Beaverbrook Art Gallery facts for kids
| Musée des beaux-arts Beaverbrook | |
Beaverbrook Art Gallery in 2014.
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| Established | 1959 |
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| Location | 703 Queen Street Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada |
| Type | Art museum |
| Collection size | 6,000 works (2018) |
| Visitors | 38,960 (2018) |
| Founder | William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook |
| Public transit access | 16N Marysville (Fredericton Transit) |
| Nearest car park | Queen Street, East End Parking Garage |
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery (also known as the Musée des beaux-arts Beaverbrook in French) is a public art gallery located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. It is named after William Maxwell "Max" Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook. He was the person who paid for the gallery to be built and gathered its first collection of artworks.
The gallery first opened its doors in 1959. It had over 300 artworks, including famous paintings by artists like J. M. W. Turner and Salvador Dalí. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is officially recognized as New Brunswick's main provincial art gallery.
The building has been made bigger several times. The most recent expansion opened in 2017. This new design was created by architects from Halifax. A former director said that these changes aimed to make the gallery a key place for showing important modern art from Canada and around the world.
Contents
The Gallery Building
In 1954, Lord Beaverbrook offered to build an art gallery in Fredericton. He also offered to fill it with art. The Premier of New Brunswick, Hugh John Flemming, agreed to this idea. The province gave him a perfect spot for the gallery. It was right across from the New Brunswick Legislative Building on the southern bank of the Saint John River.
The building was designed by Neil Stewart. It was built in a style called mid-century modern. This means it had a flat roof and was a single story. It was covered with light-colored bricks and had a base made of granite. The original gallery space had a tall central room. There was also a square gallery on each side.
In 1983, the building got bigger with new sections added to the east and west. These new parts held special collections of china and other decorative arts. They also housed the Sir Max Aitken Gallery. In 1995, another new section was added. This was called the Marion McCain Atlantic Gallery. It was named after the late wife of New Brunswick businessman Harrison McCain. He gave a large donation to help build it.
On May 20, 2015, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery shared plans for a big new expansion. This project came after six years of raising $25 million. The expansion added much more space for art. It also included a studio for artists to work in. There was a learning theater, a café, and an outdoor sculpture garden. New features were added to make it easier for everyone to move around, like an elevator and ramps. Building started in October 2015. The gallery announced in July 2016 that they were raising their goal to $28 million. This was because many people and the government gave money. The extra money allowed for even more cool features and programs. The new part of the building was finished in October 2017. This made the Beaverbrook Art Gallery the biggest art gallery in the Atlantic region of Canada.
Outdoor Sculpture Garden
In 2009, a sculpture garden was opened next to the gallery. The first sculpture made for it was The Birth of Venus by New Brunswick artist André Lapointe. In 2012, the gallery received a large donation from TD Bank Group. This helped support the garden, which was then named the TD Sculpture Garden.
A sculpture by Marie-Hélène Allain called Awakening/Éveil has been on display in front of the gallery since 1985. In October 2015, the gallery got a new sculpture called Arriving Home by American artist Dennis Oppenheim. This sculpture was placed permanently in the TD Sculpture Garden. It is located behind the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, near the Saint John River. On September 16, 2016, the gallery also showed a newly acquired artwork by Sorel Etrog called King and Queen.
Art Collection
How the Collection Started
When the gallery first opened, it had over 300 paintings. Most of these were British artworks. Lord Beaverbrook himself gathered this collection. He had help from art experts like Sir Alec Martin and W.G. Constable. Lady Dunn, who later married Lord Beaverbrook, also helped.
In 1954, Lord Beaverbrook created a charity called the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation. One of its goals was to buy art for museums and galleries in New Brunswick. Lord Beaverbrook gave the paintings he already owned to this foundation. All the art bought for the gallery after that was also purchased by the foundation.
In 1959, news reports said the collection was worth $2.1 million. It included art by famous British artists like J.M.W. Turner, John Constable, Thomas Gainsborough, and Joshua Reynolds. Lord Beaverbrook also bought art from artists he knew personally, such as Augustus John and Graham Sutherland. He even bought several paintings from a special art exhibition in 1955. One of these was Lucian Freud's Hotel Bedroom, which won second prize.
Before the gallery opened, it also received two other big art donations. A businessman from Toronto, James Boylen, gave 22 paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff. Lady Dunn donated three portraits by Walter Sickert and three works by Salvador Dalí. Two of the Dalí paintings were portraits of Lord and Lady Dunn. The third was a very large painting called Santiago El Grande. This huge painting, which is about 13 by 10 feet, shows Spain's patron saint, James the Great, on a white horse. It was displayed in the main gallery when the Beaverbrook Art Gallery opened and is now strongly linked to the gallery.
What the Collection Includes Today
Since Lord Beaverbrook gave the first collection, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery has kept adding to its art. In 2012, the gallery had 3600 items. These are divided into four main groups: the British Collection, the Canadian Collection, the International Collection, and the New Brunswick Collection.
The British Collection is based on the original art Lord Beaverbrook gave. The Canadian Collection has many artworks from the 1800s and 1900s. This includes pieces by the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, and Jean-Paul Riopelle. The gallery especially focuses on art from the Atlantic region of Canada. It has many works by artists like Christopher Pratt and Jack Humphrey.
The International Collection features art from the 1300s to the 1900s. A special part of this is the Hosmer Pillow Vaughan Collection, which includes fine and decorative arts. In 1994, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery was named the official provincial art gallery of New Brunswick. Because of this, a separate New Brunswick Collection was started. This collection aims to show a full history of art from New Brunswick, including works by Acadian, Maliseet, and Mi'kmaq artists.
In recent years, the gallery has been adding more modern and contemporary art from Canada and around the world. It has acquired many works by well-known First Nations artists, such as Anong Beam and Rebecca Belmore. In 2015 and 2016, the gallery received over 2000 new artworks. This was thanks to many generous donors from all over Canada. Important Canadian artists added include Iain Baxter& and Oscar Cahén. From other countries, the gallery has acquired works by modern artists like Hans Hofmann and Edward Kienholz.
Selected works
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Bartolomeo Passarotti, Portrait of a Young Man, c. 16th century.
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Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Hester Thrale and her daughter Hester, c. 1777.
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J. M. W. Turner, The Fountain of Indolence, 1834
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David Roberts, View on the Tiber Looking Towards Mounts Palatine and Aventine, c. 1863
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Thomas Faed, When the Day is Done, 1870
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James Tissot, A Passing Storm, c. 1876.
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Maurice Cullen, St. James Cathedral, Dominion Sq. Montreal, c. 1909–12.
Who Owns the Art?
In 2003, a disagreement started between the gallery and the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation. They argued about who truly owned the paintings that Lord Beaverbrook had bought for the collection. Later, a second disagreement happened with the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. This was about paintings that Lady Beaverbrook (who used to be Lady Dunn) had given to the gallery.
The foundations wanted to take back some of the most valuable artworks. They planned to sell them to raise money for their own charity work. But the Beaverbrook Art Gallery said that they had been given permanent care of the artworks. They said this was what Lord Beaverbrook himself wanted when he created the gallery.
The Disputes and Their Solutions
Since the gallery opened, the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation had paid for the insurance on 133 paintings. These were the ones Lord Beaverbrook had given through the foundation. In 2002, the foundation had these artworks valued. They found out the paintings were worth much more than they thought. For example, Turner's painting The Fountain of Indolence was estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Freud's Hotel Bedroom was also worth millions.
Because the paintings were worth so much more, the cost to insure them went way up. This meant the foundation would have less money for its charity work in England. So, in 2003, the foundation suggested taking back and selling the two most valuable paintings: The Fountain of Indolence and Hotel Bedroom. They would use the money to pay for insurance on the other paintings and fund their charities. They also offered to give the gallery $5 million. But this would mean the gallery had to agree that the paintings belonged to the foundation. The gallery refused to do this.
In 2004, both sides agreed to let a retired judge, Peter Cory, decide the case. In 2007, he made his decision. He ruled that 85 of the 133 paintings were gifts from Lord Beaverbrook and belonged to the gallery. The other 48 paintings were to be returned to the Beaverbrook U.K. Foundation. He also said the foundation had to pay the gallery's legal costs.
The foundation appealed this decision. A group of three retired judges looked at the case again. In 2009, they agreed with the first decision. The paintings were still divided between the two parties. This meant The Fountain of Indolence and Hotel Bedroom stayed with the gallery.
A month later, the foundation said they would try to overturn the decision in another court. But then, in September 2010, both sides announced they had finally reached a private agreement. They kept the original split of 85 paintings for the gallery and 48 for the foundation. They also agreed on who would pay the legal costs.
The second dispute was about 78 artworks. These had been given by Lady Dunn (who later became Lady Beaverbrook) or by the Dunn Foundation. After Lord Beaverbrook died in 1964, his widow said these paintings did not belong to the gallery. She wanted to take them back. In 1970, the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation bought these paintings from her. This was done to make sure the artworks stayed at the gallery.
On February 28, 2014, this second dispute was settled without going to court. The gallery kept 35 of these artworks. The Canadian Foundation kept 43. However, the agreement said that those 43 artworks would be on a long-term loan to the gallery. This means they would stay at the gallery for a very long time.
See also
- List of art museums
- List of museums in New Brunswick
Images for kids
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The simplified Classical symmetry of the building echoes such earlier works as Josef Hoffman's Austrian Pavilion, built for the 1934 Venice Biennale
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Work on the expansion for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, July 2016.
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The sculpture Arriving Home, by Dennis Oppenheim, situated at the TD Sculpture Garden.
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Terry Graff with Edward Kienholz sculpture the Politician With Contradictum Affixed, Also.
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