Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World
TREASURES from the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum
Stefansson, Dr. Anderson and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1918: A Story of Exploration, Science and Sovereignty
Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration. Early Printmaking in the Canadian Arctic
North American Aboriginal Hide Tanning: The Act of Transformation and Revival
Maya: Secrets of Their Ancient World
By Justin Jennings, Martha Cuevas García, and Roberto López Bravo
72 pages, 65 images, 8″ x 5″, paperback
ISBN 978-0-660-20188-7
Special Exhibition Price: $5 (tax included)
Includes $15 in Museum coupons plus savings on Membership.
English (issued also in French under title Les secrets de la civilisation MAYA)
April 2012
Shrouded in mystery for centuries, the culture of the ancient Maya is finally being revealed. This book, like its companion exhibition, presents a captivating and up-to-date synopsis of this storied civilization which rose to incredible heights a thousand years ago in Mesoamerica, then mysteriously faded away. Discover grand pyramids that were built for the gods but abandoned in the jungle wilderness. Learn about divine rulers, deadly rituals, and the realities of everyday life. Marvel at timekeeping and writing systems that have intrigued and tested generations of scholars. This authoritative, 72-page volume features over 60 full-colour images of outstanding artifacts.
TREASURES from the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum
By FRANK CORCORAN AND VICTOR RABINOVITCH
172 pages, 190 figures, 9″ X 11″, paperback
978-0-660-19915-3
$49.95
May 2011
The ‘ancestors’ of the Museum of Civilization and the War Museum began collecting precious objects more than 150 years ago. Now, with some 4,000,000 artifacts and specimens to choose from it is not surprising that the several hundred selected for this book will resonate with many readers. These great objects are a window on our world: the last Red Ensign that flew over Parliament Hill while a fiery debate raged below; the revolver found in the pocket of a man later hanged for the assassination of one of the Fathers of Confederation; a gift that Charles De Gaulle never got; or medals and memorabilia from Canada’s military heroes in various theatres of war.
Among the artifacts featured are outstanding examples of ethnographic regalia, archaeological specimens, as well as objects fashioned from gold, silver, bronze and ivory that would be standouts in any national collection. All of these come from Canada’s largest and most popular museum. The artifacts are beautifully photographed and vividly explained in brief articles. The life work of these two great museums are also described in the introductory essays.
Frank Corcoran spent most of his working life at the Canadian Museum of Civilization and its organizational antecedents, serving most of his career as a senior executive in the area of Public Programs. He worked extensively on the planning, development and operation of what is now Canada’s largest and most popular museum. Prior to retirement and for several years thereafter he worked in IMAX film development managing the museum’s involvement in civilization film production.
Dr. Victor Rabinovitch is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, which is responsible for the Canadian Museum of Civilization and the Canadian War Museum. During his eleven years of cultural leadership in this position, the Museums have dramatically expanded their range of public exhibitions, audiences and artifact collections. The Canadian War Museum was designed and built, while extensive renewal of the Museum of Civilisation was also completed. Major national and international collaborations were initiated, and are now an integral part of the activities of both Museums.
Stefansson, Dr. Anderson and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1918: A Story of Exploration, Science and Sovereignty
Mercury Series – History Paper 56
By Stuart E. Jenness
440 pages, 64 figures, 20 maps, 6.75″ X 9.5″, paperback
ISBN 978-0-660-19971-9
$39.95
English only
April 2011
This book presents the first comprehensive account of one of the great sagas of Arctic exploration and discovery, the Canadian Arctic Expedition of 1913–1918, led by the ethnologist/explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson and the zoologist Dr. Rudolph M. Anderson. Within its pages are details of the Expedition’s successes and tragedies, including the discovery of all but one large island north of the Canadian mainland, the accumulation of considerable scientific information and valuable collections, and the personal feud of the Expedition’s two leaders. Four appendices list Expedition personnel, fifty-three geographical sites in the Arctic named after them, locations of their diaries and collected specimens, and the thirteen government volumes arising from the Expedition. The book is illustrated with sixty-four photographs and twenty maps.
Stuart E. Jenness (PhD, Yale) is uniquely qualified to tell this story. He is the second son of Diamond Jenness, one of two ethnologists on the Expedition, and he met eight of the fourteen members of the Expedition’s scientific team, including both leaders. Following several summers of geological field work in Quebec, the Northwest Territories and Newfoundland, he served between 1954 and 1985 as scientific editor for the Geological Survey of Canada and then the National Research Council of Canada. Retired since 1985, he edited Arctic Odyssey: the Diary of Diamond Jenness, 1913–1916, co-authored (with his late father) Through Darkening Spectacles: Memoirs of Diamond Jenness, and wrote the prize-winning book, The Making of an Explorer: George Hubert Wilkins and the Canadian Arctic Expedition, 1913–1916.
Inuit Prints: Japanese Inspiration. Early Printmaking in the Canadian Arctic
By Norman Vorano, with an essay by Asato Ikeda and Ming Tiampo, and contributions from Kananginak Pootoogook
100 pages, 49 artworks, 22 photos, 9″ x 10″, paperback
ISBN 978-0-660-19970-2
$29.95
English (issued also in French under title Estampes inuites… inspiration japonaise)
January 2011
Some fifty years ago, the remote Inuit community of Cape Dorset in the Canadian Arctic was introduced to the ancient traditions of Japanese printmaking by a Canadian artist, James Houston, who had studied printmaking in Japan with the revered master printmaker Un’ichi Hiratsuka. The remarkable story of that artistic encounter and its extraordinary results are the focus of this groundbreaking exhibition catalogue. With two major essays and detailed captions, the book features 49 exquisite and rare artworks (including Inuit prints from 1957 to 1963 and Japanese prints that were brought to Cape Dorset in 1959, as well as never-before-seen works by James Houston), and shows how Cape Dorset graphic artists selectively borrowed and actively transformed Japanese influences. It includes the voice of Cape Dorset printmaker Kananginak Pootoogook, as well as previously unpublished historic photographs from Japan and Cape Dorset.
Dr. Norman Vorano is the Curator of Contemporary Inuit Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec. A graduate of the Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at the University of Rochester, New York, his areas of research include historic and contemporary Inuit arts from across Canada, with wider interests in North American Indigenous arts. He is on the Board of the Native American Art Studies Association and is a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographic Society. He is currently producing an exhibition and catalogue on contemporary artists from Cape Dorset.
North American Aboriginal Hide Tanning: The Act of Transformation and Revival
By Morgan Baillargeon
156 pages, 8.5″ x 11″, 178 figures, paperback
ISBN 978-0-660-19969-6
$29.95
English only
December 2010
North American Aboriginal Hide Tanning: The Act of Transformation and Revival, examines the methodology, tools and spiritual aspects of what was once almost a lost art. Over the course of research which has spanned some 30 years, the author has interviewed more than 40 tanners from the Northwest Territories to Oklahoma. The result, is a volume which includes chapters on 15 different tanners and their recipes, practical information on tools and techniques, as well as helpful tips for those interested in trying this traditional process for themselves.
Although not intended as a complete how-to manual, North American Aboriginal Hide-Tanning: The Act of Transformation and Revival is certain to whet the reader’s appetite for further investigation.