Subfonds - Curatorial Department

Title and statement of responsibility area

Title proper

Curatorial Department

General material designation

    Parallel title

    Other title information

    Title statements of responsibility

    Title notes

    • Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the subfonds.

    Level of description

    Subfonds

    Reference code

    Edition area

    Edition statement

    Edition statement of responsibility

    Class of material specific details area

    Statement of scale (cartographic)

    Statement of projection (cartographic)

    Statement of coordinates (cartographic)

    Statement of scale (architectural)

    Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)

    Dates of creation area

    Date(s)

    • 1931 - (Creation)
      Creator
      Vancouver Art Gallery Association - Curatorial Department

    Physical description area

    Physical description

    45m of textual material

    Publisher's series area

    Title proper of publisher's series

    Parallel titles of publisher's series

    Other title information of publisher's series

    Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series

    Numbering within publisher's series

    Note on publisher's series

    Archival description area

    Name of creator

    (1931 –)

    Administrative history

    The Curatorial Department of the Vancouver Art Gallery Association was established in 1970. Its main functions are to present innovative historical and contemporary exhibitions, manage the process of exhibition development, pursue original research, manage interpretation and publications, and to strategically enhance the Gallery’s collection.

    The Curatorial Department and its functions as they exist today were administered by the Vancouver Art Gallery Association Exhibition Committee during 1931–1970. The Exhibition Committee, comprised of Association members and headed by a chairman, reported to the Council (now the Board of Trustees) on matters relating to the planning and administration of exhibitions. In 1943, A.S. Grigsby was granted the title of “Curator,” and was considered the first member of the Gallery’s professional staff. This marked the beginning of a professionalization of the Gallery, to keep in line with precedents set by art galleries in Canada and the United States at the time. Ostensibly, Grigsby was the first Curator of the Gallery in name, but had acted in the capacity of Gallery Director since 1931. The Curator worked alongside the Exhibition Committee and later, the Director, in the 1940s through to the 1960s.

    In 1962, after a few years of inconsistent Chairmanship, a Temporary Policy Committee was convened in order to clarify the duties and responsibilities of all the committees appointed by the Council. It was decided in a new policy in 1962, that the Director would have more control over exhibition programming with less input from the Committee. For the next two years the Exhibition Committee did not function in the same official capacity as it had in previous years, and during 1964–1966 it was disbanded. In 1965, the inactive Exhibition Committee came under review by Curator Doris Shadbolt, and during the period of 1965–1966, she aided the Director in exhibition programming. In 1966, Director Richard B. Simmins expressed the opinion that the Exhibition Committee should be reactivated. By the next Executive Committee meeting, the Exhibition Committee was reinstated with James Macaulay appointed as Chairman. Notably, the Gallery professional staff, a growing number of assistant curators and curators, was deemed, “ex officio members of this committee.” The professional staff worked alongside the Exhibition Committee throughout the rest of the 1960s.

    But it would not last long. At the Executive Committee Meeting held on April 9, 1970, Director Tony Emery, “told the Executive that the functions of the exhibition committee… [has] in fact been taken over by the professional staff and suggested that [they] dispense with these committees in the future.” Therefore, the curatorial staff gained control over the planning and mounting of exhibitions as a full-fledged Curatorial Department.

    After Doris Shadbolt’s promotion to Assistant Director in the mid-1970s, the curatorial team found new leadership in Chief Curator, Alvin Balkind. By this time, the Curatorial Department had several trained curators who worked under his leadership. After the departure of Balkind in 1978, the Department functioned without a formal Chief Curator until the brief appointment of Willard Holmes in the mid-1980s.

    In 1987, the Gallery began a “thorough review and reorganization of its programmes, policies and organizational structure.” Thus, the Curatorial Department became decentralized into two new agencies: the Exhibitions Division, headed by Nancy Kirkpatrick; and the Curatorial Division, headed by Senior Curators, Ian Thom and Gary Dufour. The divisions worked closely together for several years in the early 1990s. In 1995, the Curatorial Division, the Exhibitions Division (now Museum Services), and Public Programs Division were grouped together administratively and managed by the Chief Curator, Daina Augaitis (active from 1995–2017).

    Custodial history

    Scope and content

    The Curatorial Department sous-fonds consists of records created by curators, assistant curators, curatorial assistants and administrative support staff, all of whom are involved in the planning of exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The sous-fonds is divided into two series: the Exhibition series, and the Administrative records series.

    Notes area

    Physical condition

    Immediate source of acquisition

    Arrangement

    Some exhibition files were originally housed in the corresponding director's sous-fonds as an official curatorial department was not established until approximately 1960. As the files document curatorial activity, they were moved to the Curatorial Department sous-fonds at some point after 1998.

    Language of material

      Script of material

        Language and script note

        The majority of the material is in English. Some correspondence is in French, German, and Italian.

        Location of originals

        Availability of other formats

        Restrictions on access

        Access to the Curatorial Department sous-fonds is at the discretion of the Librarian/Archivist, in accordance with the British Columbia Personal Information Protection Act and the Societies Act.

        Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication

        Finding aids

        Complete finding aid can be accessed in person, under the discretion of the Librarian/Archivist.

        Associated materials

        Related materials

        Accruals

        Alternative identifier(s)

        Standard number

        Standard number

        Access points

        Subject access points

        Place access points

        Name access points

        Genre access points

        Control area

        Description record identifier

        Institution identifier

        Rules or conventions

        Status

        Level of detail

        Dates of creation, revision and deletion

        Language of description

          Script of description

            Sources

            Accession area