Modernist Sculptures From 1960 to 1970

This year marks the sixtieth anniversary of the first International Sculpture Symposium in North America that took place in Montreal’s Mount Royal Park. Back in 1964, twelve sculptors from around the world were given two months to create monumental works in stone and metal, eleven of which are still standing. This was a significant event in the introduction of modernist sculpture to Canada. A wonderful NFB film, La forme des choses, documents the on-site progress of the sculptors. In celebration of this event, the following bike tour visits a number of sculptural installations on display in our region that were conceived in the period leading up to and after Montreal’s International Sculpture Symposium, specifically from 1960 t0 1970.

We begin with Samothrace by Quebec artist Armand Vaillancourt. This painted cast iron sculpture was created in 1966, just two years after Montreal’s International Sculpture Symposium in which Valliancourt participated. Samothrace is on Sussex Drive, between the York Steps and the Connaught Building.

Our next stop is along the Rideau Canal where sits Meditation Piece by Elza Mayhew, an artist from British Columbia. This bronze sculpture was created in 1966 and commissioned for the EXPO 67 Sanctuary Building on the EXPO site in Montreal. The pavilion was a pyramid shaped structure for which Mayhew conceived this piece that was placed in the centre of the sanctuary. Benches were installed on all sides for quiet meditation. 

Up on the National Arts Centre roof terrace you will find this massive untitled bronze sculpture by Charles Daudelin.It’s a work he began to conceiv in 1965 when he was invited to participate in a design competition for this site specific piece. Because of the imposing mass of the new National Arts Centre building that was still to be constructed Charles saw the need for the sculpture to be on a horizontal plane to fittingly occupy the space and to place it on stilts to create an impression of lightness. The final work was completed and installed in 1968. To view this amazing jewel you will need to climb a short flight of stairs (i.e. carry your bike) accessed from just behind the sculpture of Oscar Peterson on Elgin Street.

A few blocks west on O’Connor Street stands Ancestor I by British sculptor Barbara Hepworth. It is from a series of the nine sculptures titled The Family of Man which she sculpted in 1970. Various casts of the works can be found worldwide. It is one of the last major works that Barbara Hepworth made before her death in 1975.

Infront of the Bank of Canada building on Wellington you will find Flight by Sorel Etrog. This sculpture was commissioned in 1966 to be displayed in the Canada pavillion at Expo 67 in Montreal.

Next we cross the River and weave our way to a small island situated at the start of the Ruisseau de la brasserie in Gatineau. Near the southern tip of this small island sits Explorateur II by Victor Tolgesey. Constructed in the period leading up to the first lunar landing, this piece made from Corten steel resembles a stranded space explorer resting in this serene setting. Tolgesy was born in Hungary and emigrated to Canada in 1951.  From the early 1950’s to 1980 he lived and worked in Ottawa.

Here ends our bike tour of some great modernist public sculptures conceived in the decade between 1960 and 1970. Have a safe ride.