Past Exhibitions
2013-2014

Transformations: A.Y. Jackson & Otto Dix

September 7, 2013 - January 12, 2014

An exhibition produced by the Canadian War Museum,with the generous support of the National Gallery of Canada.

Otto Dix Bahndamm, 1911. ©Estate of Otto Dix/SODRAC (2013)/Otto Dix Foundation, Vaduz

Drawing on rich historical and art resources, including works drawn from public and private collections in Canada, the United States and Germany, this groundbreaking exhibition of war-influenced paintings, drawings and prints reveals how this tumultuous period shaped the artistic output of both men. This resulted in very different, and often powerful, expressions of Canadian and German national identity.

The exhibition features nationally important artwork by Group of Seven member A.Y. Jackson and significant works (some never before seen in Canada) by famed German artist Otto Dix. The exhibition shows how war engendered strong nationalist feelings and attitudes toward world conflict in the two artists, which they expressed in landscape paintings until the end of their lives. More

 

 

Made in Calgary: The 1980s

September 7, 2013 - January 5, 2014

Organized by Glenbow Museum; Curated by Jeffrey Spalding

Chris Cran, Self-Portrait Watching a Man about to Shoot Himself in the Foot, 1985, Collection of Glenbow Museum

Made in Calgary is a five-part exhibition series that explores the character of Calgary's artistic community from 1960 to 2010. Each exhibition will reflect the contributions of individual artists in the context of the social and cultural factors that influenced their work.

As Calgary soared to economic power in the 1980s, a maverick new energy in the visual arts also arose in the city. "Calgary became truer to itself in the 80s – artists created things moulded in the Calgary spirit," says Jeffrey Spalding, curator of Made in Calgary: The 1980s.

In discovering that spirit, Calgary artists found themselves reevaluating their conceptions of art, and, in many cases, reinventing their entire approach to the creative process.

A survey of just some of the individuals whose work is featured in the exhibition reveals how pervasive was this climate of change and exploration. In ceramics, for instance, important sculptors such as Mary Shannon Will and Gisele Amantea abruptly reversed course, with the former leaving behind the organic tradition that had defined her work for a more geometric approach, while Amantea took a 180 degree turn from representational work and produced pieces that were an onslaught of colour, pattern and stimuli.

Meanwhile, Chris Cran began to embrace what Spalding describes as "zany narratives" – as evidenced by his Self Portrait Watching a Man About to Shoot Himself in the Foot. John Will, the definitive master printmaker, stopped making prints in 1980 to allow himself the freedom to explore other avenues of art making. More

 

 

From our Collections: War in the Trenches

September 7, 2013 - January 12, 2014

Organized by Glenbow Museum; Curated by Jeffrey Spalding

Biscuit tin, 1917, Collection of Glenbow Museum

War in the Trenches echoes the themes of Transformations – A.Y. Jackson and Otto Dix by bringing together rarely or never-before exhibited artifacts and stories relating to several people and units that served in the First World War.

The landscape of the Western Front deeply affected those who encountered it. A member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, war artist A.Y. Jackson was one of over 600,000 Canadians who fought in the muddy trenches of France and Belgium, and were forever changed by the First World War. The objects from Glenbow's collections featured in this small but meaningful exhibition offer glimpses of that experience as shared by local men and women. More