National Museums in Ottawa

The Nation's Capital has 3 major National Museums, the Canadian War Museum, the Museum of Civilizations, the National Gallery of Canada. All three were built in the last 30 years and represent an effort by the Federal Government to present Canada to the world in the Capital. The architecture is impressive, top architects were involved in the design and building, they are Moshe Safdi for the National Gallery, Raymond Moriyama for the War Museum and Douglas Cardinal for the Civilizations museum. The collections are impressive, much of it gifts to the Nation from individuals or purchased on the open market at a time before ''art'' became a hot ticket item with outlandish prices.

With all the cutbacks in the last 15 years to the National Museums budget, purchase of new art works or even maintenance and curatorial work has become next to impossible. Staff have been cut, services to the public have been cut and attendance is way down, some 40% according to the Government. So the reaction has been from the Government to declare the museums un-necessary, putting them on life-support and claim that if the public is interested it is up to the public to do something about it. The ''vision'' of Canadian identity and culture is gone from public discourse replaced instead by accountants and politicians who prefer to talk of efficiencies in saving money, all this waste must be gotten rid of, a rather mercenary discourse, but it does find resonance with a certain uninformed public.

I have in the last 10 days visited all three, first I found that the museums are empty, attendance is very low, often finding myself alone in the galleries with a lonely guard as companion. Private security firms have been hired to patrol the exhibit space. There is lots of empty parking space, restaurant facilities are operating at minimum since few patrons come in. The general public perception of these museums, despite the pride people take in them, is that they belong to the ''elite''. The people have no need of culture or art or knowledge, this type of argument reminds me of Mao Tse Tung and the Chinese Cultural Revolution when art and culture was destroyed in China in search of the values of the people.

This argument is in part confirmed by the low value placed on education in general and by the very low literacy level amongst children in Canada, if the figure released at the Ottawa Writers Festival are to be believed.

If you cannot read and have little general knowledge then what is the incentive in going to a museum to appreciate what is on offer. Recently a study of students in High Schools reveals that generally speaking few have developed critical judgement abilities and lack focus or attention, do not read, lack vocabulary and have difficulties understanding certain concepts of logic or thought process.

But what about the rest of the population, why are they not going to our National Museums?
Why are the museums having difficulties attracting sponsors in the Corporate world or important donors
with deep pockets? Is it because we constantly looked to the Federal Government in the past to do all the financing. Very serious problems and no response or suggestions are offered to tackle this question. Are tourists not interested? Why are we not marketing the National Museums beyond a website?

I first went to the National Gallery on Sussex drive, it should be noted that this impressive building on what is the Ceremonial boulevard of the Capital, like Pall Mall in London or les Champs Elysées in Paris is not connected to any direct public transport route. The museum was near empty, beautiful works of art displayed in a grand setting with the right lighting and set to be enjoyed. Only a few people here and there visiting, I encountered a group of bored teenagers brought by a teacher on a school outing, they obviously had no idea why they were there. This summer the National Gallery is presenting its summer special exhibit on Vincent Van Gogh, hopefully it will attract a crowd, it opens on 24 May (Victoria Day in Canada).

I then went across the Ottawa river opposite to the National Gallery is the Museum of Civilizations built to resemble a Long house favoured by the Algonquin people who use to gather by the hundreds in the summer time on the banks of the Ottawa river before 1780. A little known fact or a forgotten one, all of the land on which is built Ottawa the National Capital of Canada is un-ceded Algonquin land which still belongs to the Algonquin people. As the saying goes Canada is the only country in the world whose Capital is built on land belonging to another Nation.

The museum of Civilizations houses many stunning artifacts and its great hall is dedicated to the Pacific coast native people like the Haida, Salish, Tlingit and Nisga'a to name a few. Many of Bill Reid's sculptures are on display with the mythological creatures of the old native religions and complex belief structures being represented.

The museum also has special exhibits, currently one entitled ''God an owner's manual"
depicting the different beliefs of people around the world. The function of the museum is to display but also explain aspects of civilizations. The approach is multicultural putting all civilizations on the same footing, something that is out of favour with the current administration in Canada.

The only people in the museum the day I came where Asian Tour groups, 5 buses and a handful of other people.  A telling conversation at the ticket counter, a young couple wanted to buy tickets for the IMAX cinema, the attendant asked them if they wanted to see the rest of the exhibits, the woman who was around 30 said to him in reply that they had no time for all that boring stuff. Maybe that is the problem, culture is perceived as boring of no value. This appears to be a general belief fostered in large part by our modern consumer culture, we need to be constantly stimulated and hilariously excited.

Yesterday, W and I went to the Canadian War Museum built in close consultations with all Veteran groups and the Royal Canadian Legion, they had a large say in how the museum would look. Moriyama the architect certainly produced a building the Veterans were satisfied with, it recalls the trenches of the First World War and the jagged edges of battlefields, rising from an unseen underworld.

Unfortunately there is too much to read and the museum does cover 500 years of Canada's military and political history from the discovery of Europeans by the Aboriginals to today. An enormous amount of information, difficult to digest if you do not have at least a basic in the history of Canada or of the many conflicts we were involved in.  The artifacts are also poorly displayed, one example is a large Mercedes Benz limousine which belonged to Adolph Hitler pushed in a corner. The museum architecture tends to be dark and foreboding, certainly something that was desired in illustrating the dark, deathly side of all Wars, but at times it is overwhelming.

Again few people, except for the school groups who like all teenagers thought war fun, the weapons awesome, sort of like an internet game. It is difficult for a generation who has no knowledge of conflict and whose sole information of war comes from the television news to be interested in something that appears so remote, disconnected from their reality. The museum becomes a theme park to have fun.

I was disappointed in that particular museum, I thought the presentation could have been different. Again the War Museum sits in splendid isolation in LeBreton flats, a vast desolate area west of Parliament Hill and by the Ottawa river, once a neighbourhood, bulldozed in the late 1950's, basically the middle of nowhere in the Capital.

I often think that Ottawa is not much loved by Canadians and not much respected by the politicians who are mostly indifferent to the Capital.

Afternoon at the National Gallery of Canada

We recently became members of the National Gallery of Canada on Sussex Drive in Ottawa, this modern building is the work of Moshe Safdie and was completed in 1988. I remember when the spot it occupies Nepean Point, a high cliff above the Outaouais river was just a park of wild grass, then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau decided that the National Capital deserved a proper National Gallery building with architecture that would befit the important collections being shown. Prior to that the collections were housed in a old Lorne building in Ottawa on Elgin street, now demolished, a rather sad affair. The original National Gallery of Canada was created in 1880 by then Governor General of Canada, John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll. It was housed at that time in the old Supreme Court building at the western gate of Parliament Hill at Bank and Wellington streets, that building was demolished in 1962. The Gallery then moved in 1913 to the Victoria Memorial Museum on Metcalfe street, known today as the Museum of Nature. Most of the collection are gifts from the Sutherland Family and the Vincent Massey Family and many other people. Some important acquisitions have also been made by the Gallery with great public howl despite the fact that it came from important known artist. There is that sad element in Ottawa in the popular press and amongst politicians of a certain stripe to be anti-culture no matter what. A few years ago the same popular press started a movement to bring Art in general and the collections in the museums to the lowest common denominator, the argument being that if the Museums wanted to make money, it seems it is always about money for some people, then the art presented cannot be intimidating. The public will not go if they do not know or understand what they are looking at. Luckily that idea did not catch on. One idea that did catch on and was well received was to propose to various social clubs that their members come to the museum and would be met by a docent who would present a few selected works, here people who had never been inside a museum were invited to come and see for themselves and at the same time have selected works explained to them. Participants went away happy and enjoyed their visits by all accounts, better it cost nothing.

The National Gallery has in its collection some of the most important works by Warhol and other contemporary artists, great Canadian and European artists. The Canadian Group of Seven paintings are my favourites. It is a very interesting museum to visit not only for its art collection but also for its architecture.

National Gallery of Canada on Nepean Point seen from Parliament Hill

The great hall of the Gallery, copies the Library of Parliament across on the other hill. All glass and granite.

I walked around the Gallery, looking at everything and getting myself re-acquainted with the museum. I had not been in 10 years. Many new pieces were on display. A very interesting installation was the Janet Cardiff, Forty Part Motet in the old Rideau Street Convent Chapel. When the Rideau Street Convent was destroyed the Chapel was saved by Friends of the Museum who raised enormous amounts of money to ensure that architectural treasure would not perish. It has been re-assembled inside the Gallery. Janet Cardiff arranged a series of speakers in the chapel, the impression if you stand in the middle of the chapel is that you are part of a singing choir, you hear people next to you breathing as they sing and you hear every voice of the choir. It is the most stunning effect, you are part of the choir not part of an audience listening.  Being in the Rideau Chapel to hear this is quite beautiful.

The other exhibit I enjoyed is entitled Monuments of Paris by Hubert Robert who was a landscape designer and decorator, great admirer of Giovanni Panini and Giovanni Battista Piranese, he went to Rome in 1754 to study art. He returned to Paris in 1765. Robert was appointed garden designer at Versailles. His tableau Monuments of Paris juxtaposes seven significant Parisian structures in an imaginary setting. It was first shown in 1789 in Paris, the composition shows Porte St-Denis erected in 1672 to commemorate the French Army's victories on the Rhine, directly facing the gate is an equestrian statue of Louis XIV erected in 1692, it was destroyed during the revolution in 1792. To the right the Fountain of the Innocents it was commissioned in 1549 in honour of King Henry II.  The Medici column  dedicated to Catherine Medici, wife of King Henry II. The panorama is obscured by the Eastern Facade of the Palais du Louvre built in 1665 and completed in 1672 when the Court moved to Versailles.
In the background is the Fountain of the Four Seasons 1736 and looming over the composition is the Church of St-Geneviève commissioned by Louis XV, the church was not quite completed in 1791 when the Revolution under the Assembly decided to dedicate the building to French national heroes and it became the Pantheon. Retrospectively this masterpiece appears as a tribute to the master builders of the Ancien Regime.

Sunday

This week all museums in Rome are free. It also coincides with the anniversary of the Eternal City, the theme this year is ''Rome Emotions without end''. So I went to one of my favorite museums in Rome on Sunday, the Massimo on Piazza Cinquecento (500) in front of the Termini Central Train Station.

The Massimo is one of those must see museums in Rome. It concentrates on the Julio-Claudian Dynasty who basically launched imperial Rome. It has per example the dining room of Empress Livia, wife of Augustus from her country Villa at Prima Porta with its exquisite painted walls of a sumptuous garden with trees, flowers, fruits and birds. The colours alone are vibrant and shows the high quality of the art work, you have to imagine what it must have been like when the paint was still fresh with its glossy finish. There was also a special exhibit of antique gold and silver dinner ware from Morgantina in Sicily. Again very fine art work, elegant and refined from the house of a rich merchant. Morgantina was totally destroyed on the orders of Augustus in 35 BC because the city sided with Carthage against Rome. There was also a second special exhibit of funerary dinner ware used during a funeral wake. The various pieces were decorative painted marble to decorate the area of the Mausoleum used by the family for their banquet in honor of the deceased.

Then after this visit, I decided to walk around and ended up at the Barberini Palace, once the seat of the famous Florentine Family which gave us Pope Urban VIII.
Maffeo Barberini, was pope from 1623 to 1644. He was the last pope to expand the papal territory by force of arms, and was a prominent patron of the arts and reformer of Church missions. However, the massive debts incurred during his papacy greatly weakened his successors, who were unable to maintain the papacy's longstanding political and military influence in Europe. He was also involved in a controversy with Galileo and his theory on heliocentrism during his reign.

The Palace is enormous and contains mostly religious works of art by great artists of the Renaissance, of note the famous painting of King Henry VIII by Holbein. The Barberini Pope is famous because he pillaged the Pantheon, removing all the bronze in the temple to make cannons and to also built the great Baldaquino above the main Altar in St-Peter's Basilica. The Romans of the time said, What the Barbarians did not destroy, the Barberini did. The coat of Arms of the Barberini is 3 bees, though the story goes that they use to be horse flies until Maffeo became Pope and changed it to the more noble bees.

Then I came home to discover that our visitors who were to come from Canada could not come because of the Volcanic ash and that Rome airport was partially closed. In fact the Pope was in Malta for the weekend and it was not all together sure he could fly back to Rome on Sunday night. Well this only meant more Veal Saltinboca for dinner and strawberries for dessert.