MNEMOSYNE

When Contemporary Art and the Art of the Past Meet April 12, 2017, to August 5, 2018

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion – Level S2

Montreal, April 12, 2017 (Rev. Jan., 2018) – The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents

Mnemosyne: When Contemporary Art and the Art of the Past Meet, an exhibition that establishes a

dialogue between modern and ancient European art and contemporary art from Quebec and Canada.

The presentation provides a way to uncover unexpected encounters between the works on display in the

new Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace and the installations, sculptures, paintings and

photographs by 14 contemporary artists from Quebec and Canada: Edmund Alleyn, Rebecca Belmore,

Catherine Bolduc, Dan Brault, Jack Chambers, Pierre Dorion, Karel Funk, Manon Labrecque, Mathieu

Lefèvre, Karine Payette, Michael Snow, Marion Wagschal, Kim Waldon and the N.E. Thing Co. collective

(Iain & Ingrid Baxter).

The contemporary works exhibited in the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion were each freely associated with

paintings in the Museum’s international art collection presented in the Michal and Renata Hornstein

Pavilion for Peace by Paulus Bor, Valentin de Boulogne (known as Valentin), Pieter Brueghel the Younger,

Salvador Dalí, Claude Gellée (known as Claude Lorrain), Jan Fyt, Sigmund Holbein, Eugène Isabey, Jacques

Linard, Claude Monet, N. L. Peschier, Pieter van Roestraten, Jacques Sablet the Younger and Jean-Joseph

Taillasson.

This kindred stylistic, formal and thematic interplay opens the way to timeless aesthetic comparisons and

revised genres (still life, portrait, landscape), classic themes (death, family scenes, the redemptive figure,

the grotesque), formal similarities (drapery, cubist style) and reinvents past codes through new

From left to right: Dan Brault (born in 1979), Lingering in Time’s House (Vanitas), 2016, acrylic and oil on canvas. MMFA, purchase, gift of R. Fournelle. Photo MMFA,

Christine Guest/ N. L. Peschier (1659–1661), Vanitas (detail), 1660, oil on canvas, 70 × 89.5 cm. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michal Hornstein. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest

perspectives. This free association game renews the ancient art in the contemporary context and

establishes the contemporary works in a broader historical perspective.

Entitled Mnemosyne for the Greek goddess of memory, the exhibition is based on the approach outlined

by German art historian Aby Warburg (1866–1929) in the Mnemosyne Atlas. Warburg’s aim was not to

synthesize, describe and classify but rather to tell the history of art by illustrating the fundamental

complexity of images and how they interrelate. The method he developed entails pinning pictures of

artworks from the same period or on the same subject to a large black panel in order to arrive at

associations that reveal the pictures’ formal and conceptual connections that would otherwise go

undetected. Warburg’s associative approach is well suited to the discovery—or rediscovery—of the

richness of these impromptu aesthetic dialogues.

“The Mnemosyne exhibition is like a panorama of contemporary Quebec and Canadian art with diverse

and surprising visual and media art proposals. It is also a playful invitation to visitors to build bridges

between contemporary works and art from the past through aesthetic associations. It is very fitting to

update the method developed by Aby Warburg in the Mnemosyne Atlas in the context of this exhibition

considering that the Web and smartphones are now part of the visitor experience at the Museum. In

creating this highly colourful, emotional and experimental exhibition, we sought to provide art-goers of all

ages with a place of gathering, discussion, reflection and bursts of laughter,” explained Geneviève Goyer-

Ouimette, Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator of Quebec and Canadian Contemporary Art at the

MMFA.

Credits

The exhibition is curated by Geneviève Goyer-Ouimette, Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator of Quebec

and Canadian Contemporary Art at the MMFA.

The scenography was designed by Sandra Gagné, Head of Exhibitions Productions at the MMFA.

Conference and conversations with artists

On June 7 at 6 p.m. in the MMFA’s Maxwell Cummings Auditorium, curator Geneviève Goyer-Ouimet will

lead a conference on the exhibition’s works and dialogical approach. She will also host a series of

conversations with artists at which members of the public will have the opportunity to learn more about

the works, approach and practice of the creators whose art is featured in the exhibition. Artist Catherine

Bolduc will be part of the first event on May 3 at 6 p.m. $5 general public / $4 VIP, taxes included. Up to

4 passes per person. Reservations: mbam.qc.ca/calendrier

An exhibition to savour

The MMFA has also joined forces with the Institut de tourisme et d’hôtellerie du Québec (ITHQ). Students

in the school’s international cuisine and gastronomy program have created dishes inspired by their

emotional response to Catherine Bolduc’s installation Escape Attempt (2016). They visited the Museum

and met with the artist before heading back to the kitchens at ITHQ. Led by instructor Isabelle Diguer with

the support of chefs Benoît Lenglet and Gilles Herzog, the initiative aimed to awaken students to the links

between art and fine cuisine.

Two new acquisitions by the MMFA

Mnemosyne also features two recent acquisitions by the MMFA: Lingering in Time’s House (Vanitas) (2016)

by Dan Brault and Mixed Blessing (2011) by Rebecca Belmore.

Vancouver artist Rebecca Belmore (b. 1960) represented Canada at

the 2005 Venice Biennale. Her work has been shown in a number of

national and international exhibitions. She is known for her

installations and performances, which explore the notions of history,

place and identity. Recently acquired by the MMFA, Mixed Blessing

(2011) is a sculpture that testifies to the lack of understanding and

marginalization of Indigenous peoples, as well as visual artists.

Quebec artist Dan Brault (b. 1979) proposes a work tainted with

optimism that counters the prevailing cynicism. His colourful and light-

hearted paintings merge graphic elements and abstract and pop

figures. Brault is described as a painter to watch out for on the scene

of emerging artists in the book 100 Painters of Tomorrow (Thames &

Hudson, 2014), edited by exhibition curator Kurt Beers. The painting

Lingering in Time’s House (Vanitas) (2016) is the first work by Brault

in the MMFA’s contemporary art collection.

Acknowledgements

The Mnemosyne exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Gail and Stephen A.

Jarislowsky Chair in Quebec and Canadian Contemporary Art from 1945 to Today and Air Canada. The

Museum would also like the MMFA’s Young Philanthropists’ Circle, which is proud to support the

Museum’s contemporary art program.

– 30 –

Press kit and images: mbam.qc.ca/en/media

Source and inquiries:

Patricia Lachance

Press officer | MMFA

T. 514-285-1600, ext. 315

C. 514.235-2044

plachance@mbamtl.org

Elisabeth-Anne Butikofer

Press officer | MMFA

T. 514-285-1600, ext. 205

C. 514-272-4653

ebutikofer@mbamtl.org

Rebecca Belmore (born in 1960), Mixed Blessing, 2011,

cotton jacket, synthetic hair, beads, Hydrocal. MMFA,

purchase, Louise Lalonde-Lamarre Memorial Fund. Photo

MMFA, Denis Farley and Jean-François Brière

About the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

The MMFA welcomes a million visitors annually. Quebec’s most visited museum, it is one of the most popular

museums in Canada, and ranks twelfth among art museums in North America. With their original designs, its

temporary exhibitions combine the artistic disciplines (fine arts, music, film, fashion and design) and are exported

around the world. Its rich encyclopedic collection, distributed among five pavilions, includes international art, world

cultures, decorative arts and design, and Quebec and Canadian art. The MMFA complex also includes a concert hall

that seats 460, Bourgie Hall. In addition, the MMFA is one of Canada’s leading publishers of books on art in French

and English, which are distributed internationally. Finally, the Museum houses the Michel de la Chenelière

International Atelier for Education and Art Therapy, the largest educational complex in a North American museum

of art, enabling the MMFA to offer innovative education, well-being and art-therapy projects.

Follow us :

mbam.qc.ca @mbamtl #mbam

SELECTED ARTWORKS

The painting Lingering in Time’s House (2016) by Dan Brault blends together various cultural and personal references. The memento mori (“remember that you will die”) is composed of various objects: a skull indicates what will remain of us after our demise; the hook piercing the skull likens our mortality to the fleeting existence of fish; the children’s drawing points to an ephemeral period of our being. The sumptuous composition playfully juxtaposes an ensemble of floating objects, including the floor with the geometric motif, the bottles of wine and the apple. Brault’s vanitas follows the old codes of the genre, a still life with symbols of death, as in the Peschier (1660). The seventeenth-century artist depicted a skull, hourglass, extinguished candle, creased paper, all of which allude to the passing of time. These two paintings invite contemplation on the futility of worldly possessions and the impermanence of life.

A graduate in art history and visual arts, Catherine Bolduc is interested in the fabulous and exotic. Her artistic approach plays simultaneously with illusion and disillusion. She creates her works by delving into childhood memories, literature and the many trips she has taken to Turkey and Asia. Escape Attempt was inspired by a storyline from the famous futuristic novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1894-1963): having encountered nature’s immensity, the heroes Bernard and Lenina are unsettled by what they discover, which stands in stark contrast to their controlled and predictable world. Bolduc’s installation reflects the literary work’s two realities: at first we see a mysterious, sublime landscape in cast shadow, then make out that it results from light projections cleverly arranged on to everyday objects.

* NEW ACQUISITION Dan Brault (born in 1979) Lingering in Time’s House (Vanitas), 2016 Acrylic and oil on canvas. MMFA, purchase, gift of R. Fournelle. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest.

N. L. Peschier (1659-1661) Vanitas, 1660 Oil on canvas, 70 × 89.5 cm. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michal Hornstein. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest.

Catherine Bolduc (born in 1970)

Escape Attempt, 2016 Clear polyester film, LED lights, MP3 player, speakers, table, turntables, chair and various objects. Soundtrack by Kerim Yildiz. Loan, private collection. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière.

Jacques Linard (1597 – 1645)

Still Life with Shells and Coral, 1640 Oil on canvas, 53.3 × 62.2 cm. MMFA, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michal Hornstein. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest.

Bolduc’s landscape flirts with still life, inviting a double reading, between light and shadow, of regular objects imbued with poetry and mystery. Similarly, in his Still Life with Shells and Coral (1640), Jacques Linard devises a setting composed of curiosities from the sea in a studied manner, much like inside the study of an avid collector. Still lifes were very popular for their moral and intellectual meanings in the seventeenth century. Coral—considered mirabilia, or marvel of nature—was thought to repel the “evil eye.” Its blood vessel-like shapes symbolized Redemption through the blood of Christ. Linard contrasts the spiritual (with the coral) and the temporal (with the pearly shells suggestive of luxury and sensuality).

Mixed Blessing testifies to the lack of understanding and marginalization of Indigenous peoples as well as visual artists. Her kneeling figure seems fixed to the ground, weighed down by the insults inscribed on her back in the shape of a cross: Fuckin’ Indian / Fuckin’ Artist. This prostrate figure creates an uncomfortably ambiguous effect, especially with the position of the hands, palms turned upwards, at once evoking the state of being reduced to begging, in devout entreaty and showing repentance. The streaming hair covering the whole body erases the figure’s identity entirely: according to Belmore, this figure embodies the status of all Indigenous people, and even all artists. The penitent Mary Magdalene is a major figure in Catholic iconography. The well-known saint was a former prostitute who repented and converted. The painting Saint Mary Magdalene in the Desert (1784) by the Neo-classical artist Jean-Joseph Taillasson displays the attributes of the recluse: the full head of hair, the precious perfume bottle from which she anoints the feet of Christ; the overturned jewellery case recalling her past as a courtesan; the pearls representing luxury; and the tears shed over her past erring ways and newfound purity. In Belmore’s work, the long, black hair symbolizes Aboriginal freedom, before colonization forced them to cut their hair, and the string of red beads (probably a reference to a wampum) indicates the sacrifices and violence to which members of the First Nations and artists are subjected.

Jean-Joseph Taillasson Bordeaux 1745 – Paris 1809

Saint Mary Magdalene in the Desert, 1784 Oil on canvas, 205.7 × 195.4 cm. MMFA, purchase, The Museum Campaign 1988-1993 Fund. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest.

* NEW ACQUISITION Rebecca Belmore (born in 1960)

Mixed Blessing, 2011 Cotton jacket, synthetic hair, beads, Hydrocal. MMFA, purchase, Louise Lalonde-Lamarre Memorial Fund. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley and Jean-François Brière.

A graduate in political science and visual art, Mathieu Lefevre was a prolific artist whose life was brutally cut short in 2011, when he was struck by a truck in New York. He was known for his sophisticated grasp of art and his cynical humour. This emblematic painting is a three-dimensional trompe-l'œil work, smeared with four tomatoes violently thrown at the picture’s surface. The piece recalls the burlesque: it is as though a visitor showed their disapproval by throwing a tomato at the canvas, much like a disgruntled spectator might do at a show. It also mischievously makes allusion to the action painting of Jackson Pollock (who painted without brushes by throwing paint on to the canvas) and Pop art imagery. This improbable association adds to the painting’s comicality, which reconciles two movements of contrasting styles. Lefevre depicts the tomatoes with enough realism to create an irreverent and iconoclastic still life. In his world of punk, the painter relished breaking the rules to better subject them to reflection. Also containing a note of burlesque is Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s Return from the Inn (about 1620), a winter scene presenting a drunk man held up (and scolded) by his wife and a brawl in front of an inn. This disorderliness is contrasted with the peaceful atmosphere of the village, where villagers go about their business and farmyard birds peacefully peck away in the snow. The foreground contains various allusions to sex, which Brueghel’s contemporaries would have had no trouble spotting, including the husband’s untidy state of dress, his hand on his sword, the little boy’s pipes and the wooden pole resting in the slit tree stump. Even today, the ridiculousness of the characters and their caricatured faces make this a funny scene.

Kim Waldron is something of a chameleon as an artist, as she seems to change lives with every project. In the case of her Animal Heads, she decided to learn every step involved in the production of meat sold in supermarkets. She studied how to slaughter and butcher animals in order to get her certification to kill and cut up animals. She was thus

Mathieu Lefevre (1981–2011)

Rotten Tomatoes, 2011 Oil on canvas. Loan, collection of Alain and Erika Lefevre, courtesy of Centre d’art et de diffusion Clark, Montreal. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

Pieter Bruegel le Jeune (about 1564 – about 1638)

Return from the Inn, about 1620 Oil and tempera on wood, 41.3 × 64.8 cm. MMFA, gift of the Maxwell family in memory of Mrs. Edward Maxwell. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest.

Kim Waldron (born in 1979)

Animal Heads, 2010 From the series “Beautiful Creatures”, taxidermied animal heads.

Méchoui, 2013 2/10, ink-jet print mounted on Plexiglas. Loan, courtesy of Galerie Thomas Henry Ross art contemporain, Montreal/New York. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

Jan Fyt (1611–1661)

Still Life with Fruit, Dead Songbirds, Partridges and Hare, with a Cat and Parrot, about 1650 Oil on canvas, 111 × 167.9 cm. MMFA, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Michal Hornstein. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.

able to construct an account of her experiences through photographs that include her. Waldron then had each animal’s heads taxidermied, like hunting trophies. She cooked various dishes with the meat, and served them up at friendly, communal feasts. The overall process exposes just how little people today know about the food they eat. Waldron’s domestic trophies follow in the tradition of hunting pictures and wild animal hunting trophies. Works like Still Life with Fruit, Dead Songbirds, Partridges and Hare, with a Cat and Parrot (about 1650) by Jan Fyt, depicting bounty, puts a positive light on the act of killing for the sake of providing sustenance. A hunter has casually placed small game on a table next to a basket full of fruit. The inclusion of domestic animals lying in wait introduces a note of familiarity. In contrast, Waldron’s work produces an uneasiness, as it exposes what the food industry goes to great lengths to hide from us: where the meat we eat, sold in packaging, comes from.