Taking Leave

Today I conclude my series from the National Gallery of Canada, until the next time I stop in. From the second level landing, I photographed down into the grand hall.

From the other side of the landing, I photographed along the lower and upper corridors, and the rampway that leads down to the grand hall.

When I came down the stairs, I looked up and decided to photograph the staircase.

Here we have a view from within the grand hall. Looking out the windows, one can see the lights of Parliament Hill out there.

Another temporary exhibit being held here (until mid-March) is Paul Klee: The Berggruen Collection From the Metropolitan Museum Of Art, showcasing a large selection of works by the artist. I went in and had a look, but generally speaking his style didn't really do anything for me.

I did decide to show you one example of his work. Athlete's Head is a 1932 work, a combination of watercolour, gouache, and graphite on paper. The sheet is covered with four thousand squares Klee applied with a small brush and a mix of colours.

I came back out of the exhibit and headed back towards the grand hall, where I photographed more of the space.

The Harbour

In 1918, the Canadian War Memorials Fund commissioned two artists to document the port of Halifax, Nova Scotia in the wake of the explosion that had wrecked such havoc the previous December. Harold Gilman was a British artist who came to Canada to do the assignment (as fate would have it he would be dead by the following year, one of the many victims of the influenza that swept across the world in the wake of the Great War). Arthur Lismer was the Canadian artist, already known for landscapes, and who would wind up being one of the founders of The Group of Seven. Their paintings and sketches are the basis of this temporary exhibit, 1918 Halifax Harbour.

Mine Sweepers At Sea is a 1917 oil painting by Lismer, depicting the naval ships engaged in hazardous duties.

These are studies for the painting that follows. Lismer, like the rest of The Group Of Seven, tended to use small canvases in the field and would transfer his ideas to a larger canvas in studios. These show the dazzle ships- the patterns used during the Great War to break up a navy ship's outline. The harbour at Halifax was a busy spot throughout the war for such ships, and the dazzle camouflage pattern interested Lismer.

Dazzle Ship At Night is a formal painting by Lismer.

Winter Camouflage is a 1918 Lismer oil painting giving us the wide view of the Bedford Basin in winter, with navy ships out in the harbour waiting for their time to commence the crossing across the ocean.

The Sentinels dates to 1919; Lismer created this lithograph on paper.

Another lithograph from the same period by Lismer is Harbour Defence- Winter. German submarines were known to be in the waters off the East Coast, and this captures defensive measures in place around Halifax.

Halifax Harbour is a large Gilman painting dating to the fall of 1918. It was the last painting finished before his death. 

This pen and ink sketch is also by Gilman. House At Halifax, Nova Scotia is on loan for this exhibit from the Higgins Art Gallery and Museum in Bedford, United Kingdom.

This smaller canvas is Study For Halifax Harbour, a 1918 painting Gilman did to prepare himself for the larger work.

And here we see the two paintings across from each other. Tomorrow I wrap up this series.

Masterpieces

Alfred Sisley was born to British parents but raised in France, spending much of his life there based initially in Paris, and then moving for quieter spaces by 1880 where he continued to develop his Impressionist style. This 1882 oil painting is titled Washerwomen, Near Champagne, and finds a group of washerwomen along the banks of the Champagne-sur-Seine.

Bowl With Zinnias And Other Flowers is an 1886 oil painting by Vincent van Gogh, with its bright colours reflecting his recent arrival in Paris.

The master Impressionist Claude Monet painted Rough Sea in 1881. The oil painting has his signature style of beginning a painting with en plein air painting on the spot before moving to the studio, capturing the surf along the French coast.

A more recent acquisition is one that I've included the panel with. Vilhelm Hammershoi painted Sunshine In The Drawing Room in 1910. The Danish artist often used the motif of spare interior rooms and a woman (his wife) present inside in his work. The Gallery acquired this one in 2017, and it was included last year in a special exhibit at the Gallery with Impressionist paintings from the Ordrupgaard gallery in Copenhagen. The exhibit also featured other Hammershoi works. 

Here we have a view from above of the garden courtyard.

Marc Chagall was an early Modernist painter with multiple roots- Russian, French, and Jewish. This painting, The Eiffel Tower, gives a variety of motifs in the mix- the tower, the garden, the boudoir. Painted in 1929, it was the subject of some controversy in the country last year, which the accompanying panel references. The Gallery had sought to purchase a painting at a Quebec parish (visible in the panel) and had moved to place this Chagall up for auction. There was a considerable uproar in the country, funds were brought in by an anonymous donor to ensure the other painting would be kept in Canada, and the Gallery withdrew the Chagall from being auctioned. It has been brought out for display.

The world art section ends in a space that is used for temporary exhibits. Last fall, to mark the centennial of the end of World War One, the exhibit in question became 1918 Halifax Harbour, displaying paintings and sketches from two artists of the harbour and its surroundings, which had been marked by the war- the Halifax Explosion of December 1917 killed nearly two thousand people. We'll have a look at that exhibit tomorrow.

Fate And Love

Picking up where I left off yesterday, I often stop by these three paintings, in the space beyond yesterday's gallery. You might have noticed the middle painting in one of yesterday's shots. Starting at left is Countess Tolstoya, a 1796 oil painting by Elizabeth Louise Vigee LeBrun, who had a big retrospective here at the Gallery back in 2016. Bacchus And Ariadne is an oil painting dating to around 1821, by the French artist Antoine-Jean Gros, depicting an element of Greek mythology and the Theseus story. On the right is Madame Ernestine Bioche de Misery, a portrait dating to 1807 by the artist Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson.

This painting is near those paintings. The French artist Pierre-Paul Prud'hon painted this allegorical oil painting in 1809. Love Seduces Innocence, Pleasure Entraps, And Remorse Follows is its title.

Salisbury Cathedral From The Bishop's Grounds is an 1820 oil painting by British artist John Constable, giving a view of the Gothic structure framed by trees.

French artist James Tissot produced this 1870 oil painting, The Partie Carree. This foursome is presented as a comedy of manners in their attire and behaviour.

Here we have a view from one of the side corridors. Down at the end we see Dancer framed in the doorway.

Two works by the same artist are nearby. Gustave Dore was another French artist. Souvenir Of Loch Lomond dates to 1875, and the oil painting depicts a brooding, moody Scottish scene.

A stark contrast by Dore is this sculpture, the source of today's post title. Fate And Love is an 1877 bronze, depicting figures of Greek mythology.

And for today I finish off with two works by the same French artist, Edgar Degas. During his first visit to Florence in 1858, Degas visited the Uffizi Gallery and like so many artists before him copied what he was seeing. He produced a painting from one of his sketches, of a portrait that at the time had been attributed to Leonardo. This is the result, Portrait Of A Woman (After A 16th Century Florentine Drawing).

A dreamy and very different work by Degas is this oil painting, done sometime between 1879-84. At The Cafe-Concert shows a woman sitting comfortably in evening attire.

Death And Life

The British artist George Romney painted Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant) in 1776. The Mohawk leader traveled to London at the time and would wind up becoming a thorn in the side to the Americans during the Revolution, coming into Canada afterwards with his people. It is different from the William Berczy portrait of Brant that I showed you earlier in this series.

River Landscape With Cattle Watering And Ferry Boat is an oil painting by Thomas Gainsborough. done around 1754-56 after he had returned to his native Suffolk from time spent in London. It is an imagined landscape, but does evoke his surroundings.

The Death Of General Wolfe is a dramatic, large oil painting from 1770 by the American artist Benjamin West. This is the original and primary version of the painting (there are at least four others West made based on this, including at the ROM in Toronto, one in Michigan and two in Britain at Suffolk and in the Royal collection). It depicts the last moments of the British general James Wolfe after being wounded at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham near Quebec City. This was a pivotal part of the French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War as it's also called. West gives the fallen general a Christ-like depiction as he is surrounded by officers, soldiers, militia, and even an indigenous warrior. West deliberately paid attention to detail in regards to weapons and uniforms, going against the grain of artists at the time which was to depict them in classical attire. The painting made his reputation as an artist. 

From death to life- my favourite sculpture in the Gallery. Canova's Dancer is a life sized marble dancer on a pedestal, the second version of the sculpture. She stands down at the far end of this particular gallery space, and she makes an irresistible photo subject, looking lively and in mid-step.