Art Gallery of Ontario

The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street West in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of physical space, making it one of the largest art museums in North America and the second-largest art museum in Toronto, after the Royal Ontario Museum. In addition to exhibition spaces, the museum also houses an artist-in-residence office and studio, dining facilities, event spaces, gift shop, library and archives, theatre and lecture hall, research centre, and a workshop.

Established in 1900 as the Art Museum of Toronto and formally incorporated in 1903, the museum was renamed the Art Gallery of Toronto in 1919, before adopting its present name, the Art Gallery of Ontario, in 1966. The museum acquired the Grange in 1911 and later undertook several expansions to the north and west of the structure. The first series of expansions occurred in 1918, 1924, and 1935, designed by Darling and Pearson. Since 1974, the gallery has undergone four major expansions and renovations. These expansions occurred in 1974 and 1977 by John C. Parkin, and 1993 by Barton Myers and KPMB Architects. From 2004 to 2008, the museum underwent another expansion by Frank Gehry. The museum complex saw further renovations in the 2010s by KPMB and Hariri Pontarini Architects.

The museum's permanent collection includes over 120,000 works spanning the first century to the present day. The museum collection includes a number works from Canadian, First Nations, Inuit, African, European, and Oceanic artists. In addition to exhibits for its collection, the museum has organized and hosted many travelling art exhibitions.

History

thumb|A south view of the first expansion building in 1922.

The museum was founded in 1900 as the Art Museum of Toronto by a group of private citizens and members of the Toronto Society of Arts. The institution's founders included George A. Cox, Lady Eaton, Sir Joseph W. Flavelle, J. W. L. Forster, E. F. B. Johnston, Sir William Mackenzie, Hart A. Massey, Professor James Mavor, F. Nicholls, Sir Edmund Osler, Sir Henry M. Pellatt, George Agnew Reid, Byron Edmund Walker, Mrs. H. D. Warren, E.R. Wood, and Frank P. Wood.

The museum's incorporation was confirmed by the Government of Ontario three years later by legislation,

The museum acquired the property it presently occupies shortly after the death of Harriet Boulton Smith in 1909, when she bequeathed her historic 1817 Georgian manor, The Grange, to the gallery upon her death. However, exhibitions continued to be held in the rented spaces at the Toronto Public Library branch until June 1913, when The Grange was formally opened as the art museum. Shortly afterwards, the museum signed an agreement with the municipal government of Toronto to maintain the grounds south of The Grange as a municipal park. In 1920, the museum also allowed the Ontario College of Art to construct a building on the grounds. The museum was expanded again in 1924, with the opening of the museum's sculpture court, its two adjacent galleries, and its main entrance on Dundas Street. In 1966, the museum changed its name to the Art Gallery of Ontario, in order to reflect its new mandate to serve as the provincial art museum.

thumb|The museum's exterior façade in 1960 promoting the Soviet Painting temporary exhibit

In the 1970s, the museum embarked on another expansion of its gallery space, In 1978, the museum's staff unionized under the Ontario Public Service Employees Union.

Under the direction of then-CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the museum embarked on a (later increased to ) redevelopment plan by Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. Although Gehry was born in Toronto, the redevelopment of the museum complex would be his first work in Canada. The project initially drew some criticism. As an expansion, rather than a new creation, concerns were raised that the structure would not look like a Gehry signature building, and that the opportunity to build an entirely new gallery, perhaps on Toronto's waterfront, was being squandered. During the course of the redevelopment planning, board member and patron Joey Tanenbaum temporarily resigned his position over concerns about donor recognition, design issues surrounding the new building, as well as the cost of the project. The public rift was subsequently healed.

thumb|left|Construction for the [[Frank Gehry redesign of the museum complex in February 2008]]

Kenneth Thomson was a major benefactor of Transformation AGO, donating much of his art collection to the gallery (providing large contributions to the European and Canadian collections), in addition to providing towards the renovation, as well as a endowment. Thomson died in 2006, two years before the project was complete.

In 2015, the Canadian Jewish News reported 46 paintings and sculptures in the museum's possession held "a gap in provenance," with the history of their ownership from the years 1933 and 1945 having disappeared, coinciding with the Third Reich's existence. The museum publishes spoliation research on its public website.

In 2018, the museum formally changed the name of Emily Carr's 1929 The Indian Church painting to Church at Yuquot Village in an effort to remove culturally insensitive language from the title of works in its collection. A note next to the painting provides the original name of the piece and explains Carr's use of the term was in keeping with "the language of her era".

In May 2019, the museum revised its admission model, offering free entry to visitors 25 years of age and under and a pass for all others, which provides admission to the museum for the entire year.

The painting, Still Life with Flowers by Jan van Kessel the Elder, was restituted to the heirs of Dagobert and Martha David in 2020, after the museum confirmed the item's provenance and that the David family was forced to sell the item during the Second World War. Following its forced sale, the painting was resold to a Canadian, who later donated the piece to the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1995.

In 2022, Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt Architects and Two Row Architects were contracted by the museum to design a new gallery space for contemporary art. The proposed expansion, later named the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, will be built above the museum's existing loading dock and will connect to the rest of the complex at four points. Spanning five floors, the addition will feature a column-free gallery design, and would add to the building, and would be the building's seventh major expansion.

Selected exhibitions from 1994 to 2019

thumb|Advertisement for [[Tutankhamun|King Tut: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs exhibition hosted in 2009.]]

thumb|Advertisement on a structural pillar for the last week of the [[Pablo Picasso|Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée Picasso Paris exhibition hosted in 2012.]]

The Art Gallery of Ontario has hosted and organized a number of temporary and travelling exhibitions in its galleries. A select list of exhibitions from 1994 to 2019 include:

From Cézanne to Matisse: Great French Paintings from The Barnes Foundation (1994)
The OH!Canada Project (1996)
The Courtauld Collection (1998)
Treasures from the Hermitage Museum, Russia: Rubens and His Age (2001)
Voyage into Myth: French Painting from Gauguin to Matisse, from the Hermitage Museum (2002)
Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions (2004)
Catherine the Great: Arts for the Empire – Masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum, Russia (2005)
Emily Carr: New Perspectives on a Canadian Icon (2007)
Drawing Attention: Selected Works on Paper from the Renaissance to Modernism (2009)
King Tut: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs (2009)
Rembrandt/Freud: Etchings from Life (2010)
Julian Schnabel: Art and Film (2010)
Maharaja: The Splendour of India's Royal Courts (2010)
Drama and Desire: Artists and the Theatre (2010)
At Work: Hesse, Goodwin, Martin (2010)
The Shape of Anxiety: Henry Moore in the 1930s (2010)
Black Ice: David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland (2011)
Abstract Expressionist New York (2011)
Haute Culture: General Idea (2011)
Chagall and the Russian Avant-Garde: Masterpieces from the Collection of the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (2011)
Jack Chambers: Light, Spirit, Time, Place and Life (2012)
Iain Baxter&: Works 1958–2011 (2012)
Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée Picasso Paris (2012)
Berenice Abbott: Photographs (2012)
Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting (2012)
Francis Bacon and Henry Moore: Terror and Beauty (2014)
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Now's The Time (2015)
J. M. W. Turner: Painting Set Free (2015)
Outsiders: American Photography and Film, 1950s–1980s (2016)
The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris (2016)
Theaster Gates: How to Build a House Museum (2016)
Small Wonders: Gothic Boxwood Miniatures (2016)
Mystical Landscapes: Masterpieces from Monet, Van Gogh and More (2016)
Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971–1989 (2016)
Every. Now. Then. Reframing Nationhood (2017)
Rita Letendre: Fire & Light (2017)
Free Black North (2017)
Guillermo del Toro: At Home with Monsters (2017)
Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors (2018)
Mitchell/Riopelle: Nothing in Moderation (2018)
Tunirrusiangit: Kenojuak Ashevak and Tim Pitsiulak (2018)
Mickalene Thomas: Femmes Noires (2018)
Rebecca Belmore: Facing the Monumental (2018)
Anthropocene (2018)
Vija Celmins: To Fix the Image in Memory (2019)
Impressionism in the Age of Industry: Monet, Pissarro and more (2019)
Brian Jungen Friendship Centre (2019)
Early Rubens (2019)
Hito Steyerl: This is the future (2019)

Museum complex

thumb|The museum complex includes two buildings, [[The Grange (Toronto)|The Grange (right foreground), and the main building expansion to the north and west of it]]

The museum's property was acquired in 1911 when The Grange and the surrounding property south of Dundas Street were bequeathed to the institution by Harriet Boulton Smith. The Grange manor was reopened to serve as the museum's building in 1913. Since its opening, the museum underwent several expansions to the north, and west of The Grange. Expansions to the museum were opened in 1918, 1926, 1935, 1974, 1977, 1993, and 2008.

In addition to the complex, the museum also owns a park directly south of The Grange, Grange Park. The land is maintained as a municipal park in perpetuity by the Toronto Parks and Recreation Division, as a result of an agreement between the museum and the City of Toronto.

The Grange

thumb|The Grange and its western wings

The Grange is a historic manor built in 1817 and is the oldest portion of the museum complex. The building is two-and-a-half storeys tall, and built from stone, brick-on-brick cladding, and wood and glass detailing.

Main building

Situated directly north and west of The Grange, the main building was opened to the public in 1918 and has undergone several expansions and renovations since opening. Plans for the "main building" to the north of The Grange originated in 1912 when the architectural firm Darling and Pearson submitted their expansion plans for the north of The Grange. Due to The Grange's location, and historic value, the expansion plans were limited along the southern portions of the museum's property; as the museum wanted to preserve The Grange's southern façade and the municipal park south of the building.

thumb|Walker Court in 1929. The sculpture court was opened three years earlier in 1926.

The expanded plan featured 30 viewing halls, all of which would surround one of three open courtyards, an English landscape garden, an Italian garden, and a sculpture courtyard. The design was largely modelled after another building designed by Darling and Pearson, the Royal Ontario Museum. The designs by Darling and Pearson were intended to be implemented in three phases, although the plans for the final design phase were abandoned by the mid-20th century.

Construction for the first phase began in 1916 and was completed in 1918. Gehry was commissioned to expand and revitalize the museum, not to design a new building; as such, one of the challenges he faced was to unite the disparate areas of the building that had become "a bit of a hodgepodge" after six previous expansions dating back to the 1920s. The redevelopment plans was the first design by Gehry to not feature a highly contorted structural steel frame for the building's support system.

The exterior fronting on Dundas Street was changed as a part of the redevelopment; with the front entrance moved to the north, aligning with Walker Court, and the installation of a glass and wood projecting canopy known as the "Galleria Italia". The roof of Walker's Court was also redeveloped, with steel truss girders installed, and glued laminated timber used to support the glass-panelled roof, which provides of skylight for the courtyard. The southern portion of the museum building also saw redevelopment, with the construction of a five-storey South Gallery block, and a protruding spiral staircase that connects the fourth and fifth levels of the block.

thumb|The interior of the Galleria Italia, where its extensive use of timber as a building material is prominent

The galleria is composed of two layers, with the inner layer formed by 47 vertical radial arches, each of which increases in spacing between one another as it approaches the main entrance. Each piece of timber is unique, given that the galleria's design featured slants that increased in width incrementally, and whose curvatures were changing throughout its length. Given that the museum is typically maintained at 50 % relative humidity, the steel used to support the glued laminated timber required a galvanized finish to prevent corrosion. The Toronto Star<nowiki>'</nowiki>s Christopher Hume called it "the easiest, most effortless and relaxed architectural masterpiece this city has seen".

Critics also noted Gehry's ability to reinvigorate older structures, with The Washington Post commenting "Gehry's real accomplishment in Toronto is the reprogramming of a complicated amalgam of old spaces. That's not sexy, like titanium curves, but it's essential to the project."

2010s renovations and 2020s expansion

thumb|Entrance to the Weston Family Learning Centre at the northeast corner of the complex, August 2024

The museum opened the Weston Family Learning Centre in October 2011, designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects with executive architect Adamson Associates. The space is an exploration art centre, featuring a hands-on centre for children, a youth centre, and an art workshop and studio. Several months later, in April 2012, the museum opened the David Milne Study Centre, which was designed by KPMB Architects. The cost to build the David Milne Study Centre cost the museum approximately C$1 million. The South Entrance and lounge outside the library, also designed by Hariri Pontarini Architects, was opened in July 2017. The renovated and renamed J. S. McLean Centre for Indigenous & Canadian Art opened in July 2018.

Work on the museum's seventh major expansion began in 2024, a six-storey tower, measuring in height, located above the main building's loading dock. Designed by Selldorf Architects, Diamond Schmitt Architects, and Two Row Architects, the addition will provide of gallery space. The tower will be clad in glazed terracotta, and a bridge will connect its sixth floor to the fifth floor of the adjacent Gehry-designed tower.

Permanent collection

thumb|The Tannenbaum Centre for European Art viewing hall, one of several areas used to exhibit's the museum's European art

AGO's permanent collection saw significant growth in the late 20th and early 21st century. The museum's permanent collection grew from 3,400 works in 1960 to 10,700 in 1985. Exhibited at a permanent gallery on the second floor of the museum, The museum also has several Ethiopian Orthodox manuscripts and artworks, although these works form a part Thomson Collection of boxwoods and ivories.

thumb|[[Snuff bottles from the museum's Kenneth Thomson collection]]

In 2002, the museum was bequeathed 1,000 works by Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islanders artists. Some of these items are exhibited at a gallery on the second floor of the museum. In 2004, Kenneth Thomson donated over 2,000 works from his collection to the museum. Although the majority of the Thomson collection is made up of works by Canadian or European artists, the collection also includes works created by artists in other parts of the world.

Canadian

The museum includes an extensive collection of Canadian art, from pre-Confederation to the 1990s. Most of the museum's Canadian art is exhibited on the second floor, with 39 viewing halls dedicated to exhibiting 1,447 pieces from the museum's Canadian collection. The wing includes the 23 viewing halls of the Thomson Collection of Canadian Art, and the 14 viewing halls of J.S. Mclean Centre for Indigenous & Canadian Art. Canadian works are also exhibited in the David Milne Centre and the visible storage area in the museum's concourse.

thumb|Mail Boat Landing at Quebec by [[Cornelius Krieghoff (1860). It is one of 145 works by Krieghoff in the Thomson Collection of Canadian Art.]]

The galleries of the Thomson Collection of Canadian Art provide an in-depth look at the works of individual artists, whereas the other viewing halls of organized around later thematic issues. The Thomson Collection was donated to the museum by Kenneth Thomson in January 2004. The collections features nearly 650 paintings and works by Canadian artists; 250 of which were created by Tom Thomson (no relation to Kenneth); Approximately 40 percent of works presented in the centre were created by Indigenous artists. with 14 viewing halls. Three of these galleries are dedicated to exhibiting Inuit art, whereas one is dedicated to exhibiting contemporary First Nations art. The collection also features works from Canadian sculptors Frances Loring, Esmaa Mohamoud, and Florence Wyle.

Conversely, the museum did not acquire its first First Nations artwork until 1979, acquiring a piece by Norval Morrisseau for its contemporary collection. The Art Gallery of Ontario did not acquire First Nations art until the late 1970s, to prevent overlap between the AGO's permanent collection and the permanent collections of the Royal Ontario Museum, which already had a collection of First Nations art. The early 21st century saw the museum increase the representation of First Nations art in its Canadian-centred galleries, including the R. Samuel McLaughlin Gallery. First Nations artists whose works are featured in the museum's collection include Charles Edenshaw and Shelley Niro. The collection also extends to installations, photography, graphic art (such as concert, film, and historic posters), film and video art, and even minimal music used as ambient music. Works from these collections are exhibited in several centres and galleries throughout the museum, including the Vivian & David Campbell Centre for Contemporary Art, which comprise the upper three levels of the south gallery block, and the Galleria Italia.

The museum's contemporary collection includes several works by Canadian artists: General Idea, Brian Jungen, Liz Magor, Michael Snow, and Jeff Wall. The permanent Infinity Room was purchased in 2018 for C$2 million and opened in May 2019 due to popular demand, after the success of a larger multi-room Kusama and Infinity Mirror Room travelling exhibit held in the same year. Items from the museum's European collection are exhibited in several viewing halls throughout the museum. The Tannenbaum Centre for European Art and its viewing halls are located on the ground floor. Paintings and sculptures from the Thomson Collection of European Art are exhibited on the ground floor, while the ship models from the Thomson collection are exhibited in the museum's concourse.

The European Collection includes the Margaret and Ian Ross Collection, which features several bronze sculptures and medals, with a particular emphasis on Baroque art from Italy. Other works featured in the Thomson Collection for European Art includes Massacre of the Innocents by Peter Paul Rubens. The painting was acquired by Ken Thomson in 2002 for C$115 million, Thomson intended for the work to serve as the centrepiece for the collections he donated to the museum in 2004. The painting is the second work by Caillebotte to enter the permanent collections of a Canadian art museum. Works by Canadian artists during that period are typically exhibited as a part of its Canadian collection, as opposed to the museum's modern art collection. Works from the modern art collection are exhibited in several centres and galleries throughout the museum, including the Joey & Toby Tanenbaum Sculpture Atrium, the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, and several other galleries on the ground floor of the museum.

thumb|Sculptures on display in the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, which exhibits several works by [[Henry Moore ]]

The museum is home to the largest public collection of works by English sculptor Henry Moore, most of which is held in the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre. The museum dedicated approximately of space to the sculptor, which includes the Henry Moore Sculpture Centre, and related galleries including the Irina Moore Gallery. Moore donated 300 pieces, The photograph collection includes 495 photo albums from the First World War. In June 2019, the museum acquired the Montgomery Collection of Caribbean Photos, which includes 3,500 historic photographs of the Caribbean from the 1840s to 1940s. The collection was acquired by the museum for C$300,000, most if which was provided by 27 donors from Toronto's Caribbean community.

The collection includes the largest and most significant body of works from Betty Goodwin, with a bulk of the works given to the gallery by the artist. In 2015, the museum was bequeathed 170 drawings, prints, and sculptures by Käthe Kollwitz. The prints and drawings collection also includes drawings by David Blackwood, François Boucher, John Constable, Greg Curnoe, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Thomas Gainsborough, Paul Gauguin, Wassily Kandinsky, Michelangelo, David Milne, Pablo Picasso, Egon Schiele, Michael Snow, Walter Trier, Vincent van Gogh, and Frederick Varley; and prints by Ernst Barlach, James Gillray, Francisco Goya, Käthe Kollwitz, Henry Moore, Robert Motherwell, Rembrandt, Thomas Rowlandson, Stanley Spencer, James Tissot, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and James McNeill Whistler. However, access to the museum's archives, and its special collections requires a scheduled appointment.

Library

thumb|Work tables at the Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, the art gallery's library and archives

The general collections of the library reflect the permanent collection of works of art and the public programs of the Art Gallery of Ontario, containing over 300,000 volumes for general art information and academic research in the history of art. The library serves as a reference library; materials in the collections do not circulate. Holdings encompass Western art in all media from the medieval period to the 21st century; the art of Canada's indigenous peoples including Inuit art; and African and Oceanian art.

The library additionally comprises Canadian, American and European art journals and newspapers; over 50,000 art sales and auction catalogues (late 18th century to current); 40,000 documentation files on Canadian art and artists, and international contemporary artists; and multimedia, digital and microform collections. Materials may be searched on the online catalogue. The Library & Archives also produces pathfinders and bibliographies for collections research, such as the Thomson Collection Resource Guide to the large collection of works of art donated by benefactor and collector Kenneth Thomson.

The library's rare books collection includes art historical sourcebooks from the 17th century to the present; British Neoclassical folios of the 18th century; catalogues raisonnés; British and Canadian illustrated books and magazines; travel guides, particularly Baedekers, Murrays, and Blue Guides; French art sales catalogues from the late 18th century to the mid-20th century; and artists' books.

Programs

Artist-in-residence

AGO operates an artist-in-residence program, granting selected artists access to its facilities, a stipend covering materials and living costs, and a dedicated studio, the Anne Lind AiR Studio in the Weston Family Learning Centre. Artists-in-residence are invited to create new work and ideas, and to use all media, including painting, drawing, photography, film, video, installation, architecture and sound. The program is the first of its kind to be established at a major Canadian art gallery.

Paul Butler (October–November 2011)
Margaux Williamson (January–March 2012)
Heather Goodchild (July–August 2012)
Mark Titchner (September–October 2012)
Jo Longhurst (November–December 2012)
Life of a Craphead (January–March 2013)
Greg Staats (October – December 2014)

Selected works

Canadian collection

Tom Thomson, The West Wind, 1917

European collection

Tintoretto – Christ Washing His Disciples' Feet,
Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Bust of Pope Gregory XV,
Circle of Hans Holbein the Younger – Portrait of King Henry VIII,
Peter Paul Rubens - Massacre of the Innocents,
Peter Paul Rubens – The Raising of the Cross, oil on paper version,

Art Gallery of Ontario

History

Selected exhibitions from 1994 to 2019

Museum complex

The Grange

Main building

2010s renovations and 2020s expansion

Permanent collection

Canadian

Library

Archives

Programs

Artist-in-residence

Selected works

Canadian collection

European collection

Modern and contemporary collections

See also

Notes

References

Further reading

External links