Tag Archives: art

“The Art of Gerald Squires: Materials and Sources”

Stan Dragland, literary critic, editor, novelist, and poet will present the annual Newfoundland Historical Society (NHS) George Story Lecture.

The lecture takes its name from George Morley Story (1927-1994), past president of the NHS  and winner of the NHS’s Heritage Award for 1982-1983. Dr. Story joined Memorial University’s Department of English Language and Literature in 1954, where he established an international reputation as a lexicographer and Renaissance scholar, and pioneered the study of Newfoundland history, culture, language and literature.

Dragland in his presentation will discuss the celebrated Newfoundland painter, Gerald Squires. His presentation is based on his research for the long essay in a new book on Squires timed to appear alongside Squires’ 2017 retrospective—opening at The Rooms, May 12th. 

The lecture promises to explore the many sources now available—not only the pictures and sculptures, the criticism and interviews, but also the wealth of archival material preserved by Gail Squires and held in Holyrood.

Especially important are Squires’ own eloquent writings, many of them never published, some of them chosen to grace the lecture. Dragland explores the painter’s passionate grasp of archetypal impulses—heaven and hell contending in his personal cosmology—and tries to suggest how such tensions are embodied in his pictures. An important sub-theme is Squires’ deep-seated ecological consciousness, more relevant and valuable than ever in the context of accelerating threats to the biosphere.

Lecture and illustrations will present Squires as he is well-known and well-loved, but also with dimensions that are not common knowledge. The viewer/listener may also expect to see and hear about some surprising images that came to light after Squires’ death.

Location: Hampton Hall, Marine Institute

Date: Thursday, April 27, 2017     Time: 8pm

Parking: Free parking is available in front and to the west of the building.

Please circulate  to family, friends and colleagues.

For more information:

Tel:(709)722-3191      E-mail: nlhistory@gmail.com

http://www.nlhistory.ca/

Recommended Exhibit: Gerald Squires: Spirit Visible from  May 13 – September 4, 2017  at The Rooms.

Was the Bishop Excommunicated?

 ARCHIVAL MOMENT

January 26, 1816

Bishop Michael Fleming giving the last rites of the church to Bishop Thomas Scallan.

On January 26, 1816 the talk in St. John’s was all about the appointment of a Father Thomas Scallan, (also Scallon) who was given the nod to succeed as the new Catholic bishop in Newfoundland.    

Scallan was very well educated; in his career he had been a lecturer in philosophy at the prestigious St Isidore’s College, Rome and a professor of classics at the Franciscan Academy at Wexford, Ireland, a preparatory seminary for candidates for the priesthood.

What is most telling about his tenure as Bishop of Newfoundland is the memorial or relief that was established in the Roman Catholic Cathedral (now Basilica) to celebrate his work in Newfoundland.

Scallan in his relationship with the leaders of other denominations was considered to be far ahead of his time. His ecumenical spirit in fact stirred occasional and considerable controversy.

Indeed, Bishop Michael Francis Howley from St. John’s, attributed such ecumenism to a mental weakness. He stated flatly in his Ecclesiastical History of Newfoundland (1888)  that Scallan was reprimanded  by Rome for his ecumenical spirit.  He did not identify the type of reprimand  but the most severe censure or reprimand in the Catholic Church is excommunication.

Indeed, this story that he was reprimanded by Rome became  generally accepted – and was compounded by the story that he was refused the last rites of the church.  To quiet the rumors that he was on the verge of excommunication and or perhaps even excommunicated the local church authorities ordered the creation of an  unusual monument of Scallan by the famous Irish sculptor John Hogan.  

The monument  depicts Scallan on his deathbed receiving the last sacraments (last rites) of the church. It was placed  in the Basilica to show his reconciliation with the church.

 Recommended Archival Collection :  Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese

Recommended Reading: Michael Francis Howley’s Ecclesiastical history of Newfoundland . 1888:  was reprinted atBelleville, Ont., in 1979.