In 1887, while Canadian artist George Agnew Reid (1860-1947) was adding the final brushstrokes to his iconic Ontario genre painting, The Call to Dinner (shown here); and English photographer Eadweard Muybridge (1830-1904) was bridging science and art with his freeze-frame photography of human and animal motion; McMaster University was founded.

The McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) now celebrates both the 125^th anniversary of McMaster University and the 45^th anniversary of the Museum with an exhibition, 125 & 45: an interrogative spirit. This exhibition highlights some of the key donors and benefactors who have contributed to the development of the art collection interweaving landmark moments in the histories of the University and Museum.

125 and 45: an interrogative spirit presents more than fifty works of art from McMaster’s collection. In addition to Reid and Muybridge, works by Carl Beam, Gustave Caillebotte, Otto Dix, Elisabeth Frink, Naum Gabo, Natalia Goncharova, Betty Goodwin, Hortense Gordon, Alexej Jawlensky, Arnaud Maggs, Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro, Robert Rauschenberg, Gerhard Richter, Pauta Saila, Egon Schiele, Chaim Soutine, Andy Warhol, and Joyce Wieland and many others, are on view.

This two part exhibition is on view in the MMA’s Tomlinson Gallery, January 20 – August 4, and Levy Gallery, January 27 – May 5, 2012.

Here are some installation views of the Tomlinson Gallery, now open. Levy Gallery images coming soon.