Garden In The Gallery

I showed you the reflecting pool the other day. The other interior courtyard in the National Gallery is occupied by this garden, which can be viewed from both floors. I like the mood in here in the evening.

The Group Of Seven

There is a considerable portion of the Gallery's Canadian space given over to Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. These artists organized after the First World War, expressing their view of Canada often through views of nature, exhibiting together. You can learn more about them here. The original members of the Group, Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. Macdonald, Franz Johnston, and F.H. Varley, are all represented here in the Gallery, and are incredibly influential to Canadian art in the 20th century. Their numbers would have been eight; Thomson, their fellow artist and friend, who inspired them in terms of exposing them to the great outdoors, died in 1917 in a drowning incident in Algonquin Park, and because of that connection, he is often grouped with the Seven. Here are a number of their small canvases- the artists would paint these in the field before returning home to their studios to transfer their ideas to larger canvases.

This is Jackson's The Red Maple, which was based along a stretch of the Oxtongue River in Algonquin Park.

The Drive is a work by Lawren Harris, who has been in the news recently- the actor and comedian Steve Martin, who has a couple of Harris paintings- curated a special exhibition on the artist in Los Angeles.

Another Jackson, this one is entitled Frozen Lake, Early Spring, Algonquin Park.

And this one is by Thomson, entitled Pine Island, Georgian Bay.

This last painting is by Emily Carr, entitled Indian Hut, Queen Charlotte Islands. Carr, another highly influential artist of Canada's 20th century, was associated with the Group of Seven, and her own work takes a modernist and post-impressionist style. The First Nations of the Pacific Coast were a regular subject for her art, and you can learn more about her here.

Evocative Paintings

More art from within the National Gallery's Canadian collection today. This is Homer Watson's The Flood Gate.

This painting, titled A Meeting Of The School Trustees, is by the artist Robert Harris.

The top painting is by Robert Duncanson, entitled Owl's Head Mountain. The bottom one is Niagara Falls, by Adolphe Vogt.

This one, painted by James Kerr-Lawson, is titled La Caterina. 

I finish today with a portrait by Prudence Heward called Girl In Yellow Sweater.

A Reflecting Pool

One of the interior spaces in the National Gallery has this pool of water, set atop glass panels. It's a completely different mood in the evening. It can be viewed here on the main level, or from the balconies above on the second level. The last shot is one I've featured here before, from last July, taken from beneath the pool looking up.

Into The Gallery

Two views of the National Gallery in day and evening; the first shot was taken a couple of days after the second. I went to the Gallery earlier this month late in the day to photograph some of the collection, as well as take in a temporary exhibit on Claude Monet.

The exhibit unfortunately was photo-restricted, so no photos from there, but you can check the exhibition website (I hope the page remains open past the end of the exhibition) for a taste of Monet: A Bridge To Modernity. Monet and his family stayed in the town of Argenteuil for a number of years in the 1870s, where he painted a series of paintings of the two bridges over the Seine. Seeing these paintings grouped together was a delight, and for those in the Ottawa area, the exhibition wraps up on the 15th of February.

Moving into the permanent collection now. The Gallery houses its permanent collection on two primary levels, with Canadian art on one and world art on the upper floor. There is also an area dedicated to First Nations art (which I'll have to return to sometime soon, as I didn't visit it this time out). Starting off, this is a portrait that seems to always catch my eye. It's a painting by the Quebec artist Theophile Hamel, dating back to 1854, entitled Henriette Massue Le Moine.

The top painting here is by William Raphael, a Prussian born artist who came to live in Canada, entitled Indian Encampment On The Lower St. Lawrence.  The lower painting, by British-Canadian artist John A. Fraser, is September Afternoon, Eastern Townships.

The Chambers

I took these shots on two different days, one day in late December before we had a serious snowfall, and the second day in early January after the snow had come. On the west side of Elgin Street across from the War Memorial, three buildings occupy the space between Queen Street and Sparks Street, collectively called The Chambers. The larger one to the left is called the Central Chambers, while the smaller one is the Bell Block. The third building, visible on the right in the third shot, is the Scottish Ontario Chambers building, which houses among other things, the D'Arcy McGee pub, which I showed recently. The Chambers is a national historic site, and houses the offices of the National Capital Commission. The more austere looking Bell Block dates back to 1867. The Scottish Ontario Chambers was built in 1883, with a design from the Victorian Italianite style. And Central Chambers, completed in 1893, is designed in the Queen Anne Revival style. Extensive work has been done on the inside, so the three buildings are linked together.

A reminder to members of City Daily Photo: the theme day for February is Scenes From A Coffee Shop.

The Sanctuary

Here are more shots today from within the sanctuary at St. Patrick's Basilica, with an emphasis on the stained glass. Photographing in here in the morning at this time of year has an advantage- the sun reflects off the office tower to the north, illuminating the north side windows as well.

In The Basilica

I stopped by St. Patrick's Basilica downtown one morning to photograph the sanctuary. The place was still decorated for the Christmas holidays. The parish dates back to 1855, and the current building, in the Gothic Revival style, was built in the 1870s. I have more shots from inside here tomorrow.

Odds And Ends

Some mixed images today. This is from December in the Glebe, where this inlet of the Rideau Canal in Central Park was starting to freeze over.

Here we have the York Steps rising up out of the Byward Market, where a mural was painted onto the steps last year.

This is a late afternoon view of Sparks Street.

The light fixture and these chairs are inside the Chateau Laurier.

I finish with this sunrise view from the Bronson Avenue bridge over the Rideau Canal, close to home.