|
The house that you are about to visit, and its contents, are the
life's work of a woman who dedicated herself to finding and preserving
the material evidence of the traditions that Quebec inherited from
New France.
Upon her death in March 2002, Mrs. Sharpe left the house and its
contents to our museum. You will be able to imagine our excitement on
entering this ancestral home and discovering the treasures that she
assembled and cherished over nearly half a century. You will also
understand why we wanted to show this collection to the public as
soon as possible, well before we finished researching it. This national
treasure was bequeathed to us so that we could share it with the world.
We have prepared this virtual tour as quickly as possible, even though that
meant limiting the descriptions accompanying the illustrations.
This collection is now at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in
Gatineau where it will be the focus of a number of research and
exhibition projects in the coming years.
Enjoy your visit!
Jean-François Blanchette, Ph.D.
Curator, Folk Art and Material Culture
Canadian Museum of Civilization
jf.blanchette@civilization.ca
Photographs by Steven Darby
The photographs that you will be viewing in this virtual tour
of the Nettie Covey Sharpe House are the work of
Canadian Museum of Civilization photographer Steven Darby. These
photos are copyright protected ©
. If you wish to use them in any way, you must first obtain
written
permission from the Museum.
Acknowledgments
Léonard Anderson generously shared his memories of his
close friend, Mrs. Sharpe. Robert and Michelle Picard and Peter Baker,
antique dealers and friends of Mrs. Sharpe, filled me in on
several aspects of her professional and personal life. Merlin Acomb,
museologist and friend of Mrs. Sharpe, assisted in the documentation
of several pieces in the collection. I am extremely grateful to
all these people for their collaboration. The author, however,
assumes full responsibility for the text.
Credits
Research and texts: Jean-François Blanchette
Web design and development: Charles Whalen
Photography: Steven Darby
Translation from the French : Victoria Barkoff, Kalamuse
Suggested Reading
BLANCHETTE, Jean-François. "La Collection
Nettie Covey Sharpe. Trois mille objets, trois siècles d'histoire",
Cap-aux-diamants, No. 73, Printemps 2003, pp. 57-58, Québec.
BLANCHETTE, Jean-François. "The Nettie Covey Sharpe
Collection. The largest donation ever made to the Canadian Museum of
Civilization", Between Us, Spring 2003. Gatineau, Canadian Museum
of Civilization.
BLANCHETTE, Jean-François. "In Search of the French
Canadian Aesthetic The Work of Nettie Covey Sharpe", Between Us,
Fall 2003. Gatineau, Canadian Museum of Civilization.
BLANCHETTE, Jean-François. "Nettie Covey Sharpe's
Legacy. An Antique Dealer's Passion for French Canada",
Antique Showcase, November-December 2003.
CARPENTIER, Paul. "L'art populaire et Marius Barbeau,
le populiste" dans Pascale Galipeau Les paradis du monde,
l'art populaire au Québec, Mercury Series, Canadian Centre
for Folk Culture Studies, no.68, Hull, Canadian Museum of Civilization,
1995, pp. 78-82.
CRÉPEAU, Pierre. Pointing at the Wind
The Weather-Vane Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization,
Hull, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1990, 84 pages.
CRÉPEAU, Pierre. Playing with the Wind
The Whirligig Collection of the Canadian Museum of Civilization,
1991, 55 pages.
CRÉPEAU, Pierre, Jean-François Blanchette,
Magnus Einarsson, Stephen Inglis, Wesley Mattie and Philip Tilney.
From the Heart Folk Art in Canada, Toronto, McClelland &
Stewart, 1983.
DUNBAR, Nancy. Images du sport dans le Canada
d'autrefois / Images of Sports in Early Canada, Montreal,
McCord Museum and McGill-Queen's University Press, 1976.
FINLAYSON, R.W. Portneuf Pottery Potterie
Portneuf, Don Mills, Longman, 1972.
FLEMING, Patricia and Thomas Carpenter. Traditions
in Wood. A History of Wildfowl Decoys in Canada, Camden East,
Camden House, 1987, 179 p.
GALIPEAU, Pascale. Les Paradis du monde,
Mercury Series, Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, no.68,
Hull, Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1995.
GÉLINAS, Céline. Un art pas si bête,
l'art populaire en Gaspésie. Gaspé, Musée de
la Gaspésie, 1993.
HARDY, Jean-Pierre, La vie quotidienne dans la
vallée du Saint-Laurent, 1790-1835, Québec, Septentrion,
178 pages.
HARPER, J. Russell. "Folk Sculpture of Rural Quebec",
in Antiques, Vol. CIII, no. 4, April 1973, pp. 724-733.
HARPER, J. Russell. L'art populaire: l'art naïf
au Canada, Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1973.
HARPER, J. Russell. A People's Art: Primitive,
Naïve, Provincial, and Folk Painting in Canada, Toronto,
University of Toronto Press, 1974.
PALARDY, Jean. The early furniture of French Canada.
Toronto, Macmillan, 1963.
PICARD, Michelle et Robert. "Madame Nettie Sharpe (1907-2002),
pionnière, collectionneuse et esthète," Magazin'Art,
no. 61, autumn 2003, 16e année, no. 1.
VILLENEUVE, René. Baroque to Neo-classical :
Sculpture in Quebec. Ottawa, National Gallery of Canada, 1997.
|
|