Past Archive

This exhibition focuses on selected books from donations acquired by McMaster University Library from Professor Pierre Conlon (1924-2014) between 2007 and 2011. The collection consists of nearly two hundred 18th century books and includes important and rare editions of works by philosophers such as Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. The books were collected by Conlon over a period of 40 years and used to compile his monumental bibliography of the entire French Enlightenment: Le Siècle des Lumières (32 volumes) preceded by Prélude au Siècle des Lumières (6 volumes).  The bibliography includes works by French authors beginning in 1680 to the onset of the French Revolution. The exhibition is a tribute to Pierre Conlon’s extraordinary scholarship and his contribution to McMaster University.

It is complemented by selected works of art from the Museum’s collection, including works by:
Jean-Victor Bertin (French, 1767-1842)
Francois Boucher (French, 1703-1770)
Pierre Drevet (French, 1663 - 1738)
William Hogarth (English, 1697-1764)
Jiri Ladocha (Canadian b. Czechoslovakia, born 1942)
George Romney (English, 1734-1802)
Tony Scherman (Canadian, born 1951)
Jean-Joseph Taillasson (French, 1745-1809)

RECEPTION: Thursday, January 12, 6 – 8 pm
GUEST SPEAKER Dr. William Hanley on the exceptional career and influence of Dr. Pierre Conlon: Thursday, January 26, 6 – 8 pm
TOUR and Bookmaking Activity - Telling our stories: February 11, 1 – 3 pm
Guided Tour followed by an accordian bookmaking activity for Hamilton Winterfest . FREE
Contact Nicole Knibb to register: knibbn@mcmaster.ca or 905-525-9140 x.27576.

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A selection of recent works by Hamilton-based artist Paul Cvetich alongside woodblock prints from McMaster Museum of Art’s collection by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (Japanese 1797 – 1861).

Paul Cvetich is a graduate of the MFA program at the University of Guelph and completed his Hons BA in Art and Art History at McMaster University in Hamilton. He has previously exhibited work in Hamilton, Toronto, Waterloo and St. Thomas. In 1990 he completed the Day of Mourning Memorial, a public commission installed at the City Hall in Hamilton, Ontario.

Kuniyoshi was one of the last great masters of the Japanese ukiyo-e style of woodblock prints and painting.

RECEPTION: Thursday, January 12, 6 – 8 pm
ARTIST TALK by Paul Cvetich at Mills Hardware: Thursday, January 19, 7:30 pm
(doors open at 7pm) Mills Hardware is located at 95 King St E, Hamilton. This event is presented as part of the Hamilton Arts Council’s Echo Artist Talk series.

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Artist Talks: April 6, 5:30 - 6:30 pm
Reception and awards: April 8, 2:30 - 4:30 pm

The McMaster Museum of Art proudly presents Equinox, the annual Studio Art exhibition, representing twenty-seven emerging artists from McMaster’s Honours Bachelor of Fine Arts program. An equinox occurs when the sun crosses the equator, making both day and night equal in length. This event therefore signifies not only an end, but a beginning for these artists as they embark on the next chapter of their careers. From material exploration to conceptually-driven processes, this culminating exhibition will showcase this diverse and ambitious group’s evolution as they celebrate a period of change.

See installation views and event photos here.

ARTISTS:
Jaslin Bhangoo
Gillian Bochenek
Laura Brandreth
Angela Busse
Justine Ciaramella
Mischa Dabrowski
Kristina Durka
Parker Flood
Stephanie Grant
Rachel Hillock
Wing Lau
Camelia McLeod
Meaghan M^cMurrich
Dana Milton
Jonathan Mitchell
Hilary Rosa
Hannah Sampson
Maria Simmons
Jasmyne Smith
Whyishnave Suthagar
Jennifer Tewnion
Riley Vanderzee
Tess Visser
Alexandra Walker
Cassandra Whall
Serim Ye
Qianyu Zhou

UNAPOLOGETIC: Acts of Survivance
January 12 – March 25, 2017

Curator: Rhéanne Chartrand
An exhibition of selected works of critical acclaim from the 1980s by eleven renowned, foundational contemporary Indigenous artists:
Carl Beam, Bob Boyer, Robert Houle, Gerald McMaster, Shelley Niro, Ron Noganosh, Jane Ash Poitras, Edward Poitras, Pierre Sioui, Jeff Thomas and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.
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New! Read the Exhibition Guide pdf

RECEPTION: Thursday, January 12, 6 – 8 pm
CURATOR'S TOUR: Tuesday, January 31 at 12:30
CURATOR’S TALK: Thursday, February 2 at 7 pm  Video Recording
PANEL DISCUSSION: Thursday, February 9, 7-9 pm with Richard William Hill and Gerald McMaster. Audio Recording

Image: Edward Poitras, Small Matters (detail), 1985. Nails, wire, paper, instasign. 75.5 x 176 x 5 cm. The Mendel Art Gallery Collection at Remai Modern. Purchased 1989. © Remai Modern 

This exhibition explores the development and trajectories of Expressionism from the early 19th century to the present.

Drawn from the extensive collection of the McMaster Museum of Art, the exhibition comprises almost 100 paintings, drawings, prints, books, camera work and video—from formative historical works of the 19th century, hallmarks of the modern age, to contemporary works that include Canadian artists who underscore the continuing relevance and challenges in today’s society.

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EVENTS

Thursday, September 22 at 6 pm
Curator’s Talk by Ihor Holubizky, McMaster Museum of Art's Senior Curator

Wednesday, September 28th
Performance & Talk by Düsseldorf Artist Mischa Kuball
12 noon:  Mischa Kuball presents a performative sculpture with his recent Public Preposition book in front of the Museum
2 pm:  Mischa Kuball’s Artist Talk in the Museum

Saturday, October 1 at 1 pm
Tour & Linocut Printmaking Workshop
Free Culture Days event.  Registration required. Contact: Nicole Knibb at knibbn@mcmaster.ca

Thursday, November 10th, 6 – 8 pm
Art Historian’s Talk by Robert Belton
Dr. Belton, Professor at UBC, will speak about Expressionism. His essay “Expressionism’s Paralanguage” is included in the Living Building Thinking publication.

An exhibition publication will be available.
Living Building Thinking is organized and circulated with the generous support of the Museums Assistance Program, Canadian Heritage.

Image: Chaim Soutine, Portrait of the Painter Richard X, ca.1916-17. Gift of Herman Levy. Collection of McMaster Museum of Art, McMaster University

SUZY LAKE: Performing an Archive
5 May – 20 August 2016

Presenting a new body of work by Suzy Lake, 2016 winner of both the Scotiabank Photography Award and a Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. This work arises from Lake's research into her family re-settlement from Germany to Detroit at the turn of the 20th century.  A then-and-now, to open up aspects of the émigré experience and urban change.

This exhibition is presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Windsor and is accompanied by a bookwork produced by Dazibao photography centre, Montreal.

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Image: Suzy Lake, 322 Beaubien 1910-13  (detail)

JOSEPH HARTMAN: HAMILTON
5 May – 20 August 2016

Selected photographs by Hamilton-based artist Joseph Hartman from his series Hamilton. Begun in 2007 and spanning seven years, the photos capture factories, residential areas and landscapes. Hartman is a McMaster alumnus and apprenticed with famous Canadian photographer, Edward Burtynsky.

As part of McMaster Museum of Art's 'MMA in the Community' initiative, The Museum will also presents a complementary body of work by Joseph Hartman at TBA Artspace at the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas, during Summer 2016.

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Image: Joseph Hartman, Leeds Street, Hamilton, 2012

The Museum rededicates and renovates its stairwell space for a long-term installation of Canadian artist Susan Detwiler's 2005 performance object Seed Pack with related documentation.  The work was previously shown at the McMaster Museum of Art in 2008 as part of Detwiler's solo exhibition Feral.

In Detwiler's video work Seedwalk, she wore this customized backpack full of birdseed on a walk through the woods, leaving a trail of seed behind her.

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Ongoing
The Museum's Togo Salmon Gallery has been rededicated as a space to showcase exclusively McMaster's collection of antiquities. The inaugural exhibition, co-curated by Owen Phillips and Dr. Spencer Pope, both in the Department of Classics at McMaster University, features a wide variety of objects from the ancient Mediterranean dating from c. 1400 BC to c. 300 AD.

THE RULES OF ITS FUNCTIONING,
SYSTEMS WORKS, 1946-2011
16 April – 16 August 2016

One of an on-going series of collection-based exhibitions examining modern period constructivist and structuralist practice and contemporary legacies and affinities. The exhibition Includes McMaster collection works by:
Naum Gabo (Russian-English)
Yves Gaucher (Canadian)
Jean Gorin (French)
Ron Kostyniuk (Canadian)
László Moholy-Nagy (Hungarian)
Kenneth Noland (American)
Liss Platt (Canadian)
Bridget Riley (English)
and one work generously loaned by the Art Gallery of Hamilton: François Morellet (France)

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Image: Liss Platt, Newman/GoodNPlenty (detail), 2004. Inkjet print on paper. Gift of the artist

THE WORKING EYE
an arrangement from the collections of
Roald Nasgaard / Lori Walters and Christopher Varley
Levy Gallery: 16 April ― 13 August 2016

Online Brochure: Essays and full list of works

Following the summer 2015 exhibition Passions of the Eye, selections from Hamilton and region private collections, The Working Eye focuses on collectors with a professional history in the gallery and museum sector.

Although the current collecting focus for Roald Nasgaard and Lori Walters is contemporary Canadian art, the selection “reaches back” to formative acquisitions and Nasgaard’s research on the Danish artist Jens Ferdinand Willumsen (1863-1958).  Nasgaard wrote, “this was never about ‘collecting,’ just to have some souvenirs of research projects.” The working eye, however, continued with European drawings and prints of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, including Félix Vallotton (Swiss-French, 1865-1925), Jan Verkade (Dutch, 1868-1946), František Kupka (Czech, 1871-1957), and French artists Émile Bernard (1868-1941), Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (1824-1898) and Georges Lacombe (1868-1916).

Christopher Varley wrote that his collecting has reflected changing interests and the development of taste over forty years, and for a period of time a strong interest in nineteenth century drawings by French and English artists.  Over the past decade, his primary interest has become vintage photography and a preference for images of “modern life.” The selected drawings include those by French artists Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen (b. Switzerland 1859-1923), and English artists William Etty (1787-1849) and John Linnell (1792-1882). The photography selections include work by French photographers Eugène Atget (1857-1927), Maxime Du Camp (1822-1894), and Russian Alexis Mazourine (1846-1911).

Dr. Roald Nasgaard was chief curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario from 1978 to 1993, and for a decade following, Chair of the Art Department at Florida State University in Tallahassee. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and catalogues on Canadian and International art.  In 2013, Nasgaard was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Canada. Dr. Lori Walters is the Harry F. Williams Professor of French in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics at Florida State University, specializing in the manuscript context of medieval literature from the twelfth through the sixteenth centuries.

Christopher Varley held curatorial positions at The Gallery/Stratford, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Edmonton Art Gallery (where he organized the centennial exhibition for Group of Seven founding member F.H. Varley), before entering the private sector as an art dealer and consultant.

Images above (left) Eugène Atget, Rue Galande, 1899, albumen print. Collection of Christopher Varley
(right) Jan Verkade Head of Breton Woman. 1891/2, watercolour. Collection of Roald Nasgaard/Lori Walters

Exit Strategy
SUMMA 2016 Graduating Student Art Exhibition
April 7 – 23, 2016

Guest Curator: Stephanie Vegh, Artist, Curator and Executive Director, Hamilton Arts Council

Artist Talks: April 12 12:30 pm
Reception and Awards: April 16 2-4 pm

The McMaster Museum of Art is delighted to present an exhibition of works by the Studio Art class of 2016. Over the past four years, the fourteen emerging artists in this exhibition have honed their ability to discuss a variety of subjects through visual art and are pleased to present their work together for the first time. Employing a variety of traditional and unconventional techniques, these artists investigate themes such as narrative, consumerism, perception, space, ethics, and identity. Join us in celebrating the ambitious thesis works of these young artists as they develop their Exit Strategy.

The Artists:

Patrick Barey
Ryan Bruer
Talysha Bujold-Abu
SM Duncan
Vincent Farrauto
Leeanne Grossi
Abedar Kamgari
DB Kellam
Hibah Mian
TJ Poplar
Samantha Raymond
Lydia Santia
Alyssa Silverman
Brittany Sostar