to visit or not to visit

In the past year there has been a lot of talk, discussion and thinking about how to bring more visitors to the National Gallery of Canada. This conversation has hit a certain high note this year with the on-going and numerous, I should say countless cuts to various budgets ordered by our dear Leader Stephen Harper has slowly but surely destroyed many areas of service to Canadians. Many agree that we have entered an age of Corporatist politics, where Corporations are people and their voices count whereas the average taxpayer does not. This means a slow but certain degradation of anything and everything the Federal government does.

In the case of all our National Museums they are Crown Corporations, meaning that they receive a lump sum each year and the rest of their financing must come from the public through sales of tickets and other items such as memberships or donations. It has to be understood that for decades the main source of funding came from the Federal government who financed almost everything. Including building infrastructure and maintaining existing building, renovations, landscaping etc... the public was used to the Providential State stepping in at every turn to maintain these national institutions. Not understanding that they did not pay anywhere near enough taxes to support it all.

In other countries depending on their national history either the King or Emperor maintained private museums of their own collection, i.e. the Hermitage, the Prussian Royal Collections, the Saxon Royal Collection or the collections of the Bavarian Royal House or the Vatican Museums which until not so long ago where not open to the public.

In the USA it was Andrew W. Mellon who was the creator and founder/builder of the National Gallery in Washington DC.  Mellon bought the main European art works from the Bolchevics in Russia after 1919 who were selling off treasures of the Tsars and the Hermitage to finance their endeavours. In turn upon his death he donated to the American Nation all of it for the enjoyment of future generations. In the USA the Spirit with a capital S of endowment and gifts is well and alive, in Canada not so.

In Canada our National Museums were a government creation, unlike the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal which was a private sector creation. In 1905 our first Canadian Museum in Ottawa was the Geological Society of Canada located in a castle like structure named the Victoria Memorial Museum on Metcalfe Street, it is the very popular Museum of Nature today.

The National Gallery had one small room in the basement of that building. Ottawa was a very small town at the time and the development of the museums in general was overseen by Civil Servants. There were some wealthy donors but they were few, unlike cities like Montreal where a well established group of British and Scottish well to do families had their Clubs and Art Circles.

The situation only began to change in our National Museums with the Trudeau (father) era 1968-1982. He had a personal interest in seeing new National Museums built and started a dialogue with the public to get them to involve themselves in the development and enhancement of the collections.
He saw a program similar to the USA where endowment funds and donations would drive museum expansion and not government funds.

The old Lorne building (1959-2012) former seat of the National Gallery until 1987, named after Governor General Sir John Douglas Sutherland, Marquess of Lorne. 

The main idea was that donors would form circles of friends and actively support all the activities of a Museum in particular. This happened with the building of the new Canadian War Museum in 2005, an idea which came about with Barnie Danson (1921-2011), a veteran, member of Parliament and Minister of Veterans Affairs who gathered supporters and to this day continues to thrive on that idea.

The New National Gallery of Canada building opened in 1988, the design alone created a buzz and people where fascinated with it. On the opening year close to one million visitors came to see it.
However this was not a sign that the public was more interested in art in general because suddenly there was a new building dedicated for the first time to our National Art Collections.

National Gallery of Canada (1988)

Whereas in the case of the Canadian War Museum where every Canadian, Veteran or active military is sought after and welcomed, the National Gallery had an image problem very often based on false assumptions and opinions. The public had and has to this day the overall impression that it is a place for the elite and the wealthy. Amongst our French speaking population it is seen as an English institution not open to others. Nothing could be further from the truth but it is a tough perception which will not die easily. Thus an empty museum with the lowest attendance record of all our National Museums including the currently closed under renovation Science and Technology Museum.

The Alarm bell has been ringing and the Board of Directors of the National Gallery have decided that something must be done. I remember prior to 1988 when the National Gallery was located in the old Lorne Building on Elgin Street, a converted office building, the museum was empty then. It was a small dark crammed display area. Not really enticing to promoting the arts and it had that academic approach in the display of the art collection.

This academic approach to the collections is still very present and that is a big turn off for a lot of people in this day and age, when education and intellectual pursuit is ridiculed and seen as worthless in Canada by a clear percentage of the population which includes our Prime Minister who was often quoted in the last 10 years with negative comments towards Arts and Culture. The Media in general has not helped either, a certain popular press is quick to pounce on any type of art which is not appealing to the masses, this includes contemporary, modern and lesser painters of any era.
The tone of the articles is always the same, ''Your tax dollars bought that thing your 5 year old kid can paint'' This type of populist attack which appeals to the lowest common denominator is very popular and sells well.

The other problem, and this is one of society in general, the lack of conversation in Canada about what kind of society do we want to live in. Everything in the last 10 years has come down to the notion of not wanting to pay taxes, having lots of rights and no responsibilities for anything or anyone, the promotion of excessive consumerism, not needing education, i.e. traditional schools, we need more babysitting services instead, not needing arts or culture which is seen as too expensive as long as we have big name sports team and stadiums and prioritizing shopping malls and highways.
As one of our Conservative politician put it so succinctly, ''We are not in Europe here, we don't need that stuff'' meaning arts and culture. A good example of this current political way of thinking is the sudden announcement two weeks ago of the renovations and rejuvenation of the National Arts Centre of Canada on Elgin Street. This is a much needed project however if you look at the details you will quickly notice that we are renovating all the public areas, bar, restaurant, lobby, parking and toilets, nothing is done to the concert halls themselves. This does not mean that more people will be coming to the performances.

The same is true with block buster Art exhibits, one quick solutions to bring people in. Two years ago we had a Summer exhibit of works by Van Gogh, which gave the National Gallery the highest attendance records in decades. However other Summer shows by equally great names like Monet and Renoir have failed miserably to attract record numbers. We did have a show organized with the Tate Modern London in 2010 entitled Pop Life with artists like Andy Wharhol, Jeff Koons and many others, it was a flop despite being a North American exclusive. The cost also of mounting theses big name exhibits has become exorbitant, one cost is the insurance, transport and logistics. Such exhibits need a minimum work of 5 years in planning.
It would appear that Ottawa, the region and as a tourist destination fails to promote/market its museums or maybe the interest is just not there in the Ottawa Valley.

The National Gallery could for starters become more visitor friendly, while retaining a certain academic approach could vulgarise and popularize exhibit space, market the museum as open to the public and at the same time tell the public at large of what we have in our collections. Many Canadians are not aware of the vast richness and diversity of our collections making the National Gallery of Canada one of the truly great world museum.  Maybe the public in general should be asked to support financially the NGC and make a donation upon entry or at any other time. Why rely only on big name donors who are a few hundred at most.

Given that our public often has no information or knowledge on art and may not know artists beyond a famous name and is unable to recognize a work of art by any artists it is crucial to bring things down to a level that is inviting and inspire the imagination. Before we jump to the conclusion that our National Gallery is not at the level of museums in Europe like the National Gallery London or the Louvre in Paris or any other museum in Italy or Germany, we should remember that Europe suffers from the same problem. The Louvre director was saying recently that if it was not for 5 works of art everyone wants to see, the museum would be empty, same phenomenon in Rome, St-Petersburg, Vienna, London or Berlin. Because we live in an anti-education age, the dawn of a new Middle-Age perhaps, the attention span of the public is extremely short, they must be brought to climax quickly because they have other things to do.

The secret of our success in Ottawa depends on how far we are willing to go to reach
a public who is difficult to please or simply unaware of the beauty around them.

Eurostar Train from Paris to London

Arrival at Gare d'Austerlitz, Paris

We arrived on time in Paris on our train-hotel after a bumpy night, the rails in Spain are not what they could be, the rails are much better on the French side of the border making for smoother ride. Train-hotels are designed for Europeans in mind, it's practical travel, This type of train is now being replaced slowly by the new High Speed Trains who can do the same trip in half the time. From the Gare d'Austerlitz we took a taxi to the Gare du Nord which is on the other side of the city, you have to cross the Seine River to get to it, with luggage it was an 18 Euro ride in light traffic.

Gare du Nord is a huge rail station in a less fashionable neighbourhood of Paris, the EuroStar Train leaves on the hour in a specially designed area of the old Station. It has it's own entrance and Duty Free Shopping given that London is considered an International Destination. We took the elevator to the Second floor and went through check-in, tickets and passports in hand, then a first passport check by agents who are there to detect any false documents, then UK Immigration for passport inspection as you are leaving the Shengen Zone and finally X-ray baggage inspection by French Custom, done for security only. This is a high speed train and we are flying towards the tunnel and the crossing of the English Channel, which takes about 25 minutes. At each departure the EuroStar is full, a very convinient way to go to the UK from Paris, far more convinient than the plane since you arrive at St-Pancras Station in Central London.

Once in the departure zone, you cannot leave it, there are two coffee shops, and about 5 Duty Free shops and a currency exchange desk, (Euros to Pounds) but nothing else. The departure zone is not very clean and given it is heavely used all day by thousands of passenger, it seems that better or more thorough cleaning should be the rule. The public washrooms (despite the fact that we are in France) are not clean at all, you go if you really have too. The seating area is also not very clean and I was surprised given that the EuroStar is a private concern you would think they would be a little more concerned with image, but it does not appear to be the case.

Boarding is done 30 minutes before departure and it is well organized by car number and fairly fast.

You can if you want reserve a seat in the Quiet Section of the train, 5 cars are so designated, meaning NO kids and NO cel phones. There is also a Business Class for people who wish to work or talk quietly, two cars are Bar Cars.

Some 85 minutes after our departure from Paris we reached Calais where the EuroStar entered the Tunnel and 20 minutes later we were out on the otherside in England. Some interesting stats on this journey, it is 20 Km from Calais to Ashford across the Channel, the train travels at about 300 Km per hour, the chunnel is 195 meters below sea level, the lenght of a tunnel is 50.4 km, there are 3 tunnels one for passenger trains, one for service or emergency and one for trucks and cars being transported across on a freight train. Total time of the trip from la Gare du Nord is 2hrs and 35 minutes, that is a lot faster than taking a plane and going to airports. 

The St-Pancras Station has been totally redesigned and expanded but has retained all of its architectural beauty. London is a bit cold tonight and cloudy but otherwise fine.

Le mercredi des cendres, Ash Wednesday

For me today has always been a day of reflection on the meaning of life and death and the afterlife.
It is the beginning of Lent or Le Carême as we call it in French and in 46 days we will celebrate Easter and the promise of the afterlife.

I always like the opéra Dialogue des Carmélites by Francis Poulenc. The story is set during the French Revolution and tells the story of the Carmelite nuns in Paris who fall victims of the fury of the French Civil War and of the street mob. The final act of the Opera takes place on Place de la Révolution today Place de la Concorde.

These women are facing execution in public, the mob roars, the sinister guillotine looms large over them. At this grave hour they are carried by Faith and Faith alone and the promise of the Afterlife. Poulenc uses the Salve Regina as the backdrop music to make his point and to illustrate the courage of the nuns. At the very end Sister Constance is the last to walk to the guillotine, she falters and Sister Blanche who ran away from the Order when the revolution started comes out of the crowd and joins her, having found Faith and Courage.

In our world this is a forgotten message. Poulenc wrote this opéra 60 years ago but it could have been 300 years ago, the world today is so very different. Difficult to find people motivated by Faith or by Courage today. Such themes take us into a different reality which requires a deeper understanding of who we are and of the world around us, hopefully Ash Wednesday is such a day.

The finale of the Dialogue of the Carmelites, Canadian Robert Carsen created this production that we saw at the Scala Milan a few years ago.

Remembering a great song from 1952

I was listening to France Musique on the radio this morning I am growing tired of the preachings of the CBC lately, to the point where I simply switch the dial to another station. I found an interview with an ex-pat American who lives in Paris and who organized an exhibit on the neighbourhood of Montmartre then and now. The exhibit is not about what Montmartre is suppose to be in the tourist lore but what it is really as a city neighbourhood not seen by the tourists.
I learned that prior to 1875 it was just one of many neighbourhoods of Paris, not very popular but by 1900 it had become the hot spot of Paris by night with its famous cafés and cabarets. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec having made it popular with his numerous posters and drawings.

The host of the radio program played the song hit of 1952 from the original movie Moulin Rouge.
The original version has famous names, José Ferrer, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Colette Marchand, the producer John Huston and the musical hit of 1952 ,Where is your heart, music by George Auric and words by William Engrick. Such beautiful music and so different from the modern remake.

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.

Here is a second offer of waltz music, this composition is entitled Très Joli by Emile Waldtuefel.
Strange name really Waldtuefel means Forest Devil.