Winnipeg Art Gallery

About

The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is an art museum in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Its permanent collection includes over 24,000 works from Canadian, Indigenous Canadian, and international artists. The museum also holds the world's largest collection of Inuit art. In addition to exhibits for its collection, the museum has organized and hosted a number of travelling arts exhibitions. Its building complex consists of a main building that includes 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft) of indoor space and the adjacent 3,700-square-metre (40,000 sq ft) Qaumajuq building. The present institution was formally incorporated in 1963, although it traces its origins to the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Arts, an art museum opened to the public in 1912 by the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau. The bureau opened the Winnipeg School of Arts in the following year, and operated the art museum and art school until 1923, when the two entities were incorporated as the Winnipeg Gallery and School of Arts. In 1926, the Winnipeg Art Gallery Association was formed to assist the institution in operating its museum component. The Winnipeg Gallery and School of Art was dissolved in 1950, although its collection...

The city's first serious art gallery was first opened in the former Manitoba Hotel (built c. 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway ), located at Main and Water Ave. An area of the hotel was set aside for an art studio. The art gallery was organized by Cora Moore, who upon return from a trip to Toronto, organized a Winnipeg branch of the Women's Art Association of Canada and subsequently an artists group for men. The first art exhibit took place in February 1895. The art gallery featured art from artists from Manitoba, as well as Toronto, Montreal, New York, London, and Paris. The art gallery was shut down after the Manitoba Hotel burned down in 1899.

Efforts to create another art museum began in 1902, after the Manitoba Society of Artists was formed, and its members began to lobby for the creation of a provincial civic and arts institution. In addition to the Manitoba Society of Artists, the Winnipeg-branch of the Western Art Association adopted a mandate that promoted the creation of an art museum to art from Manitoba, and the rest of Canada in 1908.

After the first phase of the Board of Trade building was completed in April 1912, the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau unveiled plans for its second phase expansion of the building, which featured a space designated for an art museum. The art museum, named the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Arts, was formally opened by the Mayor of Winnipeg Richard Deans Waugh, the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba Douglas Cameron, and the president of the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau on 16 December 1912. The first exhibition held at the museum featured 275 works from the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Building upon the success of the art museum, the bureau opened the Winnipeg School of Arts in the same building on 21 June 1913. The art school, and museum operated as separate departments of the same institution, initially controlled by the bureau. The institution became independent of the bureau in April 1923, when it was formally incorporated as the Winnipeg Gallery and School of Art by the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.

However, by the mid 1920s, the institution faced financial difficulties, and was forced to suspend most museum operations in 1926, with its remaining expenses for the museum being paid towards insurance, campaigns to increase membership, and sundry repairs. The museum's permanent collection was held by the School of Art in trust while the museum was closed. In August 1926, the Winnipeg Art Gallery Association was formed to assist the museum in its operations. The gallery resumed normal operations on 22 April 1932, when it was reopened at the Civic Auditorium's (the present Manitoba Archives Building) western wing. The School of Art remained in the Board of Trade building until its demolition in 1935, and was relocated twice, in 1936, and 1938.

In June 1950, the Winnipeg Gallery and the School of Art was formally dissolved, with the School of Art being incorporated into the University of Manitoba. Works collected for the former institution's permanent collection were loaned to the Winnipeg Art Gallery Association for an "indefinite" period, who continued to exhibit the collection at the Civic Auditorium.

On 6 May 1963, the Winnipeg Art Gallery Association was formally incorporated as the Winnipeg Art Gallery by the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. In 1965, discussions were raised to move the art gallery from the Civic Auditorium, although the institution opposed a proposed move to the Manitoba Centennial Centre, along with the Centennial Concert Hall, and the Manitoba Museum. The Winnipeg Art Gallery criticized the proposal stating that "the politicians of the city have set various arts groups on each other, and the result has been many objections. We of the Arts Gallery are sitting tight — but we are not sitting still."

In 1967, the museum acquired a triangular plot of land across from the Civic Auditorium and launched a competition for architects to submit designs for a new building. The proposed design required the demolition of several buildings on the proposed site, including an unused service station, and the Cinema Centre building. Work on a new museum building began in 1969.

The gallery moved to its present location in 1971, into a building designed by Canadian architect Gustavo Da Roza. Along with expanding the exhibition spaces, the new building also allowed for the museum's storage conservation unit to be housed in the same building, as opposed to an off-site location. Construction for the building cost approximately C$ 4.5 million, with the funding coming from the federal and provincial governments, private donations, as well as a public campaign to raise funds. The building was officially opened to the public on 25 September 1971 by Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon.

In October 1995, the museum expanded its property by acquiring the former Medical Mall building adjacent to its building and used it to house the museum's art studio programs.

In 2012, the museum, and the National Gallery of Canada entered into a three-year agreement to exhibit works from the National Gallery's collection at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. In November 2015, the Government of Nunavut reached a five-year loan agreement with the Government of Manitoba, to exhibit the Government of Nunavut's collection of 8,000 works at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The Government of Nunavut collection formed in 1999, and was originally housed in the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife. The Government of Nunavut originally planned to house the collection in a climate-controlled facility in Iqaluit, although those plans were later abandoned.

In June 2016, the museum opened a retail space, known as WAG@The Forks, in an effort to promote and sell Inuit art at The Forks. The retail space was the result of a partnership formed between the Government of Nunavut, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. In September 2016, the museum, and the Assiniboine Park Conservancy opened WAG@ThePark at the Assiniboine Park Pavilion. WAG@ThePark was opened as a partnership between the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, which saw the museum curate exhibitions in the building. Most of the works from the exhibitions at WAG@ThePark is from the Conservancy's collection, although some Inuit works from the museum's permanent collection were also exhibited at the pavilion.

In 2018, a lost painting by Alfred Munnings was located in the permanent collections of the Winnipeg Art Gallery. The painting depicts Brigadier General R.W. Paterson's horse, Peggy, during the First World War, and was lost shortly after a Royal Academy of Arts exhibition in 1919, which featured that piece, and 43 other works from Munnings. The lost painting was identified in the Winnipeg Art Gallery's permanent collection after a public appeal to locate the work was issued by the British National Army Museum ; in their efforts to recreate the 1919 exhibition. According to the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the painting entered its collection in 1984, donated to them by Paterson's children.

The former Medical Mall building was demolished in 2017 in order to accommodate the construction of a new building to house the museum's collection of Inuit art, known as Qaumajuq, which broke ground in May 2018. The groundbreaking ceremony for the new building was held in May 2018, and featured the lighting of a qulliq, an Inuit drum dance, and throat singing. Cost for the construction of Qaumajuq is estimated to be C$65 million, with C$35 million obtained from the federal, provincial, and municipal government, and the remaining funds covered by public and private donors. The centre would be the first museum building in the world dedicated to Inuit art upon its opening. Qaumajuq was opened to the public on 25 March 2021.

In 2023, the museum began the process to remove the name of former director, Ferdinand Eckhardt, from its entrance hall, after reports emerged of his Nazi-linked activities in occupied Europe.

The city's first serious art gallery was first opened in the former Manitoba Hotel (built c. 1892 by the Northern Pacific Railway ), located at Main and Water Ave. An area of the hotel was set aside for an art studio. The art gallery was organized by Cora Moore, who upon return from a trip to Toronto, organized a Winnipeg branch of the Women's Art Association of Canada and subsequently an artists group for men. The first art exhibit took place in February 1895. The art gallery featured art from artists from Manitoba, as well as Toronto, Montreal, New York, London, and Paris. The art gallery was shut down after the Manitoba Hotel burned down in 1899.

Efforts to create another art museum began in 1902, after the Manitoba Society of Artists was formed, and its members began to lobby for the creation of a provincial civic and arts institution. In addition to the Manitoba Society of Artists, the Winnipeg-branch of the Western Art Association adopted a mandate that promoted the creation of an art museum to art from Manitoba, and the rest of Canada in 1908.

After the first phase of the Board of Trade building was completed in April 1912, the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau unveiled plans for its second phase expansion of the building, which featured a space designated for an art museum. The art museum, named the Winnipeg Museum of Fine Arts, was formally opened by the Mayor of Winnipeg Richard Deans Waugh, the Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba Douglas Cameron, and the president of the Winnipeg Development and Industrial Bureau on 16 December 1912. The first exhibition held at the museum featured 275 works from the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Building upon the success of the art museum, the bureau opened the Winnipeg School of Arts in the same building on 21 June 1913. The art school, and museum operated as separate departments of the same institution, initially controlled by the bureau. The institution became independent of the bureau in April 1923, when it was formally incorporated as the Winnipeg Gallery and School of Art by the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba.