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In the spring of 1962, a Montreal business person, Samuel Schecter, approached the Sir George Williams University Fine Arts Department with an idea: to institute a permanent collection of art for the University. With a gallery space already in the plans for  the soon-to-be-built Henry F. Hall Building, the administration endorsed the proposal and a fund was set up for the purchase of art. 

Since that time Sir George — and since 1974, Concordia — has been  assembling an impressive permanent collection of Canadian art, representing varying periods and types of media. The collection boasts artwork by such important Canadian figures as Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, Jean-Paul Riopelle and Paul-Émile Borduas, but it also looks to acquire art by contemporary artists whose works address current aesthetic and theoretical issues. The gallery has been able to obtain this art primarily through donations as well as through monies provided by two special funds, the Ellen Endowment Fund and the Max and Iris Stern Art Acquisition Fund. It also benefits from a matching fund program of the Canada Council  of the Arts. All acquisitions are selected by gallery director and curator Karen Antaki and a review committee, with emphasis not only on intrinsic quality but on historical relevance within the context of the permanent collection  and the development of Canadian art.

The Concordia Art Gallery became the Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery upon moving to its new premises in the McConnell Building in 1992. While Antaki acknowledges the significant advantages of improved space and the resources provided by the University, she admits, “We still do dream about expansion.” Despite its name, Antaki explains, “as a collecting institution, the Gallery is fundamentally an on-campus museum”: its exhibits are intended for both the Concordia and local community, and it is part of the national museological network, lending its artwork and undertaking collaborative projects with other institutions. The Gallery fulfills its educational mandate not only through its programming and publications but also by offering “hands-on” experience to art education and art history students who are hired as docent staff (guides) to, in Antaki’s words, “enrich the viewer’s gallery  experience and advance knowledge about Canadian art.”

Concordia Collects: Selected Art  Acquisitions, 1974-2000, was an exhibition which ran at the Ellen Art Gallery from August 23 to September 23, part  of Concordia’s 25th anniversary celebrations. The exhibit celebrated the eclectic nature of the permanent collection, from the well known to the obscure, from the figurative to the abstract, from the traditional to the modern. While the show mainly displayed paintings, there were also sketches, photography, sculpture and mixed media works, reflecting the composition of the 3,000 pieces of art in the Gallery’s permanent collection. The following pages include a  sampling of the show and the collection. 

Reclining Nude

STANLEY MOREL COSGROVE

Nickel Tailings $31, Sudbury, Ont., 1996

 EDWARD BURTYNSKY

Ici. la bas, 1957

JEAN-PAUL RIOPELLE

Lake North of Lake Superior, N.D.

LAWREN STEWARD HARRIS

Rembrandt in New Y, 1999

JOANNE TOD

Le soleil dans capricorne, 1965

JEAN PAUL LEMIEUX

Nature morte au poisson rouge, c. 1950

AGNES LEFORT

Veillee chez Etoi et Louisa Tremblay, Charlevoix, 1933-34,   JORI SMITH

Spring Time, 1938-39

EMILY CARR

Arlequin, 1942

PAUL-EMILE BORDUAS

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