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Canadian Friends of the Hermitage
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St. Petersburg:
A lecture by Pyotr Schwartzman
Pyotr Schwartzman will introduce us to the main architects and their patrons who built "the Venice of the North". During two hundred years St. Petersburg existed as Russia's window to the West, as the showcase for the wealth and power of an empire. Expense was no object: marble from Carrara, malachite and lapis lazuli were used lavishly used for columns and pilasters, gilding was liberally applied inside and outside buildings, rooms had parquet floors inlaid with rare woods, and sapphires have been used as door knobs. The best architects of their time were hired: be they from Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands or England. These talented people worked on their own, worked and reworked the same palaces and grand public buildings, or collaborated on various complexes. The result was the creation of a peculiarly rich Baroque, and an elegant Neo-classicism found in St. Petersburg alone. A group of talented Russian architects were trained by them, worked with them and carried on the work in the "Petersburg style". Mr. Schwartzman will include a selection of outlying imperial summer palaces in his presentation: Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo and Pavlovsk are on the program. Mr. Schwartzman was professionally trained in Russia as artist and architect. He now divides his time between painting and working as an architectural consultant. |
Challenges of Connecting Collections:
A Talk by Patricia Young
Pat Young will tell us about the huge challenges that are posed by the task facing the many specialists who will be working during the next five years to transfer existing inventory records at the Hermitage Museum from paper to electrons. As a start, it means assisting the Hermitage to select a collection management systems to track and record almost four million objects that until now have been indexed and recorded in either French or Russian. The work load is so huge, that some crates and boxes still remain unpacked from the time when they were prepared for evacuation during the siege of Leningrad. There may be some surprises in these crates: not so long ago when one box was opened, they found a Leonardo da Vinci they did not know they had. It will be important to reconcile physical inventory information with existing records. Pat is a specialist in museum documentation and information management. She is Manager of Professional Programs with Canadian Heritage Information Network (CHIN) and also chairs the International Committee for Documentation of the International Council of Museums (ICOM). She has worked in the area of information management for the last 15 years with Parks Canada, CHIN, and the Getty Information Institute. |
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In September 2000, Pat Young and her colleague Jim Fox accompanied Robert Kaszanits, President of the State Hermitage Museum Foundation of Canada, to St. Petersburg to start the Inventory Project. The Project is being spearheaded and funded by the Foundation. Canadian expertise will help digitize the vast collections of the Hermitage and initiate one of the largest projects of this kind. For a taste of the art you can find in the collections of the Hermitage, visit the Museum's web site: www.hermitage.ru or
www.hermitagemuseum.org
---ooo--- "War and Peace in Russia"
The concert will be preceded by an introductory talk given by
Free admission to concert ticket holders to OSO concert
Both Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich reflected on war and expressed it through their musical medium: a look inside Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Symphony No. 7, The Leningrad by Shostakovich.
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The Hermitage Abroad As of January of this year, a three-way collaboration between the State Hermitage Museum, the New York Guggenheim and the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna opens new possibilities for international museum partnership. The Museums foresee a steady exchange of exhibitions, collaboration among museum staffs and the sharing of other resources. Dr. Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage, stated that the agreement might also extend to the notion of shared membership. When the New York Guggenheim opens its new museum on the East River near Wall Street, space will be set aside for works from both the Hermitage and the Kunsthistorisches Museum. The Guggenheim is also a partner in St. Petersburg in the Hermitage expansion into the General Staff Building across Palace Square from the Winter Palace. ---ooo---
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Tour to Toronto
A unique opportunity to see this exhibit before it is open to the general public! The Art Gallery of Ontario will be the only venue for this breathtaking array of Old Master paintings, drawings and decorative arts. The exhibit will feature paintings by the three most important artists of the Flemish Baroque period: Peter Paul Rubens, Anthony van Dyck and Jacob Jordaens. More than 150 works in all! As Friends of the Hermitage, we will attend a reception at the AGO on May 2 and will have all day on May 3rd to view the exhibit at our leisure. Program May 2 —
May 3 —
May 4 —
Cost: $650 Includes: bus travel to, in and from Toronto; two nights at the Royal York Hotel (double occupancy); two breakfasts; two lunches; museum entry fees; audio guides; tips and gratuities. |
To reserve your place, call
---ooo--- NOTE: This tour is for members only. To become a member, please complete a membership application and forward it with your cheque made out to the Canadian Friends of the Hermitage to our offices at 280 Metcalfe Street, Suite 400, Ottawa, ON K2P 1R7. Please contact our office for information on our Fall 2001 tour to St. Petersburg and Moscow. You can reach us by mail, by phone (613) 236-1116, by fax (613) 233-5438 or by e-mail at ah239@ncf.ca
Peter the Great by Etienne Falconet (1716-1791) |
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Annual General Meeting
The agenda of our first annual general meeting will include reports on the past year's activities and the election of an Executive Committee for the coming year. At present, this Committee combines two responsibilities: it functions as the National Board of the Friends and as the Committee in charge of the Ottawa Chapter of the Friends. All are welcome to attend the meeting; however, only members in good standing are entitled to vote on motions and to elect members of the Executive Committee. Following the AGM, Pat Young will speak on "Challenges of Connecting Collections: The Hermitage Collections Inventory Project", You will find information about her talk on the front page. A reception will follow at the conclusion of Pat Young's presentation. Nominating Committee If you wish to put your name forward as a candidate for election to the Executive Committee, or if you know of a candidate for nomination to the Executive, please write to The Nominations Committee or contact any one of the members of the Nominating Committee:
According to By-laws 11.2, the Nominating Committee will bring its recommendations to the Chapter three weeks prior to the next Annual General Meeting. Additional nominations will be accepted two weeks prior to the Annual General Meeting. No nominations from the floor will be accepted. A Miracle at the Hermitage « Miracle à l'Ermitage » is the title of an in-depth article by Frédéric Tremblay in the latest issue of Vie des Arts (No 181, Hiver 2000-2001) about The State Hermitage Museum Foundation of Canada in general and its President, Robert Kaszanits in particular. |
Member Survey Kathryn Mikoski thanks all the members who participated in this survey. Your comments and offers to volunteer are most encouraging and will help us to improve future programs. Thank you! From the returns we have identified a number of volunteers and a few members who are interested in filling an executive position. Your energy and enthusiasm are much appreciated and will be put to good use. We can never have enough volunteers, so if you have not already done so, please consider making yourself available from time to time. Nominations for executive positions will be accepted until April 14th. There is no better way to get the fullest enjoyment of your membership than by participation! This is what you are telling us so far about programs: art appreciation lectures are the most popular choice, followed by tours, then Russian cultural events. Video presentations, Foundation project news and social events received identical approval ratings. It seems that members are quite happy with one monthly event (excluding summer months). As to venues, the National Gallery received the most votes, followed closely by the National Library. Members of our soon-to-be-established Toronto Chapter suggested the Art Gallery of Ontario as their preferred venue.
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![[Arch Framing Statue on Tall Column - The Logo of the Canadian Friends of the Hermitage]](../../../Common/FriendsLogo200108w100.gif)
![[Peter the Great by Etienne Falconet (1716-1791)]](PeterTheGreat.jpg)