The Canadian Photography Institute at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa officially opened to the public this week.
Our editors’ weekly roundup of Canadian art news.
Former director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery, art historian Patricia Bovey, was named a non-affiliated senator by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday. Bovey was one of nine newly appointed senators who have been added to overhaul the institution’s reputation into a “more reputable, independent chamber of sober second thought.” Bovey currently teaches at the University of Winnipeg, and has worked on advisory committees for the Canadian Museum of Nature, National Gallery of Canada and Canadian Museum of Civilization. She is currently a member of the board of trustees of the National Gallery of Canada.
The Canadian Photography Institute officially opened to the public at the National Gallery of Canada on Wednesday, with two exhibitions: a showing of work by 20th-century Czech photographer Josef Sudek, and an exhibit of images from the Globe and Mail’s archives. Both shows will be on view until early 2017. The CPI, established with a $10-million donation from Scotiabank and collection support from philanthropist David Thomson, was announced in 2015. Housed within the NGC, the institute comprises a research centre and exhibition programming, with the aim to “establish one of the world’s most important and comprehensive collections covering the entire history of the photographic medium.”
Nathalie Bondil, director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, was named an Officier des arts et des lettres of France by French Prime Minister Manuel Valls on October 13. The Ordre des Arts et des Lettres is awarded in recognition of contribution to the fields of art or literature; while Bondil has dual French and Canadian citizenship, membership to the Order is not limited to French nationals. Jacques Parisien, chairman of the MMFA’s board of trustees, also announced that the museum has extended Bondil’s contract for another five years.
A memorial will be held for Mary Sue Rankin, one of the founders of the Edward Day Gallery (now located in Toronto), on October 30 at Angell Gallery in Toronto. Rankin, who passed away on October 23, worked on opening Edward Day Gallery in Kingston in 1992. The gallery moved to Toronto four years later, where Rankin worked with co-director Kelly McCray to represent artists including Peter Hill, Diana Menzies, Maggie Rose and David Pelletier.
