The Château Dufresne Museum is presenting a new exhibition, Nincheri’s Secular Work, the first museum event held as part of Montréal, City of Glass. The exhibition is devoted to painter and master stained glass artist Guido Nincheri (1885-1973), originally from Tuscany. It focuses on the décor of the Château Dufresne, Nincheri’s main secular work in Canada, and looks at the artist’s many influences through the secular themes developed in his stained glass and paintings.

The exhibition was produced by art historian Ginette Laroche and is being presented thanks to Magnus Poirier Inc. and the Quebec region of the National Congress of Italian Canadians. It reinterprets the murals and stained glass pieces in the Château Dufresne and re-examines their intriguing story, from the time they were commissioned by the Dufresne brothers to when they were ordered painted over by the Fathers of the Holy Cross in the 1950s (to protect the moral well-being of their young charges), and finally restored by the Macdonald Stewart Foundation in the 1970s. A number of little-known works that were removed from the Château Dufresne in 1949 will be displayed for the first time.

Guido Nincheri also established a stained glass studio in 1925, in a building owned by the Dufresne brothers. Before it was closed in 1996, the studio produced 5,000 stained glass pieces for customers throughout North America. It will be open to the public every Sunday from May 2 to August 29, 2010, except on Montreal Museums Day, in conjunction with the Montréal, City of Glass event.

Photo: Sylvain Majeau, Chateau Dufresne Museum

Photo : Sylvain Majeau, Chateau Dufresne Museum

Built between 1915 and 1918, the Château Dufresne was a mansion beaux-arts style owned by the Dufresne brothers, important members of the Montreal’s french bourgeoisie. Today, the Château Dufresne host a museum dedicate to the Montreal’s east side history, the Château Dufresne Museum.

Opening Hours

Wednesday to Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Closed December 25 and January 1

Address
2929 Jeanne-d’Arc Avenue, Montréal

Pie-IX, Pie-IX west exit
(514) 259-9201