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Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) |
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Saturday, 26 April 2008 |
Founded in 1900 by a group of private citizens as the Art Museum of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is one of the largest art museums in North America, with a physical facility of 486,000 square feet. Currently under construction, the AGO’s new facility will boast 583,000 square feet, and will re-open in 2008 with an innovative architectural design by world-renowned architect Frank Gehry.
Collection
The AGO currently has more than 68,000 works in its collection, spanning from 100 AD to the present. Highlights include:
* More than 40% of the collection vividly documents the development of Canada’s art heritage since pre-Confederation, including one of the largest and finest Inuit art collections in the world. The collection includes pivotal works by Cornelius Krieghoff, Lucius O’Brien, James Wilson Morrice, Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven, David Milne, Emily Carr and Paul-Emile Borduas.
* Major holdings of the work of pre-eminent Canadian artists Paterson Ewen, Betty Goodwin, Greg Curnoe, David Blackwood, Kazuo Nakamura and American artist Robert Motherwell.
* The world’s largest public collection of works by internationally renowned British sculptor Henry Moore.
* Masterpieces of European art, including works by renowned artists such as Anthony van Dyck, Thomas Gainsborough, Auguste Rodin, Claude Monet, Edgar Degas, Paul Cézanne, Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso and René Magritte.
* A collection of photographs representing the emergence of the medium in its artistic, cultural and social diversity. Works by 19th-century British, French, American and Canadian photographers, and 20th-century modernists, including one of the foremost collections of works by Josef Sudek.
* A contemporary collection illustrating the evolution of artistic movements in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, including major works by Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, Mary Kelly, Jannis Kounellis, Jenny Holzer, General Idea, Joanne Tod, Jeff Wall, Rebecca Belmore and Luciano Fabro.
As of Sunday, April 17, 2005, The Grange will close to the public and will remain closed for the duration of the Gallery’s construction phase, reopening in 2008. The closure is necessary as the construction work that will occur in the sculpture atrium will prevent access, and a crane will be working over the north part of the house.
Site coordinator Jennifer Rieger notes that, “while it is sad that The Grange will be closed for so long, this as an exciting opportunity to rethink the house and its role in the Transformed AGO.” Jennifer has been in discussions with the Grange Council, the Canadian Art Department and contemporary artists to gather ideas and views on how The Grange can best reflect its role as the first home of the AGO.
The roof and the painted, etched window will be covered with padding and plywood for protection. The interior of the window will have a layer of supporting film that will allow us to monitor it and which will also hold any breaks or cracks together. The house will be monitored for relative humidity, water, security and vibrations.
Artifacts and furniture will be packed and stored on-site. Grange volunteers will be helping with inventory and organization, and a moving firm will be doing the packing. Volunteers will also be boxing the library books, organizing the packing costumes, and working on other packing in general.
A National Historic Site
The Grange is proud to belong to the family of national historic sites. The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated The Grange in 1970 for its national historic and architectural significance. Our plaque, received at a ceremony in 1984, reads as follows:
The Grange was built in about 1817 for D’Arcy Boulton Jr. At one time, the town of York (now Toronto) was surrounded by residential estates belonging to prominent citizens, and The Grange is one of the few to survive. Its symmetrical five-bay façade and central pediment reflect the conservative influence of the British classical tradition of the 18th century. The west wing represents two later additions. Given to the Art Museum of Toronto in 1911, The Grange is now owned by the AGO and is restored to the 1835-40 period.
Harriette Boulton Smith, the last owner of The Grange, married prominent historian and liberal thinker Goldwin Smith in 1875. In 1975, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada designated him a person of national historic significance. The plaque to Goldwin Smith, also received in 1984, reads as follows:
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