THOUGHT AND CULTURE
WINTER 2025
ART HISTORY – THE TRAJECTORY OF MODERN ART Instructor: Lilian Elvir
The Trajectory of Modern Art
Let's dive into the compelling history of modern art on a journey from academic art to abstraction. These are participatory chats, where the attendees' experiences and comments are encouraged to stimulate discussion.
1. Modernism What is Modern Art? When did it start? 200BCE or 1550CE? You’ll be surprised. We will look at the following artists: Giotto, David, Manet, Cezanne, Van Gogh.
2. The School of Paris (1900-1940): After Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, Paris became a magnet for artists from all over the world where art, culture and transformation is in the air. Artists: Matisse, Rodchenko, Modigliani, Chagall, Mondrian.
3. The School of New York (1940s-1970): After WW2, New York became the world centre for art innovation, and Abstract Art was all the rage with Pollock’s dripping paints. We will also explore Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, Andy Warhol, and Judd. But art is not static, and there’s a change in the air with Julian Schnabel and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
4. Special Consideration. How did Modern art look in Europe after WW2? Let’s explore the art scene in England with David Hockney, the transavantgarde (yes, it’s one word) in Italy with Francisco Clemente and the comeback of the German artists with Gerhard Richter.
5. Women in Art: Explore some of the women artists in Modern Art: Berthe Morisot, Hilma af Klint, Tamara de Lempicka, Georgia O’Keeffe, Joan Mitchell, Elaine de Kooning, Helen Frankenthaler.
Canada: We all know the Group of Seven. But what about the other Canadian Art movements? Let's explore the London Regionalist with Greg Cournoe, Painters Eleven with Jack Bush and the Regina Five with Ronald Bloore.
6. Global Perspectives: A look at Indigenous and non-Western arts. We start with our own Nadya Mire and Rebeca Belmore, then travel to Mexico to see Frida Kahlo and her husband, El Anatsui in Ghana doing something with caps, Ai Weiwei’s moving monumental public art, Yayoi Kusama’s focus on mental health and Firelei Baez’s compelling thoughts on Caribbean art and history.
THE BROADS OF OLD BROADWAY. PART I. Instructor: Cynthia Jones
This course will focus on the female singers who helped shape the Broadway musical, with lectures featuring Fanny Brice, Ethel Merman, Mary Martin, Chita Rivera, Gwen Verdon, and Angela Lansbury. The instructor will focus on their backgrounds, how they got involved in Broadway shows, and how they contributed to the art. We will watch scenes of their performances and listen to them singing their glorious Broadway songs.
CLASSICAL COMPOSERS AND THEIR MUSIC - A CLOSER LOOK - Composers N,O,P. Instructor: Roxanne Martel
This course is continuing with the series of classes on composers in alphabetical order. It will take a look at the music of classical composers in greater depth than previous sessions. We will explore a greater variety of music from well-known, and some lesser-known composers. Each composer has left a body of works and the plan is to go beyond the “popular” repertoire and listen to a broader repertoire of works including symphonies, concertos, sonatas, and chamber works.
Composers from N, O and P include L. Niedermeyer, Luigi Nono, Knut Nystedt, Johannes Ockeghem, Jacques Offenbach, Carl Orff, Johann Pachelbel, Niccolo Paganini, G. da Palestrina, Arvo Pärt, Giovanni Pergolesi, Astor Piazzolla , Francis Poulenc and more.
A DISTURBING DISQUIET: The Fiction of Patricia Highsmith Instructor: Zsolt Alapi
Though Patricia Highsmith is a crime and mystery writer, she is also much more, probing the underbelly of the human psyche while creating an atmosphere of dread and foreboding. The novelist Graham Greene dubbed her the “poet of apprehension,” placing her in the upper echelon of twentieth-century noir fiction. In her Ripley novels, she has invented a charming, completely amoral protagonist with a fluid gender identity and a ruthless resolve to advance himself at any cost, possibly one of the most memorable of fictional anti-heroes. We will ask questions like: Does the human psyche always have a dark side? Why are we attracted to her characters despite their dubious qualities? Is there at the core of her writing an existential message about our post-modern condition: a moral vacuum where virtues are willingly shelved and amoral actions justified? Finally, is her purpose more than noir storytelling by illuminating the depravity of a world whose center does not hold?
Required Reading: Highsmith, Patricia. The Talented Mr. Ripley (W.W. Norton) Highsmith, Patricia. Ripley’s Game (W.W. Norton)
EXPO 67, A HISTORY, PART 1 (NEW AND EXPANDED COURSE). Instructor: Bruno Paul Stenson
Expo 67, which was originally scheduled to take place in Moscow, was NOT Jean Drapeau's idea. In fact, he was initially against it. In this course we take an in-depth look at Expo 67, from the very long history of international exhibitions, to the on-again, off-again plans for our Expo, to a visit inside every single pavilion on Cité du Havre and Île Sainte-Hélène. Maybe not as much fun as actually going to Expo, but really, really close.
Lecture 1) The History of International Exhibitions. The 3,000-year history of international exhibitions with important stops in Paris, London, and the two exhibitions that had a major influence (one good, one bad) on Expo 67, and more.
Lecture 2) Building Expo 67: Construction. The original idea, how some islands were transformed and another created, how the Mexican pavilion almost ended up in the river, painting the grass green, and more.
Lecture 3) Building Expo 67: Promotion. An inflatable auditorium touring the United States, a major American department store volunteering space, Montréal taxi drivers recruited to help promote Expo, Americans' fear of Communists being exploited, and more,
Lecture 4) Visiting Expo: Cité du Havre. Passports, the first visitor, every pavilion on Cité du Havre, including the one with the 7-hour line-up to get in, and more.
Lecture 5) Visiting Expo: Île Ste-Hélène, Part 1. Half of the pavilions on Île Ste-Hélène, including two that had trains going through them, one that closed for a month because of a major fire, one where "the queers got carte blanche", and many more.
Lecture 6) Visiting Expo: Île Ste-Hélène, Part 2. Lost adults, lost children, a threat to murder a child, the other half of the pavilions on Île Ste-Hélène, including the one with the must-see film, and many more.
(We will conclude our in-depth look at Expo 67 by looking at Île Notre-Dame and La Ronde next session in Expo 67, A History, Part 2.)
MOVIE MATINE
Hope you enjoy them!
1. She’s The Man
Comedy / Romance, 2006
2. The Hundred-Foot Journey
Comedy / Drama, 2014
3. I Am Celine Dion
Documentary, 2024
4. Letters to Juliet
Comedy / Drama, 2010
5. From Time to Time
Adventure / Drama, 2010
6. The Miracle Club
Drama / Comedy, 2002
A NEW GLOBAL HISTORY: PIVOTING EASTWARD, Part 2. Instructor: F.X. Charet
Much of conventional understanding of history highlights the Mediterranean region as central in the emergence of civilization of which the West is the recipient and latest stage of development. If the focus is shifted Eastward another perspective comes into view that transforms our understanding into a truly global history the reality of which is increasingly evident in the modern world. Topics covered: Silk Roads Old and New (Trade, Religions and Philosophies, Art & Culture, Politics and Military Conflict).
STORIES IN STONE – HISTORY & ARCHITECTURE OF SHERBROOKE ST. WEST. Instructor: Ingrid Birker
These important early Montreal structures that still exist today will be the subject of our study and discussion during this session. (Walking tours and visits to these buildings will be followed up in the Spring I session.)
Week 1 Monday Jan. 13: The Old Fort of the Grand Séminaire and the Chapel.
Week 2 Monday Jan. 20: Le Chateau Apartments and the Mount Royal Club
Week 3 Monday Mon 27: Crescent Street - the brownstones, the terraced grey stones and McKibbons’ pub, former home of Canada's first female doctor.
Week 4 Monday Feb.3: Museum of Fine Arts and the Erskine and American Church
Week 5 Monday Feb. 10: The Hosmer House and the Maison Forget
=Week 6 Monday Feb. 17: McGill University: The working location of the scientists, Ernest Rutherford and Maude Abbott.
THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT, Part 2. Instructor: F.X. Charet
Anomalous phenomena such as UFOs/UAP, ‘remote viewing’, apparitions etc. that have usually been dismissed as lacking credibility and any evidentiary basis have increasingly come in for re-examination. In this series we will explore a number of these in the light of recent disclosures by those involved in the research of these phenomena.