National Gallery reject wows ’em in Winnipeg
Record crowds for show snubbed here a partial vindication of N.B. gallery
An exhibition from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery that was controversially rejected by the National Gallery of Canada has opened to record numbers in Winnipeg.
The exhibition, Masterworks of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, was considered by the National Gallery for the summer of 2015. It, and a second exhibition of works by Salvador Dali, opened this past weekend at the Winnipeg Art Gallery and brought in record numbers of visitors — only weeks after the National Gallery’s big summer exhibition of works by Doré closed with dismal attendance.
More than 4,000 people broke opening-weekend attendance records by going to the Winnipeg Art Gallery on Saturday and Sunday to see the two new exhibitions. “It was also rewarding to see such an amaz- ing cross-section of the city at the WAG — people from every community, and every age and background, making the most of their art gallery,” gallery director Stephen Borys told the Winnipeg Free Press.
The highlight of the exhibitions was “the Beaverbrook exhibit’s show-stopper, Dali’s Santiago El Grande,” the Free Press reports. (And a genuine show-stopper it is. I vividly remember seeing the painting for the first time in 1994 at the Beaverbrook, in Fredericton, N.B. It is a huge and magnificent work, and it was flanked by two large, impressive portraits by Dali of Lord and Lady Dunn — she was to later become Lady Beaverbrook).
The National Gallery decided last year to not sign on for the Masterworks of the Beaverbrook tour, to the public chagrin of Beaverbrook director Terry Graff, who protested that the gallery had “cancelled” the exhibition at what amounted to — in major-exhibition planning terms — the last minute. The National Gallery responded by saying the exhibit had not been cancelled, because it had never been confirmed.
When news of this disagree- ment became public in May, insiders said the decision to opt out of the Beaverbrook show was because of a budget crunch and a lack of name recognition that could bring in the public. Graff argued that name recognition would have grown out of the exposure the Beaverbrook received during its protracted legal battle over ownership of paintings with the descendants of Lord Beaverbrook, all of which was reported extensively and internationally.
This summer the National Gallery featured works by Doré, the French artist who undoubtedly was talented and influential, but nonetheless lacks name recognition in North America. Slightly more than 47,000 people saw the exhibition, which makes it the least attended major summer exhibition at the gallery in a decade.
The National Gallery’s decision to opt out exacerbated a long-standing perception in New Brunswick that its art and artists have been slighted by the National Gallery. The news that record-setting crowds attended the Beaverbrook exhibition on its opening weekend in Winnipeg has to be seen by New Brunswick as vindication.
It can be taken as such — but only to a degree, as there are variables to consider. The Beaverbrook exhibition opened alongside the exhibit of works by Dali, who has tremendous name recognition with the public. The Dali exhibit, put together by WAG curator Andrew Kear, was not to be shown alongside the Beaverbrook exhibit in Ottawa. However, that “showstopper” Dali painting of Santiago El Grande would have been part of the Beaverbrook exhibit in Ottawa, as would have the Dali portraits of Lord and Lady Dunn.
Another variable to consider is that Saturday was Nuit Blanche in Winnipeg, and the WAG offered free admission, which could have inflated the numbers. The National Gallery did not take part in Nuit Blanche in Ottawa on Sept. 20.
Meanwhile, the National Gallery’s big show for the summer of 2015 will be a retrospective of works by Alex Colville, who has considerable name recognition. That exhibition is now at the AGO in Toronto.
The Beaverbrook exhibition and Dali Up Close continue at the Winnipeg gallery to Jan. 25.