Annual Report 2008-2009 - National Gallery of Canada

During the same period, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary
Photography opened two exhibitions:
• Imaging a Shattering Earth: Contemporary Photography
and the Environmental Debate, co-sponsored by Oakland
University Art Gallery, Rochester, Michigan and CONTACT
Toronto Photography Festival
• Steeling the Gaze: Portraits by Aboriginal Artists
The NGC Library and Archives presented the following
exhibitions:
• Architecture in Quebec
• Non Clamor Sed Amor: The Toronto Art Students’ League
Calendars 1893–1904
• Selected Scenes from the 1950s at the National Gallery of
Canada
• Goodridge Roberts: Drawings, Caricatures, Cartoons
Priority: Present the national collection across Canada and
enhance the visibility of Canadian art abroad.
The Gallery offers special exhibitions drawn from the NGC and
CMCP collections through its On TOUR travelling exhibition program,
which is generously supported by the Distinguished
Patrons of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation On Tour
Endowment. As with the National Capital Program, the travelling
exhibitions seek to offer breadth and variety in exhibition
content of the highest calibre. Eleven new projects were presented
in the 2008 On TOUR program. The Gallery remains committed
to reaching as many venues as possible, across all
regions.
On TOUR
The NGC and CMCP developed 11 new exhibitions to be offered
within the On TOUR program. The travelling exhibition program
saw a total of 18 exhibitions open this fiscal year with more than
266,379 in attendance. The program reached nearly 30 venues
in 8 provinces from coast to coast. The CMCP exhibition The
Painted Photograph was seen at the Centre national d’exposition
de Jonquière and at the Nanaimo District Museum.
CMCP has partnered with the Musée régional de Rimouski
to tour the solo exhibition of the work of Montreal photographer
Nicolas Baier. During the past year, it was launched at
the Musée régional de Rimouski and was shown at the Museum
of Canadian Contemporary Art, Toronto.
Priority: Enhance the Gallery’s presence and visibility through
programming, exhibitions and collaboration with other
institutions.
The Gallery is known for the excellence of its national collections
and as a national institution, relevant to Canadians
across the country. It plays a leadership role in strengthening
the capacity of art institutions across the country.
Loans to Canadian and International Institutions
The Gallery has seen a decrease this year in the number of loan
requests from external Canadian and international institutions.
The reduction is due partly to the risk in travel, higher
costs to borrow as well as reduced budgets. The Gallery met its
target of 800 works, with 904 works on loan to other museums
that staged their own exhibitions, to NGC travelling exhibitions,
and for long-term and government loans. Many of the
Gallery’s works are in extremely high demand both across
Canada and abroad.
Among other locations in Canada, works from the CMCP
collection were lent to the Royal Ontario Museum’s exhibition
Shanghai Kaleidoscope and to Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery,
Montreal.
Internationally, CMCP lent works to the exhibition All That
Is Solid Melts Into Air, organized by the Museum of Contemporary
Art, Antwerp, and presented in Mechelen, Belgium.
The Gallery partnered with two Canadian institutions to
produce touring exhibitions in 2008–09.
Nicolas Baier: Pareidolias was co-organized by the Musée
régional de Rimouski, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian
Art, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec and circulated
by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.
The Musée régional de Rimouski developed content of the
exhibition, while the Gallery handled the touring logistics.
Gabor Szilasi: The Eloquence of the Everyday was coorganized
by the Musée d’art de Joliette and the Canadian
Museum of Contemporary Photography. The Musée d’art de
Joliette developed the scholarly research and material, while
the Gallery organized the national tour and produced the
exhibition catalogue.
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