WE thought we were there to see a new exhibit about -- who knew -- Impressionism on the St. Lawrence. But I was pleased and impressed to see a special exhibit there on the (pre-Group of Seven) war art of A.Y. Jackson. And that it was guest curated by the historian Douglas Hunter -- because the whole idea of the exhibition grows out of Hunter's recent biography Jackson's Wars -- an immensely detailed and very readable immersion into what the First World War experience meant to Jackson, and by extension to his whole generation.
Good to know we still have large public galleries fleet-footed and alert enough to pick up on what's going on out there and responding so rapidly and effectively -- to a book!
Small grumble on the theme of war art: Years ago I was one of many historians who were invited to review and comment on exhibition plans for the new and then-developing Canadian War Museum. One large reservation I recall expressing rather vigorously was that the plans did not make room for substantial space within the museum dedicated to ongoing exhibitions from the truly remarkable holding of Canadian war art that it has.
Back then, the suggestion got about as much attention as most such exercises do. At the moment, I would guess, the McMichael has more war art on its walls than the War Museum does. (Though I have not been to Ottawa or the War Museum in some time, and things may have changed.)
"River of Dreams" the Impressionism/St.Lawrence show we thought we were going to see, is pretty terrific too, and much more extensively than "Jackson's Wars."
