Agnes Etherington Art Centre


The Agnes Etherington Art Centre is a research-intensive public art museum in Kingston, Ontario, Canada located in the heart of the historic campus of Queen's University. It presents artistic traditions of the past and innovations of the present through year-round programs of exhibitions and outreach activities staged across eight galleries, the Biéler Studio, and assorted public spaces including the period rooms of the historic Etherington House.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 has its roots in the Kingston Art and Music Club, founded in 1926, and owes its existence to , a driving force behind the club. 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 , 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. As a space of display, innovation, and exchange, the Agnes is an experiential learning space for diverse disciplines at Queen's, and the public gallery for Kingston region.

Facilities

In addition to the historical Etherington House and eight galleries, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre features a studio, atrium, a publications lounge and the David McTavish Art Study Room.

Events and public programs

The Agnes offer a spectrum of events and programs throughout the year that deepen understanding of visual art of the past and the present and cultivate creative skills and exchange. Courses, workshops, drop-in studio sessions and school programs draw on exhibitions for discussion and as inspiration for hands-on activities in the André Biéler Studio. Through the fall and winter, lectures, discussions, tours, custom seminars and screenings involve the Queen's University's research and learning context, while engaging the wider public from near and far. Each summer, the gallery offers the Summer SmARTs program which is an art-intensive summer day camp for children and an art course of teens.

Collections

The Agnes Etherington Art Centre holds over 16,000 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 intimately 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 critically relevant visual art, with emphasis on the emerging generation of artists and works that reflect contemporary life and Canadian society. It is national in scope, representing vital artistic impulses, ideas and events of the current period and context, and capturing key movements through socially relevant and aesthetically provocative art. 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 and Isabel Bader. The European collection includes works by Rembrandt van Rijn, Willem Drost, Jan Lievens, Govert Flinck, Aert de Gelder, Gerbrand van den Eeckhout, Godfrey Kneller, Philip de Koninck, Ferdinand Bol, El Greco, Dosso Dossi, Michael Sweerts, Luca Giordano, Georg Pencz, Sebastien Bourdon, Peter Lely, Joseph Wright of Derby, Raphael, Parmigianino, Guido Reni, Gustav Klimt, 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, it emphasizes series that articulate the creative variety and dynamism found among objects of similar purpose.

Selected Works from the Collection

Selected publications

The Art Centre has issued many publications over the years. A selection follows:
TitleAuthor
Brendan Fernandes: Lost BodiesJan Allen, Delinda Collier, Kevin D. Dumouchelle, Amanda Gilvin, Amanda Jane Graham, Erica P. Jones, & Nat Trotman
I'm Not Myself at All: Deirdre Logue & Allyson MitchellSarah E. K. Smith & Heather Love
The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Women ArtistsAlicia Boutilier & Tobi Bruce
Bernard Clark: Tattoo PortraitsJan Allen
Vera Frenkel's String GamesJan Allen & Earl Miller
Annie Pootoogook: Kinngait CompositionsJan Allen
Lost and Found: Wright of Derby's View of GibraltarJohn Bonehill, Janet M. Brooke, Barbara Klempan, David de Witt
Don Maynard: Franken ForestJan Allen & Linda Jansma
William Brymner: Artist, Teacher, ColleagueAlicia Boutilier & Paul Maréchal
Sorting Daemons: Art, Surveillance Regimes and Social ControlJan Allen, Kirsty Robertson & Sarah E.K. Smith
Karin Davie: UnderworldsJan Allen
The Bader Collection: Dutch and Flemish PaintingsDavid de Witt
Beyond the Silhouette: Fashion and the Women of Historic KingstonM. Elaine MacKay
Etherington House: Building a LegacyPatricia Sullivan
Lyla Rye: HopscotchKenneth Hayes
Telling 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. Farr
Sarindar Dhaliwal: Record KeepingSunil Gupta, Richard Fung, Janice Cheddie et al.
Erik Edson: FableJan Allen & Catherine Osborne
Ah, Wilderness! Resort Architecture in the Thousand IslandsPierre de la Ruffinière du Prey & Dorothy Farr
Machine LifeJan Allen, Ihor Holubizky & Caroline Seck Langill
Gary Kibbins: Grammar HorsesJan Allen & Gary Kibbins
Connected: Contemporary Art in KingstonJan Allen
MuseopathyJan Allen, Jim Drobnick & Jennifer Fisher
Better Worlds: Activist and Utopian Projects by ArtistsJan Allen & Laura Marks
Who Means What: Brent Roe, Paintings 1992-2001John Armstrong
Laurel Woodcock: Take Me, I'm YoursJan Allen & Paul Kelley
Gretchen Sankey: Some of the PartsJan Allen
Jayce SalloumJim Drobnick & Jennifer Fisher
Crime and PunishmentJennifer Rudder
Flaming Creatures: New Tendencies in Canadian Video.Gary Kibbins
Tapes that Think: Video Works by Steve Reinke, Tran T. Kim-Trang, Rodney WerdenGary Kibbins
EdificeJan Allen
Germaine Koh: PersonaJan Allen
Of Mudlarkers and MeasurersS. Dhaliwal
Rise and Fall: John Dickson, Laurie Walker.Jan Allen et al.
Sophie Bellissent: In the FleshJan Allen
RX: Taking Our MedicineJan Allen & Kim Sawchuck
Pictorial Incidents The Photography of William Gordon ShieldsMichael Bell
A. A. Chesterfield Ungava Portraits 1902-04William C. James
Heritage Quilt CollectionRuth McKendry & Dorothy Farr