ABSTRACT
The Chronicles of the National Gallery of Canada
at the Venice Biennale
Carol Harrison Reesor
1995
This thesis presents a chronological examination of the
presence of the National Gallery of Canada at the Venice Biennale. The period of time
begins with 1952 and Canada's first official entry as a participating nation in this
prestigious exhibition. Nineteen eighty-six marked the last Biennale at which the National
Gallery would act as the arbiter of Canadian art in Venice. The focus of this work is the
process for selecting the art presented at the Venice Biennale, by the various
Commissioners. The writers of the texts for the Biennale di Venezia Catalogo in its
various incarnations, and of the subsequent National Gallery publications, are
acknowledged and their writings analyzed for insight into the decisions taken. The first
chapter, The Foundation: 1952, 1954, 1956, introduces the initial steps taken by the small
group of Canadian bureaucrats to present their selections of Canadian art in a global
context. Presenting in the Pavilion: 1958--1966, the second chapter, introduces the new
Canadian pavilion. Subsequent response to this controversial building and the impact its
structure had in determining the actual selection of art is treated throughout the rest of
the thesis. The Boggs Era examines the years from 1968 to 1976, when Dr. Jean Sutherland
Boggs was Director of the National Gallery. Implementations of a more professional style
marked these middle years of exhibiting Canadian art at the Biennale. The Devolution looks
at the period from 1978 until 1986 and the final exhibition under the supervision of the
Gallery's Diana Nemiroff.
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