Controversy Over David Painting Heats Up
Marc Mayer, former director of the National Gallery of Canada (photo courtesy National Gallery of Canada)
The fate of a 1779 painting by French artist Jacques-Louis David has evolved into a controversy pitting Quebec nationalism against the federally owned National Gallery of Canada.
The National Gallery wants to buy the painting, Saint Jerome Hears the Trumpet of the Last Judgment, supposedly to keep it from leaving the country, possibly for the British Museum. Consequently, the gallery is putting up for auction its Marc Chagall canvas, The Eiffel Tower, to raise the millions of dollars necessary. Saint Jerome is owned by the parish of Notre-Dame de Québec, which wants to sell the painting to raise funds to maintain its properties.
Quebec’s Liberal government seems loath to see the painting leave the province, even to the National Gallery in Ottawa, within spitting distance of the Quebec city of Gatineau. The controversy has become a cause célèbre in Quebec and an opportunity for the provincial Liberals, who are facing an October election, to polish their nationalist credentials at a time when they are lagging in opinion polls behind their main rivals, the much more nationalist Coalition Avenir Québec.
Two Quebec institutions, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée de la civilisation in Quebec City, are interested in jointly buying the painting, but thus far lack the funds to do so.
Marie Montpetit, Quebec's Culture Minister
Quebec Culture Minister Marie Montpetit has entered the fray by announcing she is asking outside experts in art and history to determine whether the David painting should be given “heritage” status.
“If we conclude that the artwork has a national value, I will proceed with a (heritage) classification to prevent the artwork from being sold and leaving Quebec,” she told journalists Wednesday.
Montpetit’s use of the loaded word “national” means Quebec, not Canada.
Officially, the minister’s decision has not been made, but headlines in Quebec’s news outlets Wednesday could lead you to believe otherwise.
“Quebec wishes to classify St. Jerome important heritage,” trumpeted the nationalist-leaning daily newspaper, Le Devoir.
Another Montreal daily, La Presse, stated: “Quebec evokes heritage classification.”
And an online story from Radio-Canada, the CBC’s French-language network, declared: “The minister of culture wishes to keep the Saint Jerome painting in Quebec.”
Media commentary in Quebec has been critical. For instance, Le Soleil columnist Brigitte Breton writes: "The attitude and methods of the director of the National Gallery of Canada have been irritating and displeasing to many Quebeckers in recent days."
News stories have also criticized the National Gallery's director, Marc Mayer, a Franco-Ontarian, as the bad guy for pooh-poohing an invitation from the two Quebec museums to join them in jointly financing the purchase of the David painting. Mayer is cool towards shared custody of a painting.
“Old master paintings are fragile, they're old,” he told the CBC. “It’s not like a child of a divorced couple that is shuttling between two parents. It is expensive and risky to move these paintings.”
And, Mayer noted, if the gallery purchases the David, it will be a “five-minute walk” from Quebec and the most important thing is to keep it in the country.
In Quebec, the most important thing seems to be keeping the painting in the province.
The fight over the David painting is only half of the story. The other half is whether it is appropriate for the National Gallery to sell one of its two Chagall paintings.
On the left is "Memories of Childhood," 1924
oil on canvas, 29" x 34" (collection of the National Gallery of Canada, gift of an anonymous donor, 1970, accession number 16623). On the right is "The Eiffel Tower," 1929, oil on canvas, 39" x 32" (collection of the National Gallery of Canada, purchased 1956, accession number 6434).
That move has provoked strong sentiments. Several leading art and museum figures across Canada were interviewed by Galleries West. They unanimously criticized the gallery for its decision to sell the Chagall. But most requested anonymity after declaring the gallery’s move “ridiculous,” “outrageous,” or other words of disapproval.
An exception was Terry Graff, former director of both Saskatoon’s Mendel Art Gallery and Fredericton’s Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
“I think it’s a big mistake for the National Gallery to sell the Chagall,” Graff said in an interview. “I don’t think it appropriate for the National Gallery of Canada to consider the works of art in its permanent collection as liquid assets that can be converted into cash when a need suddenly arises, even if that need is to acquire another work of art.
“Such thinking runs counter to the best interests of the public and the institution’s own cultural purpose. When the Chagall painting was acquired by the National Gallery it fit its cultural purpose and collecting policy, and has, in fact, become a significant piece of Canadian heritage. The National Gallery's argument for keeping the David painting in Canada can also be applied to the Chagall.”
The Canadian Museums Association, to which the National Gallery belongs, has refused to take sides on the sale. “It’s an internal matter,” said John McAvity, the association’s executive director.
Meanwhile, Mayer has said the sale of the Chagall will go ahead, even if the gallery loses out on the David. The money would be used for other, unspecified acquisitions.
Withdrawing the Chagall from auction at Christie’s in New York could be very expensive. The auction house has pegged the Chagall’s value at $8 million to $11 million. Withdrawing a painting from sale could cost as much as 25 per cent of the high-value estimate, according to some art market officials. The David painting is expected to cost $5 million to $6 million. ■
