It came to the fore when the government was considering how best to use the heritage building at 100 Wellington Street in Ottawa, directly opposite the Parliament Buildings. Over many generations, from the 1880s, Library and Archives Canada had been collecting portraits to document Canada's history. By about 2000, the collection had grown large, mature and full of treasures. Over the years, many Canadians had written to newspapers and others pointing out our unsung heroes and how valuable it would be for Canada to recognize its own achievers. Recently, Canadians have shown they want to know more about their own history, their own roots. So it all came together -- the idea, the place, the rare hidden collection, the strong desire of Canadians to see the faces and hear the stories of those who have contributed to the building of Canada, and those helping to build our country today. 2) How do you choose who is going to be in the Portrait Gallery? The Portrait Gallery is not just about great Canadians, but about all Canadians. Our mandate is broad and inclusive, and recognizes that everyone has played a role in shaping our country. So the Portrait Gallery will show both great names from history and the unknown, even anonymous people whose contribution was foundational but too often unacknowledged. The selection will be based on telling Canada's stories, and on revealing the breathtaking works of art in all media which artists have created over many centuries. The selection will change often to tell many different kinds of stories and to show the vast range of unique works. Particularly fascinating, we hope, will be the new works we will commission of people living today. We welcome everyone's ideas on whom to exhibit and whose portrait to commission! 3) What's the most valuable portrait you have? So many of the portraits are unique and priceless, it's hard to
pick only one! But I do have favourites and one of them is the precious
miniature of a young woman, Mary March. Her delicate portrait was
painted in 1819 by Lady Henrietta Hamilton, wife of the Governor
of Newfoundland. Mary March has a tragic story: her Aboriginal name
was Desmasduit, and her portrait is the only one ever made from
life of a Beothuk. Captured in the month of March, which inspired
her white name, she saw her husband and child killed. She was brought
to the Governor, but before she could be returned to her tribe as
the Governor ordered, she died of tuberculosis. A few years later,
the Beothuk were extinct, decimated by conflict and disease. Yet
Desmasduit lives on in her portrait, embodying the memory and destiny
of an entire race, a fragile and priceless icon for all the history
of humanity. Lilly Koltun, PhD, Director, Portrait Gallery of Canada Our Story : VisionThe Portrait Gallery of Canada will focus on portraits of people
from all walks of life who have contributed and who continue to
contribute to the development of Canada. Our Story : History
On January 23, 2001, the federal government announced the establishment of the Portrait Gallery of Canada. As a programme of Library and Archives Canada, the Portrait Gallery has a unique mandate among federal cultural agencies to focus on men and women from all walks of life who have helped build and who continue to build Canada by acquiring and presenting Canada's rich portrait heritage. The Gallery will also exhibit works from other holdings from across Canada and participate in traveling exhibitions throughout the nation. "We will participate in the development of the Gallery by contributing
works for exhibition from our extensive portrait holdings and by
providing staff expertise and operational support," said Mr.
Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada.
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