2008 Exhibition Archives
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February 16 to April 27, 2008
TD Waterhouse Great Masters Series: Munkácsy’s Epic Christ before Pilate
Curated by Patrick Shaw Cable
This instalment of the TD Waterhouse Great Masters Series celebrates the return from long-term loan in Hungary of the Gallery’s monumental painting Christ before Pilate, by Mihály Munkácsy (Hungarian 1844-1900). When Munkácsy created the epic picture in 1881-his most ambitious project to date-he had already established himself in Paris as the most internationally successful Hungarian artist of the 19th century. Featuring a crowd of life-size figures posed in various attitudes and grouped within an arched, ancient Roman interior, the massive picture (measuring over 4 by 6 metres, or 13 by 20 feet) shows Jesus with bound wrists brought for judgment before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor over Judaea. The dramatic mural canvas was initially exhibited in the gallery of Munkácsy’s dealer, Charles Sedelmeyer, who collaborated on the project’s conception. Placed at floor level Christ before Pilate struck visitors by its resemblance to a living religious diorama. Following the enormous success of this episode from the Passion of Christ, the artist completed a trilogy of Passion scenes by painting two more huge canvases, Golgotha (1884) and Ecce Homo ("Behold the Man") (1896).
After Christ before Pilate entered the Gallery’s collection in 2002 - part of the donation of The Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection - the AGH followed a generous precedent set by the Tanenbaums by agreeing to loan the work for several years to the Déri Muzeum in Debrecen, Hungary, where Munkácsy is venerated as a national artistic hero. (In return for this gesture, local audiences were able to enjoy the 2006 exhibition of 78 paintings from Hungary - Hungarian Splendour: Masterpieces from the National Gallery in Budapest.) For years, Christ before Pilate has held pride of place in Debrecen’s museum, adjacent to Munkácsy’s other two paintings of Christ’s Passion, and now the AGH is thrilled to be able to present its epic Munkácsy masterpiece back at home in Hamilton.
As a complement to Munkácsy’s Christ before Pilate, the exhibition includes two other large-scale religious paintings from the AGH Tanenbaum Collection by French artist Gustave Doré (1832–1883), whose work Munkácsy admired: The Triumph of Christianity over Paganism (1868) and The Dream of Claudia Procula (1874). A contextual feature of the exhibition is the exploration of how both artists’ monumental religious paintings were involved in two remarkable instances of promotional display at a time when the modern art market was just beginning.
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February 16 to April 27, 2008
Atelier: Ora Markstein
Curated by Sara Knelman
Ora Markstein’s powerful sculptures reverberate with emotion. Carved by hand from blocks of soapstone, marble and alabaster in every imaginable colour, Markstein lets the shape of the sculpture slowly reveal itself, transforming unwieldy slabs of stone into images of beauty. Her legacy silently restores faith in humanity after her painful experiences during the Holocaust in Hungary, and defies Theodor Adorno’s famous idea that "it is impossible to write poetry after Auschwitz." Although always drawn to the arts, Markstein did not lay her hands on any variety of stone until the early 1970s, when she first came to Canada. Eventually settling in Hamilton, she has been sculpting from her downtown home for the last quarter century, making up for lost time. Although she consciously avoids recreating horror in her art, Markstein’s work often describes the pain of death and loss, but counters the sadness through explorations of love and spiritual renewal. Whether inspired by myth, biblical references or her own life experiences, Markstein evokes a rare purity that cuts through to the heart of the matter, by finding the life in the stone.
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January 26 to April 27, 2008
Cheap Meat Dreams and Acorns: Ken Gregory
Ken Gregory has played with form and technology for more than fifteen years, creating interactive computer-based installations. He approaches the work through process and the intuitive application of tools and ideas, discovering and learning through constant experimentation. This exhibition reveals Gregory's place in the history and development of media-based art in Canada.
Gregory’s work is based in improvisation and performance - his or that of the sculpture. Of critical importance is how his innovation and playful sense of discovery stimulates our imaginations. Encountering any work by Ken Gregory means you are about to enter an experience, not merely contemplate an image.
CHEAP MEAT DREAMS AND ACORNS: KEN GREGORY was organized by Plug In ICA, Winnipeg, with the financial assistance of the Manitoba Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Winnipeg Arts Council New Creations Fund. The circulation of this exhibition is made possible by the Museums Assistance Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
*On Thursday, January 17, at 5:30 pm, multi-disciplinary artist Ken Gregory performed 20 minutes of live sound art on McMaster campus radio station CFMU 93.3 FM’s A Little Notice in the System programme for the International Birthday of Art, founded by Fluxus artist Robert Filliou.
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January 12 to May 4, 2008
Two Artists Time Forgot: Frances Jones (Bannerman) and Margaret Campbell Macpherson
Organized by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and The Rooms, Provincial Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and circulated by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia with the support of the Museums Assistance Program (MAP), Department of Canadian Heritage.
Co-curated by Dr. Dianne O’Neil and Caroline Stone.
Two women. Two artists. Two painting careers lost to us through time and art historical neglect. The exhibition Two Artists Time Forgot offers a rare opportunity to experience firsthand the work of Newfoundland’s Margaret Campbell Macpherson (1860 - 1931) and Nova Scotia’s Frances Jones (Bannerman) (1855 - 1944). As the first in-depth study of these artists, the exhibition seeks to introduce their works to a wider audience while providing the opportunity of experiencing a selection of over sixty paintings on loan from private and public collections.
The parallels between the two artists and their practices are particularly interesting. Macpherson and Jones shared similar family backgrounds: both were born in Atlantic Canada, traveled to Europe to study in the late nineteenth century and experimented with Impressionism. Indeed, any artist of ambition (either male or female) of the period made the pilgrimage overseas for the purposes of advancing their art training and career. Through their travels and various residencies in Europe, both Bannerman and Macpherson were exposed to the vanguard of Western painting and immersed themselves within various European art communities. Each earned significant honours during her lifetime, including having work accepted for exhibition at the prestigious Paris Salons, including Bannerman’s In the Conservatory exhibited at the 1883 Salon.
The work of Bannerman and Macpherson certainly merits our attention and the exhibition and accompanying publication for Two Artists Time Forgot not only brings their work to life but recounts, for the first time, the rich artistic journeys of these two pioneering Canadian women artists.
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March 1 to August 17, 2008
Angkor Wat, Cambodia: Vision of the God-Kings - Photographs by Lois Conner
Curated by Sara Knelman
Lois Conner’s exquisite photographic portfolio explores the ancient civilization of Angkor, Cambodia. Conner set out, despite the palpable threats of the long-running civil war in the region, to capture the stunning landscape, monuments and people who remain there. Renowned in its age for incredible art and architecture, Conner relates the story of the Angkor Period, about 802 to 1432, through panoramic vistas that stretch the borders and place us inside the frame. Her highly-detailed contact photographs utilize an unusal elongated format, in part because it lends itself better to the narrative effect she wished to evoke. Conner, renowned for her depiction of China and the US, has said plainly of this work: "These photographs are not documents. I’m interested in landscape as culture - how land can hold the subtle yet indelible imprint of those who lived before us."
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May 17 to August 24, 2008
The Collectors Series: Joe Ng
The Collectors Series: Luke Chan
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
Prominent Hamiltonians and friends Joe Ng, founder of Joe Ng Engineering Ltd. and the Joe Ng Group of Companies, and Luke Chan, Associate Vice-President of International Affairs at McMaster University, have each assembled through the years a sizable collection of Asian art. Joe Ng’s collection focuses primarily upon an eclectic range of Japanese ceramics dating from the 17th to the 20th century, but also includes screens, sculpture, lacquer and metalware. Luke Chan has embraced modern Chinese painting that is nourished by and continues the age-old tradition of Chinese landscape painting and calligraphy. These adjacent exhibitions continue the Gallery’s commitment to present significant private collections from the area.
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May 10 to September 1, 2008
From Geisha to Diva: The Kimonos of Ichimaru
Organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Curated by Barry Till
Exhibition Partner: Stitch It
This internationally successful touring exhibition presents a lavish array of more than twenty kimonos of one of the most famous geisha of 20th-century Japan: Ichimaru (1906–1997). From a life of rural poverty, the adolescent Ichimaru began as a low-rank geisha, and blossomed into one of the most revered and elegant geisha, known to possess the singing voice of a nightingale. Signing as a singer with Victor Recording in 1931, Ichimaru soon left the geisha world, becoming a full-time diva and one of her country’s national treasures. In her lifetime, therefore, the exceptional Ichimaru was a major figure of both the centuries-old Japanese geisha tradition, and the modern, Western phenomenon of popular recording star.
As a singer Ichimaru promoted traditional Japanese music and folk melodies, and continued the geisha tradition of elegant, stylish dress. Alongside Ichimaru’s kimonos, the exhibition includes several related objects, portraits, and publicity photographs of this renowned geisha-cum-diva.
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May 10 to September 1, 2008
The Japonisme of Edgar Degas and James Tissot
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable and Davida Aronovitch
Presented by Orlick Industries Ltd.
Complementing the Gallery’s series of Asian shows, this intimate exhibition explores the influence of Japanese art on two of the great French realists of the 19th century—the Impressionist Edgar Degas (1834–1917) and the “Victorian realist” James Tissot (1836– 1902). Friends from their student days, Degas and Tissot were inspired by the special forms, colours, and motifs of the art of Japan, in particular Japanese woodblock prints.
The Japanese influence melded with other sources of inspiration, such as photography for Degas and the popular fashion plate for Tissot. This thematic exhibition highlights the original japonisme of each artist’s work by juxtaposing a select number of paintings and prints, including Degas loans from the National Gallery in Ottawa and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the AGH’s beloved painting by Tissot, Croquet.
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May 22 to September 7, 2008
Great New Wave: Contemporary Art from Japan
Co-presented by the Art Gallery of Hamilton and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
Curated by Sara Knelman and Lisa Baldissera
This groundbreaking Canadian presentation of Japanese art examines new and recent work by emerging and mid-career artists. After its economic collapse in the 1990s, Japan’s Superflat movement, epitomized by the work of Takashi Murikami and Yoshimoto Nara, catapulted these and like-minded artists onto the contemporary art world stage. Today, an exciting new wave of work follows in the wake of the Superflat aesthetic, defined by a new generation of Japanese artists. Their diverse works, on view in Canada for the first time, reflect an acute consciousness of cultural tradition, while simultaneously proposing visions of a globalized future.
The exhibition will include work in a variety of media including drawing, installation, photography, sculpture, textile and video. In addition to new and recent work by Manabu Ikeda, Kohei Nawa, Tabaimo and Miwa Yanagi, the exhibition will also showcase two site-specific works created in Hamilton: utilizing discarded consumer packing material gathered over many months from local residents, internationally-known artist Yoshiaki Kaihatsu will transform our waste into a contemporary take on the traditional Japanese teahouse, and textile artist
Sayaka Akiyama will spend four weeks in the community, ultimately translating her experiences of Hamilton’s environment, geography, history and sensibility into a large-scale signature mapping project.
This exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue featuring curatorial essays and full colour illustrations ...
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May 22 to September 7, 2008
Atelier: Tor Lukasik-Foss - The Monotheatrum
Curated by Sara Knelman
This summer, Tor Lukasik-Foss will build Hamilton’s newest performance venue inside an AGH gallery. The Monotheatrum, as it has been named by Lukasik-Foss, is like nothing you’ve seen before. Described by the artist as a "nomadic amphitheatre," the structure’s meticulous design references the architecture of opera houses, scaled down here to house only a single performer. The innovative twist is the stage itself: although physically present, the performance space remains concealed from view – the stage is not visible to the audience. This separation between performer and spectators riffs on the notion of obscurity as a viable creative path – perhaps even as the necessary ingredient in the mysterious recipe for success.
In the summer of 2008, The Monotheatrum will set up its stage for the very first time at the AGH. During the course of its exhibition, The Monotheatrum will begin to build-up a storied past through performances and audience encounters. As it moves on from here, its legend will continue to build, slowly generating the kind of psychic energy that defines the great performance venues of our time, like Massey or Carnegie Hall.
Stay tuned for notice of occasional live "performances" by Hamilton musicians, and visit the exhibition anytime to experience sonic documentation of past performances, and to contemplate the nature of such elusive entities as performance, fame and ambiance.
Tor Lukasik-Foss is a visual artist, musician and writer based in Hamilton.
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April 26 to September 21, 2008
TD Waterhouse Great Masters Series: Masters of the Ukiyo-e
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
A quintessential Japanese historical art form, ukiyo-e ("pictures of the floating world") are colour woodblock prints that represent subjects ranging from brothel scenes and legendary episodes to landscapes and urban views.
Masters of the Ukiyo-e features more than a dozen ukiyo-e prints from the AGH collection, including images of the geisha, the Kabuki actor, and the sumo wrestler; episodes along the Tokaido Road; and snow and river scenes. In addition to the work of 19th-century masters like Ando Hiroshige (1797–1858) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1864), the exhibition presents a few examples by talented artists who continued the ukiyo-e tradition into the next century, such as Hiroshi Yoshida (1876–1950) and Kiyoshi Saito (1907–1997).
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December 15, 2007 to September 21, 2008
The Word Made Flesh: Images of Devotion
Curated by Patrick Shaw Cable
For centuries the Church was a chief patron of art, supporting some of the most famous artworks in history, such as Michelangelo’s David and Leonardo’s Last Supper. The Word Made Flesh features religious art from the AGH European collection, depicting Christian saints, Biblical and historic narratives, and artists’ personal imaginings of religious themes. On view is an assortment of paintings and sculptures dating from the Middle Ages to the early years of the 20th century. Including altarpieces, oil paintings of dramatic narratives, and carved and painted sculptures of saints, the show discloses stories and heroes that are both familiar and unknown, as well as the passion and beauty of Christian art through the ages. A portion of the exhibition, on view until mid-April, presents a corridor of prints from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Many of the handsome pieces in The Word Made Flesh are generous long-term loans-for example, the sole Canadian work in the exhibition, Christ by 19th-century Québécois sculptor Louis Jobin, is on loan to the Gallery from Mrs. Wynn and Dr. Bill Bensen.
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March 1 to November 30, 2008
Story Time: Narrative in Contemporary Art
Curated by Sara Knelman
The human instinct for storytelling began, before verbal or written language, with images. As we see in this exhibition, that drive to relate stories – real or make-believe – is still at the heart of art-making. While abstract, minimalist and conceptual art have arguably dominated the contemporary art world in recent decades, many artists have continuously returned to narrative as both a source and form for new expression.
Narrative can be defined, in the most basic terms, as a sequence of events. The central plot might describe the development of character, the weight of an experience, or the general passage of time. In this room artists illuminate subjects drawn from mythology, the old testament and fairy tales, and articulate histories, cultural contexts, and shifting ideas to convey previously untold stories. Some works maintain a traditional sequential structure, while others collapse the narrative line into a single image or a circuitous confusion of episodes. The architecture of narrative, like the Tower of Babel in Vessna Perunovich’s The Day We Stopped Talking to Each Other, is precarious. And like the evolution of new languages, the unending possibilities of narrative construction continue to unfold.
Although their subjects are wide-ranging, the works gathered here all do more than tell a story. Through creative invention they make space for new understandings, and like children’s picture books and movies, they activate our imaginations.
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September 13, 2008 to January 4, 2009
Blood, Sweat and Tears: Labour in Art
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
Blood, Sweat and Tears: Labour in Art presents a singular subject of late 19th-century and early 20th-century European, Canadian, and American art — labour and the labouring body, and their diverse artistic expression and meanings in a period of unprecedented change. Blood, Sweat and Tears embraces paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs created in the 100-year span between 1850 and 1950. The exhibition features works from the AGH’s permanent holdings, especially its major collection of early 20th-century Canadian art and the rich Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection of 19th-century European art, alongside important loans from other institutions in Canada. A special aspect of Blood, Sweat and Tears is the juxtaposition of works produced in different areas and produced by artists working in diverse styles and from unique perspectives, from idealized and nostalgic 19th-century representations of the peasantry to gritty 20th-century social realist views of the industrial worker. Artists represented include European painters associated with Realism and Impressionism—for example, Camille Pissarro, Jean-Louis Forain, and John Singer Sargent (American active in Europe); the major American work photographer Lewis Hine; Canadian artists such as William Blair Bruce, John Sloan, Maurice Cullen, and Yulia Biriukova; and two major European sculptors of the late 19th century for whom the labour theme was a central inspiration — the Belgian Constantin Meunier and the French Jules Dalou.
| Supported by: |
Effort Trust |
& The Hutton Family |
Newspaper Partner:
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The Hamilton Spectator |
| Media Magazine Partner: |
Hamilton Magazine |
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September 13, 2008 to January 4, 2009
Baskin in Black and White: TD Waterhouse Great Masters Series
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
One of the great masters of 20th-century printmaking, Leonard Baskin (American 1922–2000) left a rich body of work characterized by singularly bold expressionism, personal imagery inspired by a multitude of diverse sources, and versatile experimentation. Known primarily for his seminal work as a printmaker, Baskin also created illustrated books and sculptures. Through the generosity of this great artist’s brother, Rabbi Bernard Baskin, the AGH is fortunate to possess one of the richest collections of art by Leonard Baskin in Canada — more than a hundred works in different media. Focusing primarily on a selection of Baskin’s powerful prints at the AGH, Baskin in Black and White also features two bronzes by the artist included in the Gallery’s Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection.
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September 27, 2008 to January 4, 2009
Pascal Grandmaison: Double Take
Curated by Sara Knelman
The Art Gallery of Hamilton is pleased to host an exhibition of recent work by Montreal artist Pascal Grandmaison. In videos and photographs, Grandmaison’s crisp minimalist aesthetic scrutinizes the beauty, form and limitations of his subjects. Shown together here for the first time, related video works Double Fog / Double Brouillard and I See You in Reverse are beautifully choreographed explorations of the boundaries between space and emotion, progress and history, and moving and still images. Turning the lens on the mechanisms of his craft, new large-scale photographs depict details from the instruments of image making – lenses, battery packs, depth of field diagrams – rendering them both intimate and monumental.
This exhibition will be accompanied by a full-colour bilingual catalogue with curatorial essays by Diana Nemiroff, Director, Carleton University Art Gallery and Sara Knelman, published in collaboration with Carleton University Art Gallery.
| Exhibition Partners: |
Mark A. Rizzo |
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Thoman Soule LLP Lawyers |
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June 30, 2007 to January 18, 2009
Carnival: Scenes from a Spectacle
Curated by Tobi Bruce, Patrick Shaw Cable and Sara Knelman
Drawn from the gallery’s permanent collection, this installation brings together major works by Canadian and international artists that incorporate elements of the playful, the fantastical, the satirical, even the macabre.
Carnivals traditionally involve public celebrations and parades including elements of the circus or masquerade. But there is often something disturbing, even sinister, that functions as a counterpoint to the festive aspect of the carnival. At first glance, each work displayed here is carnivalesque in spirit. Indeed, Karel Appel’s works are exactly what they appear to be: brightly painted sculptures of happy clowns and circus animals. Similarly, Fernando Botero’s rotund Doll exhibits the amusingly inflated forms characteristic of this artist’s style. But upon further consideration, works such as Dorothy Cameron’s haunting Carousel, or Badanna Zack’s witty Trio of Great Canadians, show us the extraordinary and the satirical. And in contrast to the clowns of Appel, Stephen Livick’s Untitled, Clown,n. 81361 suggests isolation and prompts a certain sense of unease.
Playing upon themes of the extraordinary, fantasy, masquerade, or performance, the works assembled here are intended to provoke, amuse, beguile, and enchant... much like the carnival itself.
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August 23, 2008 to March 22, 2009
In Motion: The photography of Eadweard Muybridge
Curated by Sara Knelman
Eadweard Muybridge pioneered the field of motion studies photography with his series Animal Locomotion: An Electro-Photographic Investigations of Consecutive Phases of Animal Movement. This exhibition presents a selection of ten collotypes, a small but poignant group from the artist’s overall collection of 781 collotype plates, first published in eleven volumes in 1887.
Commissioned to prove a bet that a horse has all four hooves off the ground while galloping, Muybridge eventually set out to document the gamut of human and animal locomotion. The resulting images are almost all in a grid-like format, depicting incremental stages of movement, similar to film stills.
The images shown in this exhibition all depict the human figure, with five showing male figures, and five which take women as their subject. They are without doubt an early, revelatory investigation of motion–yet they also offer an eye-opening historical view of 19th century social attitudes toward gender roles. While male models are most often depicted playing sports or lifting heavy objects, female models are more likely seen carrying out household chores with dainty composure and adorned with typically feminine props.
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October 4, 2008 to March 29, 2009
Light, Colour, and Grace: The Romeo Paintings Collection
Curated by Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
Continuing the Gallery’s commitment to share with its audiences significant private collections in the surrounding area, Light, Colour, and Grace features thirty-one European paintings from the local collection of Dr. Michael Romeo and his wife, Mary Romeo. Focusing primarily on European art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the exhibition includes the work of diverse painters of French, British, German, Dutch, Italian, and other nationalities, ranging from landscapes, townscapes, and seascapes to rural and urban genre scenes. The paintings in the Romeo collection include different approaches, such as the detailed naturalism of A Busy Canal Scene in a Dutch Town by the Dutch painter Abraham Hulk (1813-1897), who was inspired by the style of 17th-century Dutch landscape painting; or the impressionism of Picking Flowers in a Farmyard by the Frenchman Edmond Marie Petitjean (1844-1925). Despite these varied styles, however, a unifying thread of the paintings collection of Michael and Mary Romeo is a love of light, colour, and picturesque grace.
| Exhibition Partners: |
Barton Radiologists
BMO Financial Group with Nesbitt Burns
The Graham Munro Charitable Foundation
National Steel Car
Dr. Michael and Mary Romeo
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| Exhibition Friends: |
Albert and Nancy Alexanian
Greg and Irene Aziz
Dr. Brian Birchenough
Howard and Sharon Campbell
Blair A. and Andrea Cerello
Dr. Hema Choudur
Stephen and Carolyn Czuba
Dr. Ian Doris
Dr. Mary Lou Ellins
Arthur and Margaret Fairrie
Dr. Arlene Franchetto
Dr. David Koff
Dr. David Landry
Dr. Ramiro Larrazabal
Dr. Richard Lee
Doug and Barbara Munro
Dr. Michael Patlas
Dr. Gordon Yip
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April 26, 2008 to April 3, 2009
Home Again: Our Canadian Treasures Return
Curated by Tobi Bruce
After two long years spent crossing the country, the AGH’s most prized Canadian treasures are home again. Following the presentation of Lasting Impressions: Celebrated Works from the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 2005, which coincided with the reopening of the newly renovated AGH, the exhibition began its two-year, six-city tour across Canada. Concluding in January at the Musée nationale des beaux-arts du Québec, we are very proud to say that our collection was enjoyed by tens of thousands of visitors nationwide.
Arriving home safely in early 2008, the works have been uncrated and a selection is on view to our public again. Drawing on the strengths of our landscape and portrait holdings, this modest installation comprises many favorites from the Canadian collection including William Blair Bruce’s Phantom Hunter, Maurice Cullen’s Cape Diamond, Lawren Harris’s Hurdy Gurdy and Emily Carr’s Yan Q.C.I.
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October 4, 2008 to April 13, 2009
Inspiration through Struggle: Leonard Hutchinson and The Great Depression
Curated by Laura DiMarco and Amanda Elizabeth Downey under the direction of Dr. Patrick Shaw Cable
Leonard Hutchinson’s move to Hamilton from England in the 1920s marked the beginning of a long career as an active artist and dedicated member of the Hamilton community. He came to be known as not only one of the leading members of Canadian print artists, but also a major social realist. Hutchinson (1896–1980) worked predominantly during the Great Depression of the 1930s, in which he experienced the sorrow and hardships of the average Canadian, particularly the working class. Working primarily in linocut and woodcut, Hutchinson created prints that showcase not only the beauty of the rural and coastal landscape around Hamilton, but also the inherent beauty, dedication, and resourcefulness of its people. This exhibition features 20 prints by Hutchinson executed between 1930 and 1940, which include scenes of labour, the agricultural landscape, and portraits of working men — all of them ultimately reflecting the struggle of the local populace during this time.
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The Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery
February 8 to March 2, 2008
Heart of the City
Art Rental and Sales
This show of works from the AGH's Art Rental and Sales Programme was inspired by the painting Cuore Città by Italian-Canadian artist Pietro Adamo. This exhibition draws on two powerful themes that emerge from Adamo’s work - the energy of urban spaces and the power of the vibrant, “heart”-inspired colour of red. The works on view here portray the energy of life, familiar objects and urban form in some of the great cities of the world (Paris, Hong Kong, Toronto). The use of the colour red inspires romance, generates excitement and conveys the frantic pace of city life. Available for sale or rental, these original works of art are ideal way to conquer the winter blues. Each work sparks a wide range of emotions... and passion is only one of them!
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March 6 to May 4, 2008
Vitae Urbanae
Art Rental and Sales
"Inspiration can come from anywhere. It sometimes bursts forth in the most awkward place and inconvenient time. Learning to harness it and to keep that feeling is what drives my work. Some pieces are titled due to the obvious sentiment that is apparent to me as I complete them. Other pieces remain untitled simply because they evoke a general idea rather than a strong, specific sentiment. The titles are not always serious-some are humorous or even a play on words. It all pertains to the moment and to what inspired the particular feeling in me.
In 2004 I introduced some stronger graphic elements in my work in a show entitled Vitae Urbanae. Using silk screened imagery from my collection of photos enabled me to evoke a sense of time in my work-the finished piece was a stitch in time. I was always drawn to architectural imagery and I included it in that show. Fast forward to Art Gallery of Hamilton and Vitae Urbanae 2008. The show highlights new imagery and surface treatments without abandoning my lifelong obsession with texture and colour."
- Pietro Adamo
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On view March 22 to June 1, 2008
Women’s Art Association 112th Annual Juried Exhibition
The Women’s Art Association is one of Hamilton’s oldest arts organizations. Formed in 1896, the efforts of their earliest members were instrumental in the founding of the AGH and as such, their history is closely tied to the Gallery’s. The strong relationship between the AGH and WAA continues to this day, and the WAA is one of the regular exhibitors in the Gallery’s Jean & Ross Fischer Gallery. We are pleased to present their 112th Annual Juried Exhibition, which promises to continue the rich range of styles and subjects pursued by various WAA artists.
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On view June 5 to August 4, 2008
Follow Your Art III: SAGE and SAGE Quest Student Exhibition
Curated by Pearl Van Geest, Laurie Kilgour-Walsh
It is thrilling to once again have the pleasure of collaborating with the students, teachers and parents of SAGE for the third annual Follow Your Art exhibition. This year’s adventure began as usual with visits to the AGH exhibitions and continued as students explored the connections their lives and ideas made with the ideas, materials and techniques discovered in investigating the exhibiting artists’ work.
- Pearl Van Geest
Art Educator: School Programmes
Students from the SAGE Quest programme also participated in an inspiring and interactive Gallery experience. During three visits to the Art Gallery of Hamilton, students looked at, talked about and created art. As each student’s skills and ideas developed over the course of the programme, all involved were pleased to see a growing curiosity and articulation develop. This exhibition is a celebration of talent, creativity and inspiration.
- Laurie Kilgour-Walsh , AGH Educator
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August 9 to September 21, 2008
"Purely Pastel": PastelArtists.ca 17th Open Juried Exhibition
The AGH is delighted to host Pastel Artists Canada’s 17th Open Juried Exhibition in the Jean and Ross Fischer Gallery. PAC started out small in southern Ontario in 1989, and now boasts a wide membership across Canada. PAC members revel in working with the vibrancy and subtlety of dry pastel. Each year selected entries in the Juried Show stand as wonderful demonstrations of the versatility of the medium and the imagination and skill of the artists.
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September 27 to November 9, 2008
The Architecture of John M. Lyle: Past and Present
Organized by the John M. Lyle Project and curated by Glenn McArthur, this exhibition is the latest in a series of insightful community shows offered through the agency of the local branch of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario and hosted in the AGH Jean and Ross Fischer (Community) Gallery. This instalment of the ACO series presents the work of John Lyle, a leading Canadian architect in the early 20th Century and proponent of the City Beautiful Movement who conceived nationally celebrated buildings such as Union Station and The Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Lyle spent his childhood in Hamilton, and later designed local landmarks such as the High Level Bridge, Central Presbyterian Church and the Gage Park Fountain. The exhibition focuses on the evolution of his work from the classical Beaux-Arts style through his mid-life adjustment to the new wave of Modernism. It also provides a contemporary context exploring Lyle buildings that have undergone major transformations.
This exhibition is presented with the generous support of the Hal Jackman Foundation, The Hamilton and Burlington Society of Architects and N.C. Pestill Limited.
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November 15, 2008 to February 1, 2009
Hamilton / New York: Portraits of Sound
Photographs by Jimmy Katz
Co-Curated by Astrid Hepner and Luca Salvatore
Presented by the Hamilton Music Collective
This exhibition features the work of award-winning, New York-based photographer Jimmy Katz. Over the past twenty years, Katz has photographed the breadth of the jazz community, creating stunning images of both the icons, and the emerging talent. His distinctive style is as seductive as Louis Armstrong’s voice or the sounds of John Coltrane’s tenor sax. For this special exhibition, Katz’s photographs of New York City jazz musicians will be paired with images of influential and prominent Hamilton musicians, taken by Katz in Hamilton.
In association with: The Hamilton Spectator / Jeff Schall, Investment Advisor, Schall Advisory Team, TD Waterhouse / Cogeco / ArcelorMittal Dofasco /
The PasWord Group / Long & McQuade / Judy Marsales Real Estate Ltd.
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