Prior to the turn of the Century, leading citizens recognised the need for a facility dedicated "to the collecting and exhibiting of art, both historical and contemporary, fo reign and Canadian". The Art Gallery of Ontario as it is modernly known, developed out of this initial idea. The mandate of the AGO h as grown to encompass the promotion of Fine Arts in Canada, the exhibition of "displays of taste", and the education of the Canadian population with regards to the role of art in society.
The development of the Gallery has not occurred w ithout incident. The initial dilemma of the Art Museum Committee of the early 1900's was the lack of available and affordable property on which to build. The onset of WWI proved to be a great disruption to the multi-staged development of the Gallery. The Depression posed a serious threat to the Gallery because of the extreme restrictions which were placed on the development of social programs and institutions. A trend which began during these difficult times and has continued to today is the AGO's relationship with other institutions. It has been crucial that the Gallery establish strong relationships with individuals, private corporations, government agencies and non-profit organisations in order to continuously develop its collection and enhance its exhibits. Collectively, supporters of the AGO have worked to continuously improve the AGO based on their understanding that"any public gallery is the sum of its holdings".
The Canadian Collection is one of the Gallery's most important and impressive holdings. It features all of the influential artists in Canadian history. The Collection traces the development of Canadian art through the years, and places a particularly strong focus on the role that the Group of Seven has played.
The information for this outline was obtained from the Art Gallery of Ontario's Selected Works Handbook. Please the consult the Handbook or contact the AGO's information line at 416-977-0414 for further details.
