enfinblue's Bluey (credit to Fifi for the nickname!) Diaryland Diary
"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." -Vinc3nt V@n Gogh
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More Canadian history than you ever wnted to know.
So I had this morning what felt to me like a typically Canadian experience. It reminded me of the degree to which Canada exists almost as an apology.
C. was indeed sufficiently on time, which, with our brisk walking, got us to the National Arch!ves well before the bus arrived. Once there we were greeted by a very friendly, very charming, very French Canadian and very gay sculptor (otherwise I almost certainly would boldly have asked for his phone number ;)).
Since we had some time to kill, I was pleased to discover not only that the doors to the National Library were open, but that some of the exhibition spaces on the main floor were also completely open, completely unattended, and completely empty! I'm always so pleased when I can declare some space to be MINE, all MINE!
I took the obvious route and made a beeline into the Anne of Gre3n Gables exhibit. I entertained myself by watching bits of the movie from the 1980s, as well as of the older movie (from the 40s, I think). I know every single word of that story off by heart. I have read every book on its creator, and pretty much left it behind maybe ten years ago. But what feelings were generated by the exhibit! What happiness!
So C. eventually came to grab me to tell me that the bus had arrived, and he admitted at that point that he has NOT YET READ THE BOOK. I gave it to him years ago, and as it is a swift read and the best possible introduction to Canadiana there is (and given that he is being paid a salary by Canadian tax payers)...I chided him for not meeting this one little, wee expectation of mine. :)
Nevermind.
So the vault tour was terrific. And as I mentioned above, a thoroughly Canadian experience. We started with portraits of the generals who fought on the Plains of Abr@ham above Quebec City to determine whether it would be the British or French who would prevail in this particular territory, and that started things off quite well. The portraits were rather underwhelming, inasmuch as no one actually knows if they were painted from life and thereby accurate portraits.
Following this was a lovely Joshu@ R3ynolds, which reveals the history of Canada as well as anything.
Before telling this particular bit, however, I should let you in on a little secret: When the English won the Battle of the Plains of Abrah@m (well, the Seven Years' War dragged on longer than this, but this was the decisive battle in the North American theatre), the French gave them the choice of Canada or Guadel0upe (warm, sugar-producing place). For some mysterious reason, they chose Canada... :)
Anyhow. I'm really rambling. The Reynolds portrait was of the officer who designed the strategy that WON the Battle of the Pl@ins of Abr@ham for Gener@l Wolfe (who died as a result of the battle). This dude (Hale) was granted land in Canada for his service during the war. He promptly hightailed it back to Moth3r England ("Why would I want to live THERE?" you can hear him muttering under his breath), where he was subsequently painted. He never used the land.
The tour proceeded from region to region, in a typically Canadian - everyone MUST be represented - fashion, with everything from portraits of Metis playwrights from Manitoba to contemporary Ha!da masks shown.
The portraits chosen of women were particularly interesting, as were the portraits commissioned of working people, e.g., people in fur factories and the like, in a period in which the "national" psyche was concerned with making artists "useful."
I was particularly pleased that they highlighted portraits painted BY women, and in fact I would not be at all surprised if the portraits had been counted and a determination made that exactly 52% of the works shown must be by women artists, or maybe some other interesting figure such as 38%, with the 52% weighted to reflect the limitation that most people publicly painting in our history were of course men.
(As I reveal my intimate knowledge of Canadian content rules, and other costly bureacratic wanderings.)
:)
But, all very interesting. Among my favourites were the sketchbook from voyages to the West Coast of Canada by Captain Co0k (the voyages, not the drawings), and sketches of Indians made on the Franklin exhibition to the far north.
I love, love, love Frances Hopk!ns, (the spunky person, at least) who did marvelous portraits of the French Canadian couriers du bois, who, with help of Indians and the Hudson's Bay Company, traversed the rivers of the country in the massive early trade that ignited our economy: trade in furs. Let me see if I can find her most famous picture. I particularly love the fact that she painted herself right into it (little woman, middle, straw hat):
She actually DID go on those journeys with her husband, who was one of the governors of the Hudson's B@y Company. So that's kind of cool.
There were miniatures on ivory and paintings of English lords sent to keep us orderly. There were early daguerrotypes of our first prime minister; one that I had just a few inches from my face. There were touching pictures of First Nations people that gave me goose bumps.
Perhaps the best photographs were photographs by Karsch, who happens to have had a studio in Ottawa for his entire career. I saw the photo of Church!ll taken immediately after he had spoken to the Canadian Parliament. He has a pissed off look on his face that is attributed to the fact that Karsch had just ripped the cigar out of Churchill's hand.
So I'm rambling, and most of this will not be of interest to you, but it got me feeling, if not affection, a mild bemusement and renewed appreciation for the things that I have known and felt for so long about my place of birth. It's a cobbled together place, an apologetic place. When we were permitted to move towards the cases to see some of the smaller items, no one wanted to impede anyone else's view and so no one moved forward to get close. Instead, we arched out in an inclusive circle. It's a place created by a melange of people most often not entirely ready to scream out, "This is my home!" Cliches, yes. But mostly true.
It's a funny thing. It's a funny place. I felt more interested in knowing it further, whilst in the vault. At the same time, I felt a renewed desire to buy that ticket to London or Paris for Christmas and to further study the European academic tradition of art and to BRING that back here with me (as many have done before me).
|3:16 p.m. - 2008-11-09
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Come al solito - 2011-04-16 unfettered spending - 2011-04-15 How does it go? - 2011-04-14 Whirlwind. - 2011-04-13 bleak that flips over to daffodil - 2011-04-08 |