New Acquisitions Dancing in Dialogue
Lets’lo:tseltun – Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (1957-), Natives Playing on the Land, 2015, acrylic on canvas, 274 x 183 cm. MMFA, gift of W. Bruce C. Bailey in honour of Jacques Des Rochers, Senior Curator of Quebec and Canadian Art. © Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Courtesy of the artist and Macaulay & Co. Fine Art | Nicolas Party (born in 1980), Landscape, 2021, pastel on canvas stretched on wood panel, 265 x 180 cm. MMFA, gift of Iris and Adam Singer. © Nicolas Party. Photos MMFA, Jean-François Brière
On view from September 11, 2024, to October 5, 2025, Two by Two, Together: Recent Additions to the MMFA’s Collection unveils a selection of artworks that have been acquired by the MMFA over the last five years. These works are grouped together in such a way as to create a dialogue between them based on their subject, medium, form, function or period. In addition to underscoring the diversity of our new acquisitions, the exhibition opens a window for the public into the practices and approaches that made these additions possible.
Iris Amizlev
Presented in a series of galleries at the junction of the Museum’s five pavilions, the exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures, graphic artworks, photographs, videos, decorative arts and design works, and archaeological artefacts, highlighting the Museum’s many collecting areas. These recent acquisitions span thousands of years and every corner of the globe, and the majority of them are being shown to the Museum’s audiences for the first time.
A rigorous acquisition process
Begun in the 19th century, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts’s permanent collection is one of the oldest in Canada and consists of close to 47,000 objects from five continents, dating from the Neolithic era to the present day. It continues to grow every year through donations, purchases, and bequests.
Every potential acquisition is subject to the same rigorous process. Curators conduct extensive research to determine if the object would enhance the MMFA’s collections, either by adding depth to or diversifying it, or by introducing new perspectives. For archaeological objects, additional research is carried out to verify their provenance and ensure compliance with the ethical and legal rules governing the circulation of cultural heritage. Provenance is also an important issue for works made before but acquired after World War II. Owing to the wartime looting, Nazi confiscations and forced sales that took place in these years, verifications are made to confirm there are no gaps in the history of the work’s ownership if there is a possibility it was in continental Europe during the Nazi era.
Works are also evaluated by the Conservation department to assess their condition and determine if there is a need for restoration; factors such as instability, damage or inadequate restoration attempts might influence acquisition decisions. If the results of these investigations support an object’s inclusion in the Museum’s collection, curators present their findings to internal and external acquisition committees and recommend its addition. If committee members agree with the recommendation, and this recommendation is approved by the Board of Trustees, the acquisition can proceed. The work is then catalogued, photographed and restored, if necessary.
At a foundational level, this exhibition also offers a window into the Museum’s strategies and efforts to deepen relationships with different cultures and geographies. As we continue to develop the collection, we are asking important questions about why some artists have been less visible in our collection than others. Part of our aim in favouring acquisitions of works by artists from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups is to rectify such errors of the past and ensure that visitors of all backgrounds find resonance in the collections and feel included and represented.
Broadening perspectives through dialogue
Most of the art in Two by Two, Together is displayed in groupings that create a dialogue between the works based on their subject, medium, form, function or period. In this juxtaposing of contrasts and similarities, we hope to provoke new and enlightening interpretations of the Museum’s collection. In this article, I present a selection of groupings that will be featured in the exhibition and the ways in which they relate to each other.
Glass receptacles, from antiquity to today
Jessica Eaton’s still life photograph of empty bottles, titled Natura Morta (Luce Danzante) 22, is the epitome of fluid radiance. She created this captivating play of colour, luminosity and reflections by arranging bottles on top of a mirror set against a white background and then adding colourful lighting.
Jessica Eaton (born in 1977), Natura Morta (Luce Danzante) 22 [Still Life (Dancing Light) 22], 2022, inkjet print, 3/3, 80.5 x 100.4 cm (sight). MMFA, purchase, the Museum Campaign 1998-2002 Fund and Young Philanthropists’ Circle Fund. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
In answer to Eaton’s work is a small-scale reconstructed installation composed of a Roman glass beaker, jar and bottle, all made about 2,000 years ago. These vessels evoke a storied past, having served as tableware or as containers for oil, perfume, cosmetics, and medicine.
Because works on paper are particularly vulnerable to light damage, they require preservation in the dark for several years after each four-month exhibition period. To safeguard the drawings and photographs in this exhibition, the works will undergo two rotations. Eaton’s photograph will be replaced by glass vases by Omer Arbel, which will be similarly configured to the ensemble of ancient glass. Aside from appreciating their aesthetic qualities, visitors will be able to observe how glass production has evolved from traditional glassblowing to more complex processes, like Arbel’s, which incorporate the use of copper mesh.
Roman Empire (27 BCE-476 CE), Beaker, 1st early 3rd c. CE, glown glass. | Roman Empire (27 BCE-476 CE), Jar, 3rd 4th c. CE, blown glass. | Roman Empire (27 BCE-476 CE), probably found in TURKEY, Square Bottle, 1st 2nd c. CE, blown glass. MMFA, gifts in memory of David Ross and Anne Marie Roigt Ross, from Ronald, Leslie, Eric and Francine Ross. Photos MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Face-to-face self-portraits
The famous 17th-century Dutch painter Rembrandt was renowned for his exceptional skill as a portraitist. He was also a prolific self-portraitist, producing at least 55 paintings, 10 drawings and 28 engravings throughout his career, in which he laid bare his character and moods, provided a window into his life, and expressed something of the human condition.
Contemporary artist Stanley Février views art as a tool for social transformation that can be wielded to achieve equality for marginalized communities. Unlike Rembrandt’s self-portraits, which bear a true likeness to the artist, those of Février portray the distorted view the art world once held of him. Criticized for being too disruptive and too engaged, the artist created this undefined form to suggest an entity transitioning into empowerment. It addresses narratives about visibility versus invisibility and how artists of colour finally have their place in the establishment. The fragile medium, along with the imprint of bubble wrap on its surface, serve as a reminder of a former vulnerability and allude to new beginnings.
Rembrandt Harmensz. van Rijn (1606-1669), Head of Rembrandt with a Soft Cap, or Rembrandt with Three Moustaches, about 1634, etching, only state, 4.9 x 4.3 cm (sheet). MMFA, gift of Freda and Irwin Browns. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Stanley Février (born in 1976), what does it mean to Be, now?, from the series “Les grands espoirs,” 2020, plaster, 40 x 46 x 21 cm. MMFA, purchase, through the generosity of An-Lap Vo-Dignard and Jennifer Nguyen. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Private objects of Christian devotion
Beginning in the 13th century, prayer books known as Books of Hours were made for lay people. Containing texts and illustrations of prayers depicting the life of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and individual saints, these books of private devotion remained extremely popular right through to the 16th century.
For its part, this triptych illustrates, from left to right, three key episodes in Christ’s early life: the Annunciation, the Nativity and the Circumcision (or the Presentation in the Temple). Painted in the early 16th century in Bruges, the capital of religious painting in pre-Reformation Flanders, its small scale suggests it might have been commissioned for private devotion by an individual or family.
Follower of the Master of Coëtivy (active about 1450-1480), David and His Harp (or David Praying), Leaf from Lindsey-Leydet Hours, Horæ [Book of Hours] for the use of Paris, about 1450-1465, tempera, ink, gold leaf and powdered gold ink on vellum; later leather binding, 18.3 x 13.4 x 2.5 to 3.7 cm (book closed). MMFA, gift of Anne, Dominique and Bruno Leydet in memory of their parents, Yolande and Hugues Leydet. Photo MMFA
Anonymous, Triptych: The Annunciation (left), The Nativity (centre), The Circumcision (or The Presentation in the Temple) (right), about 1500-1520, oil on wood, 72.5 x 54 cm (central panel), 57 x 23 cm (side panels). MMFA, gift of Michel Van Tieghem. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Memories of the Eastern Townships, Quebec
Mabel May painted Spring Snow, Knowlton during a visit with her friend and fellow Beaver Hall Group member, Prudence Heward, who lived in the countryside.
Also based on the Quebec landscape, Peter Doig’s Iron Hill is sourced from the artist’s archive of personal photographs and commercial images. The setting is near the family home where Doig spent part of his childhood.
Henrietta Mabel May (1884-1971), Spring Snow, Knowlton, about 1927, oil on wood, 15.7 x 22 cm. MMFA, Geraldine Malcoff Bequest. Photo MMFA, Christine Guest
Peter Doig (born in 1959), Iron Hill, 1991, oil on canvas, 37.3 x 45.9 cm. MMFA, gift of the artist. © Peter Doig, licensed by DACS / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo MMFA, Julie Ciot
A pairing of Mono-ha and Arte Povera
The Mono-ha (School of Things) and Arte Povera movements emerged in the 1960s in Japan and Italy, respectively, and were associated with each other through their parallel explorations of unconventional materials, as a reaction to the fast-paced development of technology and commercialization and traditional gallery systems.
Kishio Suga’s Placement of Unitary Situation consists of a stone and branch leaning precariously against a minimalist, rectangular yellow backdrop with three staggered horizontal bars. The tension between the natural and the human-made materials, which is compounded by their unstable balance, embodies the concept of transience in the Mono-ha philosophy.
Giuseppe Penone’s Terra on Terra-Volto is from a series in which the artist combined tree branches with renderings of his face and hands. These branches look real but are in fact bronze casts. Propped up against each other, they hold a terracotta cast of the artist’s face with the imprint of his fist – a poetic plea for a harmonious coexistence between humans and nature.
Kishio Suga (born in 1944), Placement of Unitary Situation, 2015, oil on plywood, wood, branch, granite, 205.1 x 89.9 x 62.4 cm (variable dimensions). MMFA, gift of Lillian and Billy Mauer. Kahn, Sam, © Kishio Suga, Courtesy of the artist and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles / New York / Tokyo. Photo Sam Kahn
Giuseppe Penone (born in 1947), Terra su terra - Volto [Earth on Earth – Face], 2014, patinated bronze, earthenware, 223.4 x 63.8 x 41.5 cm. MMFA, gift of Margot Lande. © Giuseppe Penone / Adagp, Paris / CARCC Ottawa 2024. Photo courtesy of Marian Goodman Gallery
Formal connections
The vertical and horizontal equilibrium achieved in Robin F. Williams’s Troll and Wanda Koop’s Breaking News (Midday in Eden) make for a fascinating pair, based on formal structure and subject.
Koop’s concern for nature is evident in her depiction of a dead tree within a glowing scene ablaze with fire that references the catastrophic Australian forest fires of 2020.
Meanwhile, Williams uses references to popular culture and art history to explore American narratives about childhood, identity and gender in her paintings depicting female figures in sometimes otherworldly, sometimes mundane scenes. Troll is replete with themes, formulas and dynamic techniques that recur in the artist’s work, including the smile, the stylized subject who is clearly aware of the viewer’s presence and the mixed texturing.
Robin F. Williams (born in 1984), Troll, 2021, acrylic, vinyl and oil paint, modelling clay on canvas, 182.9 x 127 cm. MMFA, gift of Stuart Barr and Sarah Mackey-Barr. Courtesy of the artist and P.P.O.W. Gallery, New York. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Wanda Koop (born in 1951), Breaking News (Midday in Eden), from the series “Breaking News,” 2020, acrylic on canvas, 152.6 x 122 cm. MMFA, purchase, Michael St.B. Harrison Fund. © Wanda Koop. Photo MMFA, Jean-François Brière
Conclusion
As part of our role as custodians of all the objects in our collection, we must ensure proper care of these works by exhibiting them in rotation and preserving them in climate-controlled conditions. Works are displayed periodically in our exhibitions (as well as in loans to other museums) and in our collections galleries.
Aside from the creations showcased in Two by Two, Together, other recently acquired artworks are on view in the Museum’s various permanent collection galleries (identified by special labels). In addition, a number of new contemporary acquisitions have been recently installed in the galleries adjacent to the exhibition. As a privately run non-profit institution, many of our acquisitions come from donations. We owe a debt of gratitude to our generous benefactors for the many major works we have in our collection.
Two by Two, Together: Recent Additions to the MMFA’s Collection
September 11, 2024 – October 5, 2025
Credits and curatorial team
The exhibition Two by Two, Together: Recent Additions to the MMFA’s Collection was organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
The Museum recognizes the vital support of its official sponsor, Denalt Paints, as well as that of its media partner, La Presse.
Two by Two, Together was funded in part by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Government of Quebec.
The MMFA wishes to thank the individuals who generously donated artworks presented in this exhibition or financed their acquisition. It also underscores the generosity of those who support its programming, in particular the donors to the Philanthropic Circles of its Foundation.
We thank writer, composer and singer Pierre Lapointe for allowing us to title this exhibition after one of his songs, “Deux par deux rassemblés,” translated here from the French.
