Waterhouse floats into the MMFA
Lady of Shallot brought to life in MMFA display
Written by Carolyn Yates | Issue date: 10/14/09
An article from The McGill Tribune which is published by the Students' Society of McGill University, Montreal:
From October 1 to February 7, a retrospective on British artist John William Waterhouse, titled J. W. Waterhouse: Garden of Enchantment, will be held at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition is the first large-scale display of Waterhouse's work since 1978, and the first ever to feature the entire span of his work. With over 80 paintings, sketches and documents displayed against a dramatic black backdrop, the exhibit does a stunning job of highlighting a little-known artist.
"Waterhouse isn't easily classified; partly because his subjects are narrative, partly because his art is well-known inside of England but not outside. He's an artist that's tended to be neglected," says Anne Grace, the MMFA's curator of modern art, who was in charge of the presentation of the exhibition. "But his works are very relevant today … I think that visitors will share in a sense of discovery and delight."
The display of the exhibition is particularly striking. The MMFA hired theatrical set designers to set up each room, and it shows. The room displaying Waterhouse's sketches and scant personal belongings, for example, evokes a studio, while other rooms evoke a park, a lake, and classical Greece. Though simple, there are a few small touches - such as disembodied hands holding back the curtains between rooms - that give the display an added depth while still maintaining the dramatic simplicity of art-on-black.
"I think with the dramatic presentation they become more than just pretty paintings. We wanted to really get at what the paintings are about and really get at the magical, mystical side," says Grace.
The exhibition is organized thematically, though it is essentially chronological as well. The first room does not feature any of Waterhouse's works, but gives a sense of his contemporaries, while the first works from the artist himself highlights his interest in classical antiquity. The exhibit flows from room to room, through history, the occult, water, and gardens, though there is also a room devoted to his sketches and life at the Royal Academy, and another dedicated to the Lady of Shalott.
That room is one of the highlights of the exhibition, and includes several images - both paintings and sketches - inspired by Lord Alfred Tennyson's poem, "The Lady of Shalott."
"We're really pleased because it's the first time ever, not even in Waterhouse's life, that all of the versions of the Lady of Shalott have been shown together," says Grace.
Instead of a chronological display, the paintings are organized according to the sequence of scenes in the poem, which is inscribed on the wall near the entrance to the room.
"It's one of the most important paintings in Waterhouse's career," says Grace. "It's a very well-loved, liked and reproduced image. We're pleased to have it in Montreal because Waterhouse's name is unknown here, so we have an iconic image that we can associate his name with."
The Lady of Shalott is proof that art really is better in real life. The square brush strokes create a subtle background from which the finely-detailed Lady stands out - so much so that viewers can see the veins in her wrist.
"Even though Waterhouse's paintings are often reproduced, there's a real thrill to seeing them in real life; something that doesn't translate through reproductions," Grace says. --- Carolyn Yates
(J. W. Waterhouse: Garden of Enchantment is on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts until February 7, 2010.)