A Long Time ago in AGO Level 1, Part 1
- foodventures
- Jul 17, 2019
- 7 min read
Updated: Aug 26, 2019
There are different art museums in Toronto that tell the story or evolution of art from textiles, shoes and others. One of such is the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), one of the most well-known art museums in Toronto.
We visited AGO on a weekday to avoid the crowd and to take pictures of just the exhibits. However, in spite of this, we were surprised at the amount of people who went to the AGO, demonstrating the location's popularity among people of all ages. Upon arriving, we obtained our passes for AGO, had them unblocked in order for them to activate and proceeded to the world of AGO, filled with paintings and sculptures that tell us a lot more about history than we initially thought. After all, a picture is worth a thousand words, right?
Please note that we will not post most of the pictures that we took in this section in order for us to avoid being banned from visiting the AGO. Instead, we will try to describe them briefly here.
The AGO, being a grand place, offers a free 45-minute tour, which we declined because we wanted to take our time to enjoy the place by ourselves. We will definitely try them next time though, because they can the tour guide can undoubtedly tell us additional facts and sides of the exhibits that cannot be found from the written description alone.
Afterward, we took a map and four brochures that were available at the front desk, which we recommend you taking, because they contain information about proper etiquette in the AGO such as no food or drinks, maintaining a distance of 1 metre between you and the art, etc. After going through the etiquette, we proceeded to the first floor of the AGO.
On the first floor, there were stone arts that were made by Indigenous people. Next to the stone arts, which were encased in glass for protection purposes, were descriptions, conveying the story about the inspiration behind the piece and about the creator, giving a great and amazing insight into history through them. In addition to various stone arts, there was also a Tipi at the centre of the first floor.
The above was just a section of the different sections on the first floor of the AGO. We, on that day, did not go in a particular order in spite of the map we had on hand, due to us being engrossed and mesmerized in the art exhibits we saw. The details behind every stroke, sculpting process and colours. In retrospect, we feel that there is no word that would adequately describe their beauty and accompanying historical depth.
One of the sections on the first floor has Italian Art, which showcased Roman Catholic beliefs. It is important to read the description of the art because they provide fun facts (at least, in our opinion) about the art. For instance, the picture on the right showed that the hands of the characters in the painting are pointed towards Jesus Christ and the person who commissioned for the painting to be done was added on the painting so that it looks like they were in the scene, who was in the bottom right corner of the painting, clad in a red cloak-like cloth.
Another section on the labyrinth-like first floor had Ethiopian art. The picture on the left shows old scrolls from Ethiopia. We love how intricate the details and writings on the scroll are, beautifully showing a person's creativity and how expressive they are when it comes to their beliefs. Their patience to create these meaningful scrolls is not unnoticed and therefore appreciated, considering the fact that they did not have any advanced technology during the time they made them and yet, they were able to create these artifacts. The innovativeness and resourcefulness of the human mind knows no bounds indeed! Most of the manuscripts are on Vellum, which is made from animal skin and was mainly used for writing.
Apart from the scrolls, there was also a mural that showed the interior of an Old Ethiopian Roman Catholic Church. Further, they have Diptych icons that showed the birth of Christ, St. George, the Crucifixion, Virgin and Child, Four Ethiopian Saints, the 9 Archangels and others.
Another section of the first floor on the AGO was filled with European (Christian/Roman Catholic) artifacts. Similar to most of the exhibits in the AGO, they were all very detailed and authentic. The room was mostly filled with exhibits detailing the Crucifixion and showed different stages of Christ's lives. One of the common materials through which these exhibits were made was Ivory.
There was also a part of the wall that was dedicated to stained glass art. The picture on the right shows the event on the Bible when an Angel went to Joseph's dream and explained to Joseph about Mary's pregnancy. This scene was important for Catholics because Joseph still married Mary and became a Father to Jesus Christ because he loves her and he was open-minded to listen to the Angel and had faith in God and in God's purpose. Another stained glass art showed when Jesus Christ was born and the three kings/wise men, also known as the Biblical Magi, offered him Myrrh, Gold and Frankincense.
Also, from the picture at the top of this post, there was a small room that contained different Bibles that were written in Latin and the art on each page. There was a Gutenberg Bible, which was made using a printing press, created by Johannes Gutenberg. So, how do you know if you are looking at a Gutenberg Bible? If a page contains 42 lines, then, you are looking or reading (if you know how to read Latin) a Gutenberg Bible. Moreover, from one of our art classes, we remembered (but correct us if we are wrong) that before the printing press was created, there was a literacy gap between the rich and poor. The rich used to only have access to the Bible and books while the poor were unable to read and write. After the printing press was invented, the literacy gap was closed. Did you know that it took more than a year for the monks to copy by hand a book/Bible? (Christian History 1990)
Further, there is a section in AGO that is dedicated to Käthe Kollwitz, who is a German artist. Most of her art were dedicated to informing the public about issues such as poverty, hunger and others through her art. The picture above on the top left shows a picture of Käthe Kollwitz. Next to it shows a quote from Käthe Kollwitz, which affected us and made us realize how much we relate to it. The picture on the bottom left displays other artworks of Käthe Kollwitz. Lastly, the picture on the bottom right encourages visitors to draw or write their slogan about any issues that we are currently facing in the world. We drew our own posters and placed them on the shelf.
In addition, we were surprised (and we are not supposed to even be surprised) to find out that the AGO has a collection of the French sculptor, Auguste Rodin. The first sculpture that we recognized was The Thinker. The Thinker, made out of Bronze, is part of The Gates of Hell.
Another artwork of Rodin was the Les Bourgeois de Calais, which depicts the heroic self-sacrifice of people during the Hundred Years War. According to Wikipedia, a French port under the name of Calais, where its town leaders were referred to as the "Burghers", suffered under a long streak of an attack for a period of 11 months by the English! This attack was motivated by the English King's wish, which was to execute the Burghers. The attack was then derailed by the English Queen at the time, for she firmly believed that it would be "bad for unborn child (Wikipedia 2019)".
Additionally, there was the Adam sculpture. According to Musée Rodin, since Rodin was greatly influenced by the artworks of Michaelangelo, Rodin based the right hand of the Adam sculpture from Michaelangelo's "The Creation Of Man", which is displayed proudly in the Sistine Chapel whereas his left hand is the same as Jesus Christ‘s hand in Pietà displayed in the Florence Cathedral (The Metropolitan Museum of Art 2019) .
There is also a section on the first floor that displayed the arts that will be seen in the AGO. Most of the sections on the first floor were European Art. Also on the first floor was a shop where AGO sells some arts that closely resembled the ones showed in AGO. We saw some 4D Toronto art, Van Gogh arts, Indigenous arts, books, socks, jewelries, home decor, amazing souvenirs that represent Toronto and others.
These are only the few of the many sections of the first floor of the AGO. We recommend that you bring someone who enjoys art, for exhibits that are as beautiful as the ones we saw are even more breathtaking when shared with someone else. And, of course, so that you can delve into creative discussions, fact sharing and storytelling about the paintings, sculptures and more. After that day, we cannot wait to come again for a visit and to explore the different floors and their sections!
Fun fact - recently, the AGO implemented free passes for youth under 25 years of age. This provides the opportunity for the younger generation to appreciate and understand art. AGO offers different memberships that are appropriate for different individuals. Further details about these memberships are on their website. In addition to the AGO housing many types of art from all over the world, the AGO holds different events that showcase different art from different people. Hopefully, one day, we get to attend one of them! To be informed on the latest goings-on in the AGO, feel free to subscribe to their newsletter!
"What art is, in reality, is this missing link, not the links which exist. It's not what you see that is art; art is the gap" - Marcel Duchamp
References:
“1456 Gutenberg Produces the First Printed Bible: Christian History Magazine.” Christian History Institute, christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/article/gutenberg-bible
“Adam | Auguste Rodin | 11.173.1 | Work of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art.” Metmuseum.org, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/11.173.1/.
“The Burghers of Calais - Wikipedia.” Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Burghers_of_Calais.
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