Michael Snow Read online

  Copyright © James King, 2019

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purpose of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.

  Publisher: Scott Fraser | Editor: Dominic Farrell

  Cover designer: Laura Boyle | Interior designer: Sophie Paas-Lang

  Cover image: Craig Boyko. Michael Snow. 2012. Photograph.

  Back cover image: Michael Snow. Mixed Feelings. Acrylic on canvas. 253 x 150.6 cm.

  Vancouver Art Gallery.

  Author photo: Julie Thompson

  Printer: Friesens

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Title: Michael Snow : lives and works / James King.

  Names: King, James, 1942- author.

  Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.

  Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190140666 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190140682 | ISBN 9781459741348 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781459741355 (PDF) | ISBN 9781459741362 (EPUB)

  Subjects: LCSH: Snow, Michael, 1928- | LCSH: Snow, Michael, 1928-—Criticism and interpretation.| LCSH: Artists—Canada—Biography. | LCSH: Self-perception in art.

  Classification: LCC N6549.S64 K56 2019 | DDC 709.2—dc23

  1 2 3 4 5 23 22 21 20 19

  We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Ontario, through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada.

  Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credits in subsequent editions.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites or their content unless they are owned by the publisher.

  Printed and bound in Canada.

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  In memory of my father, James Raymond King (1909–1966)

  CONTENTS

  List of Figures

  Introduction

  PART ONE 1928–1962

  ONE ORIGINS

  TWO CONVERSION

  THREE JAZZ BAND

  FOUR A MAN DRAWING LINES

  FIVE INTIMATIONS

  SIX GESTURES

  SEVEN DRAWN OUT

  EIGHT A LOT OF NEAR MRS.

  NINE SURVEYING

  PART TWO 1962–1970

  TEN COOL CITY

  ELEVEN EYE AND EAR CONTROL

  TWELVE MORE SNOWGIRLS

  THIRTEEN WAVELENGTHS

  FOURTEEN NEW SURFACES

  FIFTEEN CANADIANS IN MANHATTAN

  PART THREE 1970–1979

  SIXTEEN THE PRESENCE OF THE PAST

  SEVENTEEN THE PAINTERLY PHOTOGRAPH

  EIGHTEEN THE CANADIAN WILDERNESS

  NINETEEN A GIANT SENTENCE

  TWENTY NO LONGER IN PLAY

  PART FOUR 1979–1994

  TWENTY-ONE BETWEEN ALCHEMY AND CHEMISTRY

  TWENTY-TWO THE EVERYDAY

  TWENTY-THREE THE PRESENCE OF THE ABSENT

  TWENTY-FOUR AUDIENCES

  PART FIVE 1994–PRESENT

  TWENTY-FIVE BLOCKBUSTER

  TWENTY-SIX SOUND SHAPING

  TWENTY-SEVEN A NEW PAINTERLINESS

  TWENTY-EIGHT REPEAT OFFENCES

  TWENTY-NINE RESHAPING FRAGMENTS

  THIRTY NEW-FOUND THINGS

  THIRTY-ONE SMOKE AND MIRRORS

  Acknowledgements

  Short-Titles

  Notes

  Selected Bibliography

  LIST OF FIGURES

  INTRODUCTION

  FIGURE 1. Michael Snow. Red5. 1974. Dry coupler print on paper. 63.2 x 79.2 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  CHAPTER ONE: Origins

  FIGURE 2. Marie-Antoinette Lévesque. 1921. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 3. Gerald Bradley Snow. c. 1920. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 4. Elzéar Lévesque with his son Robert. June 1918. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 5. Lac Clair cottage. Photograph by Michael Snow. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 6. Lévesque family home, 220 Racine Street, Chicoutimi. 1922. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 7. Michael and Denyse Snow. 1939. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 8. Michael Snow. “Aeroplane Ace.” 1938. Drawing. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWO: Conversion

  FIGURE 9. Marie-Antoinette with violin. 1917. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 10. 10 Roxborough Drive, Toronto. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 11. Gerald Bradley and Marie-Antoinette Snow. 1942. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER THREE: Jazz Band

  FIGURE 12. Picasso article. October 13, 1947. LIFE magazine.

  FIGURE 13. Michael Snow. Jazz Band. 1947. Photo dyes on paper collage on board. 101.6 x 76.2 cm. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 14. Michael Snow. Blue Panel (Wall Panel V). 1952. Oil on plywood. 38.6 x 28.9 cm. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 15. Georgine Ferguson. 1953. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 16. Private Collection. Georgine. 1954. Gouache and graphite on card. 33 x 46.5 cm. Private Collection.

  CHAPTER FOUR: A Man Drawing Lines

  FIGURE 17. Ken Dean’s jazz band in concert at a high school in Toronto, probably 1948. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 18. Bob Hackborn and Michael Snow at a costume night in the bar of the Hotel Grand Coeur, Méribel Les Allues. February 1954. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 19. Michael Snow. Colin Curd About to Play. 1953. Oil on canvas. 148.6 x 79.4 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 20. Michael Snow. A Man with a Line. 1953. Oil on canvas. 40 x 45.7 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  CHAPTER FIVE: Intimations

  FIGURE 21. Michael Snow and Av Isaacs. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 22. Dennis Burton. Egypt Asleep. 1966. Oil on canvas. 152.4 x 44.2 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  FIGURE 23. Graham Coughtry. Two Figures XI. 1963. Oil and Lucite on canvas. 182.9 x 152.4 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  FIGURE 24. Michael Snow. Still from A to Z. 1956. 16 mm colour film. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER SIX: Gestures

  FIGURE 25. Michael Snow and Joyce Wieland. 1965. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 26. Michael Snow. Secret Shout. 1960. Oil, charcoal on canvas. 132 x 190 cm. Charles Baillie Collection.

  FIGURE 27. Michael Snow. The Drum Book. 1960. Oil, enamel on canvas. 182.67 x 152.6 cm. Bette and Ian Reich Collection, Toronto.

  FIGURE 28. Isaacs Gallery, 1960. (Left) Blues in Place (1959); (middle) Self-Centered (1960); (right) Bracket I (1960) and Goodbye (1959) is also visible, on the other wall. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 29. Michael Snow. Lac Clair. 1960. Oil, paper, adhesive tape on canvas. 177.8 x 177.8 x 3 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 30. Michael Snow. Green in Green. 1960. Oil, Lucite on canvas. 202 x 131 cm. Morden Yolles Collection, Toronto.

  CHAPTER SEVEN: Drawn Out

  FIGURE 31. Michael Snow. Metamorphosis — Chair. 1955. Bronze lacquer on polyester resin and metal, on oil-painted canvas-covered base. 46 x 36 x 29 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 32. Michael Snow. Colour Booth. 1959. Oil and timber and plywood. 203 x 44 x 49.3 cm. Art Gallery of Ontari
o.

  FIGURE 33. Michael Snow. Seated Nude (Red Head). 1955. Oil on canvas. 126 x 80 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  FIGURE 34. Michael Snow. Seated Nude. 1955. Photo dyes on paper collage on board. 101.4 x 75.9 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 35. Marie-Antoinette and Michael Snow at opening of exhibition at the Isaacs Gallery. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 36. Michael Snow. Quits. 1960. Oil on timber and plywood. 223.3 x 44 x 92 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 37. Michael Snow. Shunt. 1960. Oil on timber. 264 x 18.5 x 335.3 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURES 38 AND 39. Michael Snow. Window. 1960. Wood, acrylic, polyethylene, glass, paper, cotton, wire, sheet metal, chrome-plated sheet metal. 86.4 x 67.3 x 10.2 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 40. Michael Snow. Blue Monk. 1960. Gouache, folded paper, free-standing wooden support. 51.6 x 38.9 x 38.9 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 41. Michael Snow. Table Life. 1954. Gouache on Regal Bond paper and painted frame. 49.8 x 63.2 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURES 42 AND 43. Michael Snow. Drawn Out. 1959. Charcoal on paper. Each 40.6 x 28 cm. David J. Daniels.

  FIGURE 44. Michael Snow. Blews. 1960. Gouache on folded newspaper. 41.6 x 35.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 45. Neo-Dada show. 1961. Av Isaacs is seated in the centre with a flight attendant standing next to him. On the floor are, from left to right, Greg Curnoe, Joyce Wieland, and Michael Snow. Standing, left to right, are Dennis Burton, Richard Gorman, and Arthur Coughtry. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: A Lof of Near Mrs.

  FIGURE 46. Michael Snow. January Jubilee Ladies. 1961. Chalk, gouache, paper collage on corrugated cardboard. 137 x 190 cm. External Affairs and International Trade Canada Collection, Ottawa.

  FIGURE 47. Michael Snow with a jumping figure cut-out and Green in Green. 1962. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 48. Original Walking Woman cut-out on Michael Snow’s studio wall. 1961. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 49. Four to Five. 1962. Black-and-white photographic prints mounted on cardboard. 68 x 83 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 50. Michael Snow. Venus Simultaneous. 1962. Oil on canvas, wood construction. 201 x 300 x 15.2 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 51. Michael Snow. Spread from 61-62. 1961–62. Oil on canvas. 152.4 x 114.3 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 52. William Ronald. Ancient Sky. 1955. Oil on canvas. 61 x 91 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  CHAPTER NINE: Surveying

  FIGURE 53. Michael Snow. Michael Snow/A Survey. 1970. Catalogue, page spread showing Lévesque cottage on Lac Clair and Blind. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 54. Michael Snow. Michael Snow/A Survey. 1970. Catalogue, final page. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: Eye and Ear Control

  FIGURES 55 and 56. Michael Snow. Two stills from New York Eye and Ear Control. 1964. 16 mm black-and-white film, sound. Thirty- four minutes. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 57. Michael Snow in the loft at 123 Chambers Street, New York, probably September 1965. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWELVE: More Snowgirls

  FIGURE 58. Michael Snow. Cry-Beam. 1965. Enamel on canvas. 37 x 70 x 140.5 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 59. Michael Snow. Morningside Heights. 1965. Acrylic on canvas, enamel on timber, plywood, Plexiglas. Painting element is 67.5 x 91 cm. Free-standing sculptural element is 173 x 290 x 20.3 cm. Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal.

  FIGURE 60. Michael Snow. Gallery. 1965. Oil and enamel on canvas, Masonite, wood. 71 x 61 x 20.3 cm. Mrs. M. Winberg Collection.

  FIGURE 61. Michael Snow. Mixed Feelings. Acrylic on canvas. 253 x 150.6 cm. Vancouver Art Gallery.

  FIGURE 62. Joyce Wieland and Michael Snow with Graeme Ferguson’s car. 1963. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 63. Michael Snow. Clothed Woman (In Memory of My Father). 1963. Oil and Lucite on canvas. 153 x 386 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: Wavelengths

  FIGURES 64 AND 65. Michael Snow. Two stills from Wavelength. 1967. 16 mm colour film, sound. Forty-five minutes. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: New Surfaces

  FIGURE 66. Michael Snow. Still from Back and Forth. 1969. 16 mm colour film, sound. Fifty-two minutes. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 67. Michael Snow. Still from One Second in Montreal. 1969. 16 mm black-and-white film, no sound. Twenty-six minutes at sixteen frames per second. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 68. Michael Snow. Atlantic. 1967. Thirty gelatin silver prints, metal, wood, arborite. 170 x 244 x 38 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 69. Michael Snow. Expo Walking Woman (Big Wall Figure) [no longer extant]. 1967. Brushed stainless steel over plywood cord. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 70. Michael Snow. Blind. 1968. Steel, aluminum. 244 x 244 x 244 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 71. Michael Snow. Abitibi. 1969. Plywood, varnish, epoxy, resin, steel bolts. 244 x 122 x 33 cm. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 72. Michael Snow. Membrane. 1969. Chromed steel, wood, rubber. 49.2 x 67.5 x 8.6 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 73. Michael Snow at Isaacs Gallery with Half-Slip on the wall. 1964. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Canadians in Manhattan

  FIGURE 74. Joyce Wieland. Sinking Liner. 1963. Oil collage. 63.5 x 101 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  FIGURE 75. Joyce Wieland. The Camera’s Eyes. 1966. Textile. 263.8 x 187.6 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: The Painterly Photograph

  FIGURE 76. Michael Snow. Authorization. 1969. Five instant silver prints (Polaroid 55), adhesive tape, mirror, metal frame. Each print 34.5 x 44.5 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 77. Michael Snow. Venetian Blind. 1970. Twenty-four frames of Ektacolor photographs. 126 x 234 cm. Art Bank Collection.

  FIGURE 78. Michael Snow. Sink. 1970. Colour photograph, slide projector, eighty 35 mm colour slides. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 79. Michael Snow. Press. 1969. Sixteen gelatin silver prints, Plexiglas, polyester resin, metal, wood. 182.9 x 182.9 x 25.4 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 80. Michael Snow. Field. 1973–74. 101 black-and-white photographs mounted on cardboard; painted wooden frame. 179.1 x 169.6 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 81. Michael Snow. Of a Ladder. 1971. Ten selenium-toned gelatin silver prints, laminated with Lexan. 34 x 50 cm each. Albright-Knox Gallery.

  FIGURE 82. Michael Snow. Spread from Cover to Cover. 1975. Book. 320 pages. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.

  FIGURE 83. Michael Snow. Still from Two Sides to Every Story. 1974. Two 16 mm colour films, sound, eleven minutes; two 16 mm projectors, aluminum screen, switching device. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: The Canadian Wilderness

  FIGURE 84. Michael Snow. Still from La Région Centrale. 1970. 16 mm colour film, sound. 190 minutes. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 85. Michael Snow. De La. 1971. Aluminum and steel mechanical sculpture, closed circuit camera, electronic controls, four monitors. 350 x 750 x 1200 cm. National Gallery of Canada.

  FIGURE 86. Production still of Michael Snow while making La Région Centrale. 1970. Michael Snow.

  FIGURES 87, 88, AND 89. Michael Snow. Photos showing Plus Tard. 1977. Twenty-five framed dye coupler photographs. 86 x 107 cm each. National Gallery of Canada.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: A Giant Sentence

  FIGURES 90 AND 91. Michael Snow. Two stills from Rameau’s Nephew. 1974. 16 mm colour film, sound. 270 minutes. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY: No Longer in Play

  FIGURE 92. CCMC at the Music Gallery. 1978. From left to right: Casey Sokol, Al Mattes, Nobuo Kubota, and Michael Snow. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 93. CCMC in concert at Arraymusic, Toronto. 2015. From left to right: Michael Snow, Paul Dutton, John Oswald, and John Kamevaar. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 94. Michael Snow. Still from Snow in Vienna by Laurie Kwasnik
. 2012. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: Between Alchemy and Chemistry

  FIGURE 95. Michael Snow. Painting (Closing the Drum Book). 1978. Colour photograph, wood frame, wood base. 116.8 x 99.1 x 22.2 cm. Mailhot Family Collection.

  FIGURE 96. Michael Snow. Immediate Delivery. 1998. Backlit photographic transparency, theatrical gels, metal. 116.1 x 191 x 16.8 cm. Art Gallery of Ontario.

  FIGURE 97. Michael Snow. In Medias Res. 1998. Colour photograph on Lexan. 261.6 x 355 cm. Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Ministry of Culture and Communication, Paris.

  FIGURE 98. Michael Snow. Midnight Blue. 1973–74. Colour photograph, wood, acrylic paint, wax. 73 x 66 x 12.5 cm. Centre Pompidou, Paris.

  FIGURE 99. Michael Snow. Blue Blazes. 1979. Colour photograph. 87.8 x 73 cm. McIntosh Gallery, Western University.

  FIGURE 100. Michael Snow. Black Burn Back. 1974. Colour photograph. Barbara and Harry Rosenberg Collection, Toronto.

  FIGURE 101. Michael Snow. Painting at Night. 1990. Oil on canvas. 150 x 215 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.

  FIGURE 102. Michael Snow. Parked. 1992. Photographic transparency. 60.3 x 81 x 15.2 cm. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 103. Michael Snow. Still from See You Later!/Au revoir. 1990. 16 mm colour film, sound. Seventeen minutes, twenty-five seconds. Michael Snow.

  FIGURES 104 AND 105. Michael Snow. Stills from To Lavoisier, Who Died in the Reign of Terror. 1991. 16 mm colour film, sound. Fifty-three minutes. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: The Everyday

  FIGURE 106. Peggy Gale, Michael Snow, and Alexander Snow, c. 2000. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  FIGURE 107. Michael Snow at his cottage in Newfoundland, c. 1993. Photograph. Michael Snow.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: The Presence of the Absent

  FIGURE 108. Michael Snow. Egg. 1985. One transmission hologram (Pulsed) 50 x 60 cm with metal frame; suspended above cast iron skillet on base in front of black-painted wall; illuminated by Argon laser or halogen light. 270 x 165 x 195 cm. Pompidou Centre, Paris.

  FIGURES 109 AND 110. Michael Snow. Redifice. 1986. Arborite, wood, glass structure with nine reflecting holograms (each 30 x 40 cm), twenty sculptural and photographic compositions.Styrofoam, mirrors, wood, metal, clay, oil and enamel and acrylic paints, backlit photo transparencies, and incandescent and fluorescent light, illuminated by halogen light. 243.8 x 609.6 x 76.2 cm. Art Gallery of Hamilton.