Autumn in Orillia & other Canadian Paintings

06 Saturday Nov 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Canadian art

Tags

Canadian Paintings, Cornelius Krieghoff, Emily Carr, The Group of Seven

Autumn in Orillia by Franklin Carmichael, 1924 (WikiArt.org)

After posting October Gold (1922), I wondered why I did not speak about the Group of Seven. They left an unforgettable heritage. They were active during the 1920s and were based in Toronto. However, they painted Ontario’s north and west. They are also known as the Algonquin School. (See Group of Seven, Wikipedia.)

October Gold by Franklin Carmichael, 1922 (WikiArt.org)

Frederick Varley, A. Y. Jackson, Lawren Harris, Barker Fairley (not a member), Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, and J. E. H. MacDonald. Image ca. 1920, F 1066, Archives of Ontario, I0010313.

—ooo—

Emily Carr

British Columbia artist Emily Carr, who lived in Victoria, has been associated with the Group of Seven. Still, she wasn’t sitting with other group members at a table in a Toronto restaurant. I remember sitting with colleagues at a table in a Toronto restaurant. That conversation, a unique conversation, will never end.

Emily Carr was also part of my life. My husband and I honeymooned on the west coast of Vancouver Island, where she worked. She lived in Victoria, which was home to me for ten years. I thought I would retire in Victoria, but it didn’t happen.

**Indian Church** by Emily Carr, 1929 (WikiArt.org)

**Tree Trunk** by Emily Carr, 1932 (WikiArt.org)

—ooo—

Cornelius Krieghoff

Quebec’s most iconic artist is Dutch-born Cornelius Krieghoff (19 June 1815 – 5 March 1872). Krieghoff depicted Quebec’s people, “habitants” and several Amerindians (North American Indians), and the land. Members of the Group of Seven painted nature mostly.

https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/cornelius-krieghoff

Cornelius Krieghoffs painting of a wild crowd in front of a mid-19th Century bar in the early hours of the morning. — **Breaking up of a countryball in Canada, early morning: a closer look**, by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1857 (The Thomson Collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario.)

These are a few words about members of the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, now associated with the Group of Seven. I have also mentioned Cornelius Krieghoff who depicted French Canada. — *Off the Road – The Upset Sleigh*, by Cornelius Krieghoff, 1856 (Art Gallery of Ontario.)

**The Woodcutter** by Cornelius Krieghoff (Wikimedia Commons)

Conclusion

This post is a mere glimpse of Canada’s artistic heritage. The painters I featured in this post are classics. Krieghoff was born in Holland, but he is a “genre” artist who depicted everyday life in Quebec.

RELATED ARTICLES

Krieghoff: Winter, “Habitants” & Amerindians (30 December 2013)
The Aftermath: Krieghoff’s Quintessential Quebec (29 March 2012)

Love to everyone 💕

Group of Seven

The Jack Pine by Tom Thompson. 1916 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

October Gold

28 Thursday Oct 2021

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada's Great Ministry, Canadian art, Canadian Confederation, Métis

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

Gabriel Dumont, Great Ministry, John Ralston Saul, Joseph Boyden, Louis Riel, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Red River Colony, Robert Baldwin

Franklin Carmichael was a member of the Group of Seven (Art, Canada)

Dear Readers,

I have not published a post for several days. I was diagnosed with pericarditis earlier in the month of October and got better after taking anti-inflammatory medication. However, the diagnostic was not entirely correct. The pain came back. I therefore returned to the Emergency Room. The muscles of my rib cage and part of my left arm are inflamed. I can barely use my left arm. Doctors performed an electrocardiogram today. My heart is fine, but the inflammation is very real.

Posts

I had returned to the subject of Canadian confederation. Canadian scholar and thinker, John Ralston Saul, wrote an excellent book on the “great ministry” of Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. The book is entitled Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine and Robert Baldwin. www.amazon.ca/Extraordinary-Canadians-Hippolyte-Lafontaine-Robert/dp/0670067326. The book was published in 2010. Other extraordinary Canadians are Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel. We have a post entitled A Métis Leader, Gabriel Dumont. Joseph Boyden wrote a book on Dumont and Louis Riel. Extraordinary Canadians: Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel.

Confederation played itself out around Winnipeg (the Earl of Selkirk’s Red River Colony). Louis Riel formed a government and intended for Manitoba to remain bilingual and multicultural. His government condemned to death a violent young man, Thomas Scott, an Orangeman, from Ontario. Louis Riel’s government would not be recognized. So, the execution of Thomas Scott would cost Riel his life. As for the Métis of Manitoba, many had moved west to Saskatchewan hoping they could build lots on each side of a river. Gabriel Dumont had moved west, but he and other Métis could not settle along a river. Dumont went to see Louis Riel, who then lived in the United States. He sought his help. Dumont did not know Riel.

Louis Riel’s view of Canada is not unlike to John Ralston Saul. Saul does not ignore John A. Macdonald, the main father of Confederation, but Canada was not born in 1867, when Confederation was signed. It was the product of the “Great Ministry” and that of a unified country longing for a responsible government, which it was granted in 1848.

John A. Macdonald sent Amerindians to reserves and their children to Residential Schools where many were molested and died. As for French-speaking Canadians, after Confederation, they could not be educated in their mother tongue outside Quebec. John A. Macdonald attempted to assimilate both Amerindians and French-speaking Canadians.

At the time of Confederation, the Red River Colony was bilingual and multicultural. It was a miniature portrait of what Canada could have been and became, officially, after the Official Languages Act of 1969. The Red River Colony, or Fort Garry, the future Winnipeg, had been bought from the Hudson’s Bay Company by the Earl of Selkirk, Thomas Douglas 5^th Earl of Selkirk. It was not part of Rupert’s Land. When Confederation was signed, half the people of Manitoba were francophones and the other half, anglophones. However, one hundred and two years after Canadian Confederation (1867), most Canadians living west of Quebec spoke English only. Fortunately, there are realities of the mind that override a seemingly more verifiable “reality.” There have been extraordinary Canadians. They shaped Canada.

John A. Macdonald wanted Canada to stretch from East to West and built a railroad. He was able to do so after Canada purchased Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company.

But Canada started earlier than Canadian Confederation. It started during the “great ministry” of Baldwin and LaFontaine and may have started earlier. In other words, there were extraordinary Canadians who took Canada forward despite colonialism and/or imperialism, and Confederation. French Canadian nationalism dates back to the early 1800s and it had English-speaking supporters. The Rebellions of 1837-1838 occurred in both Upper Canada and Lower Canada.

RELATED ARTICLES

The Métis in Canada (4 June 2015)
The Red River Settlement (30 May 2015)
Canada’s Amerindians: Enfranchisement (24 May 2015)
Residential Schools for Canada’s Amerindians (21 May 2015)
The Art of Kenojuak Ashevak (19 May 2015)
Inuit Art (17 May 2015)
Au pays des jours sans fin (16 May 2015)
The North West Rebellion, concluded (15 May 2015)
Aboriginals in Canada (14 May 2015)
A Métis Leader, Gabriel Dumont (10 May 2015)
From the Red River Rebellion to the North West Rebellion (8 May 2015)
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 (Indigenous Foundations) (6 May 2015)
The Métis in Canada (4 June 2015)
Louis Riel as Father of Confederation (22 May 2012)

Sources and Resources

Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin : Saul, John Ralston: Amazon.ca: Livres
Extraordinary Canadians: Louis Riel and Gabriel Dumont: A Penguin Lives Biography : Boyden, Joseph: Amazon.ca: Livres
Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine et Robert Baldwin – Saul John Ralston – 9782764621264 | Catalogue | Librairie Gallimard de Montréal (gallimardmontreal.com)

Love to everyone 💕

https://nationtalk.ca/story/featured-video-of-the-day-joseph-boyden-on-louis-riel-and-gabriel-dumont

Quebec Folklore: Celtic Roots

24 Saturday Oct 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Canadian art, Foklore

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Celtic music, Dancing, Quebec folklore, Similarities

La Chasse-galerie par Henri Julien, 1906 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I have been editing older posts and have noticed that some videos feature singers and fiddlers who let their feet dance. There are similarities between Celtic music and French Canadian folklore. Nicolas Pellerin dances: podorythmie.

French Canada also has fiddlers, as do many cultures, as well as legends. La Chasse-galerie is one such legend. Honoré Beaugrand wrote its finest telling. It is rooted in French legends. I will look for translations or retell the legends.

In the area of folklore, our best source could be the Voyageur Heritage Community Journal & Resource Guide (WordPress).

Les Rencontres Esca, Nicolas Pellerin & Les Grands Hurleurs

Nicolas Pellerin et Les Grands Hurleurs La Lurette en colère

Would that Robert Baldwin and Sir Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine …

22 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada's Great Ministry, Canadian art, Canadian Confederation, Canadian History

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Confederation, Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine, Robert Baldwin, The Exodus, The Reform Party, Union

**Marc-Aurèle Fortin Paysage à Québec** (Galerie Alan Klinkhoff)

Baldwin and LaFontaine: Union

The victory of the Reform Party on 24 January 1848 was one of the most significant in Canadian history.
Baldwin, LaFontaine and Responsible Government, The Canadian Encyclopedia

English-speaking and French-speaking Canadians are not incompatible. Lord Durham suggested an assimilative Union, but Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine, the Reformers, mapped out a genuine union.

Therefore, would that Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte LaFontaine had been alive when Confederation occurred. Confederation had French-speaking opponents, but several French Canadians wanted to join Confederation and Sir George-Étienne Cartier had good reasons to persuade his province to enter into a strong partnership: Confederation.

But …

When the ancestral thirty acres (trente arpents) could no longer be divided or were too expensive to puchase; when, moreover, there was no prospect of employment in Quebec, between 500,000 and 1,000,000 French-speaking Canadians and Acadians left for the United States. Le curé Labelle asked farmers to go north and make land (faire de la terre), but many couldn’t. This period of Canadian history is called the exodus.

When Québécois fully realize the harm John A. Macdonald inflicted on 1) Amerindians, 2) French Canadians, and, to a large extent, on 3) English-speaking Canadians, they must stay calm. All must stay calm.

We have a future to build, and it must be built harmoniously.

About Covid-19

A word on Covid-19. Quebec and other Canadian provinces have entered the second wave of the Covid-19 crisis. Let us protect one another and make sure that people do not resort to suicide. Losing one’s position is a terrible affliction, but this is a crisis and governments must help. People are afraid. My little area of Quebec is a pale yellow zone, but that will probably change. Quebec City, Québec’s capital, is the current epicentre of the pandemic in this province. However, it seems Covid-19 will not spare anyone. I’ve been indoors since early March. It isn’t good. Yet, I pity those who must go out. Let us help one another.

A few novels tell about the exodus and the many obstacles French Canadians had to face. These are:

La Terre paternelle (Patrice Lacombe; 1846) (novel: Canadiana.2)
Maria Chapdelaine (Louis Hémon; 1914) (novel: Canadiana.2)
Un Homme et son péché (Claude-Henri Grignon; 1933) (novel: Canadiana.2)
Trente Arpents (Ringuet; 1938) (novel: Canadiana.2)
Alexis de Tocqueville on Lower Canada (17 September 2018) (a related posts)
Lord Durham’s Report
Le curé Labelle
See Canadiana.2

I have written posts about all four novels. Besides, these are novels I have taught. As you know, my teaching-load was very wide: six areas. It was all but lethal. I also created language-lab components.

L’Appel du Nord by Jack Warwick (Érudit series)
Textes de l’Exode (David Hayne‘s article)
Le Développement des idéologies au Québec by Denis Monière (Érudit series)

Love to everyone 💕

Les Charbonniers de l’enfer chantent Le Combat de la Danaé

Canadiana Pages

18 Sunday Oct 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Canadian art

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Canadiana.1, Canadiana.2, Glazunov, Pages

**Pine Island, Georgian Bay** by Tom Thomson (1914–1916) (Google Images)

I was writing a post that was erased. So I will be brief. I have started to edit my Canadiana pages: 1 and 2. To a significant extent, literature is written in a context. It may not be a clear product of its time nor a clear product of an author’s life, but it doesn’t stand in a void. For instance, there are elements such as intertextualité, archetypes, genres, modes, themes, and an author and his time.

The two pages listing posts on French Canada contain the title of literary works reflecting the history of French Canada. They require a little dusting. Much has happened since 2012, when many of these posts were written.

Let me locate my two pages.

Canadiana.1
Canadiana.2

This music, by Alexander Glazunov, was used in a series of television programmes. I remember loving Glazunov and the television programme.

The Seasons, Op 67: Autumn.

Portrait of Glazunov by Ilya Repin, 1887 (Google Images)

Maps of Canada

15 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Canadian art

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

Act of Union 1840, Confederation, Constitutional Act 1791, Maps of Canada, Present Day, Quebec Act 1774, Today, Tom Thomson

1. The Quebec Act, 1774

New France fell to Britain in 1759 (Quebec City), 1760 (Montreal), and by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, 1763. The Quebec Act (1774) gave French-speaking Canadians a status that approximated the status of English-speaking Canadians. The Governor of Canada was Guy Carleton, 1^st Baron Dorchester.

Afficher l’image source — The Quebec Act, 1774

2. The Constitutional Act, 1791

After the American Revolutionary War, the United Empire Loyalists moved to Canada. The Constitutional Act of 1791 divided the large province of Quebec into Upper Canada and Lower Canada. Most of the inhabitants of Upper Canada spoke English. In Lower Canada, the majority of Canadians were French-speaking (Canadiens). English-speaking newcomers also settled in Lower Canada. The Eastern Townships would be home to a large number of English-speaking Canadians. But many French-speaking Canadians felt Lower Canada was their land.

Both the citizens of Upper Canada and Lower Canada rebelled in 1837-1838. The Crown levied money from its British North American colonies.

3. The Act of Union, 1840

Lord Durham investigated the Rebellions of 1837-1838. He recommended the union of the two Canadas. He hoped English-speaking Canadians would outnumber French-speaking Canadians.

4. Confederation Onwards

The Purchase of Rupert’s Land from the Hudson’s Bay Company transformed Canada into a large territory.

5. Canada, as it is

Love to everyone 💕

Chronicling COVID-19

25 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by michelinewalker in Canadian art, Canadian wilderness, Music in Canada, Pandemic, Quebec Art

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

Arrogance, Covid-19, Early Music, Hank Knox, Quebec lockdown, Self-Isolation

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

My posts are delayed because of essential business. Quebec is closed.

My main meal comes from meals-on-wheels. As I was going to pick it up, wearing protective gear, I bumped into an assembly of people who doubted we should take authorities seriously. They were not standing at a distance from one another and I saw a person coming out of the swimming pool room.

I didn’t think I had it in me to transform myself into the manager of the building. It was an incredible moment. What I said and wrote in emails was, basically,

disperse immediately and do not let anyone into the building. If something is delivered, it stays in the lobby and someone rings your apartment. Three apartments are for sale. Real Estate is not an essential service. No one comes to visit apartments. If a rule is broken, I’ll call the police, the RCMP (Mounted Police), la GRC (Gendarmerie royale canadienne) …

This morning I saw a sign asking people not to use the swimming pool.

Our worst enemies are the people who are too arrogant to obey the law. They don’t know that their freedom ends where the freedom of others begin. Only food, medication and the mail can be delivered.

I then had a conversation with a friend who is a postmaster. Mailmen will not ask you to sign if there is a delivery. That is contact. Covid rests on surfaces, which may include the mail.

One must also realize that there is very little medical help. I often tell people that if they wish to be well treated, they should go to the vet’s office. They have to learn medicine carefully as animals do not speak, except “en son langage.”

I am embedding music played by Hank Knox, a member, by marriage, of Sir Ernest MacMillan‘s family. My dear friend Andrea, whom I lost to cancer recently, was Sir Ernest’s niece. I knew the family but not closely, except for Andrea. We became friends when David and I rented the lower floor of her house.

David had found employment in Toronto. We were in a hotel looking for a home. David drove through streets he knew I would like. He saw a sign on a big tree and Andrea standing outside. He learned that she loved music and cats. So David said he would pick me up because he was certain I wanted to live in that house and that a friendship would grow. I must phone Betsy. She sent me harpsichord music.

https://www.mcgill.ca/music/hank-knox

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Hank+Knox&&view=detail&mid=4484F90DC0AD59DEDB0C4484F90DC0AD59DEDB0C&&FORM=VDRVRV

Barns by A. Y. Jackson, 1926 (The Group of Seven) (WikiArt)

Walter J. Phillips’ Manitoba

02 Wednesday Jan 2019

Posted by michelinewalker in Canada, Canadian art

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

Japonisme, Ode to Manitoba winter, Tomas Luis de Victoria, Walter J. Phillips, Winnipeg, Woodcut

Little Log House, a woodcut, by Walter J. Phillips

Walter J. Phillips (25 October 1884 – 5 July 1963) was born in Lincolnshire, England and studied at the Birmingham School of Art.

He moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 1913 where he lived for 28 years. He died in 1963 in Victoria, British Columbia. He was a resident artist at the Banff Centre, then known as the Banff School of Fine Arts. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. I love his art.

Phillips was very interested in Japanese prints. The work shown above is a woodcut.

Many new Canadians first settled in Winnipeg. My husband’s grandmother, the wife of a British aristocrat, was sent to Winnipeg. Her husband claimed their son was conceived by a “lover.” I suspect he wanted a younger wife. Fortunately, her son received a good education and always looked after his disconsolate mother.

You may remember that Winnipeg had been the Earl of Selkirk‘s Red River Colony. After Rupert’s Land was purchased by a fledging confederation (c. 1867). Louis Riel negotiated Manitoba’s entry into Confederation. He was hanged in 1885 for the execution of Orangeman Thomas Scott. Orangemen prevented French-speaking and Catholic Canadians from settling in the land the legendary voyageurs had opened up. They were educated in English-language schools. The matter was not solved until the Official Languages Act of 1969, and not altogether.

Moreover, the newly confederated Canada sent Amerindians to reservations. Many Canadians have Amerindian ancestry, prairie Métis, primarily, but also the people of Quebec and other provinces. Many settlers to New France married Amerindian women because France was not sending women to its colony.

The Great Plains

I lived in Regina in the late 1970s, but my work was not related to my professional qualifications. I was offered a position as translator in Winnipeg, but decided to accept a teaching position at St. Francis Xavier University, in Nova Scotia. I loved Nova Scotia, but regret my decision to teach at StFX. Everything went wrong. The life of a translator would have suited me and I loved the prairies. One could see forever.

So here I am. Probably a descendant of an Amerindian who lived in the 1600s and the former wife of a British aristocrat. My past has been leaping at me from behind. Do you think this is a temporary disorder, or am I about to write a book?

What will 2019 bring?

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation just published an interesting document which I am enclosing:

Ode to Manitoba winter: Love it or hate it, season has inspired artists for 200 years

It features this lovely painting.

Season’s Greetings to everyone 💛