuro to
produce a hauntingly beautiful composition,
one which effectively contrasts repose with
action, beauty with ugliness, and mortal
beings with the world of fairies.
Henry Fuseli —
known in his native
Switzerland as Johann Heinrich Fùssli — was
an excitable intellectual with early experiences
as a minister, literary historian, and political
activist. He arrived in London in 1763 and
took up painting after Sir Joshua Reynolds
encouraged him to visit Italy. Fuseli's career
in art was climaxed by his appointment as
Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy
of Arts. His sublime style, with its physical
strength and powerful emotions, inspired a
number of younger artists, among them
William Blake.
Fuseli's scholarly training led him to subject
matter gleaned from a vast range of literature.
His favourite authors included Homer, Dante,
Milton, and especially Shakespeare; less frequently did he illustrate the writings of his
own century. The Dream of Belinda represents
one of these rarer ventures, depicting an
episode from Alexander Pope's The Rape of
the Lock (1712). 1
The Dream of Belinda is described in
Canto I of the poem. Belinda reclines upon
her bed, robed in white and identified by
the crucifix around her neck and her flowing
locks of hair. Above her flutters the guardian
sylph Ariel, clad in the thin, airy garments
described by Pope. Ariel presents Belinda
with a dressing table upon which lies the
billet-doux that will lure her to Hampton
Court and her undoing.
The other two characters foreshadow the
evil that will happen to Belinda. Crouching
beneath a sheet is the Baron, ready to spring
and seize her precious lock. Through the
scene races the gnome Umbriel, the malicious
agent of grief who will usurp the protective
influence of Ariel. The "hateful gnome" carries a branch of spleenwort in one hand, and
the other gestures towards Belinda. Around
him swarms a throng of phantoms.
Fuseli removes Umbriel from Canto IV of
the poem and takes the desirous Baron from
the second and third cantos, and makes them
a part of Belinda's vision. This conflation is
permissible because both agents of Belinda's
misfortune are clearly adumbrated in her
dream (I: 79-80, 109-114).
Fuseli demonstrates the integration of
Neoclassical and Romantic tendencies found
in the best of late-eighteenth-century paintings.
The precise draughtsmanship and clarity of
form reveal the artist's respect for Greek and
Roman art. So too does the figure of Belinda,
which has a source in antique sculpture: the
Sleeping Ariadne in the Vatican Museum. The
energetic muscular figure of Umbriel looks
more towards the terribilità of Michelangelo,
Fuseli's ideal. The deep colours and mysterious shadows, as well as the mood of terror
which they evoke, are sublime features
associated with the Romantic Movement.
The Dream of Belinda came to Vancouver
in 1934 as one of about twenty paintings
purchased for the young gallery's permanent
collection by Sir Charles Holmes. A respected
art historian. Holmes had been Slade Professor of Art at Oxford and Director of the
National Gallery in London. The Fuseli and
several other purchases represented the
English eighteenth century, indicating the
loyalties and tastes of the Vancouver cognoscenti of the 1930's. The Vancouver Art Gallery has since channelled its energies into
collecting and exhibiting contemporary art.
Some of Holmes's purchases have been sold,
and the rest, including the Fuseli, spend
much of their time boxed in the gallery's
basement.
The painting arrived in Vancouver with the
title Queen Mab. It was erroneously identified
— probably by Holmes — as the painting of
that name exhibited by Fuseli in 1814 and
now in Zurich. 2 Queen Mab does indeed
appear — in fact twice — among the phantoms behind Umbriel, as both the good and
the bad dream fairy. Her more kindly self
may be found in the seated figure between
Umbriel's legs with the crescent moon in her
hair, while the more malevolent aspect of
Mab is seen in the sinister squatting spirit
just left of Umbriel's leg.
The principal subject of the Vancouver
painting is not related to the legends of Queen
Mab. Investigation into that fairy's folklore
was not without its rewards, however, as it
shed light upon Fuseli's most famous composition. The Nightmare (fig. 2).
The supposed lack of a literary source has
disturbed most admirers of this painting. The
Nightmare, it now appears, depicts the antics
of Queen Mab, the bad dream fairy, as
described by Mercutio in Shakespeare's
Romeo and Juliet:
0 , then I see Queen Mab hath been with
you.
. . . She gallops night by night
Through lovers' brains, and then they
dream of love;
. . . This is that very Mab
That plats the manes of horses in the night
And bakes the elflocks in foul sluttish hairs.
Which once untangled much misfortune
bodes.
This is the hag, when maids lie on their
backs.
That presses them . . .
(l:iv:53-93, passim.)
On closer examination it appears that the
connection between The Nightmare and The
Dream ot Belinda is no coincidence. The two
paintings share much in content and style.
Both depict the dream world of women
influenced by the evil Mab and culminating
in a kind of rape. The ape-like influence who
is Mab's agent of evil mounts the sleeping
woman in The Nightmare and sits more passively to the left of the malevolent Mab in
the Vancouver canvas (hardly visible in our
illustration). Both subjects are preoccupied
with hair. Belinda's famous lock corresponds
to the long tresses of the other woman, which
are tangled into "elflocks" by Mab. The
paintings share such physical properties as
the dressing table — whose jar and crystal
base refer to the fragility of woman's chastity
— and the curtains. The execution of both
is linear and precise, the draperies of the
women are remarkably similar, and the light
and chiaroscuro are essentially identical.
Even the dimensions of the two paintings
match. The (original) Detroit version of The
Nightmare measures 40" x 50", whereas The
Dream of Belinda, which was trimmed in an
early restoration, is one-half inch shorter in
each dimension. The only significant physical
disparity is found in the dark triangular corners of the Vancouver painting which may
originally have been covered by spandrels
in the frame.
All evidence suggests a date for The
Dream of Belinda around 1782, the year in
which The Nightmare was exhibited at the
Royal Academy. It is not unlikely that the
two paintings may have been conceived as
a pair. This connection makes the Vancouver
canvas all the more important as an example
of Fuseli's work.
Nothing is known about the provenance of
The Dream of Belinda other than an unconfirmed report that it came from the collection
of the Marchioness of Cholmondely. A close
friend and ardent admirer of Fuseli during
the 1780's was William Lock; it is tempting
to suggest that it may have been he who
commissioned the artist to illustrate The Rape
of the Lock!
The Vancouver Art Gallery is not alone
among Canadian museums in possessing an
important work by Fuseli. The Art Gallery of
Ontario recently purchased Fuseli's King Lear
Banishing Cordelia (fig. 1). Lear angrily
disowns his daughter while Goneril and Regan
look on and the Earl of Kent vainly attempts
to intercede. This enormous painting — some
twelve feet wide — was commissioned by
John and Josiah Boydell in the late 1780's
for their Shakespeare Gallery in London. The
Boydells solicitod Shakespearian subjects from
all of the leading English painters of the day,
exhibited them in their gallery, and profitably
sold engravings after the works. The Lear
subject was engraved in 1792 by R. Earlom.
Toronto's acquisition indicates the renewed
interest in European art of the eighteenth
century. A number of important recent exhibitions and publications have shed new light
on this period, and Fuseli — himself the
subject of several new books —
clearly
emerges as one of the great and exciting
artists of his time.
1 . A d e t a i l e d discussion of the subject matter and
sources of this painting and of The N i g h t m a r e
may be f o u n d in H a r o l d K a l m a n , " F ù s s l i , Pope
and the N i g h t m a r e , " Pantheon, XXIX ( 1 9 7 1 ) , pp.
226-236.
2. Royal A c a d e m y , 1 8 1 4 , no. 12. The Vancouver
painting is identified as Queen M a b in The A r t
Gallery B u l l e t i n , l l : 3 ( N o v . 1 9 3 4 ) , p. 3.
PRESENT-DAY PAINTING IN CHICAGO
François GAGNON
Contemporary American painting is noticeably absent from the exhibition lists of our
museums and galleries. Or rather, it makes
only scattered appearances, discontinuous,
always abortive, never followed up. For a
Soulages retrospective (July 23 to September
1, 1968), Feito (December 19, 1968 to
February 16, 1969) and Vasarely (December,
1971), at the Museum of Contemporary Art,
and a Dubuffet retrospective (December 19,
1969 to January 3 1 , 1970) at the Museum of
Fine Arts of Montreal, . . . we have had an
exhibition organized by the Museum of
Modern Art of New York, Jackson Pollock's
Works on Paper, at the Museum of Fine Arts
of Montreal, a showing of recent works of
Hans Hofmann at Myra Godard's last year,
very recently a Wall Drawing of Sol Lewitt at
the new gallery. Véhicule Art Inc., and a few
graphic works of Rauschenberg, Oldenburg,
Stella, Kelly and Francis, at the Galerie B,
to mention only a few examples.
It is necessary to set aside the effort of the
National Gallery, which besides having made
important acquisitions in this particular field,
organized from the thirteenth of September
to the nineteenth of October 1969, a very
important Don Flavin retrospective. The fifth
floor of the gallery is presently showing American works. Thus, parallel to the Fontainebleau exhibition, one could see, a large picture
by Olitski, a Carl André and the Keith by
9S
Chuck Close, all recent enough to give an
image in no way lagging behind the New
York avant-garde.
But on the whole, this remark remains true:
neither De Kooning Rothko, Reinhardt, Newman, Stella, Judd, Noland, nor Olitski have
been shown to us in Montreal in a more or
less complete way. There exists a certain
anomaly, which the cost implied in enterprises
of this nature cannot explain by itself alone.
The truth is that we find the credits for Feito,
Soulages, Dubuffet or Vasarely, but we do not
find them for De Kooning, Rothko or Jasper
Johns. We can be amazed at this when we
think not only of the physical proximity of
Montreal and New York, but of the importance
of American art in the development of presentday painting.
I hasten to add that this lack is the doing
of museums and galleries . . . and eventually
of collectors rather than that of artists. Indeed,
we find among them much more interest in
American art. Is it necessary to recall the
stay of Borduas in New York, from 1953 to
1955? The importance that Molinari gave,
from the second half of the Fifties, to
American painters in the program of exhibitions in his gallery L'Actuelle? The attendance
of Charles Gagnon at the Art Student League
from 1956 to 1960? The time spent by
Hurtubise in New York on the eve of the
explosion of Pop Art? At a time when
painters take an interest in American art,
take seriously the problem of placing their
own pictural adventure in relationship to its
discoveries, the Quebec establishment shows
no interest in it. I would be inclined to see
in this one of the reasons for which the
plasticians. in particular, do not find the place
they deserve in Quebec collections, and find
a more sympathetic reception in Toronto and
the rest of Canada. Everything happens as if,
granted a certain level of revenue, one remained attached to the ideology of cultural catching up characteristic of the Forties in Quebec.
Thus, under the circumstances, the recent
exhibition entitled Present-Day Painting in
Chicago, at the Museum of Contemporary Art
(Montreal), is worth a pause, however marginal one may judge it in relationship to the
New York trends which we have just called
to mind. The exhibition is remarkably well
presented, thanks to the collaboration of Hal
Thwaites. a participant in the course of Communication Research no. 450 at Loyola College under the direction of Dr. M. Malik. We
are led, by a completely visual logic, from one
picture to the other, the technical label being
inscribed on a black arrow, on the floor, in
front of each work. I imagine that the great
majority of these artists were unknown to the
Montreal public! 1 ).
With the exception of Art Green, who presents two pictures in this exhibition, these
being, Immoderate Abstention (1969) and
Undue Concern (1971), of whom I had seen
some works last winter in Halifax! 2 ) and a
few others mentioned in Max Kozloff's article
Inwardness: Chicago art since 1945 (Art
Forum. October 1972, pages 51-55), they
were all personally unknown to me. Undue
Concern well introduces the style of the
ensemble. The picture shows an ice cream
cone. Dairy Queen type, in front of a pink
tire attached to it in a figure eight by an
invisible tie. The ice cream with bluish reflections shows through an opening orange flames
from a furnace. This central motif appears on
a background of night with a yellow moon
which we see through a series of circus hoops
that a meteor has just torn. However, a com96
plicated system of laces holds the cone on
the edges of the torn papers of the hoops.
The whole is treated in a range of colours
recalling outdoor advertising or, better, the
most advanced showings of Funk Art< 3 ). We
think first of a kind of Pop Art, but the motifs
borrowed from the art of the Woolworths are
here swept along in a very personal synthesis, not to say psychoanalytical, which has
nothing to do with Pop Art. The laces
resemble those clamps which surgeons use to
hold wounds open. The ice cream cone, held
by flames revealed by this opening, edible
and burning at the same time, giving the
impression of volume and flat image, since
it is pierced by holes through which the laces
pass, confirms the erotic imagery that we
perceive in this falsely innocent, curious
assemblage.
Very different in appearance from the production of Art Green, that of Edward Paschke,
represented here by Nueva York (1971) is not
without connection with it. Ed Paschke shows
us a tattooed wrestler, with long wavy hair,
open mouth, tongue hanging out, wearing a
clinging bathing suit of purple velvet with a
fluorescent pattern. Paschke's interest in the
techniques of Funk Art is evident, but the
sexual reversal of the model makes itself felt
with such force that it is clear that by itself
alone it does not exhaust the motivation of
the artist.
The pictures of Paul Lamantia which involve
the most grotesque triviality (the head of the
nude in Benefactor, 1970, is a toilet seat),
the fetishism of garters and brassières and of
the diagram of the arterial system taken right
embody explicit sadistic and erotic obsessions.
More subtly, in overloaded pictures, a little in
the manner of the Hourloupe of Dubuffet! 4 ).
Gladys Nilsson reveals a world teeming with
sows, rats, small persons sticking out their
tongues or waving soft sticks, kangaroos,
bears with phallic heads treated in discreet
shades of gray, beige, dark green, white and
black. Baroquen Oats (1971) well illustrates
her style. Big Bluegoil Pynup (1970) was
previously reproduced in Art Forum (art.
quoted p. 54).
Finally, James Nutt, to end here an enumeration of the most representative painters of
the trend, draws inspiration from comic strips
or, rather, from what seems to be an adolescent adaptation of the comic strip, by removing from it its too linear anecdotal side, as in
Y Did He Du It (1966-1967). Miss T. Garmint
(Pants a Lot) (1967) shows a smiling but
strangled head, surrounded by drops of sweat,
in the purest Dick Tracy style of Chester
Gould.
If it were necessary to characterize as a
whole this very diversified showing, one
could say that thanks to the mediation of
Funk Art, the Chicago painters have succeeded in being regional without being provincial,
as Kozloff has noted in his article in Art
Forum, already quoted. It is in that that they
seem to me to be typical and can be of some
use to us in Quebec. We have not always
resisted the temptation of provincialism, that
is to say of becoming the imitators of large
centres, be it Paris or New York. Doubtless
we have no other choice than to be regional.
It remains for us to be so in a sufficiently
universal way in order not to imprison ourselves in a ghetto, but in a manner individualized enough to bring an original contribution
to international art. It goes without saying
that it is not a matter of redoing here the
same as what has been done in Chicago.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
(1)
Not a l l , however. H o w does it happen that certain pictures seem f a m i l i a r to us? i hardly dare
to reveal the reason for this to the c u l t u r e d
readers of Vie des A r t s . It happens, in f a c t , t h a t
some members of the Chicago School are not
above seeing their w o r k s used as illustrations in
Playboy Magazine, w h o s e offices are in C h i c a g o ,
as is w e l l k n o w n . Thus Ed Paschke i l l u s t r a t e d a
h u m o u r o u s article Georgeous George, M . D . , by
Richard S m i t h , in the January 1 9 7 3 issue, page
1 1 5 ; King Pope, not represented in the M o n t r e a l
e x h i b i t i o n , but a member of the g r o u p , i l l u s t r a t e d
an essay by Roy Bradbury, F r o m Stonehenge to
T r a n q u i l l i t y Base (December 1 9 7 2 , p. 149) and
Christina Ramberg, t w o poems of Lawrence Durrell in the same magazine. Seymour Rosofsky
(not represented either at the M o n t r e a l e x h i b i tion) illustrated a new w o r k of Tenessee W i l l i a m s ,
The Inventory at Fontana Bella ( M a r c h 1 9 7 3 ,
pages 7 6 and 7 7 ) . One gets his i n f o r m a t i o n
w h e r e one canl
(2) A r t Green, then l i v i n g in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia,
made application for a grant f r o m Canada Counfor the second consecutive year. He had to
join the Chicago School recently .
(3) Th
The expression is hard to translate. Funk is
panic, this paralysing fear in the vocabulary of
slang. The term K i t c h is doubtless closest to that
of Funk A r t , in accepted vocabulary, although
having a w i d e r m e a n i n g . Funk A r t is popular
c o m m e r c i a l art. W e see, in summer, t w o steps
f r o m Place V i l l e Marie on the brick w a l l s of
Loew's Theater in M o n t r e a l , different examples of
the t r e n d !
(4) A l t h o u g h I have no means of checking if the
influence of Dubuffet on Gladys Nilsson is just i f i e d , I a l l o w myself to state that it was at the
A r t s Club of Chicago on Thursday, December 2 0 ,
1 9 5 1 , at 1 1 : 3 0 that Dubuffet gave the o n l y
lecture in English he ever w r o t e : A n t i c u l t u r a l
Positions. W e w i l l be able to see the text in
f a c s i m i l e (the original was given to M a u r i c e E.
Gulberg) in the catalogue of the Feigen Gallery,
t i t l e d Dubuffet and the A n t i c u l t u r e , N o v e m b e r 2 5 .
1969 — January 3, 1970. For the Benefit o f the
Harlem Preparatory S c h o o l , 1969, between pages
8 and 9. George Cohen s h o w e d (pages 10 and
1 1 ) , in this same catalogue, that Leon Golub and
Cosmo C a m p o l i , t w o members of the Chicago
group, were present w i t h h i m at the Dubuffet
lecture. Claes O l d e n b u r g , w h o lived in Chicago
f r o m 1 9 3 7 to 1 9 5 6 , was an illustrator there for
the magazine Chicago ( 1 9 5 5 - 1 9 5 6 ) . W e k n o w
that he also paid tribute to Dubuffet.
THE STEDELIJK MUSEUM IN
AMSTERDAM
Luc D'IBERVILLE-MOREAU
The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam is
considered by many to be the most alive and
dynamic museum of contemporary art in
the world. It annually welcomes close to
450,000 visitors in a city whose population
is less than that of Montreal or Toronto and
which has besides another museum, the
Rijksmuseum, known for its famous collection of Rembrandts. These two museums are
subsidized by the city of Amsterdam. The
Stedelijk receives about S 1,850,000 a year.
Two-thirds of this budget goes to administration and to the salaries of one hundred eighty
employees who are superintended by director
Edward de Wilde. The museum is open
every day. Sixty-three percent of the visitors
to the Stedelijk are between twenty and thirty
years of age, fifteen percent between fifteen
and twenty. On the average thirty-five major
exhibitions a year are organised there and one
vernissage a week.
For many people the Stedelijk was the
museum where one could admire the famous
Van Gogh collections bequeathed by the
nephew of the painter, engineer V. W. van
Gogh. These are to be found lately in the
new Van Gogh Museum, situated right beside
in a recently opened museum. The superb
collections of Mondrians, of Malevitches, of
Stijl, etc., are taken down, changed from one
week to another. "We are against permanent
exhibitions, that is good for historians of
art", Edward de Wilde tells us. "The public
must constantly be surprised, thrilled, excited.
The aim to be sought is to render art accessible to the public by means which are neither
intellectual nor chronological. It is a matter
neither of education nor of learning, but of
individual awareness." But for others, and it
is the majority which counts, the Stadelijk is
a museum of contemporary art where, for the
last ten years, we have been able to admire
contemporary exhibitions.
The list is dazzling: Gabo, Klein, Raysse,
Giacometti, Lam, Kline, Fontana, Lichsteinstein, Rauschenberg, Bell, Raynaud, Sam
Francis, Warhol, De Kooning, Soto, Arman,
Chilida, Ernst, Oldenburg, Stella, Kienholz,
Négret, Spoerri, Newman, Agam, Kelly, Monory, Dibbets, etc. If we compare this list of
exhibitions with that of prestigious American
museums, it shows a much greater internationalism, while paying homage to the best
in American creation.
Furthermore, the director defines the art of
this century as possessing an international
character. "National art is a concept as absurd
as national science. The character of a museum
of modern art is therefore, by definition,
international, since the function of the museum is to adhere closely to art. The museum
plays an active rôle when it marks current
trends, or when it acts at the same time as
organiser, realizer and producer of projects,
which, without it, could not be achieved. The
artistic situation has presented, since 1960,
an image of such complexity and its evolution
is so swift that the administration of the
museum can no longer be founded on the
preferential choice of one single person. It
must be the outcome of the work of a team,
each curator bringing his contribution, which
will be determined by the many personal
contacts which he maintains with artists."
The director defines the political situation
of the museum in this way: "The museum,
under the circumstances the ensemble of its
officials, finds itself in an ambiguous position
in political matters. Either it is a government
institution, or it is, as in the United States,
managed as a private institution by a certain
number of influential people. It is therefore a
part of the existing social structure. But it
also serves as a platform for contemporary art
which very often, consciously or not, has a
challenging character. I believe that the museum should have no other criterion than the
artistic level, whatever it may be. The challenging work is also a work of art. Art is the
expression of all the human experiences of
reality. Giving a political aspect to a museum
would lead to the abandoning of vast fields of
endeavour. A political decision can be demanded of a museum, but giving a political
aspect to its activities is quite another thing.
The artist makes social demands as numerous
as they are justified. By the fact that he is the
closest associate of the museum, it therefore
behooves the latter to uphold them."
The director of the Stedelijk is responsible
to the alderman in charge of the arts of the
city of Amsterdam, but the latter takes care
only of the financial matters relating to the
budget granted by the city. The choice of
acquisitions and exhibitions comes entirely
from the director and the curators of the
museum. "It is essential to have a competent
scientific staff and that in many areas. The
head of the section of the arts is an architect.
The curator of the collection of prints once
had a commercial gallery. Their experience is
valuable to us." Director de Wilde would not
endure, he says, the state of dependence in
which the directors and the curators of
American (and Canadian) museums are confined. "The trustees are, in general, collectors
who have too much money and want to
meddle in everything. Often, they know
nothing of art and still less of the problems
of museums. The director or the curator is
their employee; in case of disagreement, he
is dismissed."
Mr. de Wilde attributes the great success of
the Stedelijk Museum to the continuity of its
policy. "Solo exhibitions, however good they
may be, have only little influence because the
public is slow to learn; especially at the
beginning. It is necessary to have a sustained
policy, the results will make themselves felt
after a few years. We use all the publicity
possible, with poor results. One percent of
our public comes thanks to advertising on the
radio, three percent thanks to that on television. For important exhibitions, we advertise
in the cinemas." "Much too many people,
even artists, are still obsessed by the idea
of a centre. The rôle of New York is more or
less ended. Today, artists travel. The great
stars like Oldenburg or Dine move about at
their own expense, the others thanks to grants.
It is for the museum to go and get them
before they become untouchables."
The purchasing policy is centred in a concrete way on art subsequent to 1960. "We
have gaps, but it can't be helped, because it
is too late. It would take my whole budget
and, at the end of ten years, it would be
necessary to pay too dear for what we had
neglected. There is no good collection chosen
by a committee. A collection is not a bringing
together of good things. It needs a soul."
The result is all contemporary art, European
and American, bought during the good time
— in 1971 — Mertz, Nauman, Négret, Manzoni, Miodrag Dado, Newman, Spoerri, Dubuffet, Morris Louis, Kienholz, Tinguely; in
1967-68, for example — Arman, Kelly, Newman, Stella, Oldenburg, Noland, Dorazio,
Raynaud, De Kooning, etc.
"Without the acceptance of the artist,
without his moral support, nothing can be
done. There is no other solution but to be
on the side of the creator against all the
authorities of the world, against the public,
if it is necessary; it is for the latter to adapt
itself", E. de Wilde tells us in ending! 1 ).
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
(1) This article follows an interview with the director
of the Stedelijk Museum, E. de Wilde and the
author in 1971 and also recent information sent
by the same museum.
THE KROLLER-MULLER MUSEUM
AT OTTERLO
By Françoise LeGRIS
The history of the formation of certain
collections of works of art and of the founding
of some museums is thrilling provided that
one is willing to spend a little time on it. A
good example of this is offered to us by the
Krôller-Mùller Museum at Otterlo, in Holland,
known especially for its famous collection of
Van Goghs (272 works).
97
Founded by Mrs. Hélène Krôller-Mùller,
this museum, located in the Hooge Veluwe
National Park, is one of the most attractive
in the country, by reason of its completely
modern design, its geographical situation and
its collections. And it truly vindicates the
excellence and the very high reputation of
Dutch museums. Closed for a year to allow
the installation of air-conditioning and the
addition of a new section, the museum
reopened its doors in February 1971. Let us
briefly review the history of the collection.
In May 1888, Hélène Muller married Anthony G. Krôller, an eminent Dutch businessman who was to exert a great influence on
the affairs of his country. In 1900, the
Krôller-Mùller family established itself in the
forest of Scheveningen where Mrs. Krôller
began her collection, composed at that time
exclusively of Delft blues.
On the advice of art critic H. P. Bremmer,
Mrs. Krôller began to collect modern paintings,
first of Hollanders, Gabriel and Verster among
others. In 1909 Bremmer brought her three
Van Goghs: Les Semeurs in the manner of
Millet, Tournesols mourants, and Nature morte aux citrons. These formed the beginning
of the great collection.
From this moment, preference was given
to works of painting, but sculptures, drawings
and engravings were also chosen by Mrs.
Krôller. The period from 1909 to 1921 was
the one of the most important acquisitions.
For example, in 1912, during a stay in Paris,
Mrs. Krôller bought seven pictures and two
drawings by Van Gogh in the same day, at
the same time as a Seurat and a Signac.
The collection of pictures, formed chiefly
until 1921, comprised a variety of works of
the nineteenth century representing French
Realism from Courbet to the Barbizon School,
Impressionism and Vincent Van Gogh, whose
works occupy the centre of the collection.
Neo-lmpressionism illustrated especially by
Seurat, Symbolism and New Art, by Redon,
Toorop, Thorn Prikker and others, and finally.
Cubism, by Picasso, Braque, Léger and Gris.
Next Mrs. Krôller discovered abstract art and
acquired pictures by Mondrian and Van der
Leek. In this way was set up an exceptional
collection of modern and contemporary works
of art, which has continued to increase since
that time.
Since 1907, Mrs. Krôller had been thinking
of bequeathing her collection to her country.
To do this, it was necessary to ensure the
preservation and the conservation of the
works by the construction of a museum which
would be a certain attraction for the public.
For this purpose, Mrs. Krôller bought the
land which, in 1935, was going to form the
Hooge Veluwe National Park, in the centre of
which the museum was erected.
Mrs. Krôller refused the plans of architects
Mies van der Rohe and Berlage. After many
attempts, she entrusted the building of her
museum to the Belgian architect, Henri van de
Velde. Mrs. Krôller donated her collection
to the state, on condition that it assume the
erection of the museum. The doors were
opened on the thirteenth of July, 1938. Mrs.
Krôller was the first curator, until her death,
which occurred in 1939. Mr. Hammacher,
who followed her, enlarged the plans of a
garden of sculptures with Van de Velde. In
1953, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of the birth of Van Gogh, architect
Van de Velde built a new wing. In 1963,
Mr. Oxenaar succeeded Mr. Hammacher as
director of the museum. Since that time, the
area of the museum has continued to develop,
98
with the acquisition of works which were to
form the sculpture park.
The museum itself, of limited dimensions,
is especially well adapted to the presentation
of modern works. Very bright halls opening
one upon the other, overhead lighting, very
mobile arrangement and hanging, make it one
of the most interesting and the most attractive
examples of the modern conception of museums. Further, it was intended to create a
continuity between the works of art and
surrounding nature, each adding value to the
other. From next May 23 to Aug. 26, the
Museum of Modern Art in New York will
present an exhibition of drawings from the
Krôller-Mùller Museum. It will comprise more
than a hundred works, from Van Gogh to
Mondrian, and for the first time America will
have the opportunity of becoming acquainted
with the wealth and the variety of this
collection of the Krôller-Mùller Museum.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)
THE BOYMANS-VAN BEUNINGEN
MUSEUM IN ROTTERDAM
By Andrée PARADIS
The Boymans-Van Beuningen Museum in
Rotterdam, magnificently established, since
1935, in an immense building of Dutch brick
and dominated by a high square tower, has
recently been enlarged. It had escaped the
almost total destruction of Rotterdam during
the war of 1939. The new wing houses the
collections of modern art for which Mme
Renilde Hammacher van den Brande, chief
curator, is responsible. The inauguration took
place during the course of the summer of
1972. The museum is famous for its collections of ancient and modern art. The nucleus
comes from an important legacy, that of Judge
Otto Boymans, who died in Utrecht in 1847,
constantly enriched after that, and from the
acquisition, in 1958, of the famous collection
of D. G. van Beuningen.
The extension of the museum, foreseen in
the plans made for the first building by architect A. van der Steur, was largely followed by
his successor and former associate, architect
A. Bodon.
The demands of contemporary art undergoing perpetual transformation have been respected. Vast halls, free of fixed structures, can be
adapted very easily and in very little time to
all kinds of exhibitions. The moveable wall
allows a great variety of arrangement. Two
storeys, a basement, the maximum use of
space and elements, such as the beautiful
Westersingel gardens, behind the museum,
the integration of all services, assure a
harmonious functioning.
Another characteristic trait of the contemporary quality of the building: the opening
toward the street. The large glass galleries
of the Mathenesserlaan façade invite the participation of the public and urge its presence
in the interior. The same care at the top of
the tower: lights indicate the evenings when
the museum is open.
The collections of modern art, of great
richness, teem with information on the Dutch
and world artistic movement from the end of
the nineteenth century to our time. A dynamic
policy concerning exhibitions is in force.
During the course of the last years, a few to
remember: the great retrospectives of Dali,
Man Ray, Delvaux.
As for the amateurs of ancient art, there
are many who come to consult the documents
concerning, for example, Jérôme Bosch, which
are of the highest order. Others prefer the
works of the Siècle d'or or the most important
collection of Rubens' sketches in Holland,
without ignoring the remarkable collection of
prints and drawings, in which are to be found
most of the former Koenigs collection by
D. G. van Beuningen, patron of the arts. We
must also mention the collections of ancient
and modern sculptures, as well as those of
ceramics, glassware, silver, pewter, lace and
furniture. In brief, the Boymans-Van Beuningen
Museum: a museum which preserves, admirably, but at the same time an open museum,
on the look-out for all new expressions of
some significance, as alive as Renilde Hammacher, a chief curator who knows how to
polarize so many abilities and so much
enthusiasm around the art of today.
(Translation by Mildred Grand)