Artists of Montreal

this is montreal derosie street in the heart of the busy city but here is an aspect of montreal that may seem foreign to the average citizen this young artist three months ago found this tree decided to turn it into a piece of abstract sculpture his idea was to add a little life to the city arma vayakur born about 185 miles from montreal lived at st ferdinand halifax a one-time pre-medical student at the university of ottawa and sometimes sailor is now a student at the bozar school in this city he was given permission to carve the tree by the owners of the property the jewish community center my name is bruce ruddick i am neither an art critic nor expert and by profession i deal with human beings their emotions and the way they interact with their environment i feel the artist shows his feelings a little more openly than the average person and it might be a good idea for us to go see a few of the montreal artists at work at home and enjoying themselves this the plaster czar at present a cooperative studio was once used by the sculptor susie who made many of the figures for the parliament buildings in ottawa this figure modeled in cement is a study by arma vyayakur and the wood knocked down by a recent hurricane and picked up about the city is used for sculpture and often for fuel this is the class desire an abandoned two-story building it was converted eight months ago to a cooperative studio by a group of artists and students led by robert russell work varies from sculpture painting and photography to silk screening and stage design it is open all the time to anyone interested in working in these media classes are held here and each month there is an exhibition by one of the group one or two of the poorer artists sleep upstairs roberto sil born in montreal's east end joined the army at 18 and had a year and a half overseas service after his discharge at 21 he studied for three years at the montreal art gallery hated by the department of veterans affairs since then he has been a full-time sculptor he is married and has three children here is arma voyager again as he works in the studio raj gastny emigrated from paris to canada only five and a half months ago he is a management consultant and has been a spare time worker in sculpture and painting for seven years here he is preparing his entry in a sculpture competition sponsored by the franciscans mario merola a 23 year old montrealer by profession a mural painter is seen here at his first attempt at wood carving 22 and another montrealer is an upholsterer by trade he has only been doing wood carving for four months russell could you tell me how you got the idea for such a studio well uh then i guess the main reason is that uh no artistry by himself can have a big studio especially for sculpture so i get the idea that together we can have a big studio and have a much better chance to put ourselves in the public and what is the problem you have with this piece of sculpture here well the problem i have with this piece here especially i guess is a touch a lot of my pieces i've been working with wood and it's about the material we can get the easiest way because we have it from the tree that's been cut down by the city or a different place you can have them carry and why the axe well i guess the axe is a very natural instrument to wood carving lumberjack used it so well to do about anything they want i suppose uh an artist could express everything he wants also so that's what i'm trying to do you've done work in architecture too well yes i have done a few months ago on uh natal house and bellevue don't you i think it'd be a good idea for us to see that house thanks very much thank you very much thank you all very much bye-bye and here in west mount in a lovely section overlooking montreal we see how sculptor and architect have worked together this idea of embellishing buildings with works of art is not modern in asia and in europe and in central america has long been the custom and in this work by russell cut from pieces of metal superimposed although it is a mural we have a sculptured feeling and let's see other examples of this kind of work in the city this modern house on the slopes of mount royal was designed by the young architect gil villandre for his mother the marquis de fiat the chimney is a sculpture in a primitive style by another brother adria villandre a well-known sculptor and ceremonist let us leave this part of the city now and go to the home and studio of the young french canadian painter jean-paul musso in the eastern end of montreal in a once abandoned warehouse they choose to live here not merely because they are poor but because it gives them an opportunity to use the imagination and to design to their own personal taste which would be impossible in an ordinary rented flat here musso lives with his wife and daughter this is once a single large room which they partitioned into living eating sleeping and working quarters his wife denise seen here with her daughter catherine is studying for a stage career and made his own set of selected pieces of driftwood which he painted he collects driftwood roots stones and plants because of his pleasure in natural form the walls are tar paper covered with laths and geometric patterns this victory of the imagination over the environment expresses his way of life musso was born 27 years ago in this workers district of montreal while still a schoolboy of 13 he took up painting classes because they were more pleasant than the general courses at 15 he joined the contemporary art society and has been painting seriously ever since he works twelve to six six days a week in a french book store and paints here nightly and often late into the morning musso do you feel that your interest in stones and leaves driftwood natural forms helps your painting not directly indirectly uh the feeling that i get when i see those farms in space you know i enjoy well i enjoy it so much you know that it gives me a heck you need to paint you know i hit the paint yeah how do you feel you're coming along with this one well really i cannot tell right now right now is very very badly not happy and this one have you finished this one yes are you satisfied with it well quite pleased and i intend to present it to a next show at leisurely with two others with this one and the other one that leisurely yes will be in a few days i'm just prepared to do now muso has mentioned a relationship between art and feelings i think it might be a good idea for us to visit with a few of the younger artists of montreal and discuss this subject we'll find them at les shuri leshary is a french word meaning beaching place or harbor it's a cafe where they gather to exhibit their paintings and to enjoy themselves [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] upstairs you're in the main part of the cafe during the day students of the bosar and the nearby school of ceramics drop in for a coffee or lunch young painters sculptors musicians poets writers photographers dancers and everyday people drop in for coffee or meals the food is european no liquor is sold and there are strict rules of behavior the singer and guitarist are practicing a song written by a young french canadian the waiters are artists and the photographs on the wall are by one of the staff [Music] [Applause] huh [Music] the owner georges and his wife came to canada three years ago with one hundred dollars they were born in hungary he's a painter himself and is sympathetic and very paternal to the young artists he says he's very busy but most of his customers are young and poor and many eat on credit he makes four or five kinds of coffee with his espresso machine as well as the artist there is quite a cosmopolitan crowd cherie appeals especially to new canadians as it reminds them a little of european cafes this group came to canada from italy about three years ago is discussing with his friends cartoons he's making for a movie [Music] we are in the cellar of laishuri a cafe gathering place for young artists and students predominantly every two weeks there is an exhibition here these are the preparations the hanging of pictures for a group show practically all the artists here belong to a movement in painting called optometrism euless courtois 23 was born in granby quebec he supports himself as an engraver his painting has been very sympathetically encouraged by his parents since he was eight years of age musso whose work is characterized by a strong romantic feeling pierre gobrow had his first exhibition in 1942 he's 32 years of age he's a freelance worker on radio and television his particularly good mood today is due to the fact that a few hours ago his wife gave birth to their second child a daughter robert blair 26 and eight of montrealer is at present a student of architecture in les caldebozar in montreal he has been painting for six years and his work is characterized by a warm and brilliant use of color rita latandra 25 was born in drummondville quebec she works as a designer in a factory and has been painting for seven years her work is noted for its sensitiveness and delicacy then 38 years of age in montreal french canadian married with one child the draftsman for the rcaf and he's a pioneer in this type of painting called atomatism which is practiced by a few of the montreal abstract painters we know that uh some of this art seems incomprehensible to you you don't understand it and so we're going to take this opportunity to get the artists themselves to answer a few questions about it i wonder if anyone here would wish to try to say how did you arrive at such a way of painting well well if you choose me i tell you that it's an experience like any other you begin in some cases by chance myself someone gave me a box of watercolors and i began that way with fairly figurative painting and my own personal evolution has led me to abstract painting it is an evolution yes it's great it's definitely a gradual evolution and anybody come to it suddenly yeah well i started to make doodles at first in school but uh i i came to uh directly to automatism after that from doodling yeah well uh i know that it may seem difficult for some of you to understand it's just as difficult for me to explain i myself personally like many of these paintings they speak to me they communicate a feeling and as i understand it automatism means merely an approach a beginning by which the painter on the canvas with form color and shapes attempts to express his own personal feeling would you say that's right it seems to be right for me yes but the the important is that the automatism it is not the end but the beginning the beginning of the painting yes it is so it isn't a specific style it is a way of beginning a painting it is a way of beginning but that can be a great evolution you know and it is at that time that we have a philosophy of automatism but this is very long to explain it seems to allow a great deal of freedom of expression yes it is and you can have more or less automatism in the picture in the painting according to the the the way of the painter now let us just take if you're painting a horse if they're two different techniques it's two different horses then there's no questions and that's where people make uh mostly the most common mistake at taking what uh what it looks like as being the what it is is what it is talking from the reality of the of the the picture not from the outlook point of view of the uh the exterior point of view of a horse light i mean this uh this is not the subject matter a rose is a rose is a rose a rose a rose it's never been a rose it's a fawn before it being the rose it's only by the uh the form association would create the emotional emotional feeling that's that is what is the reality in painting what happens when you're painting what do you feel during the painting uh a great uh i don't know how to explain it in english that is what would be the english equivalent of vertis that would be uh elation and uh i believe this elation can be transmitted from the painting to the spectator and this is art so your art expresses feelings elation as you said would you say that it stimulates elation predominantly well uh i would i would bring out i mean it bring the expression i mean i would bring up this idea of uh a relationship that's only one uh feeling you could express uh serenity to have someone else's magic painting yes or sadness yes so any kind of feeling yeah so i imagine then that the painter would feel the feeling when he painted not only vertice which is friendly but any kind of feeling in the painting attempts to transmit that to an audience and if it's successful as well it's not what we are feeling is the quality of a painting it can be a sadness it can be emotion it can be free it can be loud but the quality is a very seizure isn't it all you call it in english elation illusion an inspiration no but what about a cup of coffee well maybe a good idea good idea before i go i would like to ask you is it difficult for a young painter to make a living in canada very very very serious yes yes that's difficult yes for sure even for older painters if they are really creative i suppose it's easy to make a living for uh commercial artists of any kind i mean i think of two kinds of commercial artists the the true honest real commercial artist who will accept himself as a commercial artist he can make a living fairly easily it's a competitive field but he can make a living but there's another kind of commercial artist les frank i guess the pseudo-creative artist one who pretends to be a creative artist but in reality he does not express himself truly he only tries to um he only tries to latter to please the the taste and the habits of a certain section of the population and he sells his work to the this section is really truly a commercial artist although less frank but for the truly creative artist one who wants to express himself truly to widen knowledge and to bring something new well well i'd like to thank you all for a very very pleasant evening thanks very much george come back again i will come again bye-bye oh [Music] well you've just seen some of the young montreal artists at work and at play remember from just such a group someday someone may spring of such creative power as to surprise the world and of whom we as canadians will be very proud this is bruce radick from montreal good night all you've been on the spot with a national film board crew in montreal we have a guest dr robert hubbard who is chief curator of the national gallery of canada well what's your first reaction to the film well i have a rather immediate reaction to something that dr ruddick said just at the end of the film and that is that uh you may expect something to come out of this new movement in montreal yes my contention is that something has already come out of it in the way of painters yes and with two painters to be exact paul emil bordua and jean-paul rio rojo i started that movement yes he began it around 1941 or two and rebel was one of his students yes both these canadian artists have achieved a very wide recognition i believe yes they're both represented in our national gallery of course and both are represented in the museum of modern art in new york yes and rio fell in the museum of modern art in paris this is a painting by paulie neil bourgeois uh which he calls parachute vegeto vegetable parachutes but i suppose we shouldn't bother about taking that name too literally oh i don't think we should as a matter of fact i think the painting was painted first in the title added later which i believe is the case with most of this non-uh objective uh art yes according to the excuse me according to the theory as profounded by andre briton in france uh some years ago the painting actually comes from the subconscious now while these may not look uh too much to you like uh vegetable parachutes uh i'd like you to know that the it's a very the colors are really very beautiful here the uh these are very lovely greens and uh the one of the things i think that bothers most people about this business non-objective art is that uh the painters are dealing with forms and possibly symbols that just aren't recognized with people they get yes i know but there's i think an immediate response to be made to the beautiful color and the shapes just as in music yes where we don't demand so much uh yes exactly understanding uh in that connection um you may remember that we had a visit from the queen mother indeed yes only a week or so ago well after i had explained who portugal i was and the automatic movement of course she's quite knowledgeable knowledgeable about these things she turned and said well whatever he means it's very rich and beautiful painting which of course is the way to look at these things yes i think so too here's painting by rio pal i wish you could see the colors in it because they're very rich the paint is laid on very heavily and great blobs overlaid yeah bright reds here and glossy blacks and blues and greens now of course if you look for something uh representational here you're not going to find it but if i work like this seems to be a call for the imagination to play a part in the assessment of it yes and that reminds me of something that happened yesterday i was in one of the dealer's galleries in montreal and saw a painting by rio fell and not this one but another later one and in front of it there happened to be standing a small boy and he was making remarks all over the place and his mother was trying to shush him but before she could do so he had said mommy this looks like a jungle and a little while later he said no it uh it looks like something seen from the air yes these these roads going through yes so there are all sorts of things that stimulate the imagination and it's very exciting to look at yes like music yes i think yes i do um it must help i suppose to uh to know the painters uh involved oh i think it still does this is claimed to be a sort of uh universal uh or i should say spontaneous form of communication between artists and and public but it still helps enormously to know the painters i remember hearing bourgeois himself uh sitting on a nail keg or something in his studio and talking to me about our environment in canada not only the physical but also the sort of environment of thought and all that sort of thing and how that's reflected in his painting that sober sort of somber colors so you feel that he really has the insight that an artist has oh yes uh a poet's insight yes which is the kind of thing i suppose that helps people to understand eventually once they can yes yes i think it does our guest has been dr robert howard who is chief curator of the national gallery of canada on the spot is a production of the national film board the film was directed by jean paladi photography of sutton and the sound by ech muir and john locke the film editor was gwen barnhill supervising editor was david maravich and the producer robert anderson