Andrew Hunter: Peake’s Folly

For his latest collection-based installation and publication project, Dundas, Ontario artist, writer and independent curator Andrew Hunter follows the trail of James Peake Jr. from the pinnacle of Canadian society to the lonely depths of isolation and despair. The installation is a poetic meditation on the dramatic fall of a late 19th century gentleman whose high Victorian extravagances exhausted a family fortune in the Maritimes and sent him wandering to Canada’s West Coast where
he would die alone and penniless.

Using works from the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s permanent collection, documentary images, artifacts and elements constructed in collaboration with his father William, Hunter creates an environment that traces Peake’s sad trajectory from prince to pauper. Employing Victorian imagery of death and mourning and related motifs of floral decay and the shipwreck, Hunter maps out a journey that becomes a cautionary tale about the fleetingness of material success and the uncritical nostalgia for the Victorian era.

Catalogue will be available in the Gallery Shop.

Post-Impressionist Masterworks From the National Gallery of Canada

The Post-Impressionist Masterworks exhibition is the most prestigious and valuable art exhibition to come to Victoria ? its only BC destination. The exhibition consists of vibrant, original works, including those of C?zanne, Matisse, van Gogh, and Gauguin. It will be supplemented by a second exhibition of works on paper by some of the same artists…

Impressions

This exhibition features works on paper produced by a number of artists associated with Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. Using works from our own collection as well as works generously lent by our good friend George Wallace, this exhibition shows how artists at the turn of the century used the drawn line as an expressive tool for printmaking through various media — etching plates, wood block prints and lithography.

Etchings, such as those by Zorn and Whistler reveal how great draughtsmen used the etching plate with an acute sensitivity, allowing them to reproduce on a plate the delicate nature of their quick drawing gesture. Artists such as Vlaminck found an interesting medium for their angular forms by transferring them to wood block prints. Other artists, including Matisse, were able to convey the sensuality of the odalisque in a few lines deftly drawn on the lithographic stone.

The Salon

To provide a sense of context of this ?fin-de-si?cle? period, we will be transforming the Graham Gallery into a late nineteenth century salon. In Canada, the “salons” or living-rooms of this period were generally sombre affairs, with dark patterned wallpaper above dark wooden wainscoting. Our Salon will also play on the concept of the official…

The LAB 2.5: Althea Thauberger: New Day Jubilee

Althea Thauberger, with the assistance of mural artist Dwight Lockhart, creates a photography and painting exhibition inspired by the public mural projects that tell stories and beautify the urban landscape. “I am also interested in the figure in the environment,” says Thauberger, “and in a wider cultural sense, the work in some way responds to…

Sandra Meigs: Reverie

Reverie presents two painting installations by artist Sandra Meigs which incorporate the activities of journey, storytelling and fascination.

The Newborn (2001) was created after a trip the artist took to Boat Basin Farm, located on the West Coast of Vancouver Island in Clayoquot Sound. Also known as Cougar Annie’s Garden, the farm is named for Ada-Annie…

Ukiyo-e: Images of a Floating World

Ukiyo-e, or images of a floating world, are Japanese woodblock prints from the 17th to early 20th century. The term “ukiyo-e” came to refer to the depiction of the light-hearted entertainment and pleasures characteristic of the wealthy merchant class who inhabited the big cities during the Edo period (1615-1868).

The prints mirror the life of this class in rich and vibrant detail. However, ukiyo-e were cheap, mass-produced and served as posters or pin-up art for the common people, and were often purchased from street vendors. They were also incorporated into calendars, memorials, greeting cards and advertisements. Ukiyo-e were the result of a team effort which included the artist, an engraver, a printer and a publisher. They feature four main subject matters: kabuki theatre; courtesans and geishas; landscapes; and historical and legendary events.

Erotica in Japanese Prints

Erotic prints, known as shunga or “spring pictures,” were an acceptable subject in Japan’s Edo society until the second half of the 19th century when the influence of Western puritanism began to influence popular opinion against them. Shunga are an integral part of the ukiyo-e tradition. To omit these examples of shunga from a survey…

The LAB 2.4: Catherine Fern Lewis: Sanctuary

Sanctuary is an interdisciplinary project which incorporates objects from the Art Gallery?s permanent collection with sound and music by new music performer Catherine Lewis. It examines stories of faith and bravery of conviction. “The objects [I selected for the exhibition] spoke of journey and transformation,” says Lewis, “which parallel the activity of a traveling musician…