Andrew Gruft (courtesy Belkin Gallery)
Andrew Gruft – a former UBC architecture professor and co-owner of the NOVA art gallery in Vancouver – died Sept. 29 of complications from COVID-19, despite being doubly vaccinated.
“His intellectual passions for architecture, photography and young artists made one realize that these things are connected; they are about how we might live together and imagine a future,” said Scott Watson, former director of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery in Vancouver.
Born in Poland in 1937, Gruft and his family fled in 1939 to escape the German invasion. They travelled from country to country seeking asylum for two years, eventually ending up in South Africa. After graduating from the University of Capetown with a degree in architecture, Gruft worked in Rio de Janeiro, and then drove from Brazil to Canada.
Gruft started NOVA Gallery, with his second wife, Claudia Beck, who he met in 1970. NOVA specialized in photography and was the first gallery to exhibit Jeff Wall. It also featured work by Ian Wallace, Walker Evans and Rodney Graham. The couple ran the gallery together until 1982.
“They consistently purchased work and talked about young artists,” said Watson. “They worked as a team, so theirs is a grand love story of accomplishing something great together.”
Beck and Gruft donated their photography collection to the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2004.
Gruft is survived by Beck, his sons Mark and Michael, and their families. His obituary is here.
Donations can be made to the Andrew Gruft Fund for Photography Exhibitions at the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver.
Source: Belkin Gallery, UBC and the Vancouver Sun