Newly appointed chair of the National Gallery of Canada's board of trustees, Paul Genest, on May 31 at the National Gallery in Ottawa.Dave Chan /The Globe and Mail
The National Gallery of Canada has been through several years of public upheaval over its push to be more diverse and inclusive, and the appointment of a new chair of the board of trustees seems to be a gesture toward smoothing out the turmoil.
Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge announced this week that Paul Genest, senior vice-president of Power Corporation and former director of policy in the Chrétien government, would be the new board chair. Genest had been vice-chair of the museum’s fundraising foundation – he resigned when this new appointment was confirmed – and he will be seen as someone with a strong relationship with collectors and donors, many of whom had been dismayed by recent events.
Genest said in an interview that the NGC has done important and necessary work on diversity, equity, inclusion and Indigenous reconciliation, which he supports, but he believes what the gallery needs now is still waters.
“I would say, simply, the gallery team needs and deserves stability in the coming period. Calm. I’d say kindness should be an ambition and an imperative within the culture,” he said. “There’s been a lot of tumult, no question. The external criticism has been tough on everybody, whether they were tied in directly in things that were being criticized or not.”
He believes some of the objection to the museum’s new approach has been “unfair and perhaps a bit ideological in its turn.” At the same time, Genest laid out a vision for the inclusive collection and display of art at the National Gallery that is about adding rather than subtracting.
“There’s a collection here, and there’s a deep history, and the new doesn’t have to push out the old,” he said. “I think inclusion truly means broad inclusion, and if there’re pieces where other narratives have been neglected, well, give the context, give that narrative. But it doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be seen, and they’re great, great works that deserve to be made into new and refreshed shows.”
Contemplating some of his favourite pieces in the collection, he offered an audible cringe like he’d been asked to name a favourite child. Then he riffed through a long list of art he’s “deeply taken by.”
The Canadian and Indigenous gallery is his favourite by a mile, he said, and he loves Canadian Impressionism and describes himself as “a sucker” for the Group of Seven. Genest listed Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment and the retrospective of Inuit artist Nick Sikkuark’s work, entitled Humour and Horror, as other recent shows that grabbed him.
He loves Jean Paul Riopelle and had just returned from the opening of the NGC’s Riopelle exhibit at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. He was there with Jean-François Bélisle, who was named the National Gallery’s new director and CEO almost exactly a year ago. This was their sixth “road trip” together, Genest noted, and they’ve built up a solid relationship as a result of his previous role with the foundation.
“I view the National Gallery as one of our most important national institutions. I just view it as a kind of jewel,” he said. “As you can imagine, I feel honoured to be appointed. It’s a bit daunting, but I am very grateful to Minister St-Onge for trusting me.”
Ariane Joazard-Bélizaire, spokesperson for the Minister, said Genest is “someone who we believe will bring everyone along and work with everyone as the institution evolves.”
“The board of trustees needs a leader that can help provide the insight, foresight and oversight required for such a vital cultural institution,” she said in statement. “With Paul Genest now in place as chairperson, we look forward to seeing his diverse experiences in public service, business, governance of major boards, advocacy, academia and visual arts all come to bear for our beloved National Gallery of Canada.”
“We know the National Gallery of Canada is more than a collection – it’s the idea that reflecting Canada and Indigenous cultures through the arts brings us all together, from coast to coast to coast, and moves us forward,” she added.
Genest replaces outgoing board chair Françoise Lyon, who had been appointed in 2017 for a five-year term and then reappointed for an additional two years. The board of trustees helps to shape the high-level direction of the gallery, and Lyon had been a staunch and vocal ally of Angela Cassie, the interim director Belisle replaced, as well as previous director Sasha Suda, who left in 2022 to run the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Under their leadership, the NGC had embarked on an ambitious reimagining intended to cultivate more diversity in its collections, programs, audiences and staff, all while placing “Indigenous ways of knowing and being,” as stated in its strategic plan, at the centre of everything.
Management at the time framed the evolution as necessary in order to course-correct the gallery’s past and move it into the future. But critics – including current and former staff and donors – said that while the aims were laudable, the implementation left staff feeling undermined and alienated. There were also accusations of power struggles behind the scenes.
The simmering tensions burst into public view in late 2022, when four senior curators were let go in a restructuring. Staff meetings revealed deep tension and instability at the time, and the substantial sums the gallery was spending on consultants raised questions about chains of command and how much sway outsiders on contract had over Canada’s premier visual arts institution.