Cultural Landmarks of Hamilton-Wentworth

Art Gallery of Hamilton

Location: King Street West at Summer's Lane.

The founding of the Art Gallery of Hamilton in 1914 is linked to a gift to the city by William Bruce. He gave, on behalf of his daughter in law, Carolina Bruce, a collection of 32 paintings by his son, William Blair Bruce (1859-1906), a world class artist, to the City of Hamilton to serve as the nucleus for a permanent collection for an art gallery in Hamilton. This gift was accepted in principle by the City of Hamilton in 1912. There had been talk for many years before about the need for a permanent art gallery for the city and many organizations, such as the Women’s Art Association, the Art School of Hamilton and the Canadian Club were supportive of such an initiative.

In November of 1913 the City Council announced that the proposed Art Gallery would be housed on the second floor of the old Hamilton Public Library building on Main Street West, a space formerly occupied by the Hamilton Art School.

The Art Gallery of Hamilton was incorporated by the Province of Ontario on January 31, 1914. The grand opening took place on June 30, 1914 after the formal acquisition of the Bruce donation. Mayor John Allan spoke: "The city has contributed $1,000 a year and a free building to this undertaking, and while it will likely cost more to maintain it, I trust the gallery will not develop into a drag on the city council by constant demands for money. I think the art-loving citizens of Hamilton will present this, and I believe they will." Not a particularly auspicious start.

James Smith was appointed curator on April 14, 1914.

In 1927 the Art Gallery of Hamilton issued its first catalogue for an exhibition (Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of Hamilton Artists) which documented their first exhibition devoted solely to local artists.

By 1929 William J. Grant, seventy-six years of age, was acting as curator.

From the beginning it was recognized that the old library building was really not suitable for an art gallery and almost from the time it opened there was a movement to build a suitable repository for the collection. Eventually, in 1928 the City went on record as pledging itself to the erection of a suitable facility. The total cost of the project was estimated at $250,000 ($100,000 in provincial debenture, $100,000 in private donations and a $50,000 donation from Mrs. Galbreaith.)

In 1928 a building planning committee submitted recommendations to the city concerning a new Art Gallery. There were many suggestions including sites in Dundurn Park, Gore Park, and Gage Park, the latter site having many strong supporters. Discussions continued until 1936 when the proposal was shelved because the city had decided that "no programme of non-utilitarian civic improvement" could be undertaken at the time. Obviously the city fathers did not consider an art gallery essential or utilitarian. It was in this year also that Leonard Hutchinson, himself a well-known artist, took over the position of curator, a part time position he held until 1945.

A major donation to the gallery took place in 1936 when the will of William Penman stipulated that his pictures be donated to the gallery along with a donation of $10,000 to help erect a building to help house the pictures.

In 1947 City Council allocated the unheard of sum of $8,500 for the Art Gallery, which included a curator’s salary and money for conservation of the collection.

On November 12, 1947 a director/curator was found who would bring the Art Gallery into the future: Thomas Reid MacDonald. He served the gallery for twenty-six years until 1973 at which time the Art Gallery of Hamilton was a well established and well loved cultural icon in Hamilton.

By 1949 fund raising was not going well. The location had been revised to the old Central Collegiate property which the Parks Board had agreed to lease to them for three years during which time they were committed to developing the property. However, it was not until 1950 that a large scale fundraising campaign was begun with the creation of the Building Fund Committee.

In February 1951 the lease expired and the Parks Board decided to dedicate the site to recreational use. The Art Gallery had to find another site. In 1952 they agreed to a site belonging to the Royal Botanical Gardens in the west end of the city. The site was on Forsyth Avenue and Main Street West, next to McMaster University and adjacent to the Sunken Gardens. Architects Husband, Robertson and Wallace designed a one storey structure in an Art Deco style with four galleries with a total display space of 10,000 square feet.

On April 13, 1953 the cornerstone was laid and promptly stolen. Someone had driven up in a truck, pried the 250 pound stone loose and left with it. Mayor Jackson declared "the culprits must have a depraved sense of humour." It was recovered later in a creek bed in Ancaster and re-installed with guards to prevent any further vandalism.

The official opening was held on December 12, 1953 and the building was opened by the Governor General, the Right Honourable Vincent Massey who declared "This gallery is a warm inviting home for a lusty infant culture developing in Hamilton." "From having the worst, most inconvenient old art gallery on record, Hamilton has stepped to having an enviable one."

MacDonald spent his tenure building the Art Gallery of Hamilton into a superior collection, the third largest in Ontario, surpassed only by the Art Gallery of Toronto and the National Gallery of Canada.

In 1965 when plans were unveiled for the expropriation, by McMaster University, of the Sunken Gardens it was realized that any such plans to build on the site would mean the end of any possibility of the Art Gallery expanding from its present site. It was during this same year that the first plans for a Civic Square facility in downtown Hamilton were unveiled. This plan provided for an art gallery as well as a theatre auditorium, convention centre, trade centre and new library. The Art Gallery accepted this plan in principle but it took until 1967 for the details to be worked out.

In October of 1969 Trevor Garwood-Jones, a Hamilton architect was asked to draw plans for a downtown art gallery. He was also the architect for the theatre auditorium project which was to become known as Hamilton Place. The final site for the Gallery was announced in May of 1971 as the space immediately to the west of Hamilton Place, across Main Street from City Hall.

Thomas Reid MacDonald retired in June of 1973 but served on the board of directors and as a consultant until his death in 1978.

Glen E. Cumming was his successor, also a trained artist.

The new Art Gallery of Hamilton opened on October 1, 1977. The Lieutenant-Governor, The Honourable Pauline M. McGibbon did the honours. The regional chairman, Anne Jones, stated that the Art Gallery "shone through the dullness of the day like a jewel in the middle of Hamilton." The total cost for this new gallery was $5.3 million.

With the new gallery opened expenses skyrocketed. Staff tripled in size. The operating budget went from $223,000 to $810,000 in only two years. The Regional Municipality of Hamilton-Wentworth more than doubled its grant to the Art Gallery, thus signaling its position as a major cultural asset, not only for the city of Hamilton but for the Region of Hamilton-Wentworth.

Andrew J. Oko arrived at the Art Gallery in 1977 to take over the curatorial duties from Glen Cumming who now functioned solely as director.

In the 1980’s the Art Gallery of Hamilton received the Bert and Barbara Stitt Family Collection of early Canadian drawings and paintings. This collection gave a whole new dimension to the collection with its strength in early documentary art and historical pieces of immense interest in the documentation of the development of Canada.

Ross Fox joined the Art Gallery in 1986 as curator, replacing Andrew Oko.

In 1989 the Art Gallery of Hamilton celebrated its 75th anniversary.

Glen Cumming left the Art Gallery of Hamilton at the end of October 1989. He had overseen the move from the small west end gallery to the new downtown gallery and was instrumental in expanding the Gallery’s permanent collections, especially concentrating on post 1950 Canadian artists.

Robert Swain was appointed as the third director of the Art Gallery of Hamilton in January of 1990. By April of that same year Ihor Holubizky was acting curator of contemporary art at the Gallery.

By the early 1990’s signs of a looming financial crisis were impossible to ignore. In April of 1991 it was announced that due to funding constraints the Gallery would be laying off six of 27 staff and closing all day Tuesday and on Thursday morning. All capital repairs were indefinitely postponed. At this time the Art Gallery of Hamilton was Ontario’s third largest gallery with 7,000 pieces in its permanent collection worth $40 million. The main financial problem was the large property tax bill due to the city of Hamilton each year. In order to avoid this tax the Gallery would have to hand over the building to the city or seek tax-exempt status through a private members’ bill.

Robert Swain announced in June of 1991 that he would not be renewing his contract the following year.

The Gallery reopened on Tuesday and Thursday mornings in August of 1991 due to a grant of $51,000 from the City of Hamilton. This grant also enabled them to repair their roof and hire back three staff members who had been laid off.

In November of 1991 the new director of the Art Gallery was announced as Ted Pietrzak, head of the Burlington Cultural Centre. He was to take over in January of 1992.

One of the consistent criticisms of the downtown Art Gallery was that it was virtually invisible within the Hamilton Place complex. In January of 1991 a plan was announced to construct a floor to ceiling glass entrance at the Art Gallery on the corner of Summers Lane and King Street West.

In 1992 in light of continuing financial problems some city of Hamilton aldermen suggested that the Art Gallery of Hamilton sell some of its permanent collection in order to raise some cash. This solution was seen as "improper" by most in the artistic field.

In April of 1993 the Art Gallery of Hamilton announced that it was laying off staff, cutting exhibit hours and adopting a four day work week to cope with a money crisis. The Hamilton Art Gallery was the ninth largest gallery in Canada but in budget terms was only 13th or 14th.

In 1994 the Art Gallery of Hamilton celebrated its 80th birthday with announcements that it was taking a new direction. Ted Pietrzak said that "the key task for the gallery is to break down the barriers between it and the public and make it more relevant and accessible to the average person." They were actively seeking more donations and working on initiating more outreach programmes within the community. They were also seeking our more active collaborations with other area arts groups.

In September of 1996 the Art Gallery of Hamilton was projecting a $263,000 deficit, the first in its eighty-two year history. The Region’s Finance Committee began to look at the feasibility of declaring the building tax exempt under a section of the Ontario Municipal Act.

In February of 1997 the Art Gallery of Hamilton laid off almost half of its staff, including senior curator Ihor Holubizky. The layoffs were part of a two part restructuring plan for the Gallery which was carrying a deficit of $195,000. They also announced that the Gallery would be closed for the months of July and August. When the federal Department of Canadian Heritage came up with a $231,000, grant this money, along with a one time grant of $100,000 from the City of Hamilton allowed the Gallery to stay open during the summer. In May of 1997 the Hamilton City Council voted unanimously to instruct the city solicitor to negotiate terms for declaring the Gallery "a municipal capital facility" which would free it from a yearly tax bill of about $384,000. The Art Gallery of Hamilton was the only Art Gallery of its size in Canada that did not have tax-exempt status.

In late 1997 a suggestion was made to re-locate the Art Gallery to a different site and turn the old Art Gallery building into a charity casino.

In December of 1997 Ted Pietrzak announced his resignation to take up a position in Buffalo. In February of 1998 the head of administration, Robert Ridge, was announced as acting director of the Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Over the course of its existence the Art Gallery of Hamilton has, despite everything, been a positive force for advancing the cultural and artistic life of Hamilton. Its superb collection, including a marvelous collection of contemporary Canadian art is one in which every resident of Hamilton-Wentworth can take pride.

Resources:

The Art Gallery of Hamilton: Seventy-Five Years (1914-1989)
Art Gallery Scrapbook. Hamilton Public Library: Special Collections
Women’s Art Association of Hamilton: The First 100 Years. Stuart MacCuaig, Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1996