VICTORIA, BC—The Jan. 24 closing date looms and travel restrictions are still in place, but thanks to a timely new online tour there’s no reason for anyone to miss the Royal BC Museum’s illuminating feature exhibition, Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing—French Modernism and the West Coast.
At a cost of just $5 (or included with museum admission), the 35-minute virtual tour features co-curators Kiriko Watanabe (Audain Art Museum Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Curator) and Dr. Kathryn Bridge (Royal BC Museum Curator Emerita) sharing exhibition highlights, personal reflections and behind-the-scenes experiences.
Fresh Seeing captures the moment Emily Carr revolutionized her painting style after returning from a 16-month trip to France in 1911. Says Bridge: “Without her time in France, Emily Carr would never have become the great artist we know today.”
For those who are able to visit in person, there is the rare opportunity to dig deeper into Carr’s artistic repertoire via a small bonus exhibition curated from the Royal BC Museum’s own collections. Though the Royal BC Museum has the world’s largest collection of Carr works and archival materials, they are not often on public display.
Everyday Emily Carr features 22 examples of Carr’s portraiture ranging from comic sketches to small watercolours, and offers a deeper and more complete picture of Carr as a person as well as an artist.
Also included is Chinese Boy, the Royal BC Museum’s newest Carr acquisition. Purchased at auction in 2019, the painting—which can be seen in the virtual tour as well—presents a sober portrait unique to the artist’s oeuvre. The young boy, dressed in a collarless jacket with black piping at the neck and sleeves, wears his hair in a distinctive queue and looks upon the viewer as closely as Carr must have been observing him.
The painting is from the period 1906 to 1910, when Carr was living in Vancouver, BC. During this period she created her only other known representations of Chinese settler life, which are all housed in the Emily Carr Art Collection at the BC Archives.
For more information and to book timed tickets or the video tour, visit: www.rbcm.ca/emily.
Emily Carr: Fresh Seeing—French Modernism and the West Coast is organized by the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, BC. It is presented with the support of Major Sponsor Heffel Fine Art Auction House, Sponsor Black & MacDonald, financial assistance from the Government of Canada through the Museum Assistance Program, and Exclusive Transportation Partner PACART.
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About the Royal BC Museum: The Royal BC Museum explores the province’s human history and natural history, advances new knowledge and understanding of BC, and provides a dynamic forum for discussion and a place for reflection. The museum and archives celebrate culture and history, telling the stories of BC in ways that enlighten, stimulate and inspire. Located in Victoria on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Xwsepsum Nations), we are a hub of community connections in BC–onsite, offsite and online–taking pride in our collective histories.
Media contact:
news@royalbcmuseum.bc.ca
