Annual Report 2008-2009 - National Gallery of Canada

Research
Priority: Offer an outstanding publishing program in support
of the exhibitions program.
The Gallery produced or co-produced catalogues in association
with all major exhibitions:
• The 1930s. The Making of “The New Man”;
• Real Life: Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner;
• Caught in the Act: The Viewer as Performer;
• The NGC Review, Vol. VI. The publication of this issue of the
Review was made possible through the Dorothea and
Margaret Graham Endowment Fund of the National Gallery
of Canada;
• Scott McFarland. The publication was made possible with
the generous support of the Albert and Temmy Latner Family
Foundation;
• Nomads. The publication was made possible with the generous
support of the RBC Foundation;
• From Raphael to Carracci: The Art of Papal Rome;
• Paolo Veronese: The Petrobelli Altarpiece co-published with
the Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, UK, and Silvana
Editoriale, Milan, Italy. The publication was possible with
the generous support of the Members, Supporting Friends
and Donors of the NGC and the NGC Foundation;
• Gabor Szilasi: The Eloquence of the Everyday by the CMCP in
association with Musée d’art de Joliette.
An agreement was reached with Éditions Gallimard, Paris for
the sale and distribution of The 1930s catalogue in Europe.
The Gallery’s publishing activities also included:
• Printing of a small publication to support the Library exhibition
Selected Scenes from the 1950s at the National Gallery
of Canada;
• Printing of the Comic Relief brochure (a first in a series);
• Produced four issues of Vernissage thanks to the support of
Pratt & Whitney Canada;
• Production of the travelling exhibition journal On TOUR, the
Summary of the Corporate Plan 2008–09 to 2012–13, and the
NGC Annual Report 2007–08.
Priority: Research and document the Gallery and CMCP
collections and works on loan to the Gallery.
The knowledge of works in the collection is enhanced through
research, proper documentation and publications. The Gallery
exhibitions are based on original theses and contribute to
widespread knowledge and understanding of art and its history
through exhibition catalogues.
Curatorial Involvement
Curatorial staff activities involve collection research centred
on preparing justifications for the purchase or gift of works of
art, the installation of the works in the galleries, as well as the
preparation of current and future exhibitions. Curatorial staff
travelled in Canada and abroad to meet with artists in their
studios, to visit other art institutions, and to meet with their
colleagues and with potential donors. In addition to writing
for exhibition catalogues, curators shared their knowledge
through media interviews, articles, the presentation of papers,
public talks on the collections and exhibitions, and through
exhibition tours.
The Gallery continued work on the Provenance Research
Project supported by the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.
Anabelle Kienle, assistant curator, European and American
Art, and provenance research intern Anke Kausch attended the
conference on Nazi-looted Art – A Challenge for Museums,
Libraries and Archives in Berlin, Germany. This ten-year follow-up
to the 1998 Washington conference on Holocaustera
assets provided an excellent networking opportunity and
an update on recent efforts and restitution cases in European
institutions.
Kausch, whose current position is supported by the
Gallery’s Foundation, has been researching the provenance of
130 paintings and sculptures in the National Gallery of Canada’s
collection – and completed research on more than 40 cases.
The Division of European and American Art is currently preparing
this data for transfer into the collection’s management
system and ultimately on to the provenance website.
Library and Archives
Philip Domboswky, project archivist, received the Melva J.
Dwyer Award from the Art Libraries Society of North America for
his publication Index to National Gallery of Canada Exhibition
Catalogues and Checklists 1880–1930, the seventh in the Library
and Archives’ series of Occasional Papers. This was made possible
thanks to the generous support from the more than 500
Member households of the National Gallery.
42 Key Expected Results