The Modern Eye: Artfully Designed
Bill Hackett Furniture designed and made in Victoria by Morrison-Bush in the window of Standard Furniture 1953 Courtesy UBC Archives
Modern industrial design in Canada is an area of increasing interest, and the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s current exhibition “The Modern Eye: Craft and Design in Canada 1940–1980” attempts to catalogue its mid- to late-century climax. It turns its gaze to furniture, ceramics, textiles and other items of iconic design. Among the show’s 150 pieces are Jacques Guillon’s String Chair from 1952 and 1970s tableware from Quebec craftsman Gaetean Beaudin. What remains to be seen is whether the exhibition’s contents—curated by Victoria collector and teacher Allan Collier—communicate a coherent aesthetic program, emphasizing, in the words of AGGV’s director Jon Tupper, “a clear sense of Canadian design and a strong desire to make it part of everyday living.” If so, this might provide a pertinent historical index against which to identify the state of Canadian design now.
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Jacques Guillon String Chair 1950 Courtesy Allan Collier |
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Waclaw Czerwinski and Hilary Stykolt Lounge Chair 1946 Courtesy Skinner, Inc. |
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