William Kurelek (Canadian 1927-1977) Dinnertime on the Prairies, 1963, Oil on masonite 44.7 x 72 cm Wentworth House Art Committee Purchase. Collection of McMaster Museum of Art, McMaster University © The Estate of William Kurelek, Courtesy of the Wynick/Tuck Gallery, Toronto. Photography by John Tamblyn

The first large-scale survey of William Kurelek in thirty years is coming to Hamilton.

We are very excited about the opening of William Kurelek: The Messenger at the Art Gallery of Hamilton this weekend and proud that McMaster’s painting by the artist is part of it.  The Messenger seeks to bring together the most important and engaging works executed by the artist during his career. Don’t miss it!

Dinnertime on the Prairies is best described by the artist himself. On the label for the back of the painting Kurelek wrote, “This is an intuitive painting. I was wondering how to paint a Western religious painting and suddenly this idea came to me so it is open to interpretation. The meaning I put on it is that sin, which crucifies Christ over and over, can just as easily happen on a summer day on a Manitoba farm as anywhere else. The farmer and his sons doing the fencing may have had an argument just before dinner or one of them may have enjoyed a lustful thought. Or got an idea how to revenge himself on neighbours, etc.”

To preview the exhibition and learn more about William Kurelek, check out this site: kurelek.ca

- McMaster Museum of Art

George Agnew Reid (Canadian 1860-1947), The Call to Dinner, 1886-1887, oil on canvas, Presented to the Students of Moulton College by Mr. and Mrs. J.H.L. Patterson, 1930. Gift of Moulton College, 1954. Photo: John Tamblyn

In 1887, while Canadian artist George Agnew Reid (1860-1947) was adding the final brushstrokes to his iconic Ontario genre painting, The Call to Dinner (shown above); and English photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was bridging science and art with his freeze-frame photography of human and animal motion; McMaster University was founded.

The McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) now celebrates both the 125th anniversary of McMaster University and the 45th anniversary of the Museum with an exhibition, 125 & 45: an interrogative spirit. This exhibition highlights some of the key donors and benefactors who have contributed to the development of the art collection interweaving landmark moments in the histories of the University and Museum.

125 and 45: an interrogative spirit presents more than fifty works of art from McMaster’s collection. In addition to Reid and Muybridge, works by Carl Beam, Gustave Caillebotte, Otto Dix, Elisabeth Frink, Naum Gabo, Natalia Goncharova, Betty Goodwin, Hortense Gordon, Alexej Jawlensky, Arnaud Maggs, Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Pauta Saila, Egon Schiele, Chaim Soutine, Andy Warhol, and Joyce Wieland and many others, are on view.

This two part exhibition is on view in the MMA’s Tomlinson Gallery, January  20 – August 25, and Levy Gallery, January  27 – May 5, 2012. See full list of works by gallery.

Below are some installation views of the Tomlinson Gallery, now open. Levy Gallery images coming soon.

Installation view of 125 & 45: An Interrogative Spirit,Tomlinson Gallery, McMaster Museum of Art

Installation view of 125 & 45: An Interrogative Spirit, Tomlinson Gallery, McMaster Museum of Art

Here are a few other places online that the McMaster Museum of Art façade has been spotted recently…

…in a McMaster Society of Off-Campus Students Promo Video
…in a McMaster student and Parkour Club member’s video 
…and the Gaudier-Brzeska Birdbath on our front lawn continues to be a photo favourite. Here’s a excellent seasonal shot of it by Kenneth Moyle.

Birdbath. Photo © Kenneth Moyle

Join us for a screening of documentary film,  Aakideh: The Art & Legacy of Carl Beam followed by a Q&A with Directors Robert Waldeck and Paul Eichhorn, this Thursday January 12 from 6:00-7:30 pm

‘Aakideh’ is an Ojibwe word meaning brave or brave-hearted. Artist Carl Beam earned a reputation for being fearless, visionary and ultimately, unforgettable. From his early years growing up on Manitoulin Island to his turbulent years spent at a residential school, this documentary explores how these early experiences not only impacted Beam’s life but also his art.

Carl Beam (1943-2005) was born in M’Chigeeng (WestBay) on Manitoulin Island. Of Anishinaabe (Ojibwa) heritage, the artist was instrumental in challenging the marginalization of contemporary Aboriginal art inCanada. He became noted for his manner of linking Indigenous world views to broad cultural, historical, and political concerns in order to provoke contemplation of multiple realities and our collective place in the cosmos. In the process, he developed an aesthetic approach more akin to the expressive layering of Rauschenberg than the traditional forms of Anishinaabe ‘WoodlandSchool’ painters. Beam has been credited with opening doors for First Nations artists by becoming the first to sell a work to the National Gallery of Canada for its contemporary collection.

Join us for this Free event presented as part of the Visiting Artist Program, a collaboration between the McMaster Museum of Art and McMaster School of the Arts.

Jack Chambers Plus Nine 1966. Part of the 2011 Jack Chambers exhibition at Museum London and McMichael Gallery. Courtesy the estate of Jack Chambers / photo John Tamblyn

An update to the July 2011 post, Beyond Campus with the Curator…

In 2011 McMaster Museum of Art’s Senior Curator Ihor Holubizky was involved in a number of significant exhibitions off campus. With Mark Cheetham, he co-curated the exhibition Jack Chambers: the light from the darkness, silver paintings and film work, which was shown at Museum London and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection (where you can see it until January 15, 2012).

In addition to great accolades from art reviewers and the public, the exhibition received the 2011 Exhibition of the Year Award from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries for curatorial and design work. It was also included in recent ‘2011 must see exhibition lists,” from the Toronto Star (Installations that Got it Right) and Canadian Art Magazine (Top Three) in December!

With Darrin Martens, Ihor also curated another stunning exhibition, Chronicles of Form and Place: Works on Paper by Takao Tanabe. This retrospective exhibition is on view at the Burnaby Art Gallery until January 22, 2012 and will be coming to McMaster this autumn. Can’t wait!

Photographer Lynton Gardiner shoots Van Gogh at McMaster Museum of Art

Photographer Lynton Gardiner visited the McMaster Museum of Art yesterday to shoot super high resolution images with a Phase One iQ180 Digital Back 80MP Camera of nine key collection paintings, as part of an ongoing painting analysis research project. With the images he captures, researchers can zoom in and even the finest cracks in the paint surface will appear crystal clear.

Now based in Toronto, Gardiner’s impressive background in the field includes years of experience as staff photographer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Here are a few snapshots of him at work yesterday:

Phase One Camera and Tintoretto, McMaster Museum of Art

Natalka Husar - R for Christmas painted book cover, 2011

Tis the season – here’s a photo of Natalka Husar’s new R for Christmas painted book cover for 2011.

During the past year, Natalka Husar’s Burden of Innocence exhibition delighted more audiences, travelling to Tom Thomson Art Gallery (Owen Sound), MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina), and Douglas Udell Gallery (Edmonton – Edmonton Journal review/interview); her Husar Handbook received an Honorable Mention in the Best Book category at the Ontario Association of Art Galleries Awards; and the McMaster Museum of Art purchased her Banquet trilogy, including Looking at Art, the centerpiece of her exhibition and a significant addition to our Canadian art collection, thanks to a matching Assistance Grant from the Canada Council for the Arts.

Greg Staats, six nations condolence (detail), 2008, one of 6 archival prints, 20 x 27 each.

In 1951 the National Film Board of Canada made a short film, the Longhouse People, showing scenes of various traditional cultural events of the indigenous people living on Six Nations in the Grand RiverTerritory.

Artist Greg Staats took stills from that film and created a six image tableau series of archival digital prints, some of them coincidentally including members of his own family. While he assembled them intuitively and unconsciously, guest writer Rick W. Hill Sr. (Tuscarora) notes that the sequence captures the healing journey of the Six Nations ancient Ceremony of Condolence. The series, titled six nations condolence, is part of his current exhibition at the McMaster Museum of Art, and was previously shown at Urban Shaman Gallery in Winnipeg. Via their website, podcast reviews of Greg Staats’ condolence works by Jenny Western are available in Ojibwe, Cree, and as text in French and English.

Declaration of loss…

Today we stand together. Today we stand in silence.
Today we mourn the loss of painters, photographers,
dancers, printmakers, actors, filmmakers, singers,
choreographers, poets, sculptors, musicians, designers…
all the artists who have died of AIDS.

Today we grieve the loss of future work from recognized artists,
as well as the absence of countless artists yet to be.

Today we declare our loss. December 1 is a Day without Art,
an International day of observance which focuses attention on
the profound impact AIDS has had on artists and the world arts
community. Since 1990, each year an increasing number of galleries,
theatres, artist groups and individuals have participated in a vast
array of commemorative events.

Day without Art celebrates the lives of colleagues and friends
while mourning their loss in our creative communities.

To mark this day, the McMaster Museum of Art has installed Canadian artist Danica Jojich’s bronze work To Honour, 1994 alongside the texts above at the Gallery entrance.

Art Adventures Geocoins - McMaster Museum of Art

…but wait, they can!

Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played all over the world by adventure seekers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online. A note to the uninitiated: you will be shocked how many secret treasures are stashed in your neighbourhood!

In some of these geocaches, are medallions called geocoins. Geocoins are meant to be passed along from cache to cache - to fulfill an assigned mission. Their travels are logged and tracked online.

Earlier this year, “Art Adventures” geocoins were minted. Each coin is named for a different artist whose work is in the McMaster Museum of Art collection. Each coin’s mission? To reach that artist’s birthplace (or travel the equivalent miles).

The first coin was launched in Hamilton six months ago and 25 are now circulating. They have travelled to approximately 700 locations around the world. A few highlights…

▪  The Goya Geocoin was last seen in a 25 meter deep lava cave in Selgjárhellir, Iceland.

▪  The Etrog Geocoin, picked up in Hamilton by a visiting Romanian Professor, was later discovered by vacationers in Romania and made its way into the Transylvania Geoquest III – a three-day event for Geocoin collectors.

▪  Van Gogh Geocoin was discovered by honeymooners on Prince Edward Island. It is now in another geocacher’s hands, enroute from New Brunswick to Florida.

▪  The Matisse Geocoin has travelled the furthest, 12,560 miles. Its journey has taken it from Hamilton to Pennsylvania, New York, France, and back to Illinois.

Four geocoins have reached their goal so far: Thomson (Leith, Ontario), Andy Warhol (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Riopelle (Montreal, Quebec) and Matisse (Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France). Two of these coins enjoyed travelling so much that they just kept going -  this week, the Riopelle geocoin turned up in Australia!

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