2005-05-30
EDWIN HOLGATE |
We made our annual pilgrimage to Montreal | Pix to come later [the digital is down again] but here's some highlights:
• On Edwin Holgate | Compared to the last two exhibits Bruce and I saw at Musee des Beaux Arts this one was almost modest is scope, but still impressive enough to buy the catalogue | I was intrigued by Holgate's approach to lights and darks | The oil paintings seemed to have mostly dark underpainting with lighter colors built up upon the darks, sometimes thickly enough that I could easily see the build-up | I noticed this technique in many works, both portraits and landscapes | I was also impressed with his woodcuts, which made me think of Rockwell Kent as well as wonder how much he'd been taught by the Gitxsan peoples in British Columbia while he was out there in the 1930s |
Holgate's landscapes and portraits of those he knew seemed most vibrant | The World War II paintings looked more like he'd worked from photographs, which is quite likely | One display card noted that he'd "...grown unhappy with being in England [possibly since he was not permitted to explore as much as he would have liked] and returned to Montreal...", painting his finished works in the studio |
After WWII, Holgate continued to work in the styles he'd become familiar with, eschewing expressionist and non-representational imagery | In fact, he didn't like these forms at all, contrasting his own work [on exhibit in 1953] thusly: "It's a quiet show, and pretty dull for the people who go for abstraction and psychological warfare in their arts..." |
Here's examples of some of his work | And here's another viewer's perspective on the exhibit |
While at the Musee we also viewed a gallery of Canadian Artists, mostly representational, peeked at a display of 20th century furniture and walked through a small but impressive display of Inuit sculpture and painting, including some bizarre spirit-inspired carvings done from whale bone |
• On Edwin Holgate | Compared to the last two exhibits Bruce and I saw at Musee des Beaux Arts this one was almost modest is scope, but still impressive enough to buy the catalogue | I was intrigued by Holgate's approach to lights and darks | The oil paintings seemed to have mostly dark underpainting with lighter colors built up upon the darks, sometimes thickly enough that I could easily see the build-up | I noticed this technique in many works, both portraits and landscapes | I was also impressed with his woodcuts, which made me think of Rockwell Kent as well as wonder how much he'd been taught by the Gitxsan peoples in British Columbia while he was out there in the 1930s |
Holgate's landscapes and portraits of those he knew seemed most vibrant | The World War II paintings looked more like he'd worked from photographs, which is quite likely | One display card noted that he'd "...grown unhappy with being in England [possibly since he was not permitted to explore as much as he would have liked] and returned to Montreal...", painting his finished works in the studio |
After WWII, Holgate continued to work in the styles he'd become familiar with, eschewing expressionist and non-representational imagery | In fact, he didn't like these forms at all, contrasting his own work [on exhibit in 1953] thusly: "It's a quiet show, and pretty dull for the people who go for abstraction and psychological warfare in their arts..." |
Here's examples of some of his work | And here's another viewer's perspective on the exhibit |
While at the Musee we also viewed a gallery of Canadian Artists, mostly representational, peeked at a display of 20th century furniture and walked through a small but impressive display of Inuit sculpture and painting, including some bizarre spirit-inspired carvings done from whale bone |
For more info on the Canadian Arts scene visit Zeke's Gallery, an impressive site all on it's own | And for an ongoing presentation of fine arts and literature, visit Wood's Lot [also a Canadian-made site]
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