This text is part of the special Museums notebook
At the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, we discover life among the Inuit, we reconnect with Ravel and we marvel at the work of an “indigenous” artist.
After taking its visitors to Japan alongside Andō Hiroshige and to the Flanders of Rubens and Bruegel in recent months, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is now taking them on less traveled paths.
Already, the exhibition Two by two gathered together presents the museum’s recent acquisitions in an unusual way. This in fact combines around a hundred works by artists from here and elsewhere, so as to allow them to “dialogue” with each other on the subject they deal with or even on the technique, the form or the era that they reveal. “Through these juxtapositions, we hope to generate new and enriching interpretations of our collection,” underlines Iris Amizlev, curator of special projects and curator of the exhibition. Visitors will find, among others, paintings by William Brymner, Peter Doig and Claude Tousignant; sculptures by Manasie Akpaliapik, Louise Bourgeois and Stanley Février; graphic works by Rembrandt and photographic works by Robert Mapplethorpe; as well as a rare Chinese astrolabe dating from the Sui dynasty (581-618). Until October 5, 2025.
In November, on the ground floor of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion, the MMFA will inaugurate new spaces that will double the museum surface area devoted to Inuit art. For the occasion, the new galleries will welcome uummaqutik. Essence of life. Imagined by Inuk artist and curator Asinnajaq, the exhibition is intended to be a poetic meditation on the daily life of the Inuit in their circumpolar homeland in Canada, Inuit Nunangat. Paintings, a sound installation, sculptures and works on paper will transport visitors well beyond the tree line… Please note: an audio description of the exhibition will be offered to visually impaired or blind people. From November 8.
Music and digital canvas
At the same time, on the facade of the Hornstein pavilion, everyone can recently admire ulitsuak | rising tide | rising tidethe kaleidoscopic video work by Montreal artist Glenn Gear, who defines himself as “autochtoqueer.” Using motifs from the beading tradition, the animation evokes the filmmaker’s links with nature while rising water levels, a consequence of climate change, gradually submerge the building. It promises! Until March 30, 2025, every evening, from dusk to 11 p.m.
Finally, in the Museum’s Contemporary Art Square, you can see an immersive video installation by Anri Sala, an internationally renowned Albanian artist known for his captivating work. Titled Ravel Ravel Intervalhis work offers two almost simultaneous interpretations of Concerto for the left hand in D major by Maurice Ravel. One is by Montreal pianist Louis Lortie; the other by French pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet. Composed in 1929-1930, the musical piece was commissioned by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, whose right arm was amputated during the First World War. From November 29.
This presentation will mark the kick-off of the celebrations surrounding the 150e Maurice Ravel’s birth anniversary at the MMFA and Bourgie Hall, where Louis Lortie will carry out a residency in 2025.
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