the news from the
(ivica)
: the national museum of the canadas
along the curve of the disk. Round about two o'clock
you will notice a small, dark oval...the Mare Crisium---the Sea of Crises."
(Arthur C. Clarke)
I decided to drag myself through the National Museum. You gotta get your culture anyway you can. It ain't gonna search you out. It's a painful duty, but I'm willing to suffer and get more cultured. (As long as I can become a better (Canadian) man for it....)
There I was staring at Pierre Elliott Trudeau's "fuddle-duddle". (It was nice of Pierre to try and steer us between the British and the American shores.) It was captured for future Canadians to enjoy. I saw Gordie Tapp's expensive electric bed (with a free tv offer). Tommy Hunter's cowboy shirt. And there in the corner was one of Don Cherry's pit bulls stuffed in an Edwardian high-collar shirt.
I passed quietly by the Guess Who's knives and forks (collected from years of touring). There (on a pedestal) was Jean Chrétien's funny english accent. And Brian Mulroney's wallet. And Jean Chrétien's funny french accent. (It just proves that anyone (ANYONE) can succeed here in the Canadas---kinda nice thought actually!) Plato says that Socrates says that if he had entered politics he would have perished long ago.
The Museum is in reality a limestone building in the Art Deco style. (Probably a steel skeleton in there somewhere.) It was built in this refined almost austere style that tried to be modern for its time and yet retain some kind of decorative historical expression. I like the building, especially compared to its modern (crudely and sadly functional) and its classical (faked and bankrupt ancient copying) neighbours. Instead of columns just claw in the column's flutes....
"Their enthusiasm was superficial, commonplace,
and spasmodic. They had
no perception of the coherent beauty that was
flowering around them."
(E.M.Forster)
There (in a glass box) were Allan Eagleson's hockey credentials. Campeau's debts (Where DID he hide all his money?). Seagram's (proud) smuggling history. A set of black and shrunken lungs from Export "A". Asbestos lungs. Coal-dust lungs. Patrick Watson's hour. Jean Vanier's distinctly Canadian vision. The sure and sensitive songs of Daniel Lanois. Gordon Lightfoot's eyes and hands (in portrait).
I passed through the Wheat Room (do we really feed a good part of the world?). The Newsprint Room (where we make the world literate). The Fish Room. The Metal Room. The Water Room. The Gas and Oil Room.
There was Mordecai Richler's balance. The cartoons of James Unger. A polaroid by Harold Town. (Is art really so easy and artificial?) David Steinberg's routine: "Ach...Get off of me!" John A. Macdonald's whiskey bottle---half full. John A. Macdonald's corruption charges (in English and in French).
"Die Logik muss für sich selber sorgen."
(Ludwig Wittgenstein)
[Logic has to take care of itself.]
John Cabot's pasta maker. Martin Frobisher's bay. An insulin vial from the labs of Banting and Best. A basketball (printed in the USA (but made in Mexico)) signed by James Naismith. Alexander Graham Bell's bell. An authentic bill from Ma Bell. Molson and Labatt bottles and cans all in a row on display. Before-and-after pictures of the American White House which the Americans claim (without proof by the way) was burned by some drunken yahoos from the Canadas (it looks better in white anyway).
Art Deco is not to be confused with Art Nouveau or Art Moderne. There's an Art Deco building (a bank) at Sparks+O'Connor (1930) and one at Bank+Albert (1934) down a few blocks (used to be a bank too!). Art Nouveau (Der Jugendstil in Germany, Lo Stile Floreale in Italy) is like something in Barcelona by Gaudí: organic architecture: imagine a very radical vegetarian putting up buildings.... Nouveau refers to new: as in modern and NOT derivative of an older style. (Although everything is (rightfully) derivative.)
John Candy's smile. Norman Jewison's complete film collection. Peter Gzowski's personal kitchen radio. A statue of Sandy Hawley carrying a horse. Seven paintings on one stone wall. Jean Beliveau's manners. A fifty-pound bag of donut mix, once carried by Tim Horton. A senator's pay check belonging to Frank Mahovlich. The harness of Herve Filion. A very expensive sports car once owned by Ben Johnson. The actual flute that belonged to Gabrielle Roy.
Jim Carrey's ego (all by itself in one room). Walter Huston's daughter
(only for the first week in May every year...she's a good sport). John
Kenneth Galbraith's ticket outta here. Joni Mitchell's taxi and Jacques
Plante's mask...side by side. Leonard Cohen's hotel. And on an old piece
of plywood: used cowboy boots (still) belonging to Stompin' Tom Connors
(he wasn't looking one night). Sheila Copps' promises. Sondra Gotlieb's
hand print. The beard of Robertson Davies. Mel Hurtig's American flag (the
one from his cottage). The first Eaton's catalogue. The first Wal-Mart
flyer.
Art Deco was the bridge between the classical historical buildings and the modern clean buildings...the artist and the machine...the architect and the engineer...the First World War and the Second World War...the Roaring Twenties and the Dirty Thirties. It was born in France and then people adapted it to their peculiar needs. The Chrysler Building (1928) in New York is a great example and there's also the (more subtle) Empire State Building (1930). You could do a Busby Berkeley movie in either location. The movies love fads and styles.
I passed quickly by Robert Stanfield's underwear. A John McIntosh apple. Alex Trebek's favourite question. Shania Twain's Canadian passport. Laura Secord's warning. A sound clip of Kate and Anna McGarrigle singing around each other...trying to find the right damn note. A creased picture of Ian and Sylvia when they were young and in love....
brb, ivica-in-cyberspace
[.UBI OMNES FLORES IVERUNT.]
the news from the Canadas the news from the
Canadas the news from the Canadas the news from the Canadas the
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