All for Art! Our Great Private Collectors Share Their Works

December 6, 2007 to March 2, 2008

Visitors to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts are invited to discover works belonging to private collectors who live in Montreal or who have a connection to the city. All for Art! Our Great Private Collectors Share Their Works brings together more than 250 works for an exceptional exhibition. These works are on loan from about seventy collectors from many backgrounds (some of whom have chosen to remain anonymous) who have agreed to part with their works for the duration of the exhibition to make them available to the general public. “I don’t think art is yours to keep, it is loaned to you. We are only the keepers or guardians,” said one of the exhibition’s lenders. This unique event is above all an expression of the passion for art, of the close personal ties between a work of art and the person who acquires it. As the Museum’s Director Nathalie Bondil explains, “Collecting art on our own is something we can all do. Everyone can build their imaginary museum – whatever their area of interest, from Old Masters to contemporary photographs.” Admission to the exhibition is free.

“Art is a wonderful way to enrich your life. If art accompanies you throughout your life, your odyssey can be significantly enhanced.” (anonymous lender)

These collections are the result of efforts by individuals and couples, whatever their motivation or their means, or else they are family traditions. They serve as an eloquent testimony to the collectors’ cosmopolitan origins, evolving tastes and the development of Montreal’s history and culture, as seen in the advancement of Canadian and Quebec art. The exhibition reveals these enlightened amateurs’ highly varied interests, which range from ancient cultures to the present day, a diversity that also reflects the encyclopedic nature of the Museum’s collection. Alongside European grand masters such as Rembrandt, Boucher, Tiepolo, Renoir, Van Gogh, Rodin, Matisse, Picasso, Léger and Giacometti are Americans such as Dine, Rothko and Warhol, to name but a few, as well as Canadian artists Légaré, Hébert, Kane, Cullen, Suzor-Coté, Savage, Borduas, Riopelle, McEwen, Lemieux, Pellan and many others, including contemporary European artists (Serrano, Belin) and Canadians (Goodwin, Snow, Baier, Séguin, Lacasse). Also featured in the exhibition will be Inuit art, Judaic objects, decorative arts, design, old and modern photographs, pre-Columbian objects, Chinese porcelain, superb prints and drawings, silver, jewellery and historic Napoleonic souvenirs.

The works in the exhibition are arranged in an unusual presentation that simulates a visit to a dream apartment that is home to all the collections, in an atmosphere that encourages contemplation and creates a sense of intimacy. The placement of the works has more to do with aesthetics and feelings than art history, to give the impression of a private visit to a collector’s home rather than a conventional museum. The Museum worked with the architectural firm Architem to design this exhibition layout.

Nathalie Bondil, director of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, is the general curator of the exhibition All for Art! Our Great Private Collectors Share Their Works, in collaboration with the Museum's curators.

A 256-page catalogue, All for Art! In Conversation with Collectors, published in French and English by the Museum’s Publishing Department, accompanies the exhibition. For the first time, some seventy collectors agreed to give lengthy interviews* to talk about their commitment to art, reveal the time and financial effort they devote to their passion, and explain how it has transformed and enriched their lives. This lavishly illustrated work provides a comprehensive overview of the state of private collections today. The catalogue was published with assistance from Transcontinental.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts thanks its media partners, La Presse and The Gazette, for their support.

 

* Among the collectors who gave interviews are: Carol and David Appel, David J. Azrieli, c.m., c.q., Bruce Bailey, Élaine Bédard and Alexandre de Bothury Báthory, Gerald Benjamin, Jean-Claude Bertounesque, F. Ann Birks, Herbert Black, Pierre Bourgie, Michel Brossard, Irwin Browns, Robert Côté, Mitzi Dobrin, Ursula and Seymour Finkelstein, Franceline Fortin and Maurice Jodoin, Arlene Goldman, Nathalie Goyette and Philippe Lamarre, Phoebe Greenberg, Roy L. Heenan, Michal Hornstein, Mrs. Neil Ivory, the Honourable Serge Joyal, p.c., o.c., Guy Joussemet, Seth Kursman, Guy Laliberté, Phyllis Lambert, Robert Landau, Jack Lazare, Irving Ludmer, Lillian and William Mauer, Dr. Jonathan Meakins, Anna and Joel Mendel, Lois Miller, Dr. Sean B. Murphy, François Odermatt, Guy Plamondon, Luc Plamondon, Carolyn and Richard Renaud, François Rochon, Léo Rosshandler, François R. Roy, Liliane M. Stewart, Alexandre Taillefer, Martha Tapiero-Lawee, Dr. Yvon M. Tardif, Juliet Wait, and Ben Weider.