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Introduction
by Hsio-Yen Shih
Article en français
Page 1 | 2
My second annual review
as Director described the context in which the National Gallery of
Canada functions as part of a federal departmental corporation.
Understanding Canada's governmental structure became especially
important in the fiscal year 1979-80 when two national elections
were held, on 22 May 1979 and 18 February 1980. The cultural
agencies have, therefore, had to report to two new Secretaries of
State in a single year of operations. This third annual review
describes a year of uncertainty, although the Gallery itself was
united in its commitment to planning centenary celebrations worthy
of the institutions distinguished history.
We began this fiscal year with a twenty-eight per cent cut in the
operations budget, added to the more than two per cent cut suffered
in the previous fiscal year. Coupled with the reduction in funds
were a three per cent loss in authorized person-years and a
moratorium on hiring new personnel that extended over nine months.
At the end of 1979, the Gallery was further informed that its
acquisitions budget would be reduced by two thirds in the fiscal
year 1980-81, from $1.5 million to $.5 million.
The last announcement had perhaps the most devastating effect on the
Gallery's morale. Whereas the diminution of budget and personnel had
been shared throughout the federal government, the decision to slash
the funds for works of art needed to increase and improve the
national collections struck directly at the Gallery alone. Since the
$1.5 million acquisitions budget had remained static for eight years
- during which period its buying power had been steadily eroded by
inflation, the decline in the Canadian dollar, and the drastic rise
in prices for all categories of art - the loss of $1 million was a
shock of major significance.
In the Board of Trustees Annual Report of 1934-35, the Gallery's
Trustees informed the Government of Canada that
In every annual report made by the Trustees since 1921, opportunity
has been taken to stress the entirely out-grown, inconvenient and
positively dangerous condition of the present temporary premises
occupied by the National Gallery...It cannot be too often remarked
that Canada lags behind all the other Dominions in this matter.
Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have all recognized the
importance of the arts in the country by building national
institutions for their housing, teaching and study. Canada, with the
longest history, the greatest wealth and an indigenous art of the
greatest importance has done nothing in this respect.
Almost fifty years later, the Trustees' words are applicable not
only to the Gallery's physical accommodations, but also to its
ability to add to the nation's cultural heritage in the visual arts.
In fact, comparison with other countries is embarrassing. In
Australia, the National Gallery at Canberra has an annual
acquisitions budget of $3.7 million (expressed in Canadian dollars),
and the National Gallery of Victoria more than $4 million; the
National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. has more than $5.8
million annually for the purchase of works of art; and the National
Gallery in London, U.K., is granted $7.2 million. Even the National
Gallery of Scotland in Edinburg surpasses the National Gallery of
Canada with $1.9 million for its annual acquisitions fund.
What the gallery was able to achieve with $1.5 million in 1979-80 is
fully reported in the acquisitions list published in this Annual
Bulletin. Of especial note is the Portrait of a
Knight, c.
1670 by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682). This Spanish
painting was formerly in the Sir William van Horne Collection; its
repatriation to the Canadian national collections was made possible
with the help of a grant from the Cultural Properties Export-Import
Review Board. In addition, gifts of works of art were gratefully
accepted from Mrs Mary Lucretia Beatie, the Estate of Maude Brown,
Dr and Mrs Charles Comfort, Mrs Doris Bent Dickson, Mme Marie-Paule
LaBrèque, Mrs Blanche Loeb, Ms Dorothy S. Phillips and Mr
Christopher Varley.
Late in 1979 the Gallery was offered its first centennial gift: the
magnificent Henry Birks Collection of Canadian Silver. The gift of
some six thousand pieces, which comprises mainly Canadian silver,
but also related American, Australian, English, and French silver,
celebrates the one-hundredth anniversary of Birks & Co. in
1979, as well as the Gallery's centenary in 1980. Through this gift
to the Nation and with the Gallery's custodianship, the Birks family
has made an important part of the Canadian heritage available to
all.
Equally gratifying was the National Gallery Association's gift of a
concert grand piano. Contributions toward the purchase were
gratefully received from many other interested people, as well as
from the members of the Association.
Imperial Oil Ltd., which also celebrates its one-hundredth year in
1980, sponsored the Gallery's commemorative exhibition, To Found
a National Gallery: The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 1880-1913.
The exhibition was opened on 6 March 1980 by the Right Honourable
Pierre Elliott Trudeau in his first public event after returning to
office as Prime Minister. More than three thousand visitors attended
the Gallery that evening.
Despite restrictions on the number and variety of programmes
demanded by the budget cuts of this fiscal year, the Gallery's
attendance continued to show a steady increase: from 265,597 in
1976-77 to 287,104 in 1979-80. During the two days of Open House, 8
and 9 March 1980, the Lorne Building was filled to capacity with
4,660 visitors on the first clay and 5,348 on the second. Indeed, an
attendance of about five thousand visitors a clay represents the
limit that the building can entertain without serious difficulties
for its environmental controls.
The struggle to make the Lome Building - the Gallery's present home
- both safe for works of art and more attractive to visitors
continued. New machinery was provided for the environmental control
plant. The garage area was waterproofed again. The elevators were
changed to more modem self-service types both to save on labour
costs for their operation and to improve their appearance. The lobby
and the exterior facade were renovated to provide a more inviting
entrance and expanded bookstore space. And new and better-designed
signage was introduced throughout the building to provide visitors
with clearer direction. At the same time, and in a spirit of hope,
the Gallery reviewed its programme for new accommodations, to update
and re-evaluate the requirements.
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