"Griffintown" @ Montreal's McCord Museum

This weekend I had the pleasure of touring a newly-opened exhibition at the McCord Museum.

In this show, Montreal photographer Robert Walker shares twenty large-scale photos of Griffintown, a working-class Montreal neighbourhood, now undergoing radical gentrification. Another hundred or so of his photos are shown as projected images. Also on display are historic photos of the neighbourhood from the museum's archive.

Walker often juxtaposes the slick and glamorous "lifestyle" images used to promote the condos with the reality of their construction, and the consequent deconstruction of the neighbourhood. The viewer cannot help but ask:

• what is lost?
• what is gained?
• what is promised?

You can find out more about the McCord's Griffintown photo exhibition here.

For those of you who appreciate the art of urban photography, have a look at this youtube video of Robert Walker on the job, in which he shares his approach and aesthetic considerations.

The show is the inauguration of an ongoing series at the McCord, Evolving Montreal.

"To document Montreal’s ongoing urban transformation, in the next few years the Museum will be commissioning well-known local photographers to explore the changes occurring in a neighbourhood of their choice."

The exhibition Griffintown continues until August 9, 2020.

Installation at Montreal's new Four Seasons hotel

When I read the article in Westmount Magazine, I knew I had to visit the sculpture that forms the centrepiece of this newly-updated Montreal hotel.

Contemplation, Pascale Girardin

Pascale Girardin, a Montreal artist, has created a breathtaking installation that plays beautifully on the name of the prestigious hotel on Rue de la Montagne. 

"The all-white installation with gilded accents of 24-karat gold is made up of over ninety floral suspensions ranging from thirty centimetres to one meter in diameter, made of lightweight aluminum. These garlands cascade through the atrium from the seventeenth to the eighth floor, evoking the cycles of nature—the blossoms of spring flowers, the movement of petals adrift on a summer breeze, the spill of autumnal leaves and the lightness of falling snow."

The original, site-specific sculpture, titled Contemplation,

"spans nine floors and is 31.5 m high. A multitude of floral rosaries, made up of nearly a hundred flowers and petals, cascade down between the seventeenth and eighth floors. Manufacturing and installation took about nine months. The meticulous installation of each petal and flower was... carried out over a period of three weeks."

We inquired of the hotel doorman about the possibility of seeing the sculpture when we realized it was not immediately visible on entering the hotel. We were referred to the front desk, and then assigned to a gracious hotel staffer, who escorted us to the 8th floor, where we had a good view of the atrium, ascending to the sky.

We were told that lighting is used to create various colour effects on the blossoms. At the time of our visit, some of the aluminum petals had a suggestion of pink reflected light, giving the impression of floating cherry blossoms.

The organic forms of the petals are a lyrical contrast to the grid-like structures of the building's architecture.

Note: A friend who was inspired to visit the installation was told that it is only available to hotel guests. :-(

the entrance to the Four Seasons, on rue de la Montagne

The New York State Capitol Building

Returning home from a driving holiday in New England, we spent some time in Albany, New York.

Albany is a curious city. As the state capitol of New York, much public money has been spent on its government buildings. The city is almost entirely low-rise, with the exception of some modern governmental skyscrapers, which are poorly-integrated into the landscape of the city centre. They are connected by a cavernous underground plaza, the Nelson A. Rockefeller Empire State Plaza, lacking in amenities or storefronts. The whole complex was built between 1965 and 1976, at an estimated cost of $2 billion.

view of Albany's historic capitol building,
surrounded by modernist government buildings

Here is what architecture critic Martin Filler wrote about the complex, in The Making of Empire State Plaza:

"There is no relationship at all between buildings and site, neither at grade nor atop the podium, since all vestiges of the existing site have been so totally obliterated. Thus, as one stands on the Plaza itself, there is an eerie feeling of detachment. The Mall buildings loom menacingly, like aliens from another galaxy set down on this marble landing strip."

The neighbourhood around the plaza is run-down, and includes a number of condemned buildings. Our innkeeper explained that the people who work for the state are well-paid, and want to live in the suburbs. What she didn't explain was that the centre of the city had been hollowed out by the evictions necessary to accommodate a modernist dream. I found out more about this history by reading the Wikipedia entry here.

Apparently there is a large collection of mid-century art in the complex. I saw only a few examples, and assume that one must enter the various skyscrapers to see the almost 100 sculptures and paintings.

Our hostess recommended a tour of the historic state capitol building. Here are some of the photos I took on the very informative tour.

This image of a hallway underlines the impressive nature
of the state capitol building, built 1867-1899.
The mosaic floor was laid piece-by-piece, by hand.

Examples of fine craftsmanship abound.
Much of the woodcarving was done on site, and the artisans
were mostly immigrants from Scotland.

Many of the materials were also imported, like this panelling of Italian marble.

The state senators meet here, and the galleries are open to the public.
Our guide pointed out some unfinished details in the building, which
was plagued with cost over-runs. The building was declared "finished" in 1899,
at a cost of $25 million, worth almost $800 million today.
It was the most expensive government building of its time.

Originally, the building was to be capped with a dome,
but the idea was scrapped due to structural concerns.

Three successive teams of architects were hired, as costs escalated.
Each team worked in a different architectural style.
Thomas Fuller was the original architect, beginning in 1867
with a Classical/Romanesque style.
He also designed the parliament buildings in Ottawa.
The next two floors were done in a Renaissance Classical style,
and the final work was considered to be Victorian-modified Romanesque.

A second assembly room. The light fixture, seen in part
on the right, weighs twelve tons.

The stonecarving was all done in place.
The capitals of the columns include faces of historic figures,
as well as those of some of the craftsmen.

A tour of the capitol building is offered four times daily, and I would recommend it. Albany also has two worthwhile museums within walking distance, the Albany Institute of History and Art and the New York State Museum.

The Frelinghuysen Morris House & Studio

A recent holiday in New England included tours of historic homes, including Hildene House in Manchester, Vermont, home of Robert Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln. A memorable part of these tours was the opportunity to walk through forested pathways on the house grounds.

Acres of woodland at The Mount, Edith Wharton's home in Lenox,
are carpeted with periwinkle. In the spring,
when it's blooming with blue flowers, it must be a thrilling sight.

This was our experience as we approached the Frelinghuysen Morris house and studio for our guided tour. I have to ask you to imagine the sensation of the crunchy mulch underfoot, the gentle breeze that rustled the leaves, the fragrance of autumnal decay, the dappled sunlight and the hum of the cicadas. The 46-acre estate also includes a formal garden and a small pond.

The studio space was inspired by Fernand Léger's studio
 in France, as designed by Le Corbusier

George L.K. Morris grew up on these grounds in Lenox, Massachusetts. As a young man from a wealthy family, he pursued an interest in art and was hired by MOMA to travel to Europe and buy work for their collection. He was friendly with the French painter Fernand Léger and others. In the early '30s, he had this studio built for himself on the grounds of the family estate. Around this time he married Suzy Frelinghuysen, an accomplished opera singer and visual artist, and together they enjoyed a privileged life, much of it spent in Europe.  Their own art collection included paintings and sculpture by Léger, Picasso, Miro and Gris, among others.

Entrance hall to house, with Morris's fresco

Within a few years a house was added to the studio, designed by the couple and meant to be a part-time residence. Morris himself painted the frescoes.

The living room, with its original furnishings.
The floor has recently been replaced with new leather tiles, as per the original.
Note Morris' fresco on the wall at right.

The light-filled studio

The visit included a one-hour video documentary on the lives of the couple, and a one-hour tour with a very knowledgeable guide. Go to this link for more information about the Frelinghuysen Morris House and Studio.

Architecture images

I've been entangled in domestic maintenance for the last few weeks, but have a few moments now to post some items to this blog.

These pix were taken almost three years ago, and I thought I would share them here. They could be interesting "starts" for a composition in fibre or paint/collage.

seen in the entrance to the Musée d'art contemporaine à Montréal

as above

plaza of Westmount Square, with reflected figure

Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, interior

As above. Sometimes a figure is just what is needed
to make a photo interesting.

as above

as above

as above

as above

The Graffiti Wall at Hudson Yards

The development of New York's Hudson Yards is controversial. Overlooking the Hudson River, it combines residential, commercial, hotel and retail space with an arts centre, and is definitely designed to cater to the 1 per cent, if not the .01 per cent. Its shopping mall is not even supposed to be referred to as a mall. Are we to call it a "retail experience?" Some have described it as dystopian. It made me question the whole premise of NYC as a liveable space.

But one of the small delights I noticed amidst all the glitz was a graffiti wall, made of stitched sequins in many colours. I hadn't ever seen anything quite like it. By brushing a finger or hand "against the grain" of the sequins, you could expose the underside of them, revealing a second colour. Brushing with the grain returned the surface to its original colour, erasing your marks.

detail shot of sequins

The wall was getting a fair bit of attention when I passed by early one morning.

City in Ruins

Thank you to Tess Hall, a participant in my current class with Jane Davies, for sending me a reference to the poem, Building with its Face Blown Off, by Billy Collins.

I am also reminded of this photo from Edward Burtynsky, which I saw recently at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal.

Edward Burtynsky, from Three Gorges dam project, China, 2002

This is the kind of devastation that is suggested by my recent imagery of "deconstructed" buildings in a mixed-media series, "City in Ruins", which I blogged about earlier this week.

The Shed opens April 5

The Shed, as seen from the High Line in February 2018

After more than a decade of planning and work, The Shed opens next month on Manhattan's West Side. A 200,000-square-foot structure, it is designed to offer flexible space that will be a "commissioning centre" for all arts and all audiences. The ambitious programming focuses on risk-taking collaborations between visual artists, musicians, dancers, poets and film-makers.

The physical space, named the Bloomberg Building, was financed by a $75 million donation from New York's former mayor, Michael Bloomberg.

Overlooking the Hudson River, the ambitious project is already known for its movable shell. Supported by six-foot wheels, the shell rolls out onto the adjacent plaza in a matter of minutes, creating the McCourt, an enclosed 17,000-square-foot hall complete with light, sound and temperature control.

Some of those involved in the first year of programming include Gerhard Richter, Renée Fleming, Björk, Steve McQueen, and Quincy Jones.

Self-guided walking tours with Portrait Sonore

Some time ago I was introduced to Portrait Sonore, when Dianne Robinson told me about their walking tours. She had heard a CBC broadcast that described a two-hour Montreal walking tour of Leonard Cohen-related sites, available in English and French.

Portrait Sonore is a free app that offers a number of audio tours. Here is the list of tours available:

Montreal / Expo 67
Parc Jean Drapeau / Public Art
Montreal / Leonard Cohen
Montreal / Downtown Modern
Gesù / 150 years of history
Latin Quarter / 30 murals
Vancouver / Downtown Modern
Quebec / Parliament Hill
Winnipeg / Downtown Modern
Toronto / Down town Modern
Ottawa / Downtown Modern
Halifax / Downtown Modern

For some reason, the link to the Leonard Cohen tour was not working for me, but we decided to take advantage of the Montreal / Downtown Modern tour. With earbuds in place and my phone's GPS activated, we set off on the 135-minute audio tour.

And what an eye-opening experience that was. I learned so many things. For example:

The CIBC building, completed in 1962, is 45 storeys tall. Built in the International style with a slate facing, it was once the tallest building in Canada and the entire Commonwealth. It was superseded within a few months by Place Ville Marie, shown below, which added a penthouse especially for the purpose of surpassing the CIBC building. Because this cruciform-shaped skyscraper was built to withstand the rumblings of an underground railway terminal, it is thought to be particularly earthquake-proof. What was once a restaurant on the top floor is now an observatory, open to the public.

1 Place Ville Marie, 47 storeys tall,
forms a nexus for Montreal's underground city,
with indoor access to over 1600 businesses, several subway stations,
a suburban transportation terminal,
and tunnels extending throughout downtown.

Montreal Stock Exchange Building

The 48-storey Montreal Stock Exchange tower, completed in 1964, held the title of tallest building in Canada until 1967. Also in the International style, it was financed by the Vatican, and has the distinction of being a reinforced-concrete structure. Its construction was controversial at the time, as there was some doubt about the suitability of the materials for such a tall building.

Place Bonaventure

At least two of the buildings included on the tour are considered to be examples of the Brutalist style: Place Bonaventure and Habitat 67. Place Bonaventure, completed in 1967, was at that time the second-largest commercial building in the world.

Habitat 67

As we walked up McGill College Avenue, we could track the changing building codes as evidenced by the heights of the buildings. The oldest structures were six storeys tall; later buildings were limited to ten storeys. Still later, taller buildings were allowed, but only if the higher levels were smaller than the base of the building, creating a kind of tiered wedding cake effect.

The Royal Bank Building

An example of this is the Royal Bank tower, neo-classical in style and 22 storeys tall. When it was completed in 1928, it was the tallest structure in all of Canada, and the tallest building in the British Empire.

We learned about Silo #5, a grain elevator, now unused, measuring some 400 metres in length.

Silo #5, in the Old Port

And Windsor Station, built in 1887-88 in the Romanesque Revival style. It was rescued from demolition in 1970, and has yet to find a new vocation.

Windsor Station

And it was revealed that the Chateau Champlain hotel owes some of its distinctive arched windows to Frank Lloyd Wright's influence. 

The Chateau Champlain hotel, otherwise known
by its unfortunate nickname, "The Cheese Grater".

We found the audio tour to be very informative and reasonably easy to follow. For best effect, begin at Stop #1 on the map, and follow the various locales in order. I look forward to exploring some of the other tours from Portrait Sonore.

Other walking tours of Montreal can be found at Heritage Montreal's Architectours and through the McCord Museum. Note that these tours are led by a guide.

My favourite Baltic city...

... had to be Stockholm. A beautiful city, actually an archipelago of emerald islands.  The early morning approach by cruise ship was an unforgettable experience.  More distinctive than Copenhagen, more human-scaled than St. Petersburg. I hope to return there some day.

Meanwhile, here are some snippets of the architecture I found so pleasing. Something about the bold colours of the buildings, the brilliant blue of the sky, the high contrast of black rooftops.... Or perhaps simply because it was the last city we saw before returning home.

Though our time was limited, it was refreshing to observe the Scandinavian way of life, a society that supports extensive parental leave, higher education, a more reasonable work week, local food sourcing, community-owned wind farms, and free health care. There seems to be less need to over-consume, and less income disparity. With so much of their territory at low elevation, there is a keen awareness of climate change and global warming. I wish our North American model could shift to something closer to that seen in Denmark and Sweden.

Do hope to return some day for further explorations!