Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (agrandissement) - 40M$ (2011)

[Cyrus]

Je vois un ange sur lequel on a tiré à l'aide d'un calibre .12

C'est tout de même une belle statue.

 

That was my first reaction also... "he's coming straight for us!"

[Rusty]

Je suis passé aujourd'hui en face cette apres midi et c'est une oeuvre magnifique, meme spectaculaire immense... le gens prennaient des photos partout..

 

a new Montreal landmark

[IluvMTL]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Museum+expanded+spaces+make+bold+statement/5462059/story.html

 

 

 

New MMFA galleries explore key themes and juxtapositions

BY JOHN POHL, THE GAZETTE SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

 

The unveiling Monday afternoon of David Altmejd's monumental bronze sculpture of an angel signals that the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is about to invite the public into the Bourgie Concert Hall and its new pavilion of Quebec and Canadian art.

 

Altmejd's The Eye, standing in front of a church that has been transformed into a concert hall, continues the artist's fascination with bodies in metamorphosis and is a fitting symbol for an art museum in its own great transformation.

 

The former Erskine and American Church, now a 444-seat concert hall with comfortable seating, is also a space for exhibiting 81 restored stained-glass windows, 20 of them made by the Tiffany company of New York.

 

The concert hall is attached to the new six-level Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art. Provencher Roy + Associés, the architects, married the reddish stone church to a new construction with white marble cladding that connects it to the Desmarais pavilion across Sherbrooke St. and the Hornstein and Stewart pavilions across du Musée St.

 

The white marble entry in the old church's facade is a bit of a clash, but inside, the pavilion is a spectacular setting for showing art, both familiar pieces and new acquisitions.

 

Level 4 is devoted to Inuit art and features a skylit atrium that overlooks Dominique Blain's Mirabilia, an installation of glowing glass cubes representing artifacts that have been lost or destroyed.

 

Level 3 is Founding Identities, about the first contacts between colonists and natives, which includes contemporary native art about those encounters, said Jacques Des Rochers, curator for Quebec and Canadian art from the New France period to 1940.

 

Kent Monkman, an artist of Cree ancestry who is well-known for his humour and for appropriating the language of 18th-and 19thcentury European artists, was commissioned to paint The King's Beavers.

 

The first contacts were primarily commercial, Monkman said. In his research, he discovered Louis XV's obsession with hunting. "I wanted to create a painting with empathy for the beavers" who were the object of the trade between natives and whites, he said.

 

The result is more about rape and pillage than hunting. Monkman applied religious iconography of the period to a concept he said is based on the Rape of the Sabine Women. So you have a scene in which one beaver echoes St. Sebastian, tied to a tree and pierced with arrows, as other beavers ascend into heaven.

 

A sculpture of a Virgin Mary from the original Notre Dame church is on display after a restoration that took 2,500 hours, Des Rochers said. It was originally white to make people think it was marble, but it has been restored to a later period when it had colour, he said. There are many gems on this floor, including a portrait by Théophile Hamel from 1841 whose subject is wearing an earring and a pendant that is on display nearby.

 

Level 2, the Era of Annual Exhibitions (1880s to 1920s), features a raised platform of bronze sculptures by Alfred Laliberté and Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté.

 

Wyatt Eaton's Noon Day Rest is enclosed in one of 20 new frames built in period style by museum staff that transforms a good painting into a spectacular one. "You never saw it like this," Des Rochers said. "There are paintings we didn't show before because we were ashamed of the frames."

 

Level 1, Towards Modernism, shows the artists who rebelled against academic painting in the 1920s to 1940s. Level S1 is the Age of the Manifesto, featuring the Automatistes of the Refus Global. Jean-Paul Riopelle is represented here and in Level S2, where his Ice Canoe is hung. Many iconic Canadian works, including Serge Lemoyne's Dryden and Michael Snow's walking women, are here.

 

This gallery doubles as the underground walkway connecting the Bourgie pavilion to the other buildings, where most of the permanent galleries have been remade.

 

Museum director Nathalie Bondil deserves much credit for pulling off this reinvention of the MMFA. Permanent exhibitions are still free and visitors to the Canadian and Quebec pavilion get a free audioguide, which includes music of the period.

 

The museum has published the first of three books on its collection. Quebec and Canadian Art is 400 pages of images and essays about art in plain language.

 

Two exhibitions open Friday in the Desmarais pavilion: 1980 to the Present, Current Practices in Quebec and Canadian Art, and Tête-à-Tête, Portraits of Quebec Artists by Richard-Max Tremblay. Museum members get access to a preview of the enlarged and remodelled museum over nine days of guided tours, lectures, films, concerts and workshops, starting Oct. 4.

 

The public grand reopening of the museum takes place Oct. 14 to 16. Information: http://www.mbam.qc.ca.

 

john.o.pohl@gmail.com

[Memphis 22]

J'y suis allé aussi ...avec ma caméra et j'ai beaucoup aimé ce que j'ai vu

 

Voici l'oeuvre dont tout le monde parle, "L'oei" par David Altmejd

 

 

 

 

Bref, j'ai bien hâte de franchir cette porte pour connaître la suite

 

[peekay]

Wow, that is really ugly. Seriously, it's a freaking eyesore. The wings are all lopsided and it looks burned on the side. The artist never even explains why he put a skinny boney arm on it's left side.

[IluvMTL]

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/arts/musique/critiques-de-concerts/201109/29/01-4452401-bourgie-surtout-belle-a-voir.php?utm_categorieinterne=trafficdrivers&utm_contenuinterne=cyberpresse_B9_arts_244_accueil_POS1

 

 

ublié le 29 septembre 2011 à 07h22 | Mis à jour à 07h37

Bourgie: surtout belle à voir

 

Le concert inaugural était sur invitation seulement, mais on pourra en entendre l'enregistrement ce soir même, 20h, à Radio-Canada.

Photo Alain Roberge, La Presse

 

 

 

Claude Gingras

La Presse

Un record: en moins d'un mois, Montréal aura vu l'ouverture de deux nouvelles salles de concert. Après ce qui s'appelle désormais La Maison symphonique de Montréal, de 1900 places, voisine de la salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, s'ouvrait mercredi soir la salle Bourgie de 444 places, aménagée dans l'ancienne église Erskine and American, tout à côté du Musée des beaux-arts dont elle fait partie.

 

Après ce qui s'appelle désormais La Maison symphonique de Montréal, de 1900 places, voisine de la salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, s'ouvrait hier soir la salle Bourgie de 444 places, aménagée dans l'ancienne église Erskine and American, tout à côté du Musée des beaux-arts dont elle fait partie.

 

Le concert inaugural était sur invitation seulement, mais on pourra en entendre l'enregistrement ce soir même, 20h, à Radio-Canada.

 

Le premier contact avec la nouvelle salle est bon. On a remplacé le module d'entrée installé au printemps, et dont le modernisme outré défigurait la façade du vieux temple. À l'intérieur, on a conservé l'essentiel du cadre original tout en le rafraîchissant. Ainsi, une nouvelle lumière éclaire les fameux vitraux de Tiffany, qui comptent parmi les plus beaux en Amérique. Détail non négligeable: les longs bancs de bois coussinés ont été remplacés par des fauteuils où l'on est aussi confortable que chez soi!

 

Le Tout-Montréal de la grande musique était là. Le programme, assorti des allocutions de circonstance, dura près de trois heures et de nombreux auditeurs ne revinrent pas après l'entracte.

 

Dirigé par Christopher Jackson, un ensemble de huit cuivres clama d'abord quelques Monteverdi et Gabrieli. Karina Gauvin suivit, avec André Laplante au piano, et offrit An die Musik, hymne de Schubert à la musique et choix idéal pour l'événement, qu'elle interpréta avec la voix et la sincérité d'une belle artiste. En fait, et jusqu'à la dernière rangée, on y entendait deux voix: nouveau Glenn Gould, M. Laplante chante en jouant et, j'en suis sûr, sans s'en rendre compte.

 

On annonça un ajout au programme: une pièce de Messiaen de 1935 qui, selon les sources, s'intitule indifféremment Étude-Vocalise, Vocalise-Étude ou Vocalise. Peu importe: la chose se ramène à un exercice technique sans intérêt musical. Avec un petit ensemble instrumental, Mme Gauvin chanta ensuite la joyeuse Cantate no 51 de Bach, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen!, dans un style que je me contenterai de qualifier de personnel.

 

Le programme comprenait deux créations commandées pour l'événement: Double Trio, de l'Américain Elliott Carter, et Hommage à Louis C. Tiffany, du Montréalais Maxime McKinley. Jean-François Rivest dirigeait le Carter et Jackson dirigeait le McKinley.

 

Elliott Carter aura 103 ans le 11 décembre. Autant on admire le fait qu'il compose encore à un âge aussi avancé, autant il faut bien dire que sa pièce de huit minutes est déséquilibrée et n'ajoute rien à sa réputation. Le violon d'Alexandre da Costa monopolise la moitié de l'espace. Les autres instruments se contentent de miettes. Plus originale, la pièce de McKinley fait circuler les sons de huit cuivres (quatre trompettes, quatre trombones) autour de la salle en mouvement perpétuel de cinq minutes.

 

André Laplante et un quatuor à cordes formé pour l'occasion terminaient le concert avec le Quintette op. 34 de Brahms. Une solide lecture de musiciens professionnels qui travaillent bien. Quand même, je ne regrettais pas l'omission de la longue reprise au premier mouvement.

 

Concernant l'acoustique, elle se révèle -après un seul contact, il est vrai, et d'un seul endroit, soit l'arrière- bonne, avec réserves, pour l'ensemble des instruments, plus inégale en ce qui concerne la voix. Tout ce qui est chanté forte crée une surcharge qui, au surplus, brouille le texte. De même, les toux y sont grandement amplifiées...

 

_________________________________________________

 

CONCERT INAUGURAL de la nouvelle Salle Bourgie du Musée des beaux-arts.

 

Radiodiffusion du concert: Radio-Canada, jeudi 29 septembre 2011 à 20h.

[JFrosty]

Wow, that is really ugly. Seriously, it's a freaking eyesore. The wings are all lopsided and it looks burned on the side. The artist never even explains why he put a skinny boney arm on it's left side.

 

Why should he? It's art. You can't explain everything in art, sometimes you just feel it.

 

Anyway, seriously, with the new pictures, I fucking love it. I need to go see it by myself soon.

[Rusty]

Why should he? It's art. You can't explain everything in art, sometimes you just feel it.

 

Anyway, seriously, with the new pictures, I fucking love it. I need to go see it by myself soon

 

Nicely put JFrosty ;-)

[ProposMontréal]

J'y suis allé aussi ...avec ma caméra et j'ai beaucoup aimé ce que j'ai vu

 

Bref, j'ai bien hâte de franchir cette porte pour connaître la suite

 

 

Ok, c'est comique, mais c'est mon tapis rouge ça !

Le MBAM est un de mes bons clients et louent de nous sur une base très régulière, incluant le tapis de cérémonie

 

Excusez pour la plogue, mais je ne pouvais pas résister !

 

J'ai fait le tour à l'intérieur et c'est vraiment beau. Je sais que c'est pour l'art canadien, mais je ne suis pas un fan de l'Art Inuit.

Mon tableau préféré de cette collection nouvelle aile, "Le Masque de Dryden" par Lemoyne, je ne me rappelais pas que la toile était aussi grande.

[IluvMTL]

http://www.globalmontreal.com/new+canadian+art+pavilion+in+montreal+reflects+bustling+cultural+scene/6442494276/story.html

 

New Canadian art pavilion in Montreal reflects bustling cultural scene

Jonathan Montpetit, Monday, October 03, 2011 5:52 PM

 

Matilda Cumming, 2, draws one of the exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts Friday, September 30, 2011 in Montreal. Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts is unveiling a new wing dedicated to Quebec and Canadian art later this month, only the latest addition to the city's already bustling cultural scene.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz

 

 

MONTREAL - As visitors enter the new wing of Montreal's Museum of Fine Arts to behold the masterpieces of Canadian art history, they pass under a giant bronze angel that seems to transform before their eyes.

 

With its perforated stomach, mechanical arms and disembodied hands gripping its face, the sculpture is unmistakably modern.

 

But artist David Altmejd's contribution, commissioned for the opening of the new wing, also makes a conscious nod to the past, invoking classical works and local history alike.

 

It is a fitting symbol for a city undergoing a cultural metamorphosis of its own, at once renewing its space for traditional art and branching out in exciting new directions.

 

"The city is bubbling," said Nathalie Bondil, the MMFA's director and chief curator. "It is an artistic centre that is very rich."

 

The flashy showpiece of this current resurgence is the museum's Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion of Quebec and Canadian Art, which opens to the public on Oct. 14.

 

At a cost of $42.4 million, the museum renovated a 19th-century Romanesque Revival church — turning it into a concert hall — and built an impressive marble extension, whose six levels now house its Canadian art collection.

 

Starting on the top floor, with a display of Inuit carvings, visitors are taken through the portraits and religious art of the 18th and 19th centuries, the early beginnings of modernism with a stunning array of work from the Group of Seven, the surge of the avant-garde in 1940s-1960s, and the colourful abstracts of the 1970s.

 

But as impressive as a Lawren Harris is, the strength of the collection is arguably in showcasing lesser-known artists whose works suggest a depth to the nation's art that may have been taken for granted.

 

Alongside the Group of Seven, for instance, are several paintings by their Montreal contemporaries, the oft-forgotten Beaver Hall Group. Works like Prudence Heward's sublime "At the Theatre" are finally given the showcase they deserve.

 

"Everyone knows the Group of Seven... but there has never been a major exhibition dedicated to the Beaver Hall Group," said Bondil.

 

"In these six floors we go from the modest, awkward copies of European portraits that are often quite naive to the extraordinary Prudence Heward."

 

Under Bondil's directorship, the museum has shed some of the stuffiness that comes with being Canada's oldest art institution. Recent years have seen popular retrospectives on Cuban art, Andy Warhol and Miles Davis.

 

Bondil's vision is of a fine arts museum that is thoroughly engaged with the artistic community currently thriving in the city.

 

"There is a desire to make Montreal cultural, but the desire is much more reflective of a grassroots movement," she said.

 

Perhaps that is why Altmejd's sculpture, ''The Eye,'' seems so at home outside the museum's new wing.

 

On the day the sculpture was unveiled, Altmejd recalled his first experience of art was during childhood visits to the museum with his parents.

 

Seeing his sculpture by the museum where it all began was "like closing a loop." Altmejd returned the honour by producing a work he describes as his most important.

 

"It is the only work I've done where I get a feeling of vertigo when I stand in front of it," he said.

 

The Montreal native is now all grown up, having established himself as one of Canada's leading young artists with major exhibits in New York and Europe in recent years, including the 2007 Venice Biennale.

 

But he is only one poster boy for a local arts scene described by the Washington Post as "one of the most exciting places in North America for boundary-busting art."

 

Innovative galleries off the beaten path, such as the Parisian Laundry and Silver Flags Projects, have critics comparing the city to more established hubs for contemporary art.

 

The increased attention comes at a time when Montreal is radically expanding its cultural infrastructure.

 

Last month saw the opening of a major new concert hall for its world-renowned symphony orchestra. The interior of the $269-million hall is made entirely of Quebec beech wood to maximize acoustics.

 

It is only the latest addition to the Quartier des Spectacles, Mayor Gerald Tremblay's ambitious project to turn a bohemian section of the downtown core into a tourist-friendly neighbourhood dedicated to the arts.

 

Once finished, in the space of a few walkable city blocks, visitors will have their choice of a number of galleries, music venues and theatres.

 

-With files from Annie Mathieu.

 

 

 

Read it on Global News: Global Montreal | New Canadian art pavilion in Montreal reflects bustling cultural scene