However, we were very taken with the work of Alma Duncan, possibly a contemporary of my mother's at McGill. An artist most active in the middle of the twentieth century, a period which I generally get on with quite well. An artist whose work included a number of short animated films made in the late forties and early fifties which were great fun, if a little politically incorrect by today's standards. Not only could we see the films, we could also see the puppets, props and other gear which had been used to make them - and surprisingly small they were too.
From there onto Byward Market for a light lunch where we were further entertained by a an ancient car, a pair of flamboyant stilt walkers, a group of alpine horn players and a chain saw artist.
From there to the parks around the National Gallery, taking in the fine view from the statue of Colonel By and the even finer one from the statue of Champlain.
And so to our second visit to the shiny new National Gallery of Canada, on this occasion to look at their European collections, collections which rather gave the impression that Canada had been a little late on parade when it came to collecting old masters. But it did have a stunning new gallery to put them in. And there was some good stuff, for example a trio of nice Guardis. An entertaining painting of the Virgin Mary being told of her impending death by an angel, otherwise the Annunciation of the Virgin's Death by one Orlando. For all the world a picture of a comfortable matron being bothered by some busy & large social worker. A fine picture of a deserted factory by one Algernon Newton, an English artist of whom I had not previously heard and whom I must look into.
We were also pleased to be able to buy a book about the building for a very reasonable $10, a book which turned out to contain some interesting material on the history and purpose of national galleries generally.
It also told us about the mirror works. While we were in the European collections, on the second level, we had been intrigued by a number of portholes into what looked like mirror lined, brightly lit rooms. There were no labels, but we had assumed that they were some sort of modern work of art, complementing the ancient works of art. But we were wrong, as the book tells us that the mirror lined rooms were actually cunning contrivances to supply overhead natural light to the galleries on the first level. Pillars of light as it were.
And then yesterday, we happened across the large government looking buildings on Green Island at the mouth of the Rideau River. To the point of sneaking in, courtesy of a passing inhabitant, and taking a look around inside. Another stunning building, which seemed to have pinched lots of ideas from the National Gallery building. And I learn from wikipedia this morning, that the same architect was indeed involved, but on this occasion amid a great deal of controversy, with many people thinking that his work on Green Island was grossly extravagant. It did, in any event, stand vacant for a while, while they thought of what to do with it.
It seems that the white steel artwork towering above, now called the Unity Tower or some such, is just the skeleton of what was originally intended to be two towers.
There was also a small plaque outside memorialising Her Majesty's gift of swans from Abingdon-on-Thames - with two swans, presumably descendants of the originals, bedding down behind.
Reference 1: http://www.ottawaartgallery.ca/.
Reference 2: http://www.gallery.ca/en/.
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