Portrait Gallery of Canada
Encyclopedia
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
art collection specialising in portraiture
Portrait painting
Portrait painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to depict the visual appearance of the subject. Beside human beings, animals, pets and even inanimate objects can be chosen as the subject for a portrait...
. It was established on 23 January 2001 by the Government of Canada
Government of Canada
The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...
as a program of Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada
Library and Archives Canada is a national memory institution dedicated to providing the best possible account of Canadian life through acquiring, preserving and making Canada's documentary heritage accessible for use in the 21st century and beyond...
.
Since the nineteenth century the Library has gathered an extensive collection of paintings and portraits, almost all of which are in storage in its archives in Gatineau
Gatineau
Gatineau is a city in western Quebec, Canada. It is the fourth largest city in the province. It is located on the northern banks of the Ottawa River, immediately across from Ottawa, Ontario, and together they form Canada's National Capital Region. Ottawa and Gatineau comprise a single Census...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
.
A plan to permanently house the collection in gallery in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, across the street from the Parliament Buildings
Parliament Hill
Parliament Hill , colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern banks of the Ottawa River in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. Its Gothic revival suite of buildingsthe parliament buildings serves as the home of the Parliament of Canada and contains a number of architectural...
, was announced in 2001, and initial plans called for its opening in 2004/2005, but this plan is now defunct. Library and Archives Canada is instead partnering with museums, galleries and other institutions across the country to showcase the collection.
The new gallery in Ottawa would have created a public location to display this collection. In the meantime, the Portrait Gallery of Canada is displaying its collection to the public in travelling exhibitions. Its "Portraits in the Streets" series brings portrait reproductions to urban areas of Canadian cities, including Ottawa, Quebec City, and, in 2010, Vancouver.
Renovations and additions were underway until 2006 at the former location of the American Embassy
Embassy of the United States in Ottawa
The United States Embassy in Ottawa is a building located in Ottawa which opened in 1999.-Original mission:Before this date the mission occupied a 1930s era building directly across from Parliament Hill at 100 Wellington Street...
, at 100 Wellington Street. It was intended that this building would house the gallery's collection upon its completion, projected for 2007, however in 2006, the project was put on hold by the Conservative government, who considered locating the museum in Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
and for it to be partially funded by the energy company EnCana.
In particular, there were discussions with EnCana about including the museum in the company's office tower
The Bow (skyscraper)
The Bow is a 158,000-square-metre office building currently under construction for the headquarters of EnCana Corporation. It will also be occupied by Cenovus, which was spun off of Encana in late 2009. The skyscraper is being built in downtown Calgary, Alberta...
currently under construction in Calgary. As of June 2007, construction of additional gallery space had not started, and two weeks later, EnCana announced that the gallery wouldn't be moving into their new office tower in Calgary.
A competition for private sector corporations to house the collection attracted bids from Edmonton, Calgary, and Ottawa, but that competition was cancelled in November 2008. The idea of locating a gallery outside of Ottawa resulted in a motion before the Senate that would have made it illegal to move the gallery outside of Ottawa.