Art History

Like many stylistic terms in architecture, the exact parameters denoted by the word “Brutalism” are difficult to precisely pin down. Brutalism is a style which was particularly prominent during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The emphasis on harsh geometric forms and unadorned rough concrete and brick have resulted in very strong feelings of hate or love for these buildings. 
This tour documents a number of Brutalist style buildings in Winnipeg and explores their genesis, as well as the place of Brutalism in the history of the city.

Few texts have examined modern Canadian architecture in a national frame. This has limited the analysis of major themes in this discourse, particularly with respect to international practice and cultural history. Yet definitions of a coherent and specific “Canadian” category of modern architecture have been articulated. Such suggestions have appeared either tacitly or directly in popular texts, magazine articles, exhibition catalogues, and in writing by architects themselves. These constructions of a national approach chiefly define this category in contrast to others and as emblematized by a link to landscape, paralleling entrenched myths of national character. Within the discourse of modern architecture in Canada, the terms emphasized have commonly pertained to issues of landscape. This focus on geographical context is notable when considered against a prevailing definition of architectural modernism based on universal, functionalist, and formal criteria. This variety of interpretation has an operative character, fulfilling a nationalist function in line with certain notions of
Canadian identity. A concern with landscape was, in fact, an important strain in architectural modernism as a whole. A nationalist identification of Canadian
modern architecture with landscape misreads this situation. This misreading,
however, results from a similarity in motive and solution between strands
of modernism and Canadian nationalism: a perceived lack in the structures of modernity and a reliance on land, nature, and place as remedy.

Civic Modern examines the social, political and architectural history of Winnipeg’s Civic and Centennial Centres as they reach their 50th anniversary. In 1957, Winnipeggers voted by a wide margin for a new City Hall. Less than 10 years later, the city witnessed the construction of not only a new City Hall, but a massive complex of civic and cultural facilities, one of the largest such ensembles in Canada. The exhibit includes original sketches, artifacts, and photos from noted architectural photographer Henry Kalen.

On view 15 May – 31 May 2014 at Winnipeg City Hall and 16 January 16 - 11 February, 2015 in the ARCH 2 Gallery at the University of Manitoba.

Considering such nationally significant structures as the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre (designed by Michael Robert Kirby and Allan Waisman of Number 10 Architects), the Winnipeg Public Safety Building, the Canadian Grain Commission Building, and the University of Winnipeg's Lockhart Hall, this presentation explored the meaning of the practices and range of approaches by the word “Brutalism.” In examining Brutalist buildings in Winnipeg and their context in the architectural historical context of the city and nation, this presentation considered the meaning of such building in Canada and the notion of a Winnipeg genre of Brutalist design.

Winnipeg-based architecture firm Green Blankstein Russell and Associates (GBR) opened in the slow years of the Great Depression. From this inauspicious starting point the firm would grow to become, by the 1950s and 60s, a major player on the Canadian architectural scene: the largest architectural office between Ontario and British Columbia, with seven offices in four provinces.

GBR was a hub for partnership and training, and was a pioneering force in its inclusion of women and members of Canada's diverse cultural communities within the field of design. Covering a wide range of individual buildings and practitioners, this book explores the significant mark GBR made on its hometown and across the country, as well as the firm’s role as a leader in the growth of Modernist architecture in Canada.

MaryClaire Pappas is a PhD Student at Indiana University specializing in modern European art, with an emphasis on Scandinavian paintings, prints, and drawings. Her research interests include gender and modernism, representations of race and "otherness," and issues of identity. She holds a Master's degree from Queen's University and has previously worked on the Catalogue Raisonné project for Edvard Munch's drawings at the Munch Museum. ABSTRACT Edvard Munch rarely depicted images of women bathing in interior settings. Yet these paintings are particularly fascinating since both the bathing space and the bathers remain elusive as it is quite unclear where the women are bathing and for what purpose. This article analyses two of Munch's interior bathing scenes from the fin-de-siècle through discussing both social understanding of interior bathing spaces at that time and the implications for the female bather within the bathing locale. Keywords Edvard Munch, gender, bathing culture, sexuality SAMMENDRAG Edvard Munch fremstilte sjelden innendørs badende kvinner. Likevel er disse maleriene saerlig fascinerende, fordi både lokaliteten og baderne er vanskelige å definere; det er uklart hvor kvinnene bader og hvorfor. Artikkelen analyserer to av Munchs innendørs badescener fra århundreskiftet gjennom en diskusjon av samtidens sosiale forståelse av innendørs bad, og hva det kunne innebaere for den kvinnelige baderen i lokalet. Nøkkelord Edvard Munch, kjønn, badekultur, seksualitet This article is downloaded from www.idunn.no.