The Permanent Collection

The Vancouver Art Gallery was founded in 1931

on the initiative of eleven prominent citizens who

provided $130,000 toward the assembly of an

art collection and a building to house it. The

majority of artworks purchased for the Founders’

Collection were acquired in 1931 during a trip to

Britain by H.A. Stone and Charles H. Scott. After

gaining advice from directors of galleries in

Canada and Britain they declared their intent to

form a collection that would "aim at a history of

British and Canadian painting." To achieve this

goal they identified three major periods of British

art: English portraiture of the late eighteenth

century; the landscape tradition of the 19th

century, including works by John Sell Cotman,

John Crome and J.M.W. Turner; and the Pre-

Raphaelite movement of the mid-19th century,

represented by the work of Edward Burne-Jones.

George Romney, Portrait of Major Pearson,

1771, oil on canvas,

Vancouver Art Gallery Founders’ Fund

While the first work by Emily Carr was acquired by purchase in 1937, the majority of works

that constitute the Emily Carr Trust Collection came to the Gallery following her death in 1945.

These original 165 paintings, watercolours, oil on paper and charcoal drawings form the core

of a collection that is the most comprehensive in the world.

During the 1950s emphasis was placed on

expanding the Canadian collection, specifically

works by the Group of Seven, their predecessors

and their peers. Significant works by Lawren

Harris, A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer, David Milne,

J.W. Morrice and Tom Thomson were added at

this time. A notable collection of 19 Inuit

sculptures was donated by the Hudson’s Bay

Company in 1955. By the late 1950s works by

local artists were increasingly present in the

annual acquisitions lists.

In the 1960s notable works by contemporary

artists were acquired through the growth of a

number of acquisition funds, such as the Canada

Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance

Program, the Vancouver Art Gallery Women's

Auxiliary Picture Loan Committee, Siwash Auction

Funds and the McLean Foundation Funds.

Emily Carr, Totem Poles Kitseukla,

1912, oil on canvas,

Vancouver Art Gallery Founders’ Fund

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These include works by prominent Canadian Pop artists

such as Jack Chambers, Gred Curnoe and Michael Snow,

and local painters such as Claude Breeze, Roy Kiyooka

and Michael Morris.

Throughout the 1960s the Gallery looked to

contemporary art from around the world, linking local Pop

Art, Op Art, and Performance artists to their global peers.

This was paralleled by local collectors who began to

acquire and donate contemporary American art to the

Gallery collection. Major sculptures — Saw (Hard Version),

1969 by Claes Oldenburg and The Execution, 1967 by

George Segal — were shown in the Gallery’s New York 13

exhibition in 1969 and acquired the same year.

In the early 1970s new media and Conceptual Art held a

critical space in the Gallery’s exhibition program and

strategic acquisitions laid the foundation for the growth

of the Gallery’s collection of Conceptual Art by Robert

Filliou, Dan Flavin, General Idea, Dan Graham, Les

Levine, Glenn Lewis, Bruce Nauman, N.E. Thing Co. and

Robert Smithson. Some of these key works came to the

Gallery as a gift from the Vancouver collector Ian

Davidson.

During the mid-1970s the Gallery also initiated its

collection of works by important Canadian post-

minimalist artists such as Gathie Falk, Betty Goodwin,

Suzy Lake, Ron Martin, Joyce Weiland, Mia Westerlund,

and Irene Whittome.

Vancouver collector Ron Longstaffe began his long

and generous relationship with the Gallery in the

early 1980s with donations of major works by

contemporary Canadian, American and British artists

including Francis Bacon, Anthony Caro, Richard Hamilton,

David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg,

Ad Reinhard, Andy Warhol and many more. By the time of

his death in 2003 Ron Longstaffe had donated 803

works to the Gallery’s collection.

In 1983 the Gallery moved to its present location and

with funds from the sale of the original building started

the Art Acquisition Endowment Fund. From the mid-

1980s onward this fund has provided a significant

stream of income for acquisitions.

Roy Lichtenstein, Shipboard Girl,

1985, lithograph on paper,

Gift of J. Ron Longstaffe

Claes Oldenburg, Saw (Hard Version),

1969, laminated wood, aluminum,

polyurethane foam, Bloedel Foundation,

Murrin Bequest and Siwash Funds

Gathie Falk, 40 Oranges, 1969–70

ceramic, Gift of Joan Lowndes

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The purchase of major works by contemporary Vancouver

artists began shortly after this fund was established and

included Roy Arden’s Rupture, 1985, Jeff Wall’s Bad Goods,

1985 and Ian Wallace’s Image Text, 1979. These and

others form the basis of the Gallery’s renowned collection

of Photo-conceptual and photo-based contemporary art.

This aspect of the collection has continued to grow and now

can be said to constitute the core of the Gallery’s

contemporary collection. This includes the most significant

publicly-held collection of Jeff Wall’s work in the world,

along with major works by Vikky Alexander, Roy Arden, Karin

Bubaš, Christos Dikeakos, Stan Douglas, Rodney Graham,

Mark Lewis, Ken Lum, Scott McFarland, Marian Penner

Bancroft, Judy Radul, Ian Wallace, Paul Wong and Jin-me

Yoon.

In order to contextualize these works both historically and

internationally, the Gallery identified and secured two major

collections of photography and photo-based art through

purchase and donation: the collections of Alan and Alison

Schwartz of Toronto, and Andrew Gruft and Claudia Beck of

Vancouver.

Roy Arden, Rupture, 1985 (detail),

silver gelatin print, Vancouver Art

Gallery Acquisition Fund

Cindy Sherman, Untitled #116,

1982, azo dye print, Gift of Sandra

Simpson

These acquisitions provided the Gallery with an extraordinary

treasure of 768 works by major international artists such as Diane

Arbus, Margaret Bourke-White, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri

Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, William Notman,

Aaron Siskind, Weegee, Gary Winogrand and Lewis Wickes Hine, as

well as contemporary figures such as Lothar Baumgarten, Felix

Gonzalez-Torres, Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Jenny Holzer,

Louise Lawler, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Schütte and

Thomas Struth.

More recently, a monumental donation of more than 500 works by

the acclaimed American photographer Harry Morey Callahan was

gifted to the Gallery by the Montreal-based Rossy Family

Foundation. Unique in its comprehensive character, the Callahan

collection marks the largest donation in the Gallery’s history and the

most important collection of the artist’s work in Canada.

A new generation of Vancouver artists has now gained international prominence. Building on a

foundation of performance, video, conceptual and photo-conceptual art they have produced a

dynamic range of work that has also become a critical focus for acquisition. These artists include

Arabella Campbell, Geoffrey Farmer, Brian Jungen, Myfanwy MacLeod, Steven Shearer, Mark Soo,

Ron Terada, Even Lee, Tim Lee and others. Many of these works have been acquired with the

support of The Canada Council for the Arts and the Audain Emerging Artists Fund.

The Vancouver Art Gallery's collection now numbers over 11,700 works and represents the most

comprehensive resource for visual culture in British Columbia. The collection grows by hundreds

of works every year and is the principal repository for visual art produced in this region, as well

as related works by other notable Canadian and international artists.

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Strengths of the Collection: The Founders’ Fund Collection and

Historical Canadian Art

David Cox, In The Hayfield, n.d.,

oil on canvas, Vancouver Art Gallery

Founders’ Fund

A.Y. Jackson, The Road to St. Fidele,

1929–30, oil on canvas, Vancouver Art

Gallery Founders’ Fund

Lawren Harris, Mount Thule, Bylot Island,

1930, oil on canvas, Gift of the Vancouver

Art Gallery Women’s Auxiliary

The Founders’ Fund Collection includes more than

150 paintings, works on paper and sculpture

acquired between 1931 and 1951. These works are

primarily 18th, 19th and 20th century British art.

The Collection includes notable works by Frank

Brangwyn, Edward Burne-Jones, David Cox, Thomas

Girtin, George Morland, J.M.W. Turner, David Wilkie

and others.

In the fall of 1931 when the Founders' Fund

Collection was first exhibited, it was noted in the

exhibition catalogue, that, while the Gallery's goal to

acquire a "collection of British works, has, with one

or two notable exceptions, been adhered to; the

second part—the collection of Canadian works—

remains to be made...."

A.Y. Jackson's The Road to St. Fidele, acquired in

1932 is recognized as the first contemporary

Canadian painting acquired for the collection. In the

years that followed, other works by the Group of

Seven painters were acquired including works by

Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer,

J.E.H. Macdonald and Frederick Varley. During the

1940s and 50s this was expanded to include works

by other significant Canadian artists such as Emily

Carr, Henrietta Mabel May, David Milne and

Elizabeth Wyn Wood.

In recent years considerable effort has been made

to fill in some of the historical gaps in the collection

through donation and strategic purchases.

Highlights include paintings by Cornelius Krieghoff,

James W. Morrice, Paul Peel and Homer Watson.

Much of this work has been acquired through

donations from Dr. Rodrigo Restrepo.

The Gallery has works by all of the members of the

Group of Seven in its holdings, and has recently

enhanced its holdings with strategic purchases

made through the Anne Eliza Winn Trust. In the last

decade the Gallery has been able to add major

works by A.Y. Jackson, Arthur Lismer and others.

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Strengths of the Collection: The Emily Carr Collection

Before her death in 1945, Emily Carr

bequeathed a significant number of her works

to the people of British Columbia, to be

designated as the Emily Carr Trust and held by

the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Gallery’s collection is the largest collection

of paintings, watercolours, oil on paper works

and charcoal drawings by Emily Carr, and it is

unparalleled in quality.

The collection is especially rich in major

canvases from the 1930s and 1940s and the

Gallery has been steadily working to increase

the holdings of works from all periods of Carr’s

life. A large number of ceramic works by Carr

that are held by the Gallery as long-term loans

help to complete the picture of Carr’s work

across different media.

The original Emily Carr Trust that came to the

Gallery in 1942 was comprised of 165 works

selected by Lawren Harris and Ira Dilworth. As

of 2016 the Gallery has 254 works by Carr in

its permanent collection.

Emily Carr, Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky,

1935, oil on canvas, Emily Carr Trust

Emily Carr, Big Raven, 1931, oil on canvas, Emily Carr Trust Emily Carr, Red Cedar, 1931, oil on

canvas, Gift of Mrs. J.P. Fell

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Strengths of the Collection:

Historical and Modern Art from British Columbia

The Vancouver Art Gallery has built the

definitive collection of work by artists who

lived and worked in British Columbia in the

19th and 20th centuries, including works by

Maxwell Bates, B.C. Binning, E.J. Hughes,

Beatrice Lennie, Jock Macdonald, Jack

Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, Frederick Varley,

John Vanderpant and W.P. Weston. The

Gallery has in-depth and singular holdings of

works by many of these artists.

The Gallery had a long-standing relationship

with Jessie Binning, the widow of B.C.

Binning. In addition to the more than one

hundred works by her late husband that

Mrs. Binning donated before her death in

2007, the Gallery also received another 50

works from Mrs. Binning’s Estate. As a

result, the Gallery’s collection of Binning’s

work is comprehensive and particularly

exceptional.

The Gallery also has extensive holdings of

prints by several local artists such as Robert

Davidson, Toni Onley and Takao Tanabe.

John Vanderpant, Liquid Rhythm, c. 1932, silver

gelatin print, Gift of The Vanderpant Collection

E.J. Hughes, Qualicum, 1958, oil on canvas, Anonymous Gift

B.C. Binning, Night Harbour, 1950, oil on panel, Gift of the

Estate of Jessie Binning

Beatrice Lennie, The Atom, c. 1938, oil on

canvas, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund

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Strengths of the Collection: Modern Canadian Art

The Vancouver Art Gallery has strong holdings

of paintings by modernist painters outside of

this region including the Painters Eleven, who

were based in Toronto (such as the work of

Jack Bush, Jock Macdonald and Harold Town)

and the Regina 5 (such as the work of Ron

Bloore, Ken Lochhead, Art McKay, and Douglas

Morton). Other Canadian modernist painters

represented in our holdings include Paterson

Ewen, Jack Humphrey, Gershon Iskowitz,

Harold Klunder, Jean McEwen, and Christopher

Pratt.

Within this historical period the Gallery has an

important collection of modernist Québecois

painting, the largest west of Toronto, including

works by Paul-Emile Borduas, Guido Molinari,

Alfred Pellan, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Claude

Tousignant.

Jock MacDonald, Etheric Form, 1934, oil on

plywood, Gift of an Anonymous Donor

Paul-Emile Borduas, Noir et Blanc, 1958, oil on canvas,

Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund

Gershon Iskowitz, Orange Red Painting,

1973, oil on canvas, Gift of J. Ron Longstaffe

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Strengths of the Collection: International Pop Art, Conceptual Art and

the Lawrence Weiner Poster Archive

The collection grows in many different ways

but often the greatest works in the collection

come as gifts from artists and collectors. The

Gallery’s Pop Art collection is substantial and

significant with excellent holdings of the work

of major international artists such as Richard

Hamilton, David Hockey, Claes Oldenburg,

Robert Rauschenberg, Ed Ruscha and Andy

Warhol, and Canadian artists such as Greg

Curnoe, Gathie Falk and Joyce Weiland.

Much of this work was received by donation

from local collectors, most notably Ron and

Jacqueline Longstaffe.

Other collectors, such as Ian Davidson and

Ira Young, helped to expand the Gallery’s

collection of international conceptual art

works by Dan Graham, Bruce Nauman,

Robert Smithson and Cy Twombly through

their generous donations. This aspect of the

collection provides an important context for

much of the early Photo-Conceptual art in the

collection.

Since the early 1990s the Gallery has been

home to the Lawrence Weiner Poster Archive,

the world’s most comprehensive collection of

his posters and related objects. This

collection, currently consisting of 514 works,

continues to grow every year and is often

borrowed for important international

exhibitions.

Lawrence Weiner, Until the Moon Comes Over the Mountain,

1994, offset lithograph on adhesive paper, Gift of Moved

Pictures Archive

Richard Hamilton, The Solomon R. Guggenheim

1965, screenprint on paper, Gift of J. Ron Longstaffe

Bruce Nauman, Indoor /Outdoor, 1971,

closed circuit t.v. monitor, Gift of Ian Davidson

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Strengths of the Collection: Contemporary Art from British Columbia

From the 1970s onward the Gallery made a

concerted effort to document the art of British

Columbia through purchase and donation. This

coincided with a dramatic growth of the art

community and an increasing international

awareness of the art produced by local artists.

Artists such as N.E. Thing Co. (Iain and Ingrid

Baxter), Kate Craig, Roy Kiyooka, Glenn Lewis,

Eric Metcalfe, Michael Morris and Dennis

Wheeler and led the way with their interest in

performance, intermedia and Conceptual Art.

The Gallery has extensive holdings of work by

all these artists.

This was followed in the 1980s by the

emergence of a generation of Photo-

Conceptual artists who established

Vancouver’s international reputation as a

centre for contemporary photo-based art. The

work of these artists has been acquired since

the early 1980s. The Gallery has the largest

public collection of works by Roy Arden, Ken

Lum, Jeff Wall and Ian Wallace, and it also

owns major works by Vikky Alexander, Christos

Dikeakos, Stan Douglas and Rodney Graham,

In the early 1990s the Gallery began collecting

a new generation of artists who built on the

ideas of Photo-Conceptualism, inflecting it with

a critical interest in issues of gender, sexuality

and cultural difference. These artists include

Dana Claxton, Judy Radul, Paul Wong, Jin-me

Yoon and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

More recently the Gallery has acquired the

work of emerging Vancouver artists who are

rapidly gaining national and international

attention. These artists come from diverse

backgrounds but share a strong understanding

of the history of art in this region. In contrast to

the well-known photo-based artists they utilize

new materials and express a strong interest in

contemporary visual culture in the

conceptualization and production of their work.

Since the late 1990s the Gallery has acquired

major works by Geoffrey Farmer, Brian Jungen,

Myfanwy MacLeod, Liz Magor, Gareth Moore,

Steven Shearer and Ron Terada.

Jeff Wall, The Pine on the Corner, 1990, transparency in

lightbox, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund

Liz Magor, Skidegate Chair, 1988, cedar, steel, flannel,

foam, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition Fund

Geoffrey Farmer, The Surgeon and the Photographer,

2009– (detail), textile, wood, metal, Purchased with

funds from the Jean MacMillan Southam Major Art

Purchase Fund, Phil Lind, Vancouver Art Gallery Acquisition

Fund, Canada Council for the Arts Acquisition Assistance

Program and Michael O’Brian Family Foundation

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Strengths of the Collection:

International Historical and Contemporary Photography

The Gallery has sought to build a historical

foundation for its renowned Vancouver photo-

based holdings by collecting historical and

contemporary photography. In 2004, the Gallery

acquired as part gift and part purchase more

than 460 photographs from local collectors

Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft, who began

collecting photography in the 1970s. This

acquisition, valued at $2 million, included rare

and vintage prints by some of the most

recognized figures in photography. As a result,

the Gallery has an important collection of

historical and modern photography including

works by Diane Arbus, Margaret Bourke-White,

Samuel Bourne, Julia Margaret Cameron, Henri

Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Robert Frank,

Eadweard Muybridge, William Notman, Aaron

Siskind, Stephen Shore, Weegee, Garry

Winogrand and Lewis Wickes Hine.

An important opportunity to acquire a collection

of contemporary international photography

emerged in 2002, with the purchase and

donation of sixty works by fifteen internationally

acclaimed artists from the Toronto collectors

Alan and Alison Schwartz. The Schwartz

collection placed the institution’s already strong

collection of Vancouver-based photography in

relation to similar artistic practices elsewhere.

This acquisition provided the Gallery with key

works by Lothar Baumgarten, Felix Gonzalez-

Torres, Dan Graham, Andreas Gursky, Jenny

Holzer, Louise Lawler, Thomas Ruff, Thomas

Schütte, Cindy Sherman and Thomas Struth.

In 2013 the Montreal-based Rossy Family

Foundation donated to the Gallery a

monumental collection of 556 photographs by

Harry Morey Callahan, representing the full

scope of Callahan’s career and the entire range

of his subject matter. In 2014 The Rossy Family

Foundation generously supported the purchase

of an additional 33 works, giving the Gallery the

most significant holding of Callahan’s work in

Canada and the second largest public collection

of his work in the world.

Stephen Shore, Victoria Avenue and Albert Street, Regina,

Saskatchewan, 1974, chromogenic print,

Gift of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft

Louise Lawler, March 25, 1991, 1991,

azo dye print, Gift of Alison and Alan Schwartz

Harry Callahan, Chicago, 1950, silver gelatin print,

Gift of The Rossy Family Foundation, © Estate of Harry

Callahan, Courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New Nork

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Strengths of the Collection:

Historical and Contemporary First Nations Art of this Region

The Gallery’s small but important grouping of historical First Nations work includes model

poles, masks, frontlets, feast dishes and hats that allow us to tell the story of the earliest art

of this region. The Gallery’s collection was significantly enriched in 2015 by a bequest from

the Estate of George Gund III of 37 historical and contemporary First Nations objects from

this region. The Gund bequest includes historical works by Haida, Heiltsuk, Kwakwaka’wakw,

Nisga’a, Nuu-chah-nulth, Tlingit and Alaskan artists, as well as important contemporary works

by Francis Horne Sr., Ken Mowatt, Norman Tait, Bill Reid and Robert Davidson. With the

Gallery’s existing holdings and the purchase of two new major works by Davidson also in

2015, the Gallery now has the largest public collection of his work anywhere.

The historical collection provides a fundamental context for the Gallery’s holdings of work by

prominent contemporary First Nations artists who work within their tradition, including

Dempsey Bob, Joe David, Reg Davidson, Robert Davidson, Beau Dick, Tony Hunt Jr., Bill Reid,

Isabel Rorick, Art Thompson and others. The Gallery also actively collects contemporary work

by artists who work experimentally and conceptually to explore Indigenous identity in

innovative and unexpected ways, such as Sonny Assu, Rebecca Belmore, Raymond Boisjoly,

Dana Claxton, Brian Jungen, Marianne Nicolson and Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun.

Marianne Nicolson, Baxwana’tsi: The Container for Souls, Makah or Nuu-chah-nulth artist, Wolf Mask, 1870–80

2006, glass, cedar, light fixtures, Purchased with Funds wood, pigment, hair, Gift of the Collection of George Gund III

donated by the Audain Foundation

Robert Davidson, Killer Whale Transforming into a Thunderbird, 2009, wood, paint, electric motor and

remote control, Commissioned with Funds from Arts Partners in Creative Development, the Jean MacMillan

Southam Major Art Purchase Fund and Gary Bell

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Strengths of the Collection: Contemporary Art from Asia

The Gallery has a long history of exploring and presenting the visual art of Asia. In October

2014 the Gallery announced the creation of the Institute of Asian Art, a major initiative that

includes a commitment to strengthening the Gallery’s collections of contemporary art from

Asia. Working strategically to build a collection of key works by major artists, the Gallery now

has several important works including Eikoh Hosoe’s photographic suite Ordeal by Roses

(1961-62), Mariko Mori’s Play with Me (1994); Rise and Fall (2009) a commissioned video

installation by Fiona Tan; and Jin-me Yoon’s A Group of Sixty-Seven (1996). Recent

acquisitions by Chinese artists include works by Ai Weiwei, Wang Du, Wang Jianwei, Yang

Fudong, O Zhang and Zhu Jinshi.

Following the 2010 presentation of Waste Not by Song Dong, the Gallery purchased a major

work by this Beijing-based artist called Fill in the Sea, comprised of 168 colour photographs

created to mark the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China. We are also grateful to the

Shanghai and Beijing-based art collective MadeIn Company who generously donated their

work Calm (2013) in 2013, and to the renowned Indian artist Reena Saini Kallat for donating

her work Woven Chronicle in 2015. Both works were previously featured in the Gallery’s

Offsite location.

Reena Saini Kallat, Woven Chronicle, 2015, circuit boards, speakers, electrical

wires, fittings, Gift of the Artist

Song Dong, Fill in the Sea, 1997 (detail), Wang Jianwei, The Morning Time Disappeared, 2014 (still),

168 chromogenic prints, Vancouver Art Gallery single channel video with sound, Gift of the Solomon R.

Acquisition Fund Guggenheim Foundation in connection with The Robert H. N.

Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative; the gift of edition

2/5 to the Vancouver Art Gallery was made possible in part

by China Global