New Third Floor Gallery at the McCord
An Intimate Encounter with Canadian History
Montreal, March 21, 2002 —
The McCord Museum is pleased to announce the
inauguration of a new Third Floor Gallery. This
gallery presents some exceptional works from the Museum's
collection, many for the first time since their acquisition.
Dedicated to paintings, prints, drawings, archival documents and
photographs as well as small objects, this welcoming 1,400
square-foot space provides an intimate setting in which to view
some of the McCord's treasures.
The gallery's inaugural exhibition offers a rare glimpse of the
public and private events that have shaped our contemporary
perspectives. McCord executive director and exhibition curator
Dr. Victoria Dickenson dug deep into the Museum's reserves to
find the delicate specimens presented in Fragile Witness.
Treasures of national significance, such as James Wolfe's
journal from 1759 and Louis Riel's last will and testament are
displayed alongside more personal souvenirs, like the needlework
designs of Anne Ross McCord. Slips of crumbling paper, these
historical fragments are often the only surviving witnesses to
significant past events. Fragile Witness is an intimate
encounter with Canadian history, and a poignant reminder of the
wealth of personal and historical information that is preserved
in paper, ink and paint.
"Researching this exhibition was a rewarding and eye-opening
experience," says Dr. Dickenson. "While exploring the
collection I repeatedly came across small but remarkable
documents, artifacts and works of art. Their ephemeral nature
makes them no less significant, but sadly, the public is largely
unaware that we have them. This exhibition —
Dr. Dickenson, who began her tenure at the McCord in 1998, is a
passionate advocate of public access to
information. Fragile Witness is the first exhibition she has
curated at the McCord since her arrival. She obtained her Ph.D.
in history from Carleton University in 1995 and her thesis, on
the role of visual imagery in early science, was published by
University of Toronto Press in 1998. She is also a graduate of
the University of Toronto Museum Studies Program and has over
thirty years of experience in museums at the provincial,
national and international level. Dr. Dickenson has been
involved in numerous exhibitions and interpretive projects
within the museum community and the private sector, and has
championed the use of information technology to make museum
collections more accessible. In 1999 she spearheaded the effort
that won the McCord, with its partners McGill University and
Université de Québec à Montréal, a $600,000 three-year grant
from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada to develop curriculum-linked on-line material history
resources. Dr. Dickenson was ably assisted in the development of
the exhibition Fragile Witness by the entire Museum team,
especially Conrad Graham, Curator, Decorative Arts, Suzanne
Morin, Archivist, Line Villeneuve, Head of Exhibitions, Anne
MacKay, Chief Conservator, and Denis Plourde, Conservation
Technician.
The new Third Floor Gallery was designed by Saucier +
Perrotte, an
award-winning Montreal architectural firm specializing in the
design of cultural buildings and spaces in the evolving
contemporary city. In the future the new gallery will continue
to present small exhibitions organised by the Museum. Among
these are a planned exhibition on the Lachine Canal and a
re-photography project on Montreal. The Third Floor Gallery is
also perfectly suited to welcome small travelling exhibitions
from other institutions.
Fragile Witness is on view at the McCord Museum from March 21 to August
4, 2002.
Information: - 30 -
Nike Langevin
Coordinator, Communications
(514) 398-7100, ext. 251