Art Gallery of Alberta Celebrates 100 Years

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The new Art Gallery of Alberta, 2010, at its grand opening. More than 10,000 people attended the grand opening (photo courtesy of the AGA)

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In 1924, the Edmonton Museum of Arts was located in the Edmonton Public Library's first location at 100th Avenue and 100th Street (photo courtesy of the Art Gallery of Alberta)

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The Art Gallery of Alberta celebrates its 100th anniversary this month with a free community party at Edmonton's Sir Winston Churchill Square on Sunday, Aug. 18 from 11 am to 5 pm.

AGA Board chair Leon Zupan will speak at the event, and there will be a blessing from Elder Jo-Ann Saddleback from Saddle Lake Cree First Nation. AGA Executive Director and Chief Curator Catherine Crowston will also speak at the event. 

The gallery will offer free admission all day to mark the anniversary, and Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi will lead a cake-cutting ceremony at 11:30 am.

The Art Gallery of Alberta started in 1924 as the Edmonton Museum of Art “as a vehicle to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of, and cultivation of the fine arts and to preserve historical relics,” according to the Art Gallery of Alberta.

It was renamed the Edmonton Art Gallery in 1956, and 13 years later, in 1969, it moved to its current location in the Arthur Blow Condell Memorial building, after a $600,000 donation from Dr. William Newton and Abigail Edith Condell in honour of their son, who died when he was five years old.

Throughout its history, the gallery has acquired many works by major North American artists including A.Y. Jackson, Walter J. Phillips, Franklin Carmichael and George Reid.

“During the 1970s and 80s, the Gallery’s permanent collection grew substantially, as it acquired historical art works by Maxwell Bates, Emily Carr, H.G. Glyde, Lawren Harris, Cornelius Kreighoff, David Milne, Marion Nicoll, Tom Thompson and Frederick Verner, and modernist works by Jack Bush, Anthony Caro, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski and Larry Poons,” according to the gallery.

It also amassed an impressive photography collection around that time, one that includes works by Hubert Hohn, Douglas Clarke, Ansel Adams, E.J. Bellocq, Edward Curtis, Walker Evans and Ben Shahn.

In 2005, it was renamed the Art Gallery of Alberta. It underwent an $88 million redevelopment between 2007 and 2010, led by Los Angeles architect Randall Stout.

Source: Art Gallery of Alberta, Wikipedia, Skyrise Edmonton

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