Newsletter

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October, 2017 Vol. 34, No. 1

Next Meeting: Colour Printing in the Renaissance with Jan Johnson (in English)

Date: Thursday, October 5, 2017 Time: 7:30 p.m. / 19h30 Place: Phoenix Hall, Unitarian Church of Montreal, 5035 de Maisonneuve Blvd. W., corner Claremont

Jan Johnson completed an honours BA in Art History at the University of Toronto, and began her career as the first Curatorial Assistant at the Art Gallery of Ontario. After deciding to specialize in Old Master Prints, she moved to London in 1970 and explored her subject at the British Museum and other institutions, auctions, and exhibitions. An album of prints at auction brought to her attention the beautiful coloured medium of the chiaroscuro woodcut. Over the next two years, she embarked on research in European museum collections partly with the help of a Canada Council grant. When she joined the print department of the old London firm P & D Colnaghi in 1973, she continued her research, culminating in the publication of a catalogue raisonné of the woodcuts of Ugo da Carpi in 1982 that is still Antonio da Trento, Nude Man in regarded as the chief authority on this artist. She subsequently Landscape published articles in Print Quarterly and, most recently a collaborative book on Mannerist prints published by the Cantor Center at Stanford University. Chiaroscuro woodcuts have begun receiving much more attention in the past 10 years, especially in European exhibitions, and their remarkable technical virtuosity as the first fullydeveloped method of printing in colour, which Jan will describe, is widely appreciated. The controversy over the nameless figures behind so many of them continues to fascinate, and different approaches to establishing their identities will be discussed during this talk. – J.J. Park in the church's lot or come by Vendôme Metro.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ IN THIS ISSUE New season holds Old Masters and magic………………….........page 2 The Guild moves house…………..……………………………............page 3 May photo album……………………………………..………….............pages 4 to 7 Pink means pay: Membership fees are due………………..……...page 9

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Programmation 2017-2018 de la SCEM MPCS Programme 2017-2018 5 Oct Oct 5

8 Nov Nov 8

7 Dec Dec 7

1 Fév Feb 1

8 Mars Mar 8

19 Avr Apr 19

10 Mai May 10

L'impression en couleur de la Renaissance, par Jan Johnson, Old Master & Modern Prints Inc., le marchand renommé d'estampes de qualité au Canada (en anglais)

Colour Printing in the Renaissance with Jan Johnson of Old Master & Modern Prints Inc., Canada's premier dealer in fine prints (in English)

Visite guidée d' , par Christian Vachon, Conservateur des tableaux, des estampes et des dessins au Musée McCord (en anglais)

Guided tour of "Illusions – The Art of Magic" with Christian Vachon, Curator, Paintings, Prints and Drawings, at the McCord Museum (in English) PARTY des fêtes avec présentations d’estampes par les membres MPCS Holiday Party and Show & Tell

Visionnement d'un film à propos de David Blackwood et discussion (bilingue)

Film night and discussion on Newfoundland printmaker David Blackwood (bilingual) En arrière de la scène, par Catherine Wild, instructrice d'ateliers avancés en estampes, aux studios d'estampes de l'Université Concordia (en anglais)

Behind the scenes with Catherine Wild, advanced printmaking course instructor, at Concordia University printmaking studios (in English) Visite de la collection d'estampes de la Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (en français)

Tour of the print collection of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec at the BAnQ (in French) La lithographie ou la révolution de l'estampe, par Prof. Peggy Davis, historienne de l’art et professeur à l'UQAM (en français)

17 Mai

La lithographie ou la révolution de l'estampe with Prof. Peggy Davis, Professor of Art History at UQAM (in French)

May 17

Annual year-end dinner

Souper annuel de la Société Souper annuel de la Société

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Notes and News On Thursday, September 28 from 6 to 8 p.m., The Guild holds the opening reception to celebrate its move to new, more spacious premises with easy access for the mobility-impaired, at 1350 Sherbrooke St. W. It will continue to offer avant-garde Inuit art, including the legendary Cape Dorset print collection, First Nations art and fine crafts. The new site features a transformable exhibition space in which part of the permanent collection will be shown. A documentation centre housed in the upper offices will also be available to the public. www.theguild-laguilde.com

November 10 is the deadline for Georgi Lessedra's 8th Annual A Very Small Size art exhibition in Sofia, Bulgaria that includes prints. For requirements, go to http://www.lessedra.com/mixed_media_conditions.php?d=Conditions&l=en.

In June, Hayward Publishing released the illustrated book A Century of Prints in Britain covering 200 highlights from the Arts Council Collection's print holdings and an essay by print expert Julia Beaumont-Jones. The story of the medium that "democratized art in the post-war period" features both masters and lesser known artists, from the first Edwardian woodcuts to the "mid-century work of Paul Nash, Graham Sutherland and John Piper, and the startling innovations of 1960s Pop artists such as Richard Hamilton, Eduardo Paolozzi and Bridget Riley. Prints from masterful series by Patrick Caulfield, David Hockney, Chris Ofili and Paula Rego are shown alongside those created for the London 2012 Olympics by leading British artists such as Fiona Banner, Tracey Emin, Gary Hume and Martin Creed". The winner of the 2017 Wendy Simon Scholarship was Nix, a Concordia University student who works in large format woodcuts, at times collaged onto cotton. Concordia University staff judged the entries like The Legs (Bloody Rotten Resilience), a six-foot by three-foot woodcut.

Atelier Circulaire offers its Autumn roster of printmaking courses, such as intaglio, creen printing, lithography, digital art and prepress, linocut, Japanese woodblock, and collagraphy matrixes. For more information go to www.ateliercirculaire.org .

Have you attended a print exhibition lately? Write up to a page about it and submit, with jpeg images if possible, to Newsletter Editor Heather Solomon-Bowden at [email protected] . You’ll be published as part of the In Review section. DEADLINE FOR THE NOVEMBER ISSUE IS OCTOBER 20, 2017

MPCS NEWSLETTER

Editor: Heather Solomon-Bowden Layout: Heather and Bob Bowden Technical Advisor: Bob Bowden Contributors: H.S.B., Jan Johnson The MPCS Newsletter publishes 7 times a year in Oct., Nov., Dec., Feb., March, April and May. Editorial material and advertisements may be submitted in writing to Heather Solomon-Bowden, 159 rue de Verchères , Greenfield Park, (QC) J4V 2B2 or call 450-672-9788 or e-mail [email protected] (no attachments). Newsletter ads are $5 for members; $10 for non-members. Send ad payments directly to the Treasurer at MPCS, C.P. 324, Succ. NDG, Montréal, (QC) H4A 3P6. Subscription to the Newsletter is included in Society membership. Membership inquiries 450-672-9788 or. See our website at www.mpcsscem.com Copyright 2017.

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May Meeting Reports: Curator and art historian Diana Nemiroff spoke to us in May on Picasso and the Suite Vollard: Myths and Dreams, the Suite being this summer's print exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. Adjunct Professor of Art History and former senior curator at the National Gallery of Canada (1990-2005), Diana led us through the creative corridors of Picasso's imagination that he navigated while creating his famous Vollard Suite. The suite of 100 etchings was produced by Picasso in an edition of more than 300 from 1930-37. The neoclassicalstyle prints were commissioned by art dealer-publisher Ambroise Vollard who paid Picasso with works by Renoir and Cézanne. Prof. Nemiroff noted that Vollard treated Picasso generously in giving him the Renoir he coveted. Picasso was inspired by his trip to Italy, then his motivation evolved according to his romantic partners, erotic obsessions and the increasingly ominous political conditions. Models included his young mistress Marie-Thérèse Walter and wife Olga. Picasso portrayed himself first as a bearded sculptor Diana Nemiroff H.S.B. photo then as a Minotaur that turns from tame to rapist and then dwindles to blindness and impotence. Diary-like narrative threads follow Picasso in his studio, linking rest and contemplation to creativity but turning the Minotaur into the artist's avatar or altarego that ends up shrunken and pathetic. But Prof. Nemiroff said, "That there is more light than dark in the Suite is a statement about Picasso". The prints have both a mythic quality and the influence of Ingres and Rembrandt. The works are identified not with titles but by the dates Picasso drew them. During production, Picasso picked up etching techniques that evolved from line etchings to dry point, aquatint, and sugar aquatint that evoked painterly effects, in up to 14 states, under master printmaker Roger Lacourière who took two more years to execute the 230 full sets. Vollard's passing in 1939 and the upheaval of WWII prevented the suite from being made available before the '50s. Some 13 institutions, including the National Gallery of Canada (who purchased theirs in 1957), the British Museum and the National Gallery of Australia, own complete sets. Jan Johnson has since noted that a complete Vollard Suite came up for sale at Kornfeld with an estimate of 1,500,000 euros and two more sets are being offered at the November 25 and 26, 2017 auction at l'Opéra Comique de Paris, estimated at 1.5 to 2 million euros each. These are part of the last Petiet Sale, completing the dispersal of that legendary print dealer's personal collection acquired between 1919 and 1980. Petiet introduced modern French printmakers to American collectors. Prof. Nemiroff announced that she is writing a book on the women directors of the National Gallery of Canada, Jean Sutherland Boggs (1966-76), Hsio-yen Shih (1976-81) and Shirley Thomson (1987-97), to which we all look forward.

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Brenda Lee, Silvia Kindl and Evelyn Dufour appreciated the May lecture by Diana Nemiroff. Marilynne Malkin photo ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

On May 18, we enjoyed a very special Annual Year-end Dinner at the University Club of Montreal on Mansfield Street, starting with a tour of their collection led by Membership and Marketing Manager Julia Kampis and Art History Professor Sandra Paikowsky who warmly greeted us as guests of Drs. Jonathan Meakins and Jacqueline McClaran. We began with the university ceiling crests in the Salon and the Harold Klunder painting honouring the Club's 110th anniversary and saw works by John Little, Harry Mayerovitch, John Fox, Colonel Cockburn, Anne Savage and many more. Ms. Kempis who has worked at the Club for 14 years, spoke on the Club's founding architect/painter Percy Nobbs (1875-1964) and we enjoyed examining a number of his works. Wandering through the storied rooms, built in 1913, was a voyage back in time as we discovered an original copy of Col. John McCrae's In Flanders Fields. Among the Club's print holdings are serigraphs by Alfred Pellan, a Jean-Paul Riopelle lithograph, a Jacques Hurtubise print, Cecil Buller's garden scene from her Song of Solomon series of 1929 wood engravings, and 41 Bartletts depicting scenes of Québec. We paused for a wine reception in the third-floor Leacock Lounge courtesy of Dr. Jacqueline McClaran, Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Irwin Browns then sat down to a delicious repast, after which a history of the Club in book form was presented by Drs. Jonathan Meakins and Jacqueline McClaran to Irwin Browns, Miki Lane and Marilynne Malkin, and Heather Solomon-Bowden. We all agreed, it was an evening to treasure. Photos from our special visit to the University Club of Montreal follow:

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Above, Jacqueline is the hostess with the mostest! Below, Hilliard Goldfarb at the table.

Julia Kampis and Prof. Sandra Paikowsky recount the history of the art collection.

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Robert Poirier and Joe Donohue admire prints from the collection.

On Show Sept. 8 to 10: Works on Paper marks the debut of a new section in the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair, featuring etchings, engravings, lithographs, woodcuts as well as photographs and drawings. At the Brooklyn Expo Center, 79 Franklin St., Greenpoint, Brooklyn. [email protected]

Sept. 9 to Oct. 14: Jacinthe Loranger mounts her show Home staging, modernités, charmes et sortilèges, an installation with roots in printmaking since her sculptures and papier-mâché basreliefs are made from silkscreen prints. Gold leaf, carpeting and crystals augment paper in themes from kitsch to the occult. Wed., Fri. and Sat. noon to 5 p.m. Thurs. to 8 p.m. At Arprim, 372 SteCatherine W., #426, Montréal. 514-525-2621. www.arprim.org

Until Sept. 16: New Prints 2017/Summer is the 56th New Prints exhibition, one of a twice-yearly selection of prints completed within the 12 months prior to April, 2017. The show, as per IPCNY's mandate, is to broaden access to the medium of printmaking and support print artists. At the International Print Center New York, 508 West 26th St., 5th Floor, N.Y. 212-9895090. www.ipcny.org

Oct. 26 to 29: The New York Satellite Print Fair sets up a block from The IFPDA Print Fair (see below) and features 15 dealers including our own Jan Johnson Old Jacinthe Loranger Master & Modern Prints Inc. and a number of our old Papier-mâché bas-relief friends such as Conrad R. Graeber Fine Art, Jeannot R. made from silkscreen prints Barr Prints & Drawings, Pia Gallo, Davidson Galleries, William P. Carl Fine Prints and Armstrong Fine Art. Thurs, to Sat. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun. to 5 p.m. Free admission. At the Mercantile Annex 37, 517 West 37th St., (between 10th and 11th Avenues), New York City. www.nysatelliteprintfair.com

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Oct. 26 to 29: The 2017 IFPDA Fine Art Print Fair: Art Fair for Prints & Editions presents 81 major art dealers and editions publishers during Print Week. Free lectures (but requiring reservations) include curator Masha Chlenova giving a talk Friday at 3 p.m. on Embattled Images: Print Culture in the Russian Revolution; a panel on Friday at 5:30 p.m. on Diving into Dürer: Collecting Old Masters Today;a panel Saturday at 2 p.m. on Collecting and the Pleasure Principle; and Antony Griffiths (2015 Oxford Slade Professor and former Keeper of Prints and Drawings at the British Museum) speaking Sunday at 2 p.m. on The Print Before Photography (1550-1820). Also, 45-minute $10 tours of the Fair are available. For the schedule, go to www.printfair.com . Wed. Preview/benefit 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. for the IFPDA Foundation $85; Thurs. To Sat. Noon to 8 p.m. Sun. Noon to 6 p.m. Daily $20; Run-ofshow $40. At the River Pavilion, Javits Center, 11th at 35th St., N. Y. C. www.printfair.com/IFPDA

Dec. 12 to April 1: Commemorating Dr. Sean B .Murphy (1924-2017): Prints and Drawings from Five Centuries honours Dr. Murphy who passed away last March and was a celebrated ophthalmologist, member of the Order of Canada, President of the MMFA for a decade and a longtime MPCS member. This is an exhibition of a selection of the works on paper he donated to the museum, along with some of his own sketches that inspired his 2008 book Dare to Draw. Prints from the 16th to late 20th Centuries include those by Canaletto, Piranesi, Picasso, Hayter, Bellows, Pellan, McEwan and Buller. Tues. to Sun. 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. At the Graphic Arts Centre, Jean-Noêl Desmarais Pavilion, Level S2, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. 1380 Sherbrooke St. W. 514-285-2000. www.mbam.qc.ca

Until January 7, 2018: Illusions: The Art of Magic features 71 chromolithographic and woodcut posters from the late 19th and early 20th Centuries advertising the magic acts of the era. Their phantasmagorical imagery, hovering between art and advertisement, brings to life the social history of modern magic. The exhibition is made up of works from the McCord's Allan Slaight Collection recently acquired thanks to La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso. Tues., Thurs. and Fri. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wed. to 9 p.m. except May 24 to 5 p.m. Sat. and Sun. to 5 p.m. Wed. $9.50, otherwise free from 5 p.m. Other days $20; seniors $17; students 18-30, $14; 13-17, $13; family $40. McCord Museum, 690 Sherbrooke St. W., Montréal. 514-861-6701. www.musee-mccord.qc.ca .

Jan Johnson, Old Master & Modern Prints, Inc. participates in the New York Satellite Print Fair, offering such works as this engraving after Bruegel, Pieter the Elder (ca. 1525-69), A Dutch Hulk and a Boeier, from a series of 10 warships, engraved by Frans Huys and Cornelis Cort? ; New Hollstein 62, first state with the date 1565 near the lower plate edge.

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Pink means pay! Don't miss a moment of our new season!

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