E-mail OrderingHome           Exhibitions           MSVU Collection           Publications           Posters           Working Title           Resources
 


Exhibitions


Artist
¤ Jim R. Shirley

Curator
¤ Ingrid Jenkner

Themes
¤ Alterity
¤ Drawing & Printmaking
¤ Nova Scotian Artists
¤ Photography



Home » Exhibitions » Jim Shirley Returns

Return to search results

Jim Shirley Returns
The Art of James R. Shirley

James Shirley: Self-Portrait II
James Shirley: Self-Portrait II

James Shirley. Self-Portrait II 1976. Monotype. plate: 43 x 35.7 cm.
19 Feb 2000 – 16 Apr 2000

In 1971, shortly after leaving the Pratt Institute, James R. Shirley joined the many Americans seeking a new life in Nova Scotia. He and his wife Susan settled in L’Ardoise, Cape Breton. In his native New York the Black Arts Movement flourished; in his new home, Shirley felt isolated as an artist and black person. He took up pinhole photography, and the shadowy, almost supernatural effects peculiar to this medium became apparent in his intaglio monotypes.

The haunting, sepia-hued monotype prints he produced in Nova Scotia show the maturing of a visionary sensibility that persisted after his move to Rankin Inlet in 1980. This retrospective, Shirley’s first major exhibition since his MSVU solo in 1977, includes approximately 50 monotypes and works in other media dating from the Nova Scotia years to the present. His works exhibit the cyclic, repetitive "returns" that are often associated with artistic expression from the African Diaspora. Shirley’s engagement with photographic seeing is also notable, given his commitment to the narrative and figurative conventions of both 19th-century European and 20th-century First Nations artmaking.

Jim Shirley Returns: The Art of James R. ShirleyExhibition Catalogue
Read an excerpt from the catalogue...

Jim Shirley Returns: The Art of James R. Shirley, 2000Exhibition Poster

Lecture
The official opening of this exhibition occurred on Sunday, 20 February and included opening remarks by David Woods.

Return to search results



Exhibition Images
Click on an image to enlarge it.
James Shirley: Self-Portrait IIJames Shirley: Visit from Aunt Esther     


E-mail OrderingHome           Exhibitions           MSVU Collection           Publications           Posters           Working Title           Resources