FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE The Beaverbrook Art Gallery at Art Toronto!
On the schedule: highlighting some of the Gallery’s exciting projects in the visual arts. Fredericton, NB, October 20, 2016 --
The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is pleased to announce that it is joining more than 120 commercial and public art galleries at Art Toronto 2016 to showcase some of its new and dynamic projects on a national stage.
Art Toronto is Canada’s largest international contemporary and modern art fair; it presents a unique forum for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to reach the tens of thousands of visitors the event draws, and to share with the Canadian visual arts community some of its collection’s many treasures. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery will, in fact, be Art Toronto’s only Cultural Institution participant located east of Ontario. Staff from the Gallery will be present to promote and present two major Gallery projects. The fair is an opportunity to showcase the new pavilion currently being built at the Gallery, which will house some 14,000 square feet of indoor exhibition and amenity space, as well as adding an exterior courtyard. The pavilion is expected to open in summer 2017. In partnership with The Cahén Archives, staff from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery will also showcase an upcoming exhibition of the art of Oscar Cahén (1916-1956) at Art Toronto. Marking the centenary of his birth, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery will mount a major exhibition and create a monograph on Oscar Cahén’s life and work, slated to be presented in 2017. Oscar Cahén was a leading magazine illustrator and abstract painter in Canada, as well as a member of the collective Painters Eleven. He is considered a seminal influence in the development of abstract art in Canada, and his work has been collected by some of Canada’s leading visual arts institutions. Previewing at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery Booth (B02) at Art Toronto is a chess set Oscar Cahén carved out of found objects while interned as an enemy alien at Camp N in Sherbrooke Quebec between 1940 and 1942.
“An important focus for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery is Canadian art history, which is reflected in both the Gallery’s permanent collection and in its exhibition program," says Terry Graff, Beaverbrook Art Gallery Director/CEO and Chief Curator. "This focus extends back to our inception in 1959, with Lord Beaverbrook’s initial gift of important Canadian and International works of art. Aligned with the Gallery’s mandate and legacy, we are very proud to contribute to the national narrative on Canadian art by shining a spotlight on Oscar Cahén, a vitalizing influence on the development of abstraction in Canada. We are especially pleased to introduce our exhibition and publication plans at Art Toronto 2016, and to communicate the Gallery’s current expansion project and exciting new program trajectory.” The Beaverbrook Art Gallery’s participation in this national rendezvous of the contemporary visual arts world comes at an opportune time. “Over the past number of years, the Beaverbrook has taken many bold steps to revitalize,” says Jeffrey Spalding, Senior Curator at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery: “building a new wing; undertaking major renovations of the existing facility; and circulating Masterworks around North America, among others. Art Toronto is an opportunity for the Beaverbrook to be front and centre on the national stage, to show the nation the energy and the buzz of the east coast, and to build stronger bonds with the visionaries and leaders of the visual arts world of Canada.” Spalding will also play a role in other parts of the Art Toronto program. He will present on the work of Oscar Cahén at the booth of the well-respected Trepanier Baer Gallery and will give a presentation on the work of Sorel Etrog at the Barbara Edwards Contemporary Gallery booth. He will also deliver a eulogy honouring the work of the late Linel Rubenchuk, the founder of the fair, during the opening remarks, and will conduct a curator’s tour of the fair for members of the public called “If I had a Million Dollars.”
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Media: a press kit for the Gallery’s pavilion expansion is available at: http://beaverbrookartgallery.org/en/about/media-kit-beaverbrook-art-gallery-phase-ii-pavilion-expansion
About the Beaverbrook Art Gallery The Beaverbrook Art Gallery was founded by Lord Beaverbrook on September 16, 1959. The Gallery is internationally known for its collection of Atlantic Canadian, Canadian, British, and International works of art. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery “enriches life through art”. As the official art gallery of New Brunswick, and one of Canada’s leading art galleries and most important cultural treasures, its mission is to “bring art and community together in a dynamic cultural environment dedicated to the highest standards in acquisitions, exhibitions, programming, education and stewardship.” The Beaverbrook Art Gallery enriches life through art. La Galerie d'art Beaverbrook enrichit la vie par l'art. Media Contact Jeremy Elder-Jubelin Manager of Communications and Visitor Services Beaverbrook Art Gallery 703 Queen Street, P.O. Box 605 Fredericton, NB E3E 5A6 Phone: (506) 458-2039 Email: visitorservices@beaverbrookartgallery.org www.beaverbrookartgallery.org
