Art From The River Of Dreams

 Late in July I stopped by the Canadian Museum of History for a return visit to a temporary exhibit before it closes later this month. It concentrates on Impressionist art in the St. Lawrence Valley.

Here we have The Port of Montreal, by Maurice Cullen, dating to 1915.

River Of Dreams: Impressionism On The St. Lawrence gathers together art from galleries and private collections across the country. Impressionism is a personal favourite style of art for me, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking this in.

Marc-Aurele De Foy Suzor-Cote painted Smog, Port of Montreal in 1914.

Here we see another painting by Cullen. St. James Cathedral, Dominion Square, Montreal dates from 1909-12.

Street Scene, Montreal, is the work of Henrietta Mabel May, painted around 1913.

Two paintings by the same artist, Robert Pilot. At top we have Lachine Canal, done in 1916. Below is Glow Effect, dating to 1919.

Montreal in this period was the dominant city in Canada, only eclipsed decades later by Toronto. 

Winter Evening On Craig Street is by Cullen, dating around 1912.

Blizzard, Craig Street, Montreal also dates to that year, and is another Cullen work.

This is Snowstorm, Evening, by Cullen, dating around 1911.

A Water Fountain By The City Hall

 Continuing where I left off yesterday. Leaving the murals behind, I came into this park behind Gatineau City Hall, which is dominated by a large water fountain. Other buildings around here- many of them connected by bridge tunnels- include the sprawling federal government Portage complex, a provincial government building, and a convention centre. This is at the heart of all of it.

This is off to one side of the park. I can't recall its title, and couldn't find the sign. The fountain is visible in the distance at left.

This colourful sign has a three dimensional feel. 

I took some more shots.

The large deer head on the far wall is made of recyclables.

From here, it was off to the nearby museum, which we'll get into tomorrow.

Artistic Views At Gatineau City Hall

 In late July I headed over into Gatineau to catch a temporary exhibit at the Museum of History before it closes up. En route, I stopped by the city hall, where at one side, a number of paintings of animals can be found on the infrastructure.

It is called Animosites, by a group of local artists, depicting Canadian animals, many of them local.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Purple

The first day of each month is a theme day for members of City Daily Photo. This month, the theme is Purple. Take a look at how others are interpreting the theme right here. 

I start with these shots taken in Confederation Park during Winterlude. A large screen had been set up for watching Winter Olympics coverage, though this was a night or two before the opening ceremonies. Alongside the screen were LED lights in purple.

At one entrance of the park, shifting lights illuminated evergreen trees that had been placed there. I caught them as the light was shifting into purple.

Lights also shift gradually over the ice sculptures. Blue was turning into purple when I took this shot of a sculpture.

A few blocks away, and on my way home, I noticed a car that had been given an exterior design that looked like something from space. There was purple in the mix, and I concentrated on that.

One night during that month, I was coming back from a walk on the Rideau Canal and was passing by the Canadian Museum of Nature. Some of the streetlights had purple bulbs, which were lighting up the main entrance.

I took these two shots of ice sculptures on Plaza Bridge, part of a set of sculptures that had been set up for Winterlude. Blue coloured lights were gradually shifting into purple.

Later that same evening, I was back in Confederation Park. The place gets decorated for Christmas not with lights in the trees, but coloured shifting spotlights on the trees, and they left them on for Winterlude. 

An underpass beneath the 417 was painted for Canada 150 back in 2017. I'd never photographed it, but this section, with a purple triangle, fit the bill.

And I finish with this toque for the PWHL, the women's professional hockey league, with its lettering in purple.