fixed - Art Toronto

Gardiner Museum
111 Queen’s Park, Toronto ON M5S 2C7, Canada
Tel: 416 408 5050 Fax: 416 586 8085 Email: cdowdell@gardinermuseum.com
Web: www.gardinermuseum.com
Art Gallery of Hamilton
123 King Street West, Hamilton ON L8P 4S8, Canada
Tel: 905 527 6610 Fax: 905 577 6940 Email: info@artgalleryofhamilton.com Web: www.artgalleryofhamilton.com
INSPIRATION EAST
A one-year celebration of Asian art at the Art Gallery of Hamilton
Beginning in the fall of 2007 and concluding in September of 2008, the AGH presents Inspiration East,
a series of exhibitions and programmes celebrating Asian culture.
From Geisha to Diva: The Kimonos of Ichimaru
One of the most famous geishas of 20th century Japan, Ichimaru escaped the geisha world and
became a major singing talent in Japan. After leaving the geisha world, she would continue to
perform in full regalia throughout her illustrious career, and in true geisha fashion would continue to
purchase beautiful kimonos. This kimono exhibition is a tribute to her style and taste. Organized and
circulated by the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Head with Wire Curl, 2000
Clay, wire curl, shards, glazes and
engobes, paper (42.5 cm)
Collection of Renate und Bernd
Wunderle, M¸nchen
Photo: George Meister
Courtesy of Galerie b15
One of the most significant ceramic artists of the last century, Gertraud Möhwald is revered for
her striking clay portraits. Spread amongst public and private collections around the world, her
work is rarely exhibited and has never-before been shown in Canada. From October 12, 2007 to
January 20, 2008, the Gardiner Museum will mount 25 of her works.
Although little is known of her work in North America, Gertraud Möhwald (1929-2002)
is renowned for her contribution to ceramic art, both as an artist and teacher. Surrounded
by baroque buildings and walls in various stages of decay and ruin, her work takes on this
fragmentary environment. Her heads and torsos are collages of clay and common-place ceramic
fragments and are sometimes combined with found objects.
The Gardiner Museum began acquiring contemporary ceramics for its permanent collection in
1999. The expansion of the museum, completed in 2006, introduced a gallery dedicated to
contemporary ceramics and a special exhibition space that has enabled the Gardiner to regularly
mount large-scale exhibitions like Clay Portraits: Gertraud Möhwald.
Celebrating ceramic art, the Gardiner Museum is one of the world’s preeminent specialty
museums. The collection, which exceeds 2900 pieces, has been described as a “jewel box of
ceramic treasures”. The museum offers programs and lectures, and, in its clay studio, clay classes
for adults and children. The museum is open Monday to Thursday 10 am to 6 pm, Friday 10 am
to 9 pm and Saturday and Sunday 10 am to 5 pm.
Joe Ng Collection of Japanese Art
Luke Chan Collection of Chinese Painting
Hamilton collectors Joe Ng, founder of Ng Engineering Ltd., and Luke Chan, Associate Vice-President
of International Affairs at McMaster University, have each assembled a noted collection of Asian art.
Joe Ng’s collection focuses primarily upon historical Japanese ceramics, dating from the 17th to the
20th century, while Luke Chan concentrates on modern Chinese painting nourished by the age-old
tradition of Chinese landscape painting and calligraphy.
Japanese Prints
An intimate exhibition of prints dating from the 19th and 20th centuries that includes landscape and
genre scenes by artists such as Hiroshige and Kunisada.
Great New Wave: Contemporary Japanese Art
This groundbreaking Canadian presentation of Japanese art examines new and recent work by
emerging and mid-career artists. An exciting new wave of work follows in the wake of Japan’s
economic collapse in the 1990s, and the Superflat movement - a lively and colourful critique of
post-war Japanese culture influenced by the rise of manga and anime, and epitomized by the work
of Takashi Murikami and Yoshimoto Nara - that catapulted Japan onto the contemporary art world
stage. These new expressions reflect an acute consciousness of cultural tradition while simultaneously
proposing visions of the globalized future. This group show will include work by Yoshiaki Kaihatsu,
who uses discarded modern consumer materials to explore the ancient rituals of the Japanese Tea
Ceremony, and Sayaka Akiyama, who charts her journey through social and urban space with colourful
and tactile textile-based mapping projects, among others. A co-presentation of the Art Gallery of
Hamilton and Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Great Masters Series: Edgar Degas
The AGH will present a small representative group of works by the artist, interpreting them
contextually to explain Degas’ unique approach to realism and modernity. In his cropped and
asymmetrical compositions as well as in unique works such as painted silk fans, Degas was one of the
Impressionists most influenced by the art of Japanese woodblocks.
For more information, please visit our Website at www.artgalleryofhamilton.com
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