Today@Dal

From the Vault: Ars Longa

Like the University in which it resides, the Dalhousie Art Gallery has relied on “the kindness of strangers” to both survive and thrive. Indeed, Dalhousie University and the Art Gallery have been pulled from the brink of foundering on more than one occasion by the persuasive advocacy and generous financial intervention of supporters both from within and beyond the University community. Dalhousie University is currently in the midst of its 200th anniversary year and the Gallery, the oldest public art gallery in Halifax, is in its 65th year—remarkable milestones for any institution that depends on public funding and dedicated stewardship for its continued existence. In celebration of Dalhousie University’s long history, and the Gallery’s role in keeping art present on campus, it seems fitting to look at the many contributions of Alumni groups and individuals who have commemorated their time at Dal by adding to the legacy of the Gallery’s permanent collection.

Unlike the University, which had its purpose-built home several years before it developed any functional operation, the Gallery grew out of the activities and programming of the University Art Group, provisionally based in a room in the Geology Department. Initiated in 1943 “to arouse interest in Art matters in both the staff and student body” (President Carleton Stanley’s Annual Report 1943-44), the Group’s Faculty and Alumni volunteers presented films on art and hosted travelling exhibitions from the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal Academy. By the time the new Arts and Administration Building (now named the Henry Hicks Academic Building) opened in December of 1951, the Art Group had evolved into the Dalhousie Art Committee, and had taken on the expanded objective of establishing an Art Gallery on campus. Two years later, in October of 1953, a large room on the second floor of the A and A Building was dedicated as The Dalhousie Art Gallery, and the members of the Committee began to actively seek out contributions of funds and artworks to develop the nascent permanent collection. When the Gallery finally moved into its purpose-built facility in November of 1971, the collection had grown to include almost 240 works, many of which were donated or purchased with funds donated by Dalhousie Alumni. Currently, the collection comprises more than 1,300 sculptures, mixed media works, photographs, prints, drawings, and paintings—250 were acquired through the generosity and foresight of Dalhousie’s Alumni.

Every artwork in the collection has a unique accession number that is assigned by the Gallery’s Registrar/Preparator as part of the registration process for all new acquisitions, and specifies the year and the order in which it was received. While crucial for records management, the accession number gives no indication as to the means of acquisition; therefore, another crucial aspect of the registration process is the record of acknowledgement. When an artwork is exhibited, loaned to another art gallery, or displayed as part of the Loans on Campus program, it is accompanied by a wall label, which includes a statement of how, and sometimes why, the artwork entered the collection. It is the Gallery’s means of publicly giving thanks for the gifts in our care. For all of the works in this exhibition, the wall labels describe the permanent connection that many Alumni have formed with their alma mater through gifts to the collection.

Some of these gifts were in the form of funds donated for the purchase of artworks, enabling the donor or Alumni Class and the Gallery to decide together how such funds could best serve the collection’s needs. Several Alumni groups, including the Dalhousie Club of New York, the Classes of 1915, 1929, 1951, and 1966, the Arts and Science Class of 1928, and the Women’s Division of 1954, 1957, and 1958, collected their resources to commemorate graduation anniversaries or to respond to appeals from the Gallery to support the purchase of artworks. On two occasions, members of the Law School Alumni have contributed funds for the purchase of artwork: once at the request of Alumnus and Professor John Yogis in lieu of a personal gift on his retirement from the Faculty of Law, and more recently at the request of then Dean Kim Brooks for the purchase of artwork by an Indigenous artist. A few individual Alumni members have done the same, notably John Scrymgeour (Alumnus 1943), who not only provided the ways and means to fend off the Gallery’s last threat of closure in 1993, but also graciously responded to several requests for funds to purchase specific works that the Gallery’s Acquisition Committee had identified as important additions.

The many gifts in the form of donated artwork from personal collections are too numerous to mention here but are gratefully acknowledged on the exhibition label. However, some donations are especially significant for the personal stories they add to the collection, and merit special mention.

Stanley Epstein (Alumnus 1962) and his wife Paula donated several works to celebrate their son Ian and daughter-in-law Erin Awalt on their graduations from Dalhousie in 1999, 2004, and 2005. Ian had been employed as a front desk attendant at the Gallery during his time as an undergraduate student.

Of particular note is Aileen Meagher (Alumna 1933). She was a competitive runner while studying at Dal and won a bronze medal in the 4x100 metre relay at Berlin’s Olympic Games in 1936, and gold, silver, and bronze medals at the Empire Games in 1934 and 1938. She spent her career teaching at Halifax’s St. Mary’s Boys School, and was dedicated to her art practice until her death in 1987. Meagher was generous to the Gallery - and to the University: she made a donation of her own work to the Gallery during her lifetime, made provisions in her will for the Gallery to receive artworks by other artists in her collection as well as by herself, and she bequeathed her house on Seymour Street to the University.

There are many ways to mark individual and collective milestones and to support one’s alma mater. In choosing to contribute to the Gallery’s permanent collection through the donation of artworks and by providing funds for acquisitions, Dalhousie Alumni are building an inspiring legacy for Dalhousie, and a lasting resource to share with the whole community.

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Ars Longa is not a comprehensive presentation of Dalhousie Alumni contributions to the collection, but we have attempted to include contributions from all identified Alumni. If you or someone you know has made a donation to the Gallery’s permanent collection and is also an Alumna/Alumnus, please contact the Gallery so that we can update our records.

The exhibition through to Sunday 8 July.