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2006-11-20_Supplemental Agenda Packet--Dossier de l'ordre du jour supplémentaire City of Saint John Common Council Meeting Monday, November 20, 2006 Location: Common Council Chamber Supplemental Agenda Re: 8.1 Presentation - Beaverbrook Art Gallery City of Saint John Seance du conseil communal Le lundi 20 novembre 2006 Emplacement: Salle du conseil communal l'ordre du jour supph~mentaire Alinea 8.1 Presentation - Galerie d'art Beaverbrook SAINT JOHN CITY COUNCIL Monday, November 20, 2006 Thank you, Your Worship, Mayor Norm McFarlane. Thank you, Councillors Congratulations to all of you on your great city and your designation as the energy resource hub of Atlantica. PREAMBLE It is a great pleasure for me to speak about the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in this forum, the timing is perfect, as the interest, support and momentum continues to grow at the Gallery. Someone said that "today's controversy is tomorrow's punch line". I say that the timing is right for my presentation because: < It is the middle of the controversy with the Beaverbrook Foundations and the Gallery needs the community to rally behind it in its current dispute. The Gallery is a jewel in this Province and has been for 45 years. < This will be my 4th anniversary at the Gallery and I have tried during that time, to re-position the Gallery and to reach out to the community and the province: o To make the Gallery more accessible o Reach out to new audiences Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 1 o Make the Gallery truly provincial in scope o Emphasize outreach and o Bring art and people together o Diversify the Gallery's funding base GOVERNANCE Structure of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery - The Beaverbrook is a charitable not-for-profit organization that operates under a body corporate called the Board of Governors. The affairs of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery are managed by a Board of Governors. The Board consists of: I) the Custodian and eighteen Governors appoint by the Lieutenant- Governor in Council as follows: i) one Governor nominated by each of the following: the Premier of New Brunswick; the Minister of Education; the Minister of Culture and Sports Secretariat; the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition; the Chancellor of the University of New Brunswick; the Chancellor of the Universite de Moncton; the New Brunswick Teachers' Association. Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 2 The Custodian is nominated by the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation; Four Governors nominated by the Custodian; Four Governors nominated by The Tecolote Foundation; and Two Governors nominated by the members of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Very pleased that we have Doug Stanley as a representative from Saint John yOur Mandate The objects of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery are to foster and promote the study and the public enjoyment and appreciation of the arts of painting, sculpture and other graphic arts and similar creative and interpretive activities, including the exhibition and production of works of art, and in furtherance of such objects to operate and manage the Gallery.@ yOur Vision Through its widely acknowledged collections, exhibitions and programmes, the Beaverbrook Art Gallery aims to continue to be recognized as the pre- eminent art gallery in New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada through: < the maintenance of one of the best collections in Canada; < the development of strong links with academia and other arts-related organizations; < the promotion of visual literacy in the province; and Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 3 < the maintenance of standards of artistic excellence and the recognition of artists of national merit. yMission Statement Alt is the mission of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery to maintain and develop a collection that is relevant provincially, regionally, nationally and internationally; to provide high-quality exhibitions and programs, and to promote the visual arts in the province and region to a broad spectrum of current and potential users.@ HISTORY Sir Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook) began planning the construction of an art gallery in New Brunswick early in the twentieth century. After considering a number of locations, Lord Beaverbrook settled upon the city of Fredericton. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery was gifted to the people of New Brunswick by Lord Beaverbrook and officially opened to the public on September 16, 1959. It was designated as the Provincial Art Gallery on December 2, 1994. In October of 1983, the East Wing was added and in May, 1995 the Marion McCain Atlantic Gallery was opened to the public. In 2004 the Beaverbrook Art Gallery celebrated its 45th anniversary. We celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2009. In his speech at the opening of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, September 16, 1959, made the following comment. Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 4 "It may be that I am recalled chiefly as the builder and founder of an art gallery. The labor of age may prove more lasting that the strident achievements of youth, falling upon these walls, may draw from them an impulse to create and emulate". COLLECTION AND PROGRAMS The Beaverbrook Art Gallery's permanent collection was established In 1959 by Lord Beaverbrook's initial gifts that included the donation of valuable British and Canadian works of art, among them paintings by eighteenth-century British masters such as Reynolds and Gainsborough and popular Canadian artists such as Cornelius Krieghoff and members of the Group of Seven. The permanent collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery has grown from the initial collection of three hundred works in 1959 to more than 3,000 at present. It is comprised of three major categories: the Canada Collection, the British Collection and the International Collection. The core of the permanent collection was assembled during the 1950's by Sir Max Aitken (Lord Beaverbrook), Sir James Dunn, Lady Dunn and their associates. The works acquired at this time reflects the affiliation of these individuals with both Canada and England. The Canadian Collection features a comprehensive representation of paintings, drawings and prints from across Canada, with an emphasis on the art of the Atlantic Region. Miller Brittian, Mary Pratt, Marie Helene Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 5 Allain, Gathie Falk, Genevieve Cadieux, Attila Richard Lukacs, and Robin Colyer are among the Canadian artists represented. The British Collection includes an extensive selection of British paintings and prints from the Georgian, Victorian and Modern periods, including works by Joshua Reynolds, John Constable, Graham Sutherland and Walter Sickertt. This is one of the most important collection of British Art in Canada. The International Collection features the work of French, Italian, Dutch and Spanish artists which date from 1340 to 1958. Initiatives are currently underway to acquire works by artists associated with New Brunswick and Atlantic Canada-both historical and contemporary . Hotel Bedroom by Lucian Freud is a study of the collecting tastes of Lord Beaverbrook. He was primarily interested in narrative paintings that told a story. Hotel Bedroom, with its Gothic overtones, reflects that strong vein of realism and the observation of human affairs that is a characteristic of British art. The painting was bought from the 1955 Daily Express Young Artist' Exhibition which was an enterprise established by Beaverbrook between the two wars to showcase the work of artists under 25. Hotel Bedroom is a self-portrait with Freud silhouetted in shadow against the window and his new bride, Lady Caroline Blackwood, lying immobile in bed, her glazed expressions indicative of profound distress. The setting for Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 6 this human drama was the Hotel Louisiana, a small hotel on the Left Bank in Paris where Freud and his wife spent part of the winter of 1953/54 in apparent discomfort. Freud's Hotel Bedroom, is undoubtedly a major piece. John Russell, the art critic and current biographer of Picasso, has said that with Hotel Bedroom, the artist has actually skinned himself alive. "Suddenly we realized that there is a point beyond which interrogation and torture are one and the same thing." Hotel Bedroom has been exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington; Hayward Gallery, London; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and the Altes Museum in Berlin. All reviews have been unequivocally positive, and having such a seminal work in The Beaverbrook Gallery's collection certainly places it on the international art world map. CURRENT ISSUES WITH THE SEA VERSROOK FOUNDA TION I want to emphasize the admiration, respect, and pride that the Board of Governors and everyone associated with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery have for our founder, Lord Beaverbrook (Sir Max Aitken). We are immensely appreciative of the financial and other support which the Gallery has received over the years both from the Beaverbrook (UK) Foundation and the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation. Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 7 The current dispute regarding the ownership of a designated number of artworks is most regrettable. Initially the parties attempted to agree on a non-court resolution of the disputed claims. Unfortunately, on May 5, 2004, while those discussions were ongoing and without prior notice to the Gallery, the Beaverbrook(UK) Foundation commenced an action against the Gallery in the United Kingdom. Upon learning of that action the Gallery filed its action in the courts of New Brunswick against the Foundations and others. I am pleased to report, however, that an agreement has been reached recently between the Gallery and the Beaverbrook (UK) Foundation to see a resolution to their part of the disputed claims through arbitration in the Province of New Brunswick. At the present time, the action by the Gallery against the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation in the New Brunswick courts is anticipated to proceed in 2007. When faced with the Foundations' requests that the Gallery enter into loan agreements that confirmed that the works of art in question were, and at all material times had been, owned by the Foundations, the Board had a fiduciary responsibility to determine the validity of the Foundations' title claims. To do otherwise would have been tantamount to a betrayal of the public trust to oversee and represent the best interests of the Gallery and the people of New Brunswick. The Gallery initiated a comprehensive search of the title to the artworks. The result of the "search" indicated that the majority of the artworks in question were gifts from Lord Beaverbrook and others to the Gallery and the people of New Brunswick, not loans. Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 8 With this information, the Gallery Board of Governors had no other alternative but to contest the Foundations' claims. It is important to stress that the Gallery has no interest or intention to maintain any claims to property a competent authority deems it does not own; however, the Gallery is also bound not to surrender any works of art that are in fact owned by the Gallery. BUDGET Breakdown of Budget is as follows (see Chart) 13% Provincial Grants/Funding 11 % Federal Grants/Funding 20/0 Municipal Grants / Funding 180/0 Generated Income 14% Grants 170/0 Benefactors 250/0 Investment Income COMMENT: The financial support of Foundations, the Province of New Brunswick, the City of Fredericton, corporations and private individuals needs to be enlarged upon to enable the Gallery to play its role in the visual arts in New Brunswick. We are respectfully requesting the City of Saint John to provide a grant of $25,000 to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 9 THE FUTURE GOALS BUILD ON THE VISION OF LORD BEAVERBROOK AND CELEBRATE OUR FOUNDER. BUILD ON THE VALUES OF THE INSTITUTION MAKING THE ARTS MORE CENTRAL TO SOCIETY PROMOTE ART EDUCATION AND ART APPRECIATION. EXPLORE ALL OPPORTUNITIES TO BRING THE COMMUNITY INTO THE GALLERY. CONTINUE TO HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE TRADITIONAL SUPPORTERS. DEVELOP A NEW GENERATION OF PATRONS BUILD ON THE PROVINCIAL ART GALLERY ROLE. INFRASTRUCTURE (PHASE I AND PHASE II EXPANSION) DETERMINE THE GAPS IN THE COLLECTION AND STRENGTHEN THE COLLECTION Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 10 MARKETING / PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES AND ARRANGE PARTNERSHIPS IN THE COMMUNITY. ESTABLISHMENT OF A DEVELOPMENT/FUND RAISING COMMITTEE AND LAUNCH A NATIONAL FUND RAISING CAMPAIGN ENDOWMENT FUND. (GOAL $10M - $12M) BUILD ON THE VALUES OF THE INSTITUTION A NATIONAL TOUR OF THE SAINT JOHN ARTIST, MILLER BRITTAIN To do all of this in Celebration of our Artists. THE END How can you help and how can we, collectively, make a difference in this community. i) Celebrate our artists and our visual culture, both historically and contemporary. ii) Become a member - individual, family, corporate or life. iii) Become a patron; Name a Space; Consider a bequest; take out a life insurance. iv) Participate and be involved in your gallery v) Become an advocate for the arts and the Gallery..... philosophically care and nurture the arts and those things that make us Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday, November 20, 2006 Page 11 more and 'the more we appreciate the arts the better we are in human understanding! Exhibitions that have traveled to Saint John in the last two years: Max Streicher: Four Horses New Brunswick Young Art Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Series Will travel to Saint John in 2007: THE LIFE AND ART OF A COUNTRY PAINTER: Anthony Flower (1792-1875) Studio Watch: Emerging Artist Series Saint John City Council Meeting, Monday. 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