Jean-François Bélisle to Head National Gallery of Canada
Jean-François Bélisle (courtesy LinkedIn)
Current and former senior staff are enthusiastically welcoming Jean-François Bélisle as the new director of the troubled National Gallery of Canada.
“I am thrilled to welcome Jean-François Bélisle as the new director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada,” Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez announced Wednesday.
“In this role, he brings not only a wealth of experience in curating and directing art institutions both in Canada and abroad, but also a proven record of leading in an inclusive and positive way. I am pleased we are able to bring his talent to this important national institution.”
Bélisle, currently executive director of Quebec’s Musée d’art de Joliette, said he was looking forward to collaborating with the gallery’s staff, and artists across the country, to ensure the gallery “continues to be a fantastic force for good.”
He pledged to engage with donors and undertake consultations with the gallery’s partners and other important stakeholders, including various national arts institutions and associations.
“I firmly believe that by working as one with museums, galleries and art collectives across the country, together we can make a difference. At the same time, we will continue to pursue international projects to increase the presence of Canadian artists on the international art scene.”
Françoise Lyon, chair of the gallery’s board of trustees, said she is thrilled to welcome the new director.
“He is a proven leader with an ability to advance the National Gallery of Canada’s five-year roadmap, Transform Together,” she said. “Jean-François’ art-focused tenure will continue the transformation of the gallery into a national museum that is open to all Canadians, regardless of their political, religious or cultural identities.”
The appointment was also praised by former gallery director Marc Mayer and Diana Nemiroff, a former curator of contemporary art, as well as current staff members.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” said one current curator, who asked to remain anonymous. “I can go to work with a smile now.”
Rumours of Bélisle’s five-year appointment had circulated for weeks in Ottawa. He replaces Angela Cassie, who leaves June 9 after serving almost a year as interim director following the departure of Sasha Suda last summer to head the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Bélisle comes to Ottawa at a crucial time in the life of the National Gallery. Suda, and then Cassie, implemented controversial policies of decolonization and Indigenization over the last few years that resulted in considerable confusion and turmoil, as well as the forced departure of key staff, including deputy director Kitty Scott and Indigenous curator Greg Hill.
Bélisle will have to fill several key posts including chief curator, as well as curators of contemporary art, European art and Indigenous art, and will need to enliven the gallery’s exhibition program.
The Joliette art gallery is located in a small city of about 21,000 people northeast of Montreal. The institution itself is far larger than what is usually found in a community that size and has long punched above its weight, organizing important exhibitions that travel the country and playing host to travelling exhibitions from larger galleries.
The Joliette gallery recently organized a retrospective of Vancouver artist Jin-me Yoon that travelled the country. Its exhibition program is far more national in scope than most mid-sized Quebec galleries.
Previous National Gallery directors have tended to come from much larger institutions. Suda was from the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and her three predecessors, Marc Mayer, Pierre Théberge and Shirley Thomson, all came from large Montreal institutions.
Bélisle has headed the Joliette museum since 2016. Previously he had managerial positions with the contemporary art foundation Arsenal in Montreal and Toronto, Sotheby’s auction house in Geneva, UNESCO in Paris, the Prince of Asturias Foundation in Oviedo, Spain, and the McCord Stewart Museum in Montreal.
Bélisle holds a BA and an MA in art history from Concordia University in Montreal. His master’s thesis focused on the international reception of exhibitions shown in the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale between 1986 and 2005.
Bélisle is well-known throughout Canada’s art community, and his personal social media posts include glad-handing photos at museums across the country. He was recently named the president of the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization, a forum for directors of public institutions to discuss the issues and challenges they face.
News of Bélisle’s appointment was greeted enthusiastically by Mayer.
“I think it’s great news,” Mayer said in an email. “He is experienced in museum management, as well as in other art world positions, which will be helpful in understanding the museum’s unique role.”
Cassie, the departing interim director, was criticized by many in the art world for having no experience as a curator or as the director of a major institution before filling the top post.
“Jean-François is well-liked by his peers, myself included,” added Mayer. “He is intelligent and, importantly, Canadian. Canada is such a complicated country.
“More than in other museum jobs in Canada, the learning curve would be steep at the NGC for a non-Canadian because it serves the whole challenging country. Being bilingual is also crucial for the simple reason that half of what goes on in the building goes on in French. A unilingual director is a management liability there.
“And he is a good listener, just what the place needs so badly right now. He’ll have his hands full given the state of the place, so I wish him plenty of good luck.”
Nemiroff and six other prominent retirees from the gallery sent a letter last November to Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez expressing dismay at what was happening at the gallery.
Nemiroff and her six colleagues subsequently drew up a list of tasks they felt would be important for a new gallery director.
They include:
-- Return art, scholarship and excellence to their central position in the institutional values.
-- Make getting back to business the first concern. Hiring diverse, smart curators will make for strong and diverse acquisitions and a solid and exciting exhibition program.
-- Start an in-depth reconsideration of recent restructuring by returning Indigenous art to the curatorial department.
-- Get rid of senior staff who are unqualified and tangential to the core mission.
-- Review relations with the gallery’s foundation and work to bring back key donors and patrons into the fold.
-- In the annual review of the corporate plan, ensure that art is at the core of all activities, with social and educational strategies developed around that core – no platitudes.
Updated June 7, 2023, 2:41 p.m. This article has been updated to include comments from Jean-François Bélisle and Françoise Lyon, chair of the gallery’s board of trustees.
