The National Gallery of Canada (NGC) announced Sept. 10 it is loaning the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) pieces from its national collection over the course of their three-year partnership, beginning January 2013.
This is not the first time the NGC has joined with other Canadian galleries. Four days after the announcement of NGC @ WAG, it was also announced the NGC is extending its partnership with the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) in Edmonton for another three years. In 2010, the NGC also partnered with the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art (MOCCA) in Toronto.
WAG executive director Stephen Borys said each partnership is different in terms of which NGC pieces the partnering gallery is interested in hosting.
“Museum of Contemporary Art in Toronto is interested in just contemporary, whereas the WAG is going to historical, modern, and contemporary exhibitions.”
“I have to admit I wanted to make sure we got Christian Marclay’s The Clock,” Borys said.
The Clock was jointly bought by the NGC and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in February of this year and will be displayed at the WAG in the fall of 2013, according to the press release.
The Clock is one of three pieces the NGC is lending to WAG next year. The partnership begins with Janet Cardiff’s Forty-Part Motet (2011) followed by a retrospective of Louise Bourgeois’ works in May 2013.
Borys said the WAG and the NGC are currently deciding which pieces they want displayed for 2014.
Another possible benefit for the WAG from partnering with the NGC is increased funding.
With the AGA’s partnership announcement Sept. 14, North American power producer, Capital Power also announced it would renew its funding of the project. The Edmonton-based company pledged to match community donations of up to a maximum of $25,000 annually.
Borys said he thinks funders will do the same with the WAG as with the AGA.
“I think it will draw support in that regard . . . whether it’s corporations in Ontario or Manitoba,” he said.
But this partnership doesn’t solely benefit the WAG. It’s also a chance for the NGC to showcase their body of work. “Not only will this partnership be stimulating for our curators, it will put the national collection to greater use,” said NGC director Marc Mayer in the NGC @ WAG press release.
Borys said he’s aware the NGC wants to continue to expand its national mandate and so approached Mayer with the idea. “I thought this was a perfect opportunity,” Borys said.
A perfect opportunity because the partnership coincides with WAG’s 100th anniversary. The WAG is the oldest civic art gallery in Canada and hosts the largest collection of Inuit art in the world.
When asked what previous legendary WAG director, Ferdinand Eckhardt would think of this partnership, Borys responded, “His goal was to raise the bar of the art gallery to a national, international level. I think he would be pleased that here we are, partnering with Canada’s national gallery and offering our local audiences more.”
