Contemporary Art Collection

The Tom Thomson Art Gallery collects works of Canadian art both historical and contemporary, in any media, encompassing significant work by nationally prominent and local artists. In the spirit of Tom Thomson, the Collection aspires to make connections between historical and contemporary expression of the landscape, interpreting the intersection of culture and nature, broadly or specifically. The Collection actively documents the Gallery’s exhibitions and curatorial activity through acquisitions.  The Gallery is committed to further its holdings of contemporary Canadian art and to fostering study and research on works held in its permanent collection.

Over its 40 year history, the Gallery’s collection has expanded to encompass a broad range of contemporary art and has developed certain specialties.  In the last fifteen years, the Gallery has developed a strong collection of contemporary Canadian photography including seminal works by Ed Burtynsky, Geoffrey James, Marlene Creates, Katherine Knight, Greg Staats and others.  In 2004, a major gift of 15 paintings and 44 prints from painter John Hartman designated the Tom Thomson as an important study centre and repository for his work that depicts the Southern Georgian Bay landscape.

There are several important recent gifts to the Permanent Collection that entail fine examples of contemporary Canadian art that add greatly to the Gallery’s holdings.   In 2006 and 2007 the Gallery is processing a major donation from the Collection of Evelyn Baxter, who has a long history of association with the Tom Thomson Art Gallery.  Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Baxter was a Visual Arts Planner and Consultant and guided the national corporate art collections for Guaranty Trust and Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt.  She was also instrumental in commissioning public art works for major urban centres across Canada, including Joe Fafard’s bronze cows, a monumental installation at the Toronto Dominion Centre in Toronto, called “The Pasture.”  Since the early 1980s, Evelyn Baxter has been a strong supporter of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery.    After moving to Owen Sound in 1991, Evelyn Baxter became a member of the Gallery’s board, then Chair of the Acquisitions Committee and later Chair of the Gallery Board of Management.  She played a significant role in acquiring important works for the permanent collection, in great part due to the connections she had forged with artists, collectors and philanthropists across Canada.  Her personal collection has been offered for donation to the Tom Thomson and includes many fine works by a great cross-section of contemporary Canadian artists including Stephen Lack, Jaan Poldaas, Sorel Etrog, Harold Feist, Eugenio Tellez and others.  The gift is being processed in three lots in 2005, 2006 and 2007.  A list of the works appears elsewhere in this report.

The Gallery received an important gift of 47 prints from the estate of Anne Meredith Barry which adds to a substantial purchase of prints by the artist made in 2005, giving the Gallery a comprehensive representation the artist’s career in printmaking.