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DOC BULLETIN
Volume 25 no. 1
Fall | Automne 2015
Seven years after our first attempt at Carleton University to
teach the Canadian art history survey course using digital
images, I find myself frustrated and disappointed by the paucity
of Canadian visual arts content available on the world-wide-
web. Isolated, as I am, working in a departmental resource
centre, I grapple with the difficulties of finding a path through
the organizational morass that has beset our chronically
underfunded cultural institutions, and I wonder how we, as
individuals, can start working toward the goals delineated in
last year’s Report of the Royal Society of Canada’s Expert Panel
on the Status and Future of Canada’s Libraries and Archives?
There are promising examples of Canadian cultural resources
being made available in a way that encourages open-ended
exploration and discovery, but they are few. To gain a presence
in the virtual realm, we need to build up a critical mass of
accessible, high quality material, not a series of archived pages
and broken links.
Early efforts by Heritage Canada must be resuscitated and
expanded on and we need to work with
our colleagues in the proposed new
federated structure of Canadian library
associations, and other collaborative
efforts, in order to advocate for greater
on-line representation of Canadian art.
I am resolved to exercise our newly
expanded user rights under the fair
dealing clause in Canadian Copyright
law, and to actively fight against those
who willfully put up barriers between
the public and works that belong in the
public domain. I entreat you to do the
same. To do nothing is to risk not only becoming irrelevant to
the unfolding stories of the 21st century, but invisible as well.
Each issue of MOQDOC provides examples of how individuals
have come together to explore and extend our understanding
of cultural production. We are made aware of the riches to
be found in Canadian collections, no matter how modest in
scale, and we are reminded that we are not as isolated as we
may sometimes feel. To all those who have taken the time and
expended the effort to share their passion and enthusiasm for
the arts, we are indebted.
Thank you!
Nancy Duff
President, ARLIS/NA MOQ
Supervisor, Audio-Visual Resource Centre
School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University
MOT DE LA PRÉSIDENTE
PRESIDENT’S MESSAgE
2
Sept ans depuis notre première tentative de donner le cours
d’histoire de l’art canadien à l’Université Carleton en utilisant
les images numériques; je me sens aujourd’hui frustrée et déçue
de la pénurie de ressources en ligne portant sur les arts visuels
canadiens. Isolée comme je suis en travaillant dans un centre de
ressources du département, je m’efforce à retrouver une piste
dans le labyrinthe de règlements implantés dans nos institutions
culturelles, qui souffrent d’un sous-financement chronique. Je me
demande comment nous, comme individus, pouvons contribuer
à la réalisation des objectifs énoncés dans le rapport du groupe
d’experts sur l’avenir des bibliothèques, les centres d’archives et la
mémoire publique au Canada publié par la Société royale du Canada
l’année dernière.
Il existe des exemples prometteurs de ressources culturelles
canadiennes qui commencent à être mises à la disposition du
public de sorte à favoriser la découverte et l’exploration, mais ils
sont loin d’être nombreux. Pour établir une présence dans le monde
virtuel, nous devons accumuler une masse critique de documents
numériques de haute qualité et accessibles au public, et non une
série de pages web archivées et de liens
brisés.
Il faudrait réanimer et développer les
premiers efforts de Patrimoine Canada.
Cela exige que nous travaillions avec
nos collègues dans le cadre de la
nouvelle structure fédérée proposée
par l’association des bibliothèques
canadiennes, ainsi que d’autres
efforts collaboratifs afin de créer
une meilleure représentation de l’art
canadien en ligne.
Je suis résolue à exercer nos droits d’utilisation, récemment
élargi dans le cadre de l’utilisation équitable dans la loi sur les
droits d’auteurs canadiens. Je lutterai activement contre ceux
qui mettront les barrières entre le public et les œuvres qui font
partie du domaine public. Je vous invite à faire de même. Si nous
choisissons de ne pas agir, nous risquons non seulement de perdre
notre pertinence dans les histoires qui se dévoilent pendant le 21e
siècle, mais nous deviendrons aussi invisibles.
Chaque numéro de MOQDOC fournit des exemples de la façon
dont les individus se rassemblent pour explorer et accroitre notre
compréhension de la production culturelle. Nous découvrons la
richesse des collections canadiennes, si modestes soient-elles, et
ses histoires nous rappellent que nous ne sommes pas si isolées
qu’on pense. Pour tous ceux qui ont pris le temps et l’effort de
partager leur passion et enthousiasme pour les arts, nous sommes
redevables.
Merci!
Nancy Duff
présidente, ARLIS/NA MOQ
Supervisor, Audio-Visual Resource Centre
School for Studies in Art and Culture, Carleton University
RÉuNION Du PRINTEMPS 2015 DE LA SEcTION ARLIS/NA MOQ EN QuELQuES IMAgES Adèle Flannery, BibliothécaireUniversité du Québec à Montréal
3
La rencontre a eu lieu à aux Bibliothèques et Archives du Musée des beaux-arts du Canada. Voici quelques images qui résument la journée. L’exposition En souvenir. Les premières photographies canadiennes de voyage n’est pas représenté car les photos n’étaient pas permises. L’exposition ainsi que la présentation de la commissaire Jennifer Roger étaient fascinantes.
Quelques œuvres de la collection Art Metropole ont été présentées.
Il y avait des choses intéressantes à voir dans tous les racoins.
L’exposition Alex Colville m’a beaucoup interpellé, non seulement à cause de mes racines acadiennes, mais aussi parce que ma première année à l’université était à Mount Allison, là où Colville a enseigné pendant longtemps. Les paysages des maritimes étaient particulièrement envahissants.
L’installation sonore de Janet Cardiff, Motet à quarante voix, était éblouissante. L’exposition se termine le 8 janvier, donc à ne pas manquer.
IMPORTANT chANgE TO LISTSERv! chANgEMENT IMPORTANT à LA LISTE DE DIffuSION!
4
Le 9 octobre 2015, notre groupe Yahoo MOQ a été remplacé par une liste de
diffusion ARLIS MOQ, parrainé par ARLIS NA. Notre groupe Yahoo ARLIS MOQ
n’est plus utilisé. Nos membres en règle ont été automatiquement inscrits à
la nouvelle liste de diffusion. Nous encourageons tous ceux qui sont intéressé
de se joindre à notre nouveau MOQ listserv de suivre la procédure ci-dessous.
Pour envoyer des messages aux membres inscrits à la liste de diffusion:
Composez un courriel à [email protected]
Pour vous abonner ou vous désabonner de la liste de diffusion, envoyer un
courriel à [email protected] avec l’une des commandes suivantes dans le
corps du message ( l’objet du message est ignoré ).
subscribe arlismoq : Ajoute votre adresse courriel à la liste des abonnés
de la liste de diffusion. Vous recevrez un courriel confirmant votre
abonnement.
unsubscribe arlismoq : Supprime votre adresse courriel à partir de la
liste des abonnés de la liste de diffusion. Vous recevrez un courriel de
confirmation que vous vous êtes désabonné.
On October 9, 2015, our MOQ Yahoo Group was replaced by an ARLIS NA
hosted listserv. Our ARLIS MOQ Yahoo Group is now no longer active.
Fully paid up members of ARLIS MOQ were automatically signed up
to the new listserv. We encourage anyone interested in subscribing to
our new MOQ listserv to sign up by following the instructions below:
To send messages to everyone on the listserv: Compose an email
To subscribe or unsubscribe from the list, send an email to imailsrv@
arlisna.org with one of the following commands in the body of the
message (the subject of the message is ignored):
subscribe arlismoq : Adds your email address to the subscribers list of
the mailing list. You will receive an email confirming your subscription.
unsubscribe arlismoq : Removes your email address from the
subscribers list for the mailing list. You will receive an email confirming
that you have unsubscribed.
REMEMBERINg INgRID M. hAASEIngrid Haase passed away peacefully on May 11, 2015 in her 75th year. Born in Berlin-Charlottenburg, Germany, to Hedwig
and the German-Canadian artist, Siegfried F. Haase, Ingrid was educated in Halifax, NS.
Following a career as a teacher in NS and BC, she obtained a Masters in Library Studies, and
held positions at the University of Ottawa from 1979 until her retirement in 2005. While
working, she also furthered her education and obtained an MA in Religious Studies.
During the last three decades Ingrid took a personal interest in compiling the fonds
related to the life and work of her late father and were taking care of his legacy.
Meticulously she catalogued Siegfried F. Haase’s paintings, prints, and drawings
from the post-War years. (His substantial pre-War art was stolen while in storage
in Germany and is now lost). She generously donated many of these artworks to
various public galleries and institutions.
A dedicated teacher and librarian, a lover of the arts, and a member of the NGC, Ingrid
drew on her insatiable curiosity, her scholarship, her great sense of humour, her love of nature
and her friends in her battle against cancer. Integrity and reliability were her trademark. Ingrid is most
remembered for her smile by all those who knew her. Interment took place in the Haase family tomb in Herring Cove, NS.
Dr. Dina Teitelbaum,
Alumni, University of Ottawa
The Open Access movement as we know it began with the signing of the Budapest Open Access Initiative
in 2002. It began as a way to more broadly disseminate research and extend scholarly dialogues beyond
the arbitrary and increasingly constrictive paywalls put in place by academic publishers. In recent
years, however, it has started to have a more transformative effect: better access to research literature
combined with the development of new technologies has seen the emergence of both new methods and
avenues of enquiry. When Open Access policies are extended to include raw data as well as published
literature, this data can make for entirely new forms of scholarship and research creation.
In the world of the visual arts, a number of museums and galleries have chosen to make significant
contributions to this free and public sharing of information. The Cooper-Hewitt, Tate Gallery, and
MoMA have each released all the metadata for their collections through GitHub and made this metadata
available under a Creative Commons Zero license. This effectively commits the data to the public
domain, and allows for its unrestricted use.
These institutions hope that this data will be built upon and become the starting point for all manner
of research and creative work, as well as uses that blur this distinction. To commemorate the release of
its metadata, MoMA initiated a collaboration with artist collective, The Office of Creative Research, and
the theatre company, Elevator Repair Service, to stage a performance event within the museum titled
A Sort of Joy: Thousands of Exhausted Things. A Sort of Joy is a performance devised from text drawn from
the released metadata. Some selections were intentional, others arbitrary or algorithmically generated
during the course of the performance as it unfolded in the space of the museum.
“Over the next forty minutes, this group of six performers will speak (and sing) in a strange
language — every word they say will be taken verbatim from the collections database. And yet
it will not come off as if they are listing a litany of titles; instead they will engage in complex
patterns of call & response, performing a combination of carefully choreographed exchanges
and loosely-defined scenes, often balanced at the edge of chaos and absurdity.”
(Jer Thorp, “A Sort of Joy: Performing MoMA’s 120,000 object collections database”, https://
medium.com/@blprnt/a-sort-of-joy-1d9d5ff02ac9)
This kind of data-driven artwork is just one of the many possible uses for this metadata. By releasing it
freely, there are now many more chances for similar work, or better, work of a kind not yet imagined,
to come into being.
OPEN AccESS IN ThE vISuAL ARTS: MOMA, ThEIR cOLLEcTION METADATA, AND A SORT OF JOY
Alan Reed, MISt 16’School of Information Studies, McGill University
LINKS1. Cooper Hewitt on GitHub: https://github.com/cooperhewitt/collection
2. Tate Gallery on GitHub: https://github.com/tategallery/collection
3. MoMA on GitHub: https://github.com/MuseumofModernArt/collection
5
Les modèles de documentation et la préservation d’œuvres d’art
vivantes, éphémères suscitent des réflexions importantes pour les
centres d’archives, les musées et les bibliothèques en art. Bien que
beaucoup a été écrit sur ce sujet, la préservation et la mémoire de ces
œuvres demeurent un débat qui est toujours en cours, surtout avec le
développement de nouveaux modes d’enregistrement et de diffusion.
La publication Recréer/Scripter : Memoires et transmissions des œuvres
performatives et chorégraphiques contemporaines, publiée cette année
par les Presses du réel adresse ses thèmes en profondeur. Éditée
par Anne Bénichou, historienne de l’art et théoricienne, auteure de
plusieurs publications qui traitent la documentation des arts visuels
contemporains,1 cette publication réunit les textes de plus de vingt
auteurs appartenant à différents champs d’expertise dans le milieu
des arts, la muséologie, l’archivistique et l’histoire de l’art. Dans le
présent texte, je vais souligner les questions que ce livre aborde sur les
diverses façons de concevoir la préservation et la diffusion des œuvres
performatives et chorégraphiques dans les institutions patrimoniales et
les façons que les centres d’archives favorisent leur création.
Les idées explorées dans ces textes sont riches et pointues. Bien que les
auteurs discutent des avancements technologiques,2 cette publication
n’est pas centrée sur les technologies d’enregistrement et leur
capacité (ou incapacité) de capter l’œuvre performative. Les auteurs
visent surtout la transmission des œuvres - que cela soit à travers
l’enregistrement, des scripts, les écrits, ou de façon immatérielle
comme la recréation et la transmission orale. Ensuite la transmission
des documents archivistiques à leur public (les artistes, les spectateurs,
les chercheurs). Le livre est organisé en cinq sections qui examinent
chacun un aspect de cette transmission : Recréer le live; Produire le
document; Activer l’Archive; Écrire les histoires des arts vivants; Domicilier les
patrimoines (IM) Matériels.
ENTRE DOcuMENTATION ET cRÉATION. RÉfLEXIONS SuR LA PuBLIcATION
RECRÉER/SCRIPTER : MÉMOIRES ET TRANSMISSIONS DES OEUVRES PERFORMATIVES ET CHORÉOGRAPHIQUES CONTEMPORAINES.
Jessica Hébert, Bibliothécaire de référenceArtexte
Recréer/Scripter : Memoires et transmissions des œuvres performatives et
chorégraphiques contemporaines. Anne Bénichou (ed.) Paris : France,
les Presses du réel (2015)
6
7
Dans le texte d’introduction, Bénichou affirme que la documentation
ne sert pas toujours uniquement de testament ou de témoignage de
l’évènement, mais il a plusieurs rôles et il peut y avoir plusieurs formes.
Les auteurs sont clairs dans leurs façons de différencier les termes «
scripte », « documentation » et « document ». Elle décrit que la
documentation peut servir de trace, de témoignage ou de script qui
informe la recréation de l’œuvre à travers ses valeurs notationnelles. Le
réenactement et la reprise des œuvres antérieures par d’autres artistes
sont explorés comme des formes vivantes de transmission.
L’essai Le spectateur illuminé. La documentation de la performance comme
boucle de rétroaction de Jessica Santone révèle comment la documentation
vient parfois avant, pendant et après la performance. L’auteure cite
l’œuvre d’Adrian Piper, « Concrete Infinity Documentation Piece »
(1970) comme œuvre exemplaire dans sa façon d’intégrer les scripts dans
sa performance. La transmission de la performance à la documentation
à l’archive n’est pas toujours un processus linéaire.
La dernière section du livre examine l’intégration des œuvres
performatives dans les archives et les musées. Les questions posées par
Elsa Bourdot et Amélie Giguère dans Les reprises de performances comme
entreprises de mémoire. Regard sur des pratiques de musées et d’artistes
traitent de l’approche muséale et l’autorité accordée à la préservation
et à la diffusion des archives performatives. Comment trouver un model
d’intégration qui facilite la continuité de la mémoire de ses œuvres sans
qu’ils perdent une partie de leur sens original ?
Dans un essai qui nous touche de près, Jean-Pierre Perreault, un cas de
figure pour le patrimoine chorégraphique québécois de Marc Boivin et Theresa
Rowat nous montre que sans un model de préservation pour des œuvres
performatives, nous risquons de perdre une partie de leur histoire.
Cet article nous permet de voir un exemple concret de la situation du
patrimoine de la danse au Québec et au Canada. Ils écrivent en ce sens
que : « Les initiatives pour la préservation du patrimoine provenaient
de la communauté de la danse elle même. »3 À travers ces exemples,
il est évident que la préservation joue un rôle actif dans la création
artistique, car les archives nourrissent de nouvelles pratiques grâce
à la recherche. Sylvie Mokhtari amène pour sa part une réflexion sur
l’aspect de la performance et la documentation dans des rôles inversés,
lorsque que l’archive devient performative à travers la recherche et les
interventions dans son essai Archiver/activer la mémoire aux Archives de la
critique d’art. Le document : un retour à la performance ?
Riche dans sa valeur informative et les diverses idées qu’elle présente,
ce livre contribue aux discours sur la mémoire et le patrimoine d’œuvres
vivantes.
Il constitue un ouvrage théorique important pour les centres d’archives
et les musées qui souhaitent intégrer de nouveaux modes de traitement
et de diffusion des archives performatives et chorégraphiques. Bien
que la documentation de la performance soit parfois contestée et que
sa capacité de rendre justice à l’œuvre originale soit remise en cause,
ces textes constatent que malgré les défauts de la représentation,
la performance et la documentation sont entrecroisées à plusieurs
niveaux.
RÉfÉRENcES
1.Anne Bénichou (ed.) Ouvrir le document : Enjeux et pratiques de la documentation dans les arts visuels contemporains. Dijon France: Les presses du réel, 2010 et Anne Bénichou Un imaginaire institutionnel : Musées, collections et archives d’artistes. Paris, France: L’Harmattan, 2013
2. Voir l’essai de Clarisse Bardiot « Une autre mémoire : la chorégraphie des données. À propos des objets numériques développés par William Forsythe (Improvisation Technologies, Synchronous Objects et Motion Bank.) » p. 235 – 252.
3. Marc Boivin, et Theresa Rowat, « Jean-Pierre Perreault, un cas de figure pour le patrimoine chorégraphique québécois. » p. 399.
MONTRÉAL DANS L’OEIL DE vITTORIO,MuSÉE MccORDMathieu Pomerleau, BibliothécaireCentre Canadien d’Architecture
8
Montréal de l’œil de Vittorio offre un regard panoramique de l’œuvre de Vittorio Fiorucci, cette
affichiste dont la réputation exceptionnelle est aujourd’hui mondiale. Le propos de l’exposition
est simple : à partir d’une série de thèmes généraux reflétant la vie et la personnalité de
l’artiste, l’œuvre est décortiquée et analysée en segments spécifiques. Vittorio et son œuvre
sont ainsi présentés de façons franches et dynamiques : son humour cru, son intérêt pour les
femmes, son amour de l’opéra, son penchant pour la culture alternative et provocante, son
implication communautaire et sociale, le cinéma, mais aussi ses relations avec le milieu des
affaires, ou encore avec l’industrie du divertissement, entre autres.
Parce qu’elle se fonde sur une connaissance intime de la vie de l’artiste, cette exposition
articule de manière limpide toute la complexité de l’œuvre de Vittorio. En effet, la trame
narrative se construit autour d’anecdotes relatées par plusieurs amis, connaissances et
anciennes compagnes ayant fréquenté Vittorio. On en apprend donc sur la constitution
progressive de son réseau et, du même coup, sur son implication dans différentes sphères
de la vie culturelle montréalaise. Cette approche se distingue par sa franchise qui présente
l’homme tel qu’il était. On célèbre de la sorte sa vie et son art en embrassant tous les
paradoxes et les continuités.
L’exposition étudie aussi les référents au sein desquels se positionnent les différentes phases
créatives de l’artiste. Largement autoréférentiel, le travail de Vittorio reflète surtout un
dialogue intérieur s’incarnant par exemple dans les petits personnages « humanoïdes »,
selon l’expression du commissaire Marc H. Choko, qui peuplent l’ensemble de son œuvre.
Si le titre de l’exposition suggère que Montréal figure parmi ces référents, on comprend que
c’est cependant les expériences humaines que l’artiste y a vécues qui constituent l’inspiration
en tant que telle. Danielle Sauvage, directrice et chef de la direction du Musée McCord,
mentionne d’ailleurs dans l’avant-propos du catalogue de l’exposition, que Vittorio est en
effet considéré comme un représentant essentiel de « l’ébullition culturelle et sociale de la
ville », « des années soixante jusqu’à la fin du dernier siècle » .
Outre la fameuse mascotte du Festival Juste pour Rire, sans doute la création de Vittorio
ayant eu la plus grande exposition médiatique, l’exposition regorge de pièces saisissantes
dont plusieurs font maintenant partie de la mémoire collective montréalaise. Du corpus, se
distingue entre autres l’étonnante affiche que l’artiste a créée pour le documentaire À soir on
fait peur au monde, de François Brault et Jean Dansereau (1969), où l’on voit l’immense tête du
chanteur émergée au-dessus des sièges de la salle. L’affiche Visitez le nouveau Québec est aussi
percutante dans la mesure où le message convié par Vittorio, le rejet catégorique et soudain
de l’Église catholique au Québec, est convié pratiquement instantanément par l’image d’un
prêtre décapité.
Préparé par Marc H. Choko, le catalogue de l’exposition se distingue par ailleurs par son allure
extrêmement dynamique, à l’image de l’œuvre de Vittorio. On prend plaisir à le consulter
dans la mesure où on y laisse une large part aux créations elles-mêmes. Cette publication
s’inscrit à la suite des très beaux ouvrages publiés par Choko (notamment, L’affiche au Québec :
des origines à nos jours, Les affiches du Canadien Pacifique ou encore, Destination Québec : une histoire
illustrée du tourisme (avec Michèle Lefebvre et Danielle Léger). Cela dit, c’est cependant au
contact des œuvres elles-mêmes que se révèle vraiment la puissance visuelle du travail de
Vittorio Fiorucci. Parce qu’elles rassemblent un large corpus, l’exposition constitue donc une
occasion exceptionnelle de se confronter à ce génie créatif.
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9
RÉfÉRENcES Choko, Marc. H., 2015, Dans l’oeil de Vittorio, Montréal, Les Éditions de l’Homme, Musée McCord, 240p.
fINDINg AIDS AND STORIES IN ThE ARchIvES Of ThE NATIONAL gALLERy Of cANADADanuta Sierhuis, M.A. Art Historian
10
For the last three months, I have had the extraordinary opportunity to intern at
the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) Library and Archives as the TD Intern in
Archives Practice. Working under the supervision of Archivist, Philip Dombowsky,
I have spent my time processing new artists’ fonds and collections, as well as
writing finding aids for both print and web.
This was my first experience writing archival finding aids and I have developed
a new appreciation for what amazing resources they are. As a recent graduate of
the M.A. program in Art History at Carleton University, I have used finding aids
in order to get a sense of what kind of material is in an archival collection and
its context within history. This prior experience as a researcher was important to
how I approached writing my finding aids. For each project, I would ask myself:
“What kind of information about the material will be useful and interesting to a
researcher?”
I would begin by processing each collection, getting to know the documents and
materials. From there, I would piece together the collection’s stories and themes
in order to write the “Biographical Sketch,” the “Scope and Content,” and all
subsequent descriptions at the series and sub-series level. Learning about the
background of each artist, group, or curator’s files that I worked on this summer
was probably my favourite part of my internship. For the most part, I wrote
finding aids for artists such as Andreas Feininger, Ron Giii, and William Redver
Stark; however, I also wrote finding aids for the Sampson-Matthews Collection
and the Diana Nemiroff Fonds. Both the Andreas Feininger and Ron Giii Fonds are
full of interesting materials, including visual records and significant written work,
that helps to develop a sense of both men as individuals as well their respective
approaches to art practice.
1.
Andreas Feininger (1906-1999), an American photographer best-known for
his dynamic, black and white photographs of New York City, wrote technical
manuals and commentaries on photography. His manuscripts give us a sense
of his thought process and what he valued when composing a photograph.
This material can be invaluable information to researchers studying his
photographs.
Ron Giii (b. 1944), a Canadian performance artist, painter, and writer, was
a significant figure in the Toronto performance art scene of the 1970’s. His
writings and diaries reflect his personal philosophy and include commentaries
on cultural theorists, like Baruch Spinoza, G. W. F. Hegel, Charles Darwin,
Friedrich Nietzsche, Theodor W. Adorno, and Antonin Artaud. These writings
are central to his artistic practice and have informed his drawings and
performative works, such as the theatrical work, the Schizophrenic Opera (1982)
and his series of drawings The Atomic Theatre and The Dictator’s Opera (both
1985).
The finding aid is a representative document through which one can access
the context of a fonds and catch a glimpse at the narratives about the artist
held within. Thinking of a finding aid as a representation of different pieces
of an archival narrative is something new to me and has enhanced my
appreciation of them as research tools. The very act of archival description
is a representational act that creates meaning through the inclusion of the
surrounding and contextual details that can be so essential to researchers.
Within a finding aid, the archivist draws out the themes of the archive in order
to make the subject accessible to assist researchers. As scholar Elizabeth Yakel
notes, with regards to archival processing and description:
The term ‘archival representation’ more precisely captures the
actual work of the archivist in (re)ordering, interpreting, creating
surrogates, and designing architectures for representational
systems that contain those surrogates to stand in for or represent
actual archival materials.1
For each finding aid, or ‘representation’, I created for the National Gallery of
Canada Library and Archives I wanted to learn more about the context behind
each collection and fonds. Through my work and research on the Sampson-
Matthews Collection, the William Redver Stark Collection, and the Thomas
Wesley McLean Collection, I learned about a little-known, or at least little-
known to me, part of Canadian art history: Canadian graphic art, design, and
illustration.
If you have ever been to the Archives at the National Gallery of Canada, you
may have noticed the beautiful silkscreen prints on the walls. These prints are
from the Sampson-Matthews Print Program (1942-1963). During the Second
World War, Sampson-Matthews Ltd., a prestigious graphic art company,
partnered with A.Y. Jackson (1882-1974), A.J. Casson (1898-1992), and the
National Gallery of Canada to make high-quality reproductions of Canadian
paintings. These were then displayed throughout Canada and around the
world in offices, libraries, schools, and galleries.
In the same period as the Sampson-Matthews Print Program, both William
Redver Stark and Thomas Wesley McLean were working in commercial art
and design. These two collections feature artworks, including silkscreens,
drawings and sketches, and straddle Canadian fine art and commercial art,
something that I have seen very little documentation of in my experience of
Canadian art history.
I have been incredibly lucky to have worked with the collections within the
NGC Archives and think of my experience handling art archives and archival
description as invaluable. In working with Philip Dombowsky, I learned the
importance of finding aids as a research tool, not only to help researchers
find what they need, but also to give the contextual story of the materials in
question.
11
REfERENcES1. Elizabeth Yakel (2003). “Archival Representation.” Archival Science, 3, 1-25. Retrieved September 25, 2015, from http://sitemaker.umich.edu/yakel/files/yakel_archival_representation.pdf
IMAgE cREDITS1. William Redver Stark, On the Somme, [ca. 1916 – 1918], Etching on paper, William Redver Stark Collection, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives.
2. A.Y. Jackson, Dease Bay, Great Bear Lake, ca. 1947-1953, silkscreen print, Sampson-Matthews Collection, National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives.
2.
INTERvIEW WITh cAROLINE McBRIDE
12
ARchIvIST / LIBRARIAN AT ThE AucKLAND ART gALLERy TOI O TAMAKIDaniela Ansovini, ArchivistJewish Public Library Archives
Can you tell me a little about the history of the library within the Auckland Art Gallery? Are
the archives included within this, or are they considered separate?
The archives are one of the collections that are held in the E.H. McCormick Research Library
here at the Auckland Art Gallery. The library itself opened in 1956. Initially, the library was set
up simply for the staff: to give curators, conservators and other staff the resources for their
work. When I joined in 1997, it was only open to the public one day a week, then moving to two.
Now that we are in the new building we are open six days a week, so we have really increased
our accessibility to the public. Our archival collection itself is essentially two-pronged; it
houses both the archives of the Auckland Art Gallery and other archives which include personal
papers of individual artists or papers of artists’ cooperatives and galleries.
In reading about the talks that you are giving this winter, I was excited to see their content
covered both use and theory of archives as well as more generally introducing the public to
how they are structured and thought about from a professional perspective. Can you speak to
how these talks came about?
I was delighted to be asked to give these talks because I feel very strongly that archives need to
be used, and for this reason want to promote them as much as possible and to continue to think
of innovative ways to use them. We have a new Friend’s President and in a conversation with
her, following one of my usual archives raves, she suggested a series of presentations. From
there I developed the idea of these three talks, the first of which was the on the lifecycle of an
archive. This one was designed to set the scene and generally touch on some of the issues to
do with archives, our particular set-up, and some of the documentation that surrounds them.
I introduced the idea of original order, provenance, working with donors, and conservation
issues. I also spoke about privacy and morality in the content that archivists work with and
how you respond and contextualize this relevant to the time. It is easy to portray this type of
work as mechanical, but I think it is important to talk also about the very human elements. The
second talk is about contemporary art and its mix with archives. I’ll look at examples of artists
who draw from archival material, such as Michael Stevenson’s work Call Me Immendorff, those
like Richard Maloy who create and work with their own archive, and those who create ‘false’
archives, such as Atlas Group. The third talk focuses on the treasures held within the archival
collections, materials such as the documentation around our commissioned works, objects like
concrete samples, and the processes that developed between curatorial staff and ourselves in
the cases where we able to work with artists directly before receiving their material.
Is archival material often included within exhibitions?
At one point we had archival material in four different parts of the gallery, which was “a best”
for us. Part of advocating for archives is really so that staff and the public know what we have
here. We have a lot of material that isn’t paper-based to contribute. For example, you just
missed Modern Paints Aotearoa, which dealt with how New Zealand artists worked with new
paints that came on to the scene in the 1960’s. For this show we had a large vitrine that we were
able to curate, and so we were able
to create an opportunity to look
at a painting on the wall and read
the artist’s notebook as well. In
addition, we also have a dedicated
space for archival exhibitions.
New Zealand’s Auckland Art Gallery
Toi o Tāmaki sits nestled up against the
side of the city’s Albert Park (imagine a
slightly flatter Mount Royal with equal
part palm tree and equal part oak). The
new and much-celebrated building of
wooden canopies and light-filled atriums
extends from the 19th century original
site first developed to house and display
two donated collections. Each of these
collections included a combination of
paintings, objects and bibliographic
works, creating the need for a dual gallery
space and library. As the two institutions
respectively grew, they eventually moved
to separate quarters, each however
distinguished in its own right: Auckland
City Libraries reflects New Zealand’s
tradition of a user-centered, responsive
philosophy in archives and libraries; while
the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is an
arts institution which has its own history
of pushing boundaries, as illustrated in
one notable instance by the reaction to its
1956 Henry Moore exhibit when Auckland’s
then mayor exclaimed, “I had never seen
the art gallery so desecrated by such a
nauseating sight..”1.
Today the gallery holds the country’s
largest collection of both national and
international art ranging from European
painting represented by its first collections,
to contemporary works by Maori and
Pacific Islander artists as well as those of
New Zealanders of European and American
descent. It also provides a range of public
programming, including the production of
the Reading Room Journal, performances
and public talks.
While in Auckland this past winter, I
noticed a series of presentations given
by the gallery’s librarian and archivist,
Caroline McBride. These included
highlights of the E.H. McCormick Research
Library’s archival collections, current uses
of archives in contemporary art, and the
nitty-gritty of archival theory and practice.
I was pleased to have the opportunity to
speak to Ms. McBride about both the talks
and the archives themselves. This is some
of our conversation (condensed):
13
REfRENcES
1. Stocker, Mark, “The best thing ever seen in New Zealand’: The Henry Moore Exhibition of 1956–57,” Scultpure Journal 163 (2007) : accessed October 1st, 2015, http://dx.doi.org/10.3828/sj.16.1.6
IMAgE cREDITS : Photos by ChewyPineapple (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons1. Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki, Kitchener Street. 2. Modern extension of Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki.3.The original Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki building.
INTRODucTION
This summer I was lucky enough to find a job at the Thomas
More Institute (TMI) a teaching organization like no other.
Operating in Montréal for more than 50 years, its approach
to education is humanistic and text-centric. Teachers are
trained discussion leaders who help the students to grow
intellectually and deepen their reflection on various subjects
through carefully selected themes, like the history of Antiquity
through the lens of opera or Frank Zappa’s music. Affiliated
with Bishop’s University, Thomas More offers undergraduate
degree programs, but most students choose elective courses by
pure interest and come back for the sense of community and
the dedicated staff.
My mandate was broad. It involved continuing in the footsteps
of previous student archivists to organize and properly
archive the institute’s records. This was an interesting but
overwhelming task; 50 years’ worth of various records of every
type had accumulated in a storage room without ever having
been properly accessioned. There was a lot more work required
than I could do in the four months that I would be there, so I
needed to find a project I could focus on. Then, in the corner of
a room, a couple of shelves caught my eye: an art collection in
a jumble of paper wrap. I had already studied museology, and
taking care of this collection became my personal project for
the summer.
SEcRET TREASuRES Of ThE ThOMAS MORE INSTITuTE
14
Janie Tremblay, MISt ‘16, School of Information Studies, McGill University
ThE ART Of MANAgINg AN ART
cOLLEcTION: 1.
2.
A BEAuTIfuL cOLLEcTION IN A SORRy STATE
Some artworks were signed by notable Quebec painters,
including Stanley Cosgrove, Emily Coonan, Leslie Schalk,
Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté and Alfred Pellan. The
collection also had First Nations and Innu art. Needless to say,
it was a collection of high cultural value that deserved to be
properly taken care of.
Even though most of the paintings and sculptures had an
accession number, they were placed on the shelves in no
apparent order. Many artworks did not have any type of
protection on them, which lead to scratches on the frames
of the paintings, not to mention the accumulation of dust.
Part of the collection was situated underneath the ventilation
trap, causing a great deal of concrete particles to fall on the
artworks. In addition to all this, there were pipes running
through the shelves that especially worried me. I discovered
that they were electrical pipes. There was no heat radiating
from them but the junction box was placed directly over the
collection, creating a significant fire hazard. The thought of it
still gives me nightmares.
STEPS TO RESTORE ThE QuALITy Of PRESERvATION
The first step was to do an inventory of the entire collection, both
in the archives and on the walls of the institution, and to then
crosscheck with prior inventories. It was no surprise to discover
that they didn’t match up. I had to play the role of Sherlock Holmes
in order to locate the paintings that had been sold, and by which
auction house and for how much; identify the paintings that had
been mislabeled; and identify the latest acquisitions that had not
yet been inventoried. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without
the help of the accountant David Faulkner, who had kept records
of all the information I needed for insurance purposes. My biggest
surprise, however, was finding – in the most random place of the
archives – an entire box of Sarah Jacksons’ original drawings,
artist’s proofs, and limited editions that had been donated to TMI
by her father and had never been catalogued.
The second stage was to reconfigure the shelves by displaying
the paintings according to their accession number, making sure
that each painting had at least one degree of protection and was
properly identified.
The third step was to insure the preservation of the digital
information that related to the collection: Excel spreadsheets for
the inventories and a Microsoft Access database with photographs
of the paintings to act as surrogates. The metadata had to be
complete and consistent. For example, I used the accession
number with the name of the painter and the title of the painting
as a way to identify each picture. The same accession number was
then used as the primary key in my relational database.
15
IMAgE cREDITSJanie Tremblay1. A Stanley Cosgrove’s artwork on the bottom shelf2. Paintings under an electric junction box
Fourthly, the paper records had to be reunited. After taking all
the photographs of the paintings to document the collection, I
printed them and added a clear identification number to update
the catalogue, which was again ordered according to accession
number. Therefore, the exact same information exists in both
digital and paper format.
Last, but not least, I made sure that this work would carry on
after I had left. Before the end of my contract, I spoke with
the very capable Irene Menear, course designer and discussion
leader, in order to be certain that staff members at TMI will
know how to properly manage the art collection in the future.
PROBLEMS AND hEARTAchES
Budgets are tight, time is limited, and means of action are
even narrower. Some difficult choices had to be made: do I
leave the paintings to collect dust or protect them with a paper
that contains acid? Do I leave a part of the collection under
the ventilation trap or go for a tighter fit on the shelves? Can
I legally include in the collection the paintings that artists
had left behind after an art show ten years ago? What do I do
with the unidentified sculptures? I cannot pretend to have
found perfect solutions to these questions, but I did the best
I could. If a painting had a glass protection, I didn’t wrap it in
acidic paper. After seeking the advice of my lawyer friends, I
included the forgotten paintings in the collection. I went for
a slightly tighter fit and made sure that only the less valuable
items of the collection were placed under the ventilation trap.
I also kept the unidentified artworks separated from the main
collection but listed on the inventory.
cONcLuSION
I now have a more realistic approach to preservation. Museum
standards for the storage and preservation of artworks are very
difficult to achieve for non-profit organizations operating
with very tight budgets. There are companies, which provide
the service, but hiring an outside contractor to do this job can
be quite expensive. Therefore, archivists have to manage by
making difficult choices. It is not always the ideal way of doing
things, but we can only do the best job that we can with the
resources available to us.
http://www.thomasmore.qc.ca/tmi-art-collection/
cALENDAR Of EvENTS
NOvEMBER 2015 - JuNE 2016
Congrès des milieux documentaires du Québec
Montréal, Québec
18 au 20 novembre 2015
https://www.milieuxdoc.ca/
Expozine – Montréal’s Small Press, Comic and Zine Fair
La foire des petits éditeurs, bande-dessinées et fanzines
Montréal, Québec
14 au 15 novembre
http://expozine.ca/
Association des Musées canadiens: symposium sur les expositions itinérants
Canadian Museums Association: Travelling Exhibition Symposium
Gatineau, Québec
2 au 3 décembre 2015
http://www.museums.ca/site/cma/home
College Art Association 103rd Annual Conference
Washington, DC
February 3 – 6, 2016
http://conference.collegeart.org/
ARLIS/NA 44th Annual Conference
Seattle, Washington
March 19 – 23, 2015
http://www.arlisna-vra.org/seattle2016/
cALENDRIER DES ÉvÉNEMENTS
NOvEMBRE 2015 à JuIN 2016
Museums and the Web 2016
Los Angeles, California
April 6-9, 2016
http://mw2016.museumsandtheweb.com/
Foire Papier – Contemporary Art Fair of Works on Paper
Foire d’art contemporain d’œuvres sur papier
Montréal, Québec
Printemps / Spring 2016
http://papiermontreal.com
Association of Canadian Archivists Annual Conference
Montréal, Québec
June 2 - 4, 2016
http://www.archivistes.qc.ca/congres/congres-2016
Special Libraries Association Annual Conference
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
June 12-14, 2016
https://www.sla.org/attend/sla-2016-annual-conference/
45e Congrès - Association des archivistes du Québec
Québec, Québec
13 au 15 juin 2016
http://archivistes.qc.ca/congres/congres-2016
EDITORIAL cOMMITTEE / cOMITÉ DE RÉDAcTION :
Daniela Ansovini, Adèle Flannery (Layout / Mise en page), Jessica Hébert, Alan Reed, François Valcourt
Cover image / Image de couverture : William Redver Stark, Peacock, [ca. 1916 – 1950], Etching on paper, William Redver Stark Collection, National
Gallery of Canada Library and Archives.
EXEcuTIvE cOMMITTEE / cOMITÉ EXÉcuTIf 2015:
President / Présidente : Nancy Duff • Vice-President / Vice-Présidente : Pamela Fae Casey • Secretary / Secrétaire : Corina MacDonald •
Treasurer / Trésorière : Felicity Tayler • Membership Secretary / Responsable des membres : Philip Dombowsky • Professional Development
Award / Bourse de perfectionnement professionnel : Patricia Black - Gisèle Guay - Danielle Léger • Past President and ARLIS/Canada
representative / Ex-président et représentante d’ARLIS/Canada : Pierre Landry
Biannual / Semi-annuel ISSN 11860-6641 www.arlismoq.ca ©ARLIS/NAMOQ
