The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is located in Kingston, Ontario, on the campus of Queen's University. The gallery has received a number of awards for its exhibitions from the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and others.
History The Agnes Etherington Art Centre has its roots in the Kingston Art and Music Club, founded in 1926, and owes its existence to Agnes McCausland Richardson Etherington (1880–1954), a driving force behind the club."The people behind campus landmarks" Queens Journal. Retrieved 4 March 2009. Agnes Etherington's grandfather had founded the grain dealer James Richardson & Sons in 1857 and the family had become very wealthy. Agnes's brother George Richardson, who died fighting in World War I in 1916, left a legacy for her to use as she felt fit to stimulate development of the arts at Queen's University. She used this to found the George Taylor Richardson Memorial Fund, which still provides an important source of arts funding to the university.
Agnes Etherington bequeathed her house, an elegant Neo-Georgian mansion, to Queen's University for use as a university and community art gallery. The Agnes Etherington Art Centre opened to the public in 1957. The building was extended in 1962, 1975, 1978 and 2000, and now has an area of 1,720 square metres.
Facilities In addition to the historical Etherington House and nine galleries, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre features a studio, atrium, a publications lounge and the David McTavish Art Study Room.
Events and public programs
Through the fall and winter, lectures, discussions, tours, custom seminars and screenings. Each summer, the gallery offers an art-intensive summer day camp for children and an art course of teens.
Collections Agnes Etherington Art Centre holds over 17,000 works ranging from the 14th century to the present, placing it among the largest galleries in Ontario. It includes paintings, sculptures, and graphics by major Canadian artists, European old master paintings, African art, historical dress, quilts, silver and decorative art.
Canadian historical art The Canadian Historical collection primarily representing the history of Canadian fine art in the Euro-American tradition, it also reflects the evolving Canadian cultural matrix through Inuit and Indigenous art and artifacts, as well as historic dress and decorative arts. The collection is notable for fine early topographical watercolours and major 20th-century paintings, and encompasses material connected to regional history in the Queen's University Collection of Canadian Dress, the Heritage Quilt Collection, and the Silver Collection. The Canadian historical collection includes works by: Andre Charles Bieler, Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Edwin Holgate, LeMoine FitzGerald, Fernand Leduc, Ozias Leduc, David Milne, William Ronald, Carl Beam, William Henry Bartlett, William Brymner, Kananginak Pootoogook, Pitseolak Ashoona
Contemporary art The Contemporary Art Collection features visual art, with emphasis on the emerging generation of artists and works that reflect contemporary life and Canadian society. It is national in scope. The Contemporary collection includes works by: Charles Stankievech, Rebecca Belmore, Judy Radul, Brendan Fernandes, Luis Jacob, Vera Frenkel, David Rokeby, Norman White, Robert Houle, Shary Boyle, AA Bronson, General Idea, Ian Carr-Harris, Sarindar Dhaliwal, Andre Fauteux, Kim Ondaatje, Derek Sullivan
Historical European art
The European Art Collection holds many paintings, prints, and drawings of exceptional quality and depth. The heart of the European collection is the Bader collection, with over 200 paintings donated by philanthropist Alfred Bader together with his first wife Helen, and later together with his second wife Isabel. The Baders also gifted the Bader Acquisition Fund to enable the museum to make additional purchases, and the Bader Chair in Northern Baroque Art. Alfred Bader's first donated painting in 1967 was a Salvator Mundi once owned by his mother. Most of the paintings he and Helen collected during the 1970s were religious scenes by Dutch and Flemish artists, a hobby he continued with his second wife Isabel in the 1980s, though by that time the couple was actively shopping across Europe for paintings they could directly donate to the museum with an eye to expanding the collection for educational purposes. Isabel had been a teacher in a girls' school in Bexhill-on-Sea for over 25 years and had become an expert in historical clothing and textiles. She donated her collection of historical costumes in the 1970s to the museum in Bexhill-on-Sea and founded a drama school there. It was thanks to her that Herstmonceux Castle later became the couple's gift in 1993 to Queen's University as the couple returned often to Bexhill-on-Sea and were enthusiastic upon hearing the nearby castle was for sale. After Alfred passed in 2018 Isabel continued to make donations from the couple's collection to Agnes Etherington Art Centre, and her bequest in 2022 included 44 paintings and was valued at a breathtaking $12 million dollars.Isabel Overton Bader birthday commemorations on the website of the Milwaukee-based Bader.org Paintings from the Bader collection
The European collection also includes works by Dosso Dossi, Luca Giordano, Sebastien Bourdon, Peter Lely, Joseph Wright of Derby, Raphael, Parmigianino, Guido Reni, Gustav Klimt, and Pablo Picasso.
African art Numbering over 500 objects, the Justin and Elisabeth Lang Collection of African Art ranks among Canada's most comprehensive and significant African Art collections. Comprising primarily works by West and Central African peoples.
Selected publications
The Art Centre has issued many publications over the years. A selection follows:
Title Author(s)Brendan Fernandes: Lost BodiesJan Allen, Delinda Collier, Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Amanda Gilvin, Amanda Jane Graham, Erica P. Jones, & Nat TrotmanI'm Not Myself at All: Deirdre Logue & Allyson MitchellSarah E. K. Smith & Heather LoveThe Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Women ArtistsAlicia Boutilier & Tobi Bruce Bernard Clark: Tattoo Portraits Jan Allen Vera Frenkel's String Games Jan Allen & Earl Miller Annie Pootoogook: Kinngait Compositions Jan Allen Lost and Found: Wright of Derby's View of Gibraltar John Bonehill, Janet M. Brooke, Barbara Klempan, David de Witt Don Maynard: Franken Forest Jan Allen & Linda Jansma William Brymner: Artist, Teacher, Colleague Alicia Boutilier & Paul Maréchal Sorting Daemons: Art, Surveillance Regimes and Social Control Jan Allen, Kirsty Robertson & Sarah E.K. Smith Karin Davie: Underworlds Jan Allen The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish PaintingsDavid de WittBeyond the Silhouette: Fashion and the Women of Historic KingstonM. Elaine MacKayEtherington House: Building a LegacyPatricia SullivanLyla Rye: HopscotchKenneth HayesTelling Stories, Secret LivesJan Allen, Steven Matijcio et al.Neutrinos They Are Very SmallJan Allen, Corinna Ghaznavi & Allison Morehead"An Artist After All": Daniel Fowler in CanadaDorothy M. FarrSarindar Dhaliwal: Record KeepingSunil Gupta, Richard Fung, Janice Cheddie et al.Erik Edson: FableJan Allen & Catherine OsborneAh, Wilderness! Resort Architecture in the Thousand IslandsPierre de la Ruffinière du Prey & Dorothy FarrMachine LifeJan Allen, Ihor Holubizky & Caroline Seck LangillGary Kibbins: Grammar HorsesJan Allen & Gary KibbinsConnected: Contemporary Art in KingstonJan Allen (ed)MuseopathyJan Allen, Jim Drobnick & Jennifer FisherBetter Worlds: Activist and Utopian Projects by ArtistsJan Allen & Laura MarksWho Means What: Brent Roe, Paintings 1992-2001John ArmstrongLaurel Woodcock: Take Me, I'm YoursJan Allen & Paul KelleyGretchen Sankey: Some of the PartsJan AllenJayce SalloumJim Drobnick & Jennifer FisherCrime and PunishmentJennifer RudderFlaming Creatures: New Tendencies in Canadian Video.Gary KibbinsTapes that Think: Video Works by Steve Reinke, Tran T. Kim-Trang, Rodney WerdenGary KibbinsEdificeJan AllenGermaine Koh: PersonaJan AllenOf Mudlarkers and MeasurersS. DhaliwalRise and Fall: John Dickson, Laurie Walker.Jan Allen et al.Sophie Bellissent: In the FleshJan AllenRX: Taking Our MedicineJan Allen & Kim SawchuckPictorial Incidents The Photography of William Gordon ShieldsMichael BellA. A. Chesterfield Ungava Portraits 1902-04William C. JamesHeritage Quilt CollectionRuth McKendry & Dorothy Farr
References
External links Agnes Etherington Art Centre - official site