The Last Things Before the Last

The Last Things Before the Last resurrects fragments of two earlier exhibitions at the McMaster Museum of Art (MMA) within a new configuration of works from the collection. The reconstructed elements are from artist Alexander Pilis’s 2010-2011 curatorial endeavour The Blind Architect Meets Rembrandt and from the 1994 installation that opened the new building of the MMA, featuring the donated collection of Herman Levy as it once hung in the Levy family home. These exhibition fragments are incorporated into a new composition with its own associational counterpoint on the theme of “disappearance and reappearance”. More particularly, the new configuration draws on the breadth of the time span of the MMA collections – from a Ptah-Sokar-Osiris tomb figure (1,000-500 B.C) across First World War-era pages of the Levy family photo album to Toronto artist Max Dean’s self portrait Chair Without Front Legs from the 2011 series Objects Waiting. Outside the traditional format of exhibition-making that is structured around a delimited time frame, an art historical period, and/or a chronological form of presentation, this seemingly ‘ahistorical’ exhibition invites an excess of history.

List of Works in Exhibitions

(by location in the gallery)

Togo Salmon Gallery:

Gerhard Richter (German b. 1932)
Isa, 1990
CR 717-6, oil on canvas, 40.5 x 35 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1997 Levy family photos

South Outer Wall of Levy Gallery Inner Room:

Max Dean  (Canadian b. England 1949)
Chair without Front Legs, 2011
From the suite Objects Waiting
chromogenic print; ed. 1/4, 61 x 51 cm
Donald Murray Shepherd Trust Purchase, 2012

Ernst Barlach (German 1870-1938)
Der Übergang / The Transition, 1917
cast bronze; ed. 3/3, 33 x 44 x 6 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1994

South Wall Levy Gallery:

Gerard Edelinck (Belgian 1640-1707)
after Gilbert de Sève
Magdeleine de Lamoignon, fille de Chrétien de Lamoignon (1609-1687), 1687-1707
engraving
plate: 41.6 x 31.4 cm
paper: 44.5 x 33.5 cm
McMaster University Collection, 1967

Erich Heckel (German 1883-1970)
Selbstbildnis / Self Portrait, 1917
woodcut
block: 36.5 x 29.8 cm
paper: 56.5 x 44.5
Purchase, 1988

Karl Stauffer-Bern (Swiss 1857-1891)
Gottfried Keller, 1887
Printed by Otto Felsing, Berlin
Published by Amsler & Ruthardt, Berlin
etching
plate: 39.3 x 29.3 cm
paper: 56.5 x 44.3 cm
Purchase, 1966

Max Beckmann (German 1884-1950)
Selbstbildnis / Self-Portrait, 1914
Published by J. B. Neumann, Berlin
drypoint
plate: 22.7 x 16.6 cm
paper: 42.7 x 31.7 cm
Purchase, 1977

Max Liebermann (German 1847-1935)
Selbstbildnis / Self-Portrait, 1922
drypoint; 3rd state
plate: 23.7 x 17 cm
paper: 30.4 x 22.8 cm
Purchase, 1965

Ludwig Meidner (German 1884-1966)
Selbstbildnis mit Hut vor einem brennenden Haus / Self-Portrait with Hat before a Burning House, 1923
etching
plate: 17.5 x 13 cm
paper: 24.5 x 20 cm
Purchase, 1978

Bernard Kretzschmar (German 1889-1972)
Mein Hauswirt / My Landlord, 1924
drypoint
plate: 33 x 19 cm
paper: 41 x 30.8 cm
Purchase, 1976

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (German 1880-1938)
Porträt Frau Bluth / Portrait of Frau Bluth, 1916
lithograph; first state, from edition of 11 or 12
image: 42.2 x 31.1 cm
paper: 60 x 39.1 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1995

Wenceslaus Hollar (Czech 1607-1677)
After Albrecht Dürer
Woman with coiled hair, 1646
etching
plate: 25.4 x 18 cm
paper: 32.7 x 24.2 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Christiane Pflug (Canadian b. Germany 1936-1972)
Sketch for a Portrait of Luise Pflug, 1966
graphite
24.7 x 16 cm
Gift of Dr. Michael Pflug, 1966

West Wall before Doorway:

Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917)
Portrait de son Père / Portrait of His Father, c. 1856-1858
graphite
40.3 x 29 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Ludwig Meider (German 1884-1966)
Meine Mutter / My Mother, 1937
etching
plate: 14.8 x 11.7 cm
paper: 46.5 x 38.8 cm
Purchase, 1974

Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917)
Copy of the “Self Portrait” by Filippino Lippi in the Uffizi, 1858-1859
graphite heightened with white
47 x 31.7 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

(Attributed to) Joos van Cleve (Netherlandish c. 1485 – 1540/41)
Head of a Woman, early 16th Century
chalk
23.4 x 18.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Press Photo – (Freud ashes in an urn from his collection) – non MMA collection

West Wall after Doorway:

Lucian Freud (English 1922-2011)
Naked Man on a Bed, 1987
etching; ed. 10/10
plate: 36.8 x 52.1 cm
paper: 57.2 x 74.3 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1993

Ptah-Sokar-Osiris figure (Egyptian 1000-500 BC)
carved wood with traces of pigment
65.2 x 10.2 x 10 cm
Gift of Mr. W.H. Atkinson, 1975

Ludwig Meidner (German 1884-1966)
Portrait of an Actor, 1920
etching
plate: 26.8 x 20.8 cm
support: 54 x 38.2 cm
Gift of George Wallace, 1999

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (Italian 1696-1770)
Head of an Oriental, Turned to the Left, c. 1742-1757
From a series of fantastic heads, probably c. 1742-1759
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash
25 x 19.7 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1993

North Wall:

Ken Currie (Scottish b. 1960) 
Head Study, 1993
oil, charcoal and beeswax, 27.5 x 22.5 cm
Gift of Neil and Blanche Carragher, 2004

Otto Dix (German 1891-1969)
Transplantation, 1924
Plate 40 from Der Krieg / The War
Printed by Otto Felsing, Berlin
etching; ed. 8/70
Purchase, 1981

Otto Dix (German 1891-1969)
Soldier and Nun, 1924
Printed by Otto Felsing, Berlin
etching, drypoint and aquatint; 1/70 signed examples
plate: 19.3 x 13.6 cm
paper: 45.1 x 35.9 cm
Gift of Undercliffe Limited, 1990

Théophile Alexandre Steinlen (French 1859-1923)
Entre deux trains / Between two trains, 1916
etching
plate: 25.3 x 32.6 cm
paper: 38 x 55.9 cm
Purchase, 1967

Max Beckmann (German 1884-1950)
Liebespaar I / Lovers I, 1916
Plate 4 from Gesichter / Faces
Printed by R. Piper & Co.
drypoint; edition of 100
plate: 22.4 x 29.4 cm
paper: 30 x 37.2 cm
Purchase, 1971

Max Beckmann (German 1884-1950)
Auferstehung / Resurrection, 1918
Plate 12 from Gesichter / Faces
Printed by R. Piper & Co.
drypoint
plate: 23.3 x 32 cm
paper: 31.3 x 41 cm
McMaster University Collection, 1970

Adolph von Menzel (German 1815-1905)
Studienblatt aus dem Irrenhaus / Studies from the Asylum, 1844
etching on metal foil; 3rd state
plate: 8.4 x 21 cm
paper: 9.8 x 23 cm
Purchase, 1968

George Romney (English 1734-1802)
Robert, 9th Baron Petre, Demonstrating the Use of an Écorché Figure to His Son, Robert Edward, c. 1775-1776
oil on canvas
76 x 63.2 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1994

North Outer Wall of Levy Gallery Inner Room:

Circle of Jörg Lederer (Swabian/German)
Lamentation Relief, c. 1500s
limewood, polychromed
40 x 48.5 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1996

Daniel Spoerri (Swiss b. Romania 1930)
Mademoiselle Dop, 1991
From the Suite Corps en Morceaux
mixed media assemblage of found objects
200 x 180 x 70 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1993

East Side and Wall of Levy Gallery:

Stephen Andrews (Canadian b. 1955)
Self Portrait as Jim Black, 1985
conté crayon and sumi ink
297.2 x 50.8 cm
Gift of Carla Garnet, 2009

Antony Gormley (English b. 1950)
Proof, 1983-1984
lead, fibreglass and plastic
77.5 x 86.3 x 55.8 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1995

Edvard Munch (Norwegian 1863-1944)
Der Kuss / The Kiss, 1897-1902
woodcut
block: 46.7 x 45.5 cm
support: 52 x 50 cm
Levy Bequest Purchase, 1993

Levy Inner Room reconstruction:

Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian 1518-1594)
Portrait of a Man (Palma Giovane?), c. 1580
oil on canvas
40.7 x 34.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

(Attributed to) Peter Paul Rubens
(Flemish 1577-1640)
Head of a Man, late 16th-mid 17th Century
oil on canvas
33 x 25.4 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Adriaen Brouwer (Flemish 1605-1638)
The Drinker / The Bitter Draught, c. 1635-1638
oil on wood panel
34.5 x 26.5 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Gerrit Dou (Dutch 1613-1675)
Portrait of Rembrandt’s Father, 17th Century
oil on canvas
19.2 x 15.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy Esq., 1984

Gerrit Dou (Dutch 1613-1675)
Portrait of Dou’s Father, 1635-1640
oil on canvas
22.9 x 20.3 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Willem Claesz Heda (Dutch 1594-1680)
Still Life with Oysters, c. 1630s
oil on panel
41 x 71.5 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Aelbert Cuyp (Dutch 1620-1691)
Portrait of Three Children, 17th Century
oil on canvas
42.6 x 33.1 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984

Jan Hendrik Eversen (Dutch 1906-1995)
Still Life, 20th Century
oil on canvas
38 x 48.2 cm
Gift of Herman Levy, Esq., O.B.E., 1984