The Making of a Museum
2nd Edition
Published on 13. October 2021
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-0-2280-0620-6 (ISBN)
Description
Judith Nasby, founding director and curator of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre, animates the story of the gallery from its humble beginnings in the hallways of a university campus in 1916 to its latest incarnation as the internationally recognized Art Gallery of Guelph.
The book is beautifully illustrated with eighty images of artworks in the permanent collection, beginning with the gallery's first acquisition, Tom Thomson's 1917 masterpiece The Drive, the last large canvas he painted before his tragic death. As curator, Nasby oversaw the creation of one of the most comprehensive sculpture parks in Canada and the amassing of a permanent collection of some nine thousand artworks. In The Making of a Museum Nasby reveals how the museum developed its internationally recognized collection of contemporary Inuit drawings and wall hangings that toured four continents. She discusses the development of the collection's specializations in contemporary works by Canadian silversmiths; historical European etchings; Woodland and Northeastern Indigenous beadwork; and others that arose from curatorial collaborations, such as molas by Kuna women artists from Panama and contemporary paintings and indigenous woodcuts from Chongqing, China.
Nasby recounts her long career as founding director and curator, peppering the hundred-year history of cultural development on the University of Guelph campus and in the city with humorous anecdotes and personal insights to reveal how arts institutions can be created through dedication, serendipity, and perseverance.
The book is beautifully illustrated with eighty images of artworks in the permanent collection, beginning with the gallery's first acquisition, Tom Thomson's 1917 masterpiece The Drive, the last large canvas he painted before his tragic death. As curator, Nasby oversaw the creation of one of the most comprehensive sculpture parks in Canada and the amassing of a permanent collection of some nine thousand artworks. In The Making of a Museum Nasby reveals how the museum developed its internationally recognized collection of contemporary Inuit drawings and wall hangings that toured four continents. She discusses the development of the collection's specializations in contemporary works by Canadian silversmiths; historical European etchings; Woodland and Northeastern Indigenous beadwork; and others that arose from curatorial collaborations, such as molas by Kuna women artists from Panama and contemporary paintings and indigenous woodcuts from Chongqing, China.
Nasby recounts her long career as founding director and curator, peppering the hundred-year history of cultural development on the University of Guelph campus and in the city with humorous anecdotes and personal insights to reveal how arts institutions can be created through dedication, serendipity, and perseverance.
Reviews / Votes
"Chronicling a century of cultural engagement with a focus on Guelph's growing artistic community, Judith Nasby weaves personal recollections with reflections on her journey: building a collection, creating an exhibition, publication, and education program, and profiling Indigenous and Canadian art. The Making of a Museum is as much a portrait of Guelph's art centre as it is the story of the development of generations of contemporary artists in Canada. With this book, Nasby focuses attention and research on Guelph's active and engaged artistic communities." Georgiana Uhlyarik, curator of Canadian art"The Making of a Museum is a timely account of the creation and growth of a mid-sized Canadian university art museum. The themes are broadly conceived around cultures of display, yet this is not a study of abstract museology. Judith Nasby interweaves her story with personal anecdotes that tell the tale of the art institution, while revealing the passion and behind-the-scenes manoeuvres that have sustained it. The end result is something quite rare and unexpected - the story of a university art gallery brought to life by a narrator who has dedicated her career to the art museum." Carmen Robertson, Carleton University
"Judith Nasby draws on her forty-five-year experience as curator and director of the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre (now the Art Gallery of Guelph) to tell the story of the museum's evolution, which drew initially from the art collections of regional educational institutions that introduced fine arts to rural Ontario in the early 1900s. Lively vignettes illustrate Nasby's interactions with artists, donors, gallerists, tobacco magnates, and civic leaders to present a fascinating 'who's who' of individuals and events that shaped today's museum, making this book a fascinating read as well as an insightful narrative documenting how the Art Gallery of Guelph achieved its distinctive character and national stature." Marion E. Jackson, Wayne State University
More details
Series
Edition
2nd edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Montreal
Canada
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
95 photos, colour throughout
Dimensions
Height: 241 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
794 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-2280-0620-6 (9780228006206)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Judith Nasby
The Making of a Museum
E-Book
10/2021
1st Edition
McGill-Queen's University Press
€46.99
Available for download
Person
Judith Nasby is curator emerita of the Art Gallery of Guelph, adjunct professor of fine art at the University of Guelph, and author of Irene Avaalaaqiaq: Myth and Reality and Rolph Scarlett: Painter, Designer, and Jeweller.