Masterworks from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery

October 2, 2015 - February 7, 2016

Masterworks from the Beaverbrook Art Gallerywas initiated to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in 2009. Art collections tell stories that reflect the interests of the collector and his or her times. This exhibition advances a dramatic narrative in the epic tale of multi-millionaire business tycoon, pushy newspaper publisher, and great philanthropist Sir William Maxwell Aitken, also known as Lord Beaverbrook.

In 1959, Lord Beaverbrook opened the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton, New Brunswick, which introduced an exemplary collection of paintings. Amassed by Lord Beaverbrook and his entourage of curators and colleagues, this collection forms the core of what is now one of the finest and most significant collections of British art in North America. Featuring works by J.M.W. Turner and Lucian Freud, Graham Sutherland and Walter Sickert, as well as signature pieces by Thomas Gainsborough, John Constable, John Singleton Copley, Eugene Delacroix, and Joshua Reynolds, these masterworks represent the distinctive nature and quality of the Beaverbrook collection. One of the highlights of the exhibition is the monumental Salvador Dali painting, Santiago El Grande.[dali_SM-760x1024 - Salvador Dali, Santiago El Grande (1957) oil on canvas, 407.7 cm x 304.8 cm, Beaverbrook Art Gallery: Gift of the Sir James Dunn Foundation]

This exhibition also brings the fantastic opportunity to see these European masterworks alongside classic Canadian artists like Emily Carr, James Morrice, Cornelius Krieghoff, Paul Kane, Tom Thomson, and Lawren Harris to name just a few.

The Judith &Norman Alix Art Gallery is proud to be the only Ontario stop for this travelling exhibition

Image Credits: Beaverbrook - J.M.W. Turner, The Fountain of Indolence (1834) oil on canvas, 105.7 cm x 166.4 cm, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Gift of the Beaverbrook Foundation