History Speaks (or Tweets at least)
What if social media had been around 95 years ago? Would the artists of the day have been on Twitter? What would they have tweeted and what kind of record might it left for understanding them? More precisely what might Tom Thomson have had on his mind (and shared with the on-line community) in the time leading up to his tragic death?
Well, we have a chance to find out, at least to get one person’s perspective. A new twitter account, @TTLastSpring, has recently appeared in which the tweeter takes on the persona of renowned Canadian landscape painter Tom Thomson, in the months leading to his mysterious July 8th, 1917 drowning.
There have been many theories about the circumstances of Thomson’s death and it is suggested that this twitter stream may present a new one. Is this twitter initiative a promotion for yet another book about Thomson? I don’t know but this is kind of interesting and fun. I will be following along with great interest.
http://twitter.com/TTLastSpring
Before The Group
It might be easy to imagine that Canadian landscape painting was born in the early 20th century with Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. However there were a few noteworthy painters in Canada well before that time who captured the Canadian landscape. My point in this blog posting is just to point the interested reader in the direction of a couple of the most prominent of these early painters – Paul Kane and Cornelius Krieghoff.
It is interesting to note that neither painter was born in Canada and that both of them painted in what could be described as the highly realistic, traditional European style of the era. Both men died within five years of Canada becoming a nation – but of course the landscapes they depicted have been around for ever. Of particular interest is their depiction of the human elements in the landscape, which of course do change over time, making their artistic records especially illuminating of the times
The first artist of note is Paul Kane (1810-1871). He was born in Ireland and moved to “Canada” at age 8 or 9. Kane is probably most noted for his sketches of Indian life in Western Canada, which he did when he was 35 to 38 years old (1845-1848). Nonetheless, in depicting the people, the landscapes were also captured by his brush. For more on Paul Kane, visit the Paul Kane website.
The second major artist of that period in Canada is Cornelius Krieghoff (1815-1872) Born in Amsterdam, emigrated to the US at age 21 and at 32 was in Montreal. He lived for a time in Montreal and Quebec but would not call Canada his home, having moved about to the U.S. and Europe for a time in his adult life. However, in his time in Canada, Krieghoff captured some iconic Canadian images – I think particularly of his winter landscapes in rural Quebec. Like Kane, he was not a pure landscape painter. Many of his works were portraits and where the landscape was shown it was usually as a backdrop for people engaged in some sort of activity. See some samples of Krieghoffs work at the National Gallery of Canada’s web site.
There are admirers of landscape art and there are the creators. How does one become a creator and specifically a painter of landscapes? Well one way is to take a course, to learn from an accomplished professional (and likely from one’s classmates too).
There are not a lot of painting courses, specifically devoted to the landscape but one I can recommended is offered by Red Deer College (RDC), which is located in the City of Red Deer in the Canadian Province of Alberta. Since sometime in the 1980′s RDC had run a highly successful program of one-week arts courses. Starting in July and running 4 or 5 weeks, the “Series” program has offered 1-week courses in a whole variety of areas painting in various media, sculpture, glass blowing, photography (even “pizza oven construction” one year). The instructors include local professionals and others from every corner of the world. One of the nicest aspects of taking RDC Series courses is the opportunity to take accommodations in the college residence and therefore be able to spend 5 days immersed in the creative process.
The one course in the Series 2012 program, that I want to draw to the attention of the readers of this blog, is called “Color in the Landscape“. I took this class in 2011 and highly recommend it. The class is lead by Dave More, an accomplished painter and educator, who lives in the area and teaches at the college. He therefore knows the prime locations in the central Alberta region to capture a wide array of landscapes including bright canola fields, lake, rivers and forests. Each day, after critiques and discussion in the studio, Dave leads the class to a different location for plein air work.
Canola Fields in the Central Alberta Landscape
In other years there would be a number of landscape painting courses offered by Series, but in 2012 it looks like this is the only one. Dave More’s classes have been very popular for years and quickly fill up. If interested in taking this course I recommend acting quickly to get registered. This year’s class runs July 30th to August 3rd.
For a look at what I saw (and photographed) on the 2011 course, please visit this Flickr set. Also visit my 5-part blog post of my 2011 experience on this course – here is a link to part 1.
A.Y. Jackson, The Arctic 1927 is an interesting and unique book giving a fascinating insight into one of Canada’s famed Group of Seven painters. This book was published in 1982 to mark the 100th anniversary of A.Y. Jackson‘s birth but the content goes back to 1927 when he did the first of his 3 trips to the Canadian Arctic. This book chronicles A.Y. Jacksons’ trip in his own words and images. The words come from two journals that Jackson kept during the adventure and the images are reproductions of his actual sketch book.
The journey chronicled was by boat, the Beothuk, which left Sydney, Nova Scotia on July 16th 1927 and arrived back on September 4th. The route included stops in Greenland, Baffin Island, Devon Island and Ellesmere Island, as well as a stretch of the famed Northwest Passage.
In his word Jackson describe the ship getting stuck in the ice pack, and encountering fog and snow (keep in mind this is the middle of summer). He also briefly describes some of the off-boat excursions he took in search of scenes to sketch. Here is a sample of a Jackson journal writing (the August 12th entry in the “A” diary):
Went ashore at 3 AM with Banting and Malte. Made sketch, walked along beach. traces of summer camps, flat stones for floors, and rings of rocks for tents. Met Eskimo at H.B. factors. Had to shake hands all around. Ladies tattooed. Returned to steamer. Eskimos came out on ice which had closed in, wonderful exhibition of ice jumping. Chauve Souris costumes. Fifteen natives died of starvation down Admiralty Inlet, Shinik Islands, children probably eaten – no traces of them. remarkable cliffs at entrance to Arctic Bay.
Interestingly, Jackson kept two separate diaries of this trip (and transcriptions of both are included in this book). The “A” diary was a looser informal journal apparently for his own use, whereas the “B” version was for his friends and written in a more formal style.
While the words themselves are interesting, Jackson’s was after all a visual artist, so his images are a very important depiction of what he experienced. The majority of the book is taken up by reproductions of 88 drawings from the trip. Jackson’s sketches, mainly in pencil, are annotated in anticipation of his use a of them as references for future paintings. The subject matter that Jackson captures includes the expected landscapes (often as would have been viewed from the ship) but also people, dogs, settlements and arctic plants.
Overall this book is a fascinating look back onto the past, to the working of one of Canada’s most famed landscape artists, in a rather harsh and exotic setting.
Given the age of this book, one is unlikely to find a copy for sale (except perhaps in a used book market), but you might be able to borrow a copy (as I did) from a library. It is not a heavy read but it is fascinating.
Aside – also accompanying A.Y. Jackson on this journey was Frederick. G. Banting, another artist but far more famous as the Nobel-prize-winning co-discoverer of insulin. Banting wrote a short account of the trip (published in 1930) which included a reproduction of his own sketch and painting from the adventure.
Top 3 Canadian Landscape Art Books
{EAV:53ec1d72cb1622d7} – just an Empire Avenue verification code
Looking across my shelf of books on Canadian art (painting and landscape in particular) I have attempted to select my favorite, my recommendations, from amongst the 35 titles that I have. What follows are my top three, although admittedly the choices are very subjective. There is one book from each of my favorite Canadian painters (or group) and they were all contemporaries of each other in the early part of the 20th century. Also, because it is the visual aspect of the art, I have focused on these books which have lots of good photos of the paintings. Although each book has considerable text and commentary, quite frankly it has been a while since I’ve read them and so will not pass judgement on that aspect of each book. I didn’t realize at the time I chose these books but they all were produced in conjunction with major national exhibitions. So here they are:
1. THE GROUP OF SEVEN, Art for a Nation by Charles C. Hill was published in 1995 for the exhibition of the same name that traveled to 5 Canadian Galleries between October 1995 and December 1996. This 375 page book provides a good sampling and discussion of the work and history of of the Group of Seven (plus a few other related artists of the time). There were 179 paintings in the exhibition. Most of the images in the book are in full color although a number are just black and white.
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2. EMILY CARR, New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon curated by Charles C. Hill, Joanne Lamoureux and Ian M. Thom (with essays by seven authors). This book was published in 2006 by the National Gallery of Canada and the Vancouver Art Gallery in conjunction with a major exhibition of Carr’s work that traveled the country from mid-2006 until early 2008. This exhibition and book covers Carr’s life and work through 192 color images of her paintings and numerous other historical images to show her influences and inspiration from the native people and locations along Canada’s west coast. This large format ( 24 by 27 cm, 9 1/2″ by 10 3/4″) book is a joy to browse through or for serious study.
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3. TOM THOMSON, edited by Dennis Reid (with essays by five authors, and other technical and historic documentation). This book was published in 2002 in conjunction with a major exhibition put together by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada, of Thomson’s work that toured 5 locations across Canada from mid-2002 to the end of 2003. Although my initial attraction to this book was the numerous (140) color images of Thomson’s paintings this is a very comprehensive book providing a detailed biography of Thomson’s (tragically short) life (1877-1917). This large book (27 by 29 cm or 10 1/2″ x 11 1/2″) includes many photographs, maps and sketches as well as some black and white renditions of the works of some of the future Group of Seven painters that were in his circle. I also enjoyed the chapter by Sandra Webster-Cook and Anne Ruggles entitled “TECHNICAL STUDIES on Thomson’s Materials and Working Method”.
If you wanted a crash course in Canadian Landscape painting, in what might be called the defining period of the early 20th century, you couldn’t go wrong by studying these three books.
[this post was originally published on Randall Talbot's personal art blog on 2011/12/26]
I’ve made three visits in the last couple of months to one particular exhibit at the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) and I suspect I will be good for at least two more visits before the show closes on February 20 2012. The show is State of Nature, Western Canadian Landscape Painting in the AGA collection, 1980 to the present. This exhibit is running concurrently with a couple of other complementary painting exhibitions Prairie Life: Settlement and the Last Best West 1930-1955 (just until 2012 January 29) and a Passion for Nature, Landscape Painting from 19th Century France.
While the Passion for Nature exhibit is larger and with some big names would probably be considered the more prestigious exhibit, I must say that State of Nature is my favorite! State of Nature features nine large works by Alberta and Saskatchewan artists. The paintings are bold and strong, some tending towards abstraction but all recognizable as landscapes and certainly capturing the essence of the landscape from the Western Canadian prairie and parkland. There were a couple of paintings that really connected with me, invited me to sit down in front of them, to absorb the atmosphere and be transported to a different place. One of these was David Alexander’s Swags in a Northern Swamp. This large (approximately 3 by 4 meters) piece features a dominant foreground swamp with reflections in the mid-ground.
My favorite piece in this exhibit is Rockface, Quiet Bay 2008 by Gregory Hardy. This large work dominates one’s field of vision with a rocky landscape refelcted in a lake. the colors are rather subdued but with a few exciting dabs of orange.
If you happen to be in Edmonton, with an opportunity to visit the AGA before February 20th be sure not to miss this exhibit. It is interesting in its own right but especially so when seen against the 20th Century French paintings and the other current AGA exhibits.
Abstract Harris and Carr
[This post was originally published on Randall Talbot's personal art blog on 2011/05/03]
Today I got back to the Art Gallery of Alberta. My first motivation was to re-visit the Emily Carr exhibit. My second reason was a visit to the new exhibition of abstract paintings by Lawren Harris, renowned landscape painter with the Canadian Group of Seven.
Lawren Harris was a founding member of the Canadian landscape school but even in some of his later landscape paintings the move to abstraction was very apparent. This exhibit, simply and appropriately called Lawren Harris Abstractions, focuses solely on the abstract works later in Harris’ career. The core of this relatively small exhibit are six paintings from the Art Gallery of Alberta’s own collection. Supplementing those works are sixteen from the National Gallery of Canada. Probably half of the works are large (a meter or two) paintings and very interestingly there are a number of abstract sketches, some apparently preparatory sketches for the works on canvas. There is a certain spirituality to Harris abstracts relating to Harris’s following of Theosophy.
I really enjoyed these Harris works and spent some time studying the curves, colors, shapes, volumes and composition. They are interesting from across the room and intriguing up close. The Harris exhibit runs through to September 11, 2011.
For more about Harris and his abstracts check out this CBC story from 1961.
The other exhibit I had an opportunity to visit today was Nature and Spirit: Emily Carr’s Coastal Landscapes. I had seen this exhibit a few weeks ago and at the time vowed to visit again. It was just as impressive this time as it was the first time. I focused just on Carr’s paintings today foregoing the companion exhibit of Canadian west coast native art and artifacts. For more on my first visit see my earlier blog post.
The Carr exhibit runs until 2011 June 5 and I will get back, at least one more time.
