The Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG) is a public art gallery that was founded in 1912. It is Western Canada's oldest civic gallery and the 6th largest in the country. The WAG is located in the heart of the city of Winnipeg, just two blocks from Manitoba's Provincial Legislature and roughly the same distance from the University of Winnipeg.
The WAG's permanent collection includes almost 24,000 works, with a particular emphasis on Manitoba and Canadian art. The collection ranges from 16th century Flemish tapestries to 21st century videos, and includes the world's largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art. Historical, contemporary, photographic, decorative art, and Inuit works are featured in a variety of exhibitions each year, with each of the ten gallery spaces changing approximately every three months.
Winnipeg Art Gallery is internationally respected, exhibitions having been shown in New York, Caracas, Bogotá, Barcelona, Tokyo, Thessaloniki, and Verona.
The Clara Lander Library on the gallery mezzanine supports the research needs of staff, members, art students, artists, and the public. Over 9,000 artist biography files (mainly Canadian) and more than 24,000 books are maintained in the library, as well as subscriptions to hundreds of arts journals and bulletins. The library is for on-site use only.
Tours, lectures and other adult and family programs are regularly available. Unique in the country is a dedicated Studio Building where art classes are conducted. The curriculum includes instruction by artists in almost all media, including clay, cartooning, watercolours and photography.
The gallery moved to its present location in 1971, into a building designed by architect Gustavo Da Roza. With a prominent location near the Legislative Buildings and Portage Avenue, the gallery's building has become a downtown Winnipeg landmark. Along with the galleries, the main building houses a gift shop, a restaurant, a rooftop garden, meeting and lecture rooms, and a 325-seat theatre auditorium.
Famous quotes containing the words art and/or gallery:
“The finest works of art are those in which there is the least matter. The closer expression comes to thought, the more the word clings to the idea and disappears, the more beautiful the work of art.”
—Gustave Flaubert (1821–1880)
“It doesn’t matter that your painting is small. Kopecks are also small, but when a lot are put together they make a ruble. Each painting displayed in a gallery and each good book that makes it into a library, no matter how small they may be, serves a great cause: accretion of the national wealth.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)