Birth of the Modern:
Post-Impressionism in Canadian Art, c.1908-1920

February 19 - March 30, 2002
Curator: Joan Murray
Circulated by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa

Featuring the great pioneers of modern art in Canada, "The Birth of the
Modern" considers our nation's unique contribution to Post-Impressionism.
The curator elucidates her subject with a beautiful presentation of
paintings gathered from major collections across the country.
In a 1906 exhibition catalogue, British art critic Roger Fry coined the
term "Post-Impressionism" to describe a variety of late 19th-century
artworks in Europe. The paintings of artists such as Paul Gauguin, Paul
Cézanne, and Vincent van Gogh, showed a self-conscious departure from the
optical concerns of Impressionism. Their works were characterized by a
simplification of form, which enhanced the belief that colour could convey
emotional and aesthetic meaning. For critics like Fry this marked the true
beginning of modern art in Europe.

Here in Canada adherents to Post-Impressionism were united by a new
vitality, exuberance in paint handling and freedom of pictorial space.
Post-Impressionism opened the way to independence from worn-out
conventions. With this independence, Canada evolved its own interpretation
of the new art that was simultaneously at home and unique in the evolution
of Post-Impressionism. Marked by a lyrical intensity and an attachment to
nature, the specific and often rugged physical environment of Canada was
adapted to European artistic inventions.

The exhibition includes works by Cecil Buller, Franklin Carmichael, Emily
Carr, Emily Coonan, Lawren S. Harris, Adrien Hébert, Randolph S. Hewton,
Edwin H. Holgate, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, John Lyman, J.E.H.
MacDonald, Florence H. McGillivray, E. Middleton Manigault, H. Mabel May,
David Milne, James Wilson Morrice, A.H. Robinson, Anne Douglas Savage and
Tom Thomson.

Gallery Talks

The Late Works of James Wilson Morrice - Beyond the Birth of the Modern
Sandra Paikowsky
Thursday, March 7th, 2002 - 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.
The Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery invites you to join Professor Sandra
Paikowsky of Concordia University's Department of Art History for a gallery
talk on the later works of Canadian artist James Wilson Morrice. The Birth
of the Modern: Post-Impressionism in Canadian Art, currently on view at
the gallery, includes a selection of beautifully executed scenes from the
places in which Morrice lived, or visited during his extensive travels.
Please join us Thursday, March 7th, 2002 - 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. for an
informative and animated discussion on the work of one of Canada's most
admired painters.

Also in conjunction with the exhibition The Birth of the Modern, the Ellen Art
Gallery will be hosting an In-gallery Artists' Talk on Thursday, March 14, 2002, at 4 pm.
Issues surrounding the role and relevance of Modernism in today's art world
and in current art production will be explored. Practicing artists from
Concordia University's Faculty of Fine Arts will be among the guest
speakers. Please join us for what promises to be a provocative discussion.