Curation, design, education: How this Canadian museum promotes connections and conversation
In this photo essay series from Montreal’s Museum of Fine Arts, we showcase more art exhibits through the ages, and curator insights.
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The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is currently featuring four thought-provoking exhibitions: Berthe Weill, Art Dealer of the Parisian Avant-garde; Worlds of Wonder: The Surrealist Journey of Alan Glass; Streaming Light; and Two by Two, Together. See our earlier coverage of MMFA’s exhibitions from 2018 onwards here.
Berthe Weill has won acclaim for championing artists in the early stages of their careers who went on to become legends. They include Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Suzanne Valadon, and others.
“The exhibition traces the remarkable story of a woman of modest origins who, in the face of enormous obstacles, ran a gallery in the global capital of the art world for 40 years, from 1901 to 1941. It shines a light on Weill’s singular personality and her decisive role in launching the careers of many now-renowned artists,” MMFA Director Stéphane Aquin explains in the curatorial notes.
Weill opened her gallery 1901. She was inventive and daring, and was not discouraged by other art dealers’ prejudices or superior resources, the notes explain.
“We are thrilled to introduce Quebec and Canadian audiences to the first art dealer to devote her gallery exclusively to the promotion of emerging artists, and to celebrate her profound influence on the history of art,” says Mary‑Dailey Desmarais, Zhao-Ionescu Chief Curator of MMFA.
By the time of her death in 1951, Weill reportedly promoted more than 300 artists and held hundreds of exhibitions in her gallery before it eventually closed in 1941. Many of these exhibitions also featured rising women artists.
Marie-Claire Blais, who studied at Université de Montréal, unveils her first solo exhibition at MMFA. Titled Streaming Light, the large suspended installation has been specially conceived with MMFA’s gallery space in mind.
It consists of multiple panels of painted burlap, evoking a large, swelling wave. The suspended exhibit is also accompanied by sound in the manner of breath animating the space.
“By detaching the canvas from the wall and suspending it, I can reveal its two sides, giving it a truly three-dimensional presence. Each work, for me, is a means to connect someone. I hope audiences will take up the invitation,” Blais suggests.
The outstanding exhibition on over 100 artworks of surrealist Alan Glass features boxed sets of everyday objects grouped in creative ways. They include plants, vegetables and even taxidermy animals put together in ways that evoke surprise and admiration.
Born in Canada, Glass enrolled in the Montreal School of Fine Arts. He then went on to study in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and the École du Musée de l’Homme.
His abstract drawings with ballpoint pens caught the eye of surrealist André Breton. He would later help in organising Glass’s first solo show.
“Glass’ extraordinary creations provide much needed space for wonder, enchantment, and imagination in today’s world,” observes Desmarais.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at MMFA.)