The Vancouver Art Gallery Celebrates 80 Years With a Special Exhibition

Written by Stephen Constable Wednesday, 21 September 2011 22:58

Vancouver, British Columbia.- In celebration of the 80th anniversary of its founding this fall, the Vancouver Art Gallery is presenting a special exhibition showcasing the story of the Gallery as told through its permanent collection. Drawn exclusively from the more than 10,000 works in the Gallery’s important holdings, "An Autobiography of Our Collection" considers the organization’s fascinating history of acquisition, highlighting key works from one of the most compelling collections of art in Canada. The exhibition is on view from September 24th through February 12th 2012.

“The Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection is rich, diverse and international in scope, illustrating contemporary and historic art – particularly the art of this region – in a unique and wonderful way,” says Gallery director Kathleen Bartels, “This exhibition represents an important moment to consider and reflect on eight decades of art at the Gallery. Whether 80 years ago or today, the potential of artists to convey complex cultural and artistic issues in an innovative manner, to transform our understanding of visual culture, and to address the personal, political and cultural issues that affect us most, is evident in this important body of work.” It is a story which begins in the months leading up to the Gallery’s opening in 1931… when philanthropist and Gallery founder Henry A. Stone and artist and teacher Charles Scott went on a purchasing expedition to Britain to find artworks for the new Gallery… and continues all the way up to the present day. "An Autobiography of Our Collection" spans eight decades of collection and more than eighty artists - from one of the first purchased works, Thomas Sidney Cooper ’s Canterbury Meadows, to Emily Carr and the Group of Seven , Andy Warhol and Brian Jungen . Other artists on view in the exhibition will include B.C. Binning , Reg Davidson , Gathie Falk , Robert Frank , Andreas Gursky , Won Ju Lim , Robert Rauschenberg , George Segal , Takao Tanabe and Lawrence Weiner .

The exhibition uses the concept of autobiography to explore how objects in a museum’s collection– and the collection as a whole – are charged with narrating an institution’s history, identity and aspirations. It considers the different figures – curators, artists, donors and others - who have played defining roles and reveals other forces that have shaped and re-shaped the Gallery’s personality, position and understanding of itself over the many decades. Visitors will have the opportunity to find out more about the behind-the-scenes work of the Gallery in videos featuring staff describing how artworks are collected, cared for, and prepared for exhibition. Press clippings and other documents from the Gallery’s history will be presented.

In its 79-year history, the Vancouver Art Gallery has expanded three times. Currently operating at and beyond capacity after nearly 30 years in the renovated former provincial courthouse building, the Gallery is now planning a new, purpose-built facility that will meet the community’s needs for the next 50 years and beyond. Construction of the original Vancouver Art Gallery building began in March of 1931, funded by $130,000 raised by a group of art patrons led by Vancouver businessman Henry A. Stone. In 1951, the Vancouver Art Gallery at 1145 Georgia Street was expanded to three times it original size in order to accommodate 157 works by Emily Carr, willed by the artist to the province of British Columbia before her death in 1945. The Vancouver Art Gallery remained at 1145 Georgia Street until 1983, when it moved to its present location in the former provincial courthouse building bound by Georgia, Howe, Hornby and Robson Streets. The new Vancouver Art Gallery opened to the public in October 1983 in the retrofitted courthouse building with 41,400 square feet of exhibition space. The Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection originated with few Canadian works and a strong emphasis on British historical painting.


The Vancouver Art Gallery houses a number of major works by Canadian artists (in addition to the Emily Carr collection), including Lawren Harris , A.Y. Jackson , Arthur Lismer , Jock Macdonald , J.W. Morrice, David Milne, Harold Town, Gershon Iskowitz and Jack Bush. The collection includes a number of works by some of Quebec's best known artists, including Theophile Hamel, Antoine Plamondon, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Paul-Emile Borduas, Guido Molinari, Jacques de Tonnancour, Claude Tousignant, Charles Gagnon, Yves Gaucher, Alfred Pellan and Jean-Paul Lemieux. The Gallery has acquired major works by Quebecois contemporaries such as Genviève Cadieux, Jana Sterbak, Jocelyne Alloucherie and Betty Goodwin. The Gallery’s European historical collection includes Dutch paintings from the seventeenth century by Jan Anthoniszoon van Ravenstyn, Jan Wynants, Isaac van Ostade, Pieter Neeffs the Elder, Jacob Marrel, Jan van Huysum, Balthasar van der Ast, Ambrosium Bosschaert the Younger, Jan Josefsz van Goyen, Abraham Storck, Roelof de Vries, Willem van de Velde the Younger, Adriaen van der Kabel, Salomon van Ruysdael , Flemish-Cornelius de Heem, Roelandt Savery and a fine first edition of Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes ' Disasters of War. Visit the museum's website at ... www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

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