Box 6

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My Trip to Europe January 1947 to May 1947

January 15th left Montreal for NY

“The women folk went to the shops & I to secure some new glass eyes as mine had begun to deteriorate. ($25.00 ea.)…”

Jan 16 “To lunch with John Wise & spent the afternoon looking at his Columbian gold and Peruvian textiles.”

Jan 17th “To lunch with Bourgeois at Mario’s”; then a visit to the Met  to see costume exhibition “well done” and Asian galleries.

18th departure on the Queen Elizabeth: “the Queen is a lovely ship!
Jan 23rd, docked Southampton… staying at the Connaught Hotel 

Jan 24 Visited the National Gallery; received letter from Evelyn Byng.

Jan 25 after attending to bookings and ticket… “in P.M. to British Museum – much thrilled at exhibition…. London shabby but lovely still in spite of wounds and many scars.”

Jan 26th Sunday, “To St. Paul’s where we heard some lovely Choir singing. Every time we see St. Paul’s we are more & more struck by its beauty and grandeur – whole blocks in rubble…”

January 27th, Departure for Switzerland: Flight over French coast; bomb craters and trenches visible below. To Zurich via Basle; left by train for St. Moritz  Feb 1.

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1948: Guatemala  & Mexico January 25-April 22

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1949: Italy, Paris and England February 6th-May 27th

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1950: Italy, Belgium & France February 12th-May 20th

1951 Portugal, Sicily, Italy and Switzerland  February 9th-May 25th

1952 Spain, France and England Feb. 6th –May 17th

1952, May 5th “National Gallery, Bgh some photos of the Liechtenstein pictures on loan Fonguat [?] & Leonardo…”

1953 Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy and England April 19th-August 4th

1954 England, Majorca, Roquerune, & Italy February 6th-May 26th

April 27, At 5:30 I took a taxi & went to Mr. Berenson’s at I Tatti at Ponte a Mensola. He’s now 89 but his mind is very alert & he as very much interested to hear what we were doing in a museum way in Canada. He asked me to send him a collection of photographs of all Italian art in Canada which I promised to do. His ‘Egaria’ Miss Nicky Marino took me over the house which is full of treasures. His library is very large & housed in several imposing rooms. The grounds are lovely in the Italian manner with long terraces & clipped hedges. At the base there is an Ilex grove with statues & other features. He was good enough to ask for another visit anytime I was in Italy.

 

1955 England, Roquerune, Malta, Italy February 9th-May 14th

1955 Panama & Peru December 10-December 30th traveling with  Mr. & Mrs. Wise; Christmas with American ambassador in Lima; spent $500 I Peru on pottery for MMFA

Lima at first sight is a disappointing place. Little of the really ld city remains & the new buildings though often well designed stick up like sore thumbs, a building boom is on. Many streets are being widened so that whole areas look like bombed sites. The new residential districts are well laid out with wide avenues & park way; the houses with nice gardens & attractive fronts in a great variety of Spanish styles. There are some splendid private collections of Pre-Columbian & colonial periods. In horrible contrast the slum areas are appalling, although we were assured the labour laws were liberal & advanced the contrast between rich & poor seems wide indeed with little middle class. New hospitals and new schools are being built progress in improving the poor is too slow. Lack of water in sufficient quantity is said to be in part the trouble.

1956 Italy, France & England February 28th-May 27th

1957 Jamaica, January 13th-February 1st?

1957 Arizona, South Bend, Mestrovic: April 16 – May 1st. home via Chicago

June 1957 “Indiana, Southbend: Impressions of Mestrovic” [Notre Dame University]

He called for me at the [Morris] Inn at 10Am & took me to his studio nearby in the College buildings. He is rather short with a bald head & a Bushy beard streaked with grey- his cheeks clean shaven. His nose is rather broad & fleshy – altogether a kindly face which constantly breaks into a charming smile. Though small in size & build he has great dignity. He works very rapidly his eyes constantly taking in his subject. His mouth most of the time is half open & frequently smiles as if he were enjoying him self. He is considerate to his sitter asking if he is tired. He talks little while working, but often light s a cigarette holding it between the fingers of his left hand while with his right he pats and stabs at the clay. The thin smoke of the cigarette rises like incense as his hand is often hidden to the sitter. He frequently rolls his stand to a new location the better to get another aspect.

The studio is large & chapel like with a row of roof skylights. There are shelves with brushes and unfinished work of his pupils with many stands draped in wet cloth. No doubt it is less tidy during the College term but now absolute silence reigns though two men were at work during my sittings. In the rear of the studio there is a large piece of walnut measuring about 10 x 5 on a scaffold – upon this he has been carving one of his low reliefs ‘A Last Supper’ which he stated was for a College Dining Hall. Immediately outside the Studio is an unfinished courtyard is a large well head in black marble of austere lines & against this two figures in blue green bronze lean opposite each other of Christ and the woman of Samaria. I asked him where he had his bronze cast & he told me in Rome as he considers the Italians did fine work.

As sittings progressed & we knew each other  better he talked more & more & indeed on one occasion when  he found I had known Jan Massaryk all work ceased for a while as he talked of his friendship & liking for him. We discussed too Picasso (not very ????) Sargent (clever), John (a rough diamond who liked his women), Maillol, Lembruch etc. etc. He took me over to the College Museum where a number of his works are on view including preliminary studies for St. Jerome & the large Job which he told me was now at Syracuse. A number of his stone tablets in low relief suggested Assyrian types & he confessed to a great admiration or those in the British Museum. I regretted my growing deafness as it was impossible for me to take in all he said. One afternoon his wife called at the studio & took us (B & myself) to their house where a considerable number of his works are housed. A lovely Madonna & Child in dark walnut & a fine St. Francis particularly pleased us. Mrs. Mestrovic is a charming lady & we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.

 

1958, Spain, Canaries & England March 2-May 20

1959 Nassau & Jamaica January 15th-February 13th

 

1959 Italy & England February 21st-May 14th

1960 California & Hawaii January24th-April 26

April 20th.…Settled into Vancouver Hotel… Phone to Lawren Harris & we are meeting tomorrow at the Art Gallery…. April 21. At 11 we walked over to the Art Gallery, a nice modern building where we met Lawren Harris. An ex. Of Emily Carr paintings and one by Gilbert which I didn’t care for, a few fair paintings from the permanent collection; a large exhibit of the works of the school of art was interesting, well shown & with a good deal of promising work. We met and talked with Dale the Director who I had known in Toronto…. At 6:15 we taxied to Lawren Harris’s house, a wonderful view of the mountains with a pleasant garden. After drinks they motored us over to the Faculty Club – a new attractive building where we dined, back to the Harris house & so home by taxi. April 22. Dr.& Mrs. Harris called at 10:30 & took us for a drive up Howe Sound with wonderful views….

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1961 Jan. 15 to Jamaica returning Feb 19th

1961 21st March to Florida, Palm Beach return 8 April.

1961, 29 April to Bermuda; returning May 12th

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