Sunday, April 30, 2017

Harry Benson


HARRY BENSON – Person of interest
at Galerie Got Montréal
April 28 - May 28, 2017

Galerie Got Montréal presenting the first Quebec exhibition of the internationally renowned Scottish photographer Harry Benson CBE. The “Person of interest” exhibition and sale features more than fifty of the best-known photographs of the artist whose impressive career spans over 60 years.


Among other photographs, visitors will have an opportunity to view a selection of shots of The Beatles taken during their Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, New York City and Miami tours between 1964 and 1966.


To highlight Benson’s first exhibition in Montréal, Galerie Got Montréal will also showcase a photograph of French President Charles de Gaulle, taken during the memorable speech he delivered from the balcony of Montréal’s City Hall, where he cried “Vive le Québec libre!”


Harry Benson

Born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1929, Harry Benson has photographed the best-known public personalities and biggest icons from the political, musical and fashion worlds, always encouraging spontaneity: twelve American presidents, from Eisenhower to Trump, Queen Elizabeth II, Sir Winston Churchill, Mohamed Ali (Cassius Clay at the time), The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Andy Warhol, James Brown, Sophia Lauren, Dolly Parton, Kate Moss, Jack Nicholson, Amy Winehouse, to name a few. He covered race riots in the United States in the 60s, Vietnam War protests, as well as the assassinations of Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and John Lennon. He infiltrated the ranks of the KKK in South Carolina, socialized with the IRA, etc.

Harry Benson has spent the last five decades capturing iconic images of world leaders, presidents, celebrities, and crucial historical moments.  As a photojournalist from London, Benson truly launched his career while traveling on assignment with the Beatles to cover their first tour in America.  The Scottish born photographer began his career at the Hamilton Advertiser before moving to Fleet Street where he worked for London’s Daily Sketch and the Daily Express. Upon his arrival with the Beatles in 1964, Benson decided to stay in America where he would go on to work for publishing greats such as Life Magazine, People Magazine, Vanity Fair, and Architectural Digest.

Under contract with LIFE Magazine for 30 years, Harry Benson’s photographs have been featured in leading magazines, such as Time, Vanity Fair, Newsweek, Vogue Paris, Paris Match, Forbes, Town & Country, Architectural Digest, People, and the London Sunday Times Magazine.

Harry Benson published sixteen books, took part in a number of exhibitions and was presented with the most prestigious of prizes for his work. In 2009, Benson was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for service to photography. He received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from both St. Andrews University and Glasgow University, Scotland, and is an Honorary Fellow of London's Royal Photographic Society. He has twice been named NPPA Magazine Photographer of the Year. On April 24, 2017, Benson will receive the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Center of Photography in New York City.


Galerie Got Montréal

Located in Old Montréal and opened since February 2016, Galerie Got is a contemporary art gallery that represents numerous internationally-renowned artists (painters, sculptors, photographers). In May of 2016, the gallery presented the first Canadian exhibition of award-winning photographer Steve McCurry and the first Canadian exhibition of French sculptor Quentin Garel in March 2017. The gallery is dedicated to showcasing excellence, the discovery of emerging and well-established artists, and accessibility for all.

Galerie Got Montréal
50 Saint-Paul Street West, Old Montréal
Opening hours: Monday to Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
www.galeriegotmontreal.com

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Saturday, April 22, 2017

PAC 2017: Amazonia

 AMAZONIA:
The Shaman and the Mind of the People
April 20 - October 22, 2017

Journey to the Heart of Amazonia: its River, Forest and People


Pointe-à-Callière, the Montreal Archaeology and History Complex, is presenting a new exhibition on Amazonia. The exhibition represents a journey along the Amazon River, through the heart of the Earth’s largest rain forest. It is also an introduction to the history of the Indigenous people living in those far away and not well known places.

The Museum is transformed into the Amazon forest in an immersive and multi-sensory experience that showcases the shamanism and mythology of traditional Amazonian societies, at the same time focusing on their rights, the defence of their ecosystem, and their ways of life. 


Adapted by Pointe-à-Callière from an original concept by the Musée d’ethnographie de Genève (MEG) and with the participation of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) of Brussels, the exhibition features over 500 remarkable objects from some thirty different ethnic groups, and from nine countries in the Amazon basin. For the first time, the unique and fragile splendours of Amazonia cultures are on display in Montreal. On display are shimmering feathered finery, blowpipes, bows and curare-tipped arrows, everyday objects, basketry, masks, musical instruments, and items required by shamans in their use of hallucinogens.

Feathers play a big role in this collection, not just for their colours and ornamental qualities, but because of the fascination they have always held among European collectors. Along with the aesthetic and decorative aspects, practical and sacred elements are also revealed. Arrows coated in curare, a deadly poison used in hunting and made from unique recipes that vary from one village to another. The sources of these poisons can also be employed—in smaller doses—in hallucinogenic powders used by shamans to contact the invisible world.


The exhibition focuses on what is common to Amazonia many ingenious people – shamanism – and on the great diversity of their material culture. The objects come from different communities dotted across the vast forested territory, comprising parts or all of Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Colombia, Surinam, Guyana and French Guiana


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For more information about the museum and its 2017 activities, visit the PAC Museum's website.



Friday, April 07, 2017

Centaur Theatre 2017: Clybourne Park


Centaur Theatre /48th Season
CLYBOURNE PARK

The Quebec English-language Premiere 
April 4-30, 2017

Pulitzer, Olivier, and Tony award winning play 
Written by Bruce Norris
Directed by Ellen David

Written by an American playwright Bruce Norris,.this is a multi-award-winning play, including the prestigious Pulitzer Prize. When it first hit stages in 2009, it garnered almost every honour the theatre world could bestow upon it, including the Tony Award, and the Evening Standard and  Laurence Olivier awards (UK) for Best Play.

The play brings into focus issues that have affected American society in the past 50 years. These are repetitive themes that come in waves with different and changing social strata configurations finding themselves to deal with the same issues only with more current takes on them.




Clybourne Park takes audiences back in time to 1959 Chicago in an all-white, middle class neighbourhood. Spinning off of Lorraine Hansberry’s seminal play, A Raisin in the Sun, Bev and Russ have sold their house to a black family, upsetting the ‘social order’ and creating havoc among their friends. Act Two fast-forwards to 2009 where the tables are turned as a white couple attempts to buy and tear down the very same house to erect a more pretentious home, now in an all-black community, triggering identical issues fifty years later. Clybourne Park looks at prejudice, property, and political correctness, then and now, in a blisteringly funny and timely satire.

Centaur Artistic and Executive Director, Roy Surette's comment:
“What I love about this play, is its theatricality, starting out in the 50s in the first act and then abruptly plunging us into the same setting fifty years later. Also, every day, the relevancy of this play and its themes become more significant.”

Close to 120 artists auditioned for this production, in which every actor has at least two roles.

Actors chosen: Matthew Gagnon, Marcel Jeannin, Liana Montoro, Lisa Bronwyn Moore, Eleanor Noble, Kwasi Songui and Harry Standjofski


SET DESIGNER: Michael Eagan
LIGHTING DESIGNER: Guy Simard
STAGE MANAGER: Michael Sinclair 
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER: Jacynthe Lalonde
ASSISTANT TO THE DIRECTOR: Laurent McCuaig-Pitre


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For more information, visit the Centaur Theatre website.

Chat Up
April 9,  12:30 PM
FREE ADMISSION
Join Lucinda Chodan, Montreal Editor in Chief of Montreal Gazette as she speaks with Professor Hélène Bélanger from the Department of Urban and Tourism Studies at l’Université du Québec à Montréal.  Ms. Bélanger will talk about gentrification in Montreal and the impact it has on its citizens, businesses and the cultural fabric of the community.

Complimentary coffee and biscotti, courtesy of Season Sponsor, Bonaparte Restaurant..