European vacation

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This article was published 17/09/2009 (6169 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery is appealing to old-school art addicts with EUROfix, a three-part exhibition celebrating European works from its own vaults.

The show of about 150 works, hung on genteel pale-blue walls and enhanced with antique furniture from the collection, spans five centuries, 1450 to 1950.

It gives the WAG the feel of an Old World gallery, with many works displayed in ornate vintage frames. It includes sculpture and decorative art, but is dominated by paintings and drawings.

While the WAG has always pulled shows from its holdings of 24,000 works, this large exhibition, opening Saturday and running until Feb. 7, reflects a recent decision to consistently dedicate galleries 1, 2 and 3 — and sometimes even 4 — to showing the best of the WAG collection.

"My goal is that anyone walking through our doors… will always be able to access a good portion of our permanent collection highlights," says gallery director Stephen Borys.

"When you go to the Louvre, chances are you’re going to be able to see the Mona Lisa. You go to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and you’re able to see van Gogh’s Starry Night. It would be nice to think that our visitors can see our best works at any time."

When EUROfix ends, Borys says, some of the most important works will stay up, and the exhibition will "morph" into one that displays European and North American works — including Inuit and aboriginal art — from the vaults side by side. The showcasing of WAG holdings in the designated galleries will go on for at least the next several years.

Borys says he wants to raise awareness of the WAG’s strengths. While many people know, for instance, that it boasts the world’s largest public collection of Inuit art, fewer realize that it has the finest Canadian collection, west of Toronto, of northern European Renaissance paintings.

The new emphasis on institutional horn-blowing ties in with the coming release, in April, of a new Guide to the Collections that will be published in softcover and hardcover. It’s the first time since 1971 that the WAG has produced a comprehensive survey of its best works, says Borys, who is editing the book.

Borys’s particular area of expertise is historical European art. He has just started teaching an art-history seminar for senior students at the University of Manitoba’s school of art. Busy as he is, he wants to keep his hand in curating and has taken that role with EUROfix.

"There’s no way I can be spending a lot of time curating shows, but that is my first love," he says. "I think I can handle a show, maybe once a year."

EUROfix is arranged chronologically. Many of the works have not been exhibited in the past 10 to 20 years. Some had to be restored before they could be shown.

"Heavyweight" artists on view, Borys says, include George Romney, Henry Raeburn, Richard Wilson, Eugene Boudin, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Henri Fantin-Latour and Andre Derain.

Part I, The Art of the Old Masters, spans 1450 to 1850 and is dominated by religious-themed works on wood panels. Many works here are drawn from the WAG’s Gort Collection, including the show’s signature image: Portrait of a Lady from about 1540 by the German Lucas Cranach the Elder.

Part II, Master Drawings, presents about 30 works on paper from the 16th to 19th centuries. Because such works are sensitive to light, temperature and humidity, they are fragile and the public doesn’t often get to view them.

Part III, The Road to Modernism, looks at 1850 to 1950, beginning with realism and romanticism and ending with early abstraction. This section includes a dreamlike 1930s watercolour, Flower Still Life, by pioneer modernist Marc Chagall.

Borys points out that he has had two interior walls removed, to expose large windows and let daylight into the permanent-exhibition galleries.

"Visitor fatigue sets in in a museum when you don’t have access to natural light," he says.

 

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

 

What’s up at the WAG

HERE’S a look at some high-profile shows coming to the WAG:

Sept. 26 to Jan. 3, Yousuf Karsh: Regarding Heroes brings together 100 images by the Canadian photographer who captured iconic portraits of figures like Audrey Hepburn, Winston Churchill and Pierre Trudeau.

Oct. 23 to Jan. 10, 58 artworks by 40 Cuban-born artists will be shown in the Canadian premiere of Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from the Farber Collection.

Nov. 28 to March 14, Richard Harrington: Arctic Photographer presents images of the Inuit way of life, captured by the famed lensman who journeyed to the Far North in the 1940s and ’50s.

Feb. 8 to May 2, The Art of Warner Bros. Cartoons celebrates the animation artwork of the studio that created Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck.

May 20 to Aug. 8, The Nude in Modern Canadian Art, 1920-1950 is a first-ever survey exhibition of images of the naked body by Canadians, including Alex Colville and Edwin Holgate.

Looking ahead to next September, the WAG will show Wanda Koop: on the edge of experience, a retrospective devoted to the distinguished Winnipeg artist.