World Enough and Time

A rainy Sunday: maaseru, explodedteabag and I went to the National Gallery of Canada to see the current exhibit on Sir Edward Burne-Jones, who is one of my favourite artists.

It isn't a Special Exhibit. It's nothing like the big exhibit on Waterhouse that I saw in Montreal in February. It isn't a travelling exhibit: most of the art there already belongs to the National Gallery of Canada or to people who live in Ottawa - one of whom is Burne-Jones great-grandson.

So it's small, and the pictures are small, and almost all of it is in black and white. It's very personal: sketches of his family, caricatures of himself, studies for bigger works. And it's remarkable. It's things I didn't know existed and will probably never see anywhere else.

Oscar Wilde quoted Burne-Jones as saying, "The more materialistic society becomes, the more Angels I will paint; their wings are my protest in favour of the immortality of the soul." I'm not sure the quote doesn't sound as much as if it comes from Wilde as Burne-Jones, but it does give a clue as to why I like Burne-Jones' art so very much.

( My notes on the paintings... )

I was surprised and delighted how man of these works were light, informal, poking fun at himself and the world - not the mental image I'd had of Burne-Jones, but totally endearing.