National Gallery of Canada

NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA

Dr. David Franklin

Deputy Director and Chief Curator

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

The most recent acquisitions at the National Gallery of Canada fully exploit the range of our collecting interests, as outlined in our Acquisitions Policy, as well as our desire to acquire works of the best possible quality and condition. Each acquisition is, of course, thoroughly investigated by our curators who research every aspect of a work, including, for example, attribution, provenance, dating, and place in an artist’s development, as well as in the broader history of art. While we have the privilege of being able to expend a generous purchase account, we have also become increasingly successful, with the assistance of the Foundation, at attracting support from donors for our acquisitions.

Our commitment to what we understand to be the most innovative Contemporary art, Canadian and International has long been a major priority at the National Gallery. We have recently made some extremely significant purchases in the field of Contemporary art, most imposingly A Girl by Ron Mueck, acquired virtually the day it was completed. The work is now on view in the lower contemporary galleries. We are very grateful to Harvey Benoit and Dr. Lynne Freiburger-Benoit for their generous financial support of this purchase. A critically acclaimed video by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno of the French soccer player Zidane, filmed in real time and from different angles playing an entire game, has also proved extremely popular with visitors. Douglas Gordon is a past winner of Britain’s esteemed Turner Prize and one of the most creative artists working with new technologies today.

As part of our commitment to major contemporary sculpture − you are of course familiar with Maman on the plaza) − we recently acquired a remarkable, almost magical bronze by Kiki Smith – the sculpture entitled Born. This object, along with a large and imposing work of art on paper acquired at the same time, are the first works by this important American artist to enter the Collection. In terms of Canadian Contemporary, there have been many recent purchases of note. The most important in terms of cost is the Discourse of Elements, by the young collective based in Quebec City known as BGL, celebrated here and abroad for their humor and wit in commenting on social behavior. In fact, this acquisition represents thirteen different works which can be presented as one installation or as constituent parts, some of which are interactive. It therefore represents not only good value but provides us with a vast archive of a group of Canadian artists starting to receive considerable international attention.

With the appointment this year of the first curator of Indigenous art and creation of an autonomous department (incorporating the Inuit curator – a more specific field of aboriginal art where the gallery had in fact shown a long commitment), we have already seen and will continue to see increased activity in this field. The recent purchase of major works by Norval Morrisseau, Daphne Odjig and Carl Beam, as well as a number of younger contemporary figures like KC Adams and Brian Jungen, are powerful evidence of this trend. Brian Jungen People’s Flag, for example, was purchased last year with a new endowment for contemporary Canadian art acquisitions supported by The Audain Foundation.

Another defining acquisition this year involves the major twentieth-century Canadian artist, Charles Gagnon. Following the artist’s death in 2003, we were invited to make a selection from the many outstanding works, in a variety of media, remaining with his estate. We will now forever have the most complete and highest quality collection of works by this major twentieth-century Canadian artist.

Recent activity has focused very much on contemporary art, but the fields of Canadian Historical art and the Old Masters have not been neglected, including prints, drawings and photography. Keep in mind of course that our collection extends far beyond the works of art one sees on the walls and contains many treasures that, for reasons of conservation, are exposed only during special exhibitions, or as loans.

The library of the National Gallery of Canada also pursues significant acquisitions. In this regard, I wanted to mention that the Library recently received through the generosity of Paul Kastel of Montreal, the library and archive of the twentieth-century Canadian artist Fritz Brandtner. This example is indicative of a pattern whereby the Gallery receives as a donation or purchases complete holdings of an artist’s archive for the benefit of curators and researchers. Alex Colville represents another example of this approach.

Because of its expertise, vision and management’s commitment to the appropriate funding, our library is also involved with many special projects, exhibitions and occasional publications. Several are very long-term and of a scale and ambition that no other art museum in Canada could contemplate. Most of these will turn up on the website when completed for all to exploit, including, to take one example, the migration of the Inuit Artists Print Workbook to our database where it now proudly appears. Another major activity for the Library is the awarding and hosting on an annual basis of elite research fellowships, naturally in areas where the gallery has the collections and in-house expertise to benefit all concerned. Fellowships have recently been awarded in the fields of Canadian and European art, as well as photography and conservation.

Speaking of conservation, recent activity in this department reveals major advances in all areas of interest to the Gallery. In terms of historical art for example, a variety of Canadian and European old Masters have been conserved, or are in the process of treatment. These are works that you will soon find hanging in the galleries as you have never seen them before, or as the subject of exhibitions, including the Italian Renaissance artist Veronese's fragment of the Lendinara Altarpiece, featuring a Dead Christ with Angels, which will also be subject of a future show organized with the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and supported by our the National Gallery of Canada Foundation. Another example is provided by Alfred Pellan's Basket of Strawberries (a painting of c. 1930), purchased in 2006 with this assistance of various friends in memory of Jean-Claude Delorme, former Chairman of our Board of Trustees and founding member of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation. The restoration of John O'Brien's The Frank off George’s Island, Halifax, a work by one of the leading Maritime painters of the mid-nineteenth century, and, more specifically, the fitting of an appropriate period frame to it, reveals yet another aspect of the sensitive technical work of this department.

Yet more unusual and far-reaching is the recent focus by our conservators on contemporary technological issues. For example, all unique video artworks from the 1970s have been transferred from obsolete, open-reel tapes to the highest quality format now available. To give you another illustration of our ambition in this field: a computer-based artwork from the 1980s, that is Jenny Holzer's UNEX Sign, No. 2, is in the process of having its programming code revised so that it can be operated on contemporary computer systems.

This last project is a pioneering test-case of interest to any other institution that has to deal with ageing, digital contemporary artworks. As in conservation, as in all its activities, the National Gallery acts as an innovator and leader for Canada and a bridge to the world.

Thank you.

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