Visitors study the art of Alex Colville at the largest exhibition of the late Canadian painter's work ever assembled, at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto on Tuesday, August 19, 2014.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
As one of North America's largest cultural institutions, the Art Gallery of Ontario has had some extremely well-attended exhibitions over its 115-year history. The blockbuster Treasures of Tutankhamun in 1979, for instance, drew an astonishing 750,000 visitors during a two-month run, still the Toronto gallery's all-time top draw.
By contrast, exhibitions of Canadian art have not fared so well. Until, that is, the arrival last August of the Alex Colville retrospective. That showcase, which closed on Jan. 4, drew an impressive 166,406 visitors, the AGO is reporting this week. Enough, in short, to make Alex Colville, as the show was simply titled, the best-attended Canadian exhibition in the gallery's history, as well as the first Canadian show to break into the AGO's top 10 in attendance-ranking. Pre-Colville, the best-attended Canadian AGO show, with 125,000 visitors, had been the 1996 touring survey of the Group of Seven: Art for a Nation, curated by the National Gallery of Canada.
To some, the success of the Colville show, organized by the AGO in association with the NGC, might seem a slam-dunk. After all, the painter, long one of the country's most famous artists, had died, at 92, only 13 months before the exhibition's start. The AGO hadn't hosted a Colville survey since 1983. Its new survey would be exhaustive – more than 110 works – for a substantial 19-week show. (The NGC's presentation starts Apr. 24.) Moreover, by the time of Colville's death, such eerily hyper-realistic images as To Prince Edward Island, Horse and Train, Pacific and Refrigerator had become indelibly stamped on the collective consciousness of millions of Canadian art lovers.
Mount them, some likely observed, and they will come in homage and adoration.
Nothing, however, is certain in a world where attention spans are short and cultural amnesia is rampant. Yes, the AGO gussied up its exhibition with examples of what it called Colvillean "echoes" in the films of Wes Anderson and Sarah Polley, the literature of Alice Munro and Ann-Marie MacDonald, the art of the Pratts (Christopher and Mary) and Tim Hecker. But these, finally, were sideshows; Alex Colville had to stand or fall on the charms of the art itself. The anxiety here was that the Colville oeuvre, even with the exhibition's inclusion of some largely unseen canvases, might be familiar to the point of overfamiliarity. Among the evidence that this didn't occur: The catalogue, a $45 hardcover, has so far sold 12,500 copies in four print-runs, a record.
The show's curator, Andrew Hunter, said this week he'd been thinking about doing a Colville retrospective even before his arrival in spring 2013 as the AGO's curator of Canadian art and before Colville's death in July that year. Noted Hunter: "He was a unique figure because of his powerful presence in the wider culture. When he died, it was quite stunning to witness the depth of feeling in the public response to his passing." With an exhibition and catalogue already in mind, "we felt that if we could do it sooner rather than later, it would be a very valuable and poignant thing." Hunter also saw the show as an opportunity to generate new ideas and correct misconceptions about the artist. "While [Colville] had limited interest in the art world, he was absolutely not withdrawn, isolated or parochial, as he was some time considered. He was – and remains – perhaps one of the most thoughtful and deeply engaged artists I have ever encountered.
"I was very pleased and surprised," Hunter added, "to hear from so many artists [about how] the show challenged their perceptions of Colville in a positive way, and also the depth of respect artists have for him. … For a lot of people, Colville emerged as way 'cooler' than they had imagined."
AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum said he "had confidence" the exhibition would do well "because Colville's story is everybody's story. Which is: There is mystery in life. Life is born of relationships and of the place where you are from, and Colville's work captures that complex sense of place that lies deep in our psyche."
Teitelbaum disavowed the notion the Colville show was conceived as a blockbuster. "We don't use the term 'blockbuster.' … Blockbusters happen, they don't get planned," he said. "Some of the best exhibitions become blockbusters and others that may be extraordinary and have great expectations simply don't."
Teitelbaum acknowledged the AGO has fielded requests from other galleries and museums to take the show once it completes its run at the NGC. But it's not going to happen. "Many of the lenders were hesitant to let their Colvilles go for so long, which is a testament to [their] power and how cherished they are. The idea of one exhibition was a stretch, and two was even further. It would have been impossible to keep a coherent group of works together beyond that." When the NGC exhibition closes Sept. 7, "the works will be returned and we may never see as many of them come together in this extraordinary way again."
Top 10 draws at AGO
1. Treasures of Tutankhamun (1979): 750,000 visitors
2. From Cezanne to Matisse: Great French Paintings from the Barnes Foundation (1994): 597,127
3. King Tut: The Golden King and the Great Pharaohs (2009-2010): 404,487
4. Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musée National Picasso, Paris (2012): 308,776
5. Courtauld Collection at the AGO (1998): 306,000
6. Vincent van Gogh and the Birth of Cloisonnism (1981): 240,000
7. Turner, Whistler, Monet: Impressionist Visions (2004): 210,000
8. Voyage into Myth: French Painting from Gauguin to Matisse from the Hermitage Museum, Russia (2002-2003): 187,000
9. Frida & Diego: Passion, Politics and Painting (2012-2013): 186,847
10. Alex Colville (2014-2015): 166,406
Source: Art Gallery of Ontario