Gallery Perspectives

This view from the floor I was on looked out towards the Daly Street entrance of the Ottawa Art Gallery. The contrast between the new architecture can be seen with a wall belonging to Arts Court on the other side of the glass.

Heading down to depart, I paused to photograph this on the floor.

Outside, I wanted some exterior shots of the building as snow was falling. Compare this view to my first shot from inside as a before and after.

I moved a little along Daly to photograph this side of the adjoining Arts Court. Its roots as a 19th century courthouse still shows strongly.

Another view towards the entrance.

I came around to the Mackenzie King Bridge side of the Gallery to photograph this area.

The very modern architecture of the new OAG contrasts with the former Carleton County Gaol, but not in a way that is glaring. 

Two final views from the bridge: Arts Court, the Gaol (now a youth hostel with its own ghost stories- I've been inside and the place does have a creepy, foreboding feeling of oppression and that you're being watched) and the OAG. I hope you've enjoyed the look inside.

The Nickel Belt

 Here we have In The Nickel Belt, by Franklin Carmichael, another member of the Group of Seven.

The accompanying panels note that it was one of several paintings by the Group given a commemorative series of stamps in 2020 by the Canadian government.

I didn't photograph the accompanying panel for these two, but the signature appears to be Jackson, and given their similarity, the first would be a sketch done in the field and the second would be the finished painting done in the studio. This was a common technique for members of the Group.

Two paintings by Group members are here. At top is Shores Of Lake O'Hara by J.E.H. Macdonald. Below it is Prairie Homestead by L.L. Fitzgerald.

This is Parry Sound by A.J. Casson.

Here we have Algoma Country by Lawren Harris.

And finally here we have Algoma Landscape by Franz Johnston, another member of the Group.

Throughout my visit into this gallery space, classical music by Chopin was playing. A panel near the entrance explained its significance.

One more view of that staircase. We'll wrap up this visit tomorrow.

A.Y. Jackson

I left off yesterday with A.Y. Jackson and his time spent living in the Ottawa Valley. This is his painting Fitzroy Harbour, dating to 1969.

These two paintings are also by Jackson. At top is Near Perth. And below it is Water's Edge, Duhamel, Quebec.

These snowshoes had been given by Jackson to the Firestones, a mark of the friendship between the artist and the couple.

Here are but two of the numerous Jackson sketches in the collection.

And another gift to the Firestones by Jackson: a sketch box he'd used extensively in the field.

Here we have more on contemporaries of the Group of Seven whose work is part of the Firestone Collection.

Paintings here include works by Kathleen Daly, Graham Norwell, George Pepper, and Anne Savage.

While here we have works by Emily Carr, Alan C. Collier, Andre Bieler, Yvonne McKague Housser, and David B. Milne. 

Canvases

I've switched out my header last evening for something of a more spring vibe. This one was taken last May during the Tulip Festival, at Dow's Lake. 

This exhibited focused on the Group of Seven, but also some of their contemporaries and other artists whose work made their way into the Firestone Collection and ultimately into the Ottawa Art Gallery. Some of these are collected below; the Canadian artists Robert Hyndman, Norval Morrisseau, Henri Masson, Kazuo Nakamura, Doris McCarthy, and Paul-Emile Borduas are represented in these six canvases.

The exhibit shares what the Group was doing both during and after their time of exhibiting together.

Two works of the Group are here. At top is Looking Towards Seymour From Lynn Valley, BC, by F.H. Varley. Below it is Laurentians by Edwin Holgate.

Here we have a work by A.J. Casson, Frood Lake At Willisville.

A.Y. Jackson painted Lac Rouviere in 1963.

Two more works by Arthur Lismer, another member of the Group.  At top is Old Pine, Georgian Bay, Ontario. Below it is Georgian Bay Pines.

These are sketches by members of the Group.

Decades after the Group of Seven had exhibited together, A.Y. Jackson spent some of his later years living in the Ottawa Valley. This display panel notes his particular connection with the Firestones, and why this gallery now possesses so many of his paintings. We'll pick up here tomorrow.

Seven

 A large photograph is placed here in the Ottawa Art Gallery. This is a view of the Firestone home in Ottawa, now long gone, but home to the Firestones, a couple with a love of Canadian art, particularly the Group of Seven. Their collection is the heart of the OAG collection. donated to the Ontario Heritage Foundation and transferred to the OAG for custody and display. 

You might have noticed the staircase in the photograph. It was taken from the house prior to demolishing, and is now here, a work of art in its own right, leading down to the next floor.

2020 marked the centennial of the Group of Seven first exhibiting together. This group of artists was inspired by the Canadian landscape and it influenced their work for years. They formally exhibited as a group for several years, the membership changing here and there, but always seven. The Firestones made a point of collecting works from the Group. The OAG put together a retrospective of the Group and their contemporaries for the centennial, and with a couple of lockdowns because of Covid, had extended the retrospective.

This is Mount Thule, Bylot Island, by Lawren Harris.

For today I'll close out with a set of small paintings by AJ Casson, another member of the Group, ranging from across decades of his life as an artist.

Faces

 This first panel is appropriate for where we left off yesterday, as that was about self portraits, but there is one of those in today's post as well.

The next area is about community, a strange word in the time of Covid and lockdowns.

Photographer Faisa Omer responded to the 2020 killing of George Floyd by photographing youth in her west end Ottawa neighbourhood and incorporating quotes around them, a fitting response to a volatile situation.

Two works by the same artist are here. Ron Noganosh is of Anishinaabe background, and both works reflect him and aspects of his personality.

This is Artist As An Old Man, a charcoal sketch.

And this is The Outsiders, a multi-media work.

Leaving this space, I took another look outside towards the Ottawa U campus. It was still snowing.