MONTREAL/August 31, 2004—
The year 1987 saw the passing of Dr. Max Stern, one of the most important art dealers in Canadian history. As the director and the driving force behind the Dominion Gallery for almost half a century, he played a leading role in promoting this country's modern artists together with his Swedish-born wife, Iris. Dr. Stern, who was born in Germany in 1904, studied art in Cologne, Berlin, Vienna and Paris before returning to D¸sseldorf to direct the Julius Stern Gallery, which was founded by his father in 1913. Due to the rise of Nazism, he fled Germany in 1937 and settled for a short time in Paris then London. In 1941 he moved to Canada and the following year he joined the Dominion Gallery of Fine Arts, founded by Rose Millman, whose business partner he became two years later. In 1947 Max and Iris Stern bought the gallery and made it a focal point for the dissemination of ìliving artî. Max Stern was also interested in European art: he was the first dealer to sell works by Kandinsky to the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and held the exclusive rights to sell Rodin's works in Canada. Max and Iris Stern were also great collectors, and donated many works by Canadian and European artists to over twenty public institutions in North America and Israel.
To co-ordinate the various exhibitions, events and major commemorative projects, his executors created The Max and Iris Stern Museums Legacy Program, which is administered by Concordia University. As Montreal was one of the major beneficiaries of Dr. and Mrs. Stern's bequests, Concordia spearheaded a joint initiative with the two museums (the MMFA and the MACM) to highlight their contributions to their adopted city. Earlier this year, Concordia's Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery appointed the first Max Stern Curator of Art and also established the Iris Westerberg Stern Fund.
From September 1, 2004 to January 23, 2005, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is presenting A Dealer for ìLiving Artî: Selected Works from the Montreal Donation of Max and Iris Stern. This exhibition, which also marks the centenary of Dr. Stern's birth, includes some fifty works by Canadian artists ñ Paul-…mile Borduas, Emily Carr, Stanley Cosgrove, Jean-Philippe Dallaire, John Lyman, J.E.H. MacDonald, Alfred Pellan, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Goodridge Roberts, Marian Scott and Jori Smith ñ that were donated to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA), the MusÈe d'art contemporain de Montrèal (MACM) and the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University. The exhibition will also include documents from the Max Stern Archives at the National Gallery of Canada. After Montreal, the exhibition will travel to the Art Gallery of Windsor, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. This travelling exhibition coincides with the inauguration of the Sculpture Garden dedicated to Max and Iris Stern in front of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion and the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion.
From September 1 to October 9, 2004, the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery of Concordia University is presenting Max Stern: The Taste of a Dealer. Works from Private Collections Acquired through the Dominion Gallery. This exhibition explores the Êsthetic preferences of Dr. Stern by bringing together privately owned works of art that were originally acquired through the Dominion Gallery. It presents fifty rarely seen paintings and works on paper by some of Canada's leading artists of the twentieth century, including Paul-…mile Borduas, Emily Carr, Jean Dallaire, E. J. Hughes, John Lyman and Jean-Paul Riopelle, to name only a few. Seven sculptures by European artists such as Auguste Rodin, Hans Arp and Henry Moore are also on display. The Guest curator of the exhibition is Michel Moreault, who served as Dr. Stern's assistant at the Dominion Gallery for over twenty years,
The illustrated catalogue for both exhibitions was co-produced by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery.
For its part, the MusÈe d'art contemporain de Montrèal is pleased to announce that it has renamed its series of distinguished international symposia, which will henceforth be known as The Max and Iris Stern International Symposium. Ever since the MACM was founded in 1964, the Sterns contributed extensively to its growth, donating eighty-six artworks to the collection including works by Hans Arp, Paul-…mile Borduas, Emily Carr, John Lyman and Jean-Paul Riopelle. The first Max and Iris Stern International Symposium will be held in the spring of 2005. The purpose of this symposium, to be held annually, is to make available to the general public the most recent research of the greatest contemporary thinkers in fields as diverse as art history, Êsthetic, sociology and literature. In making this gesture, the MACM pays tribute to this notable Montreal couple by continuing their educational mission, fostering a deeper understanding of contemporary art worldwide.
Information
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Wanda Palma or Catherine Guex
(514) 285-1600, extensions 173 and 205
cguex@mbamtl.org
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery
MichËle ThÈriault
(514) 848-2424, extension 4752
mtheriau@alcor.concordia.ca
MusÈe d'art contemporain de Montrèal
Francine Arsenault
(514) 847-6232
francine.arsenault@macm.org
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