80 Years Later: How the AGGV Began – Part 2

After the Little Centre’s boot from the Yates Street showroom in Spring 1947 as the Centre’s volunteers and administrators sought a new location and, in the meantime, held exhibitions and lectures wherever would accommodate. In early 1949 the Centre secured a narrow space at 823 Broughton street in the Mellow building, steps away from the Royal Theatre. Rent was $75 a month and the site was given an interior refresh by renowned Victoria architect John Wade, celebrated for his modern design style – ideal for an organization looking solely into the future. That year the Little Centre changed its name to the Arts Centre of Greater Victoria. The new name had an objective, which was to signal that the society intended to serve the surrounding municipalities, and therefore hoped for civic support to do so. Comfortable and energetic as they were in this new space it was still not a permanent home nor a proper art museum.

At the February opening in the new location Mayor Percy George remarked, “it is too bad that in the capital city of Canada’s most progressive province, with the culture to appreciate and the means to achieve such a gallery, it has been lacking.” The society had begun to grow a permanent collection, including works by 19th Century French painters and 18th Century Japanese master artists, and required expanded premises for the display and storage of art works along with the array of concerts, lectures, and film screenings it was holding for an increasingly arts engaged public. Exhibitions featured local artists such as Ina D.D. Uhthoff, Sophie Pemberton, and Jack Shadbolt, as well as Old Masters, British drawings, antique maps, Asian art, children’s art, and the Group of Seven. Travelling exhibitions were brought in, however the space was limited with respect to the variety of works that could be suitably displayed (only about 50 works at a time), and security and insurance considerations were an added obstacle to mounting grander exhibitions.

A sense of a mandate and mission for the Centre to serve a variety of communities – not just those with an existing appreciation of fine arts – was developing at this time and that required a venue to be utilized for the long term. An October 1948 article in the Victoria Daily Times headlined, “Do You Want An Art Gallery?” began, “in the past there have been many appeals and campaigns for an art gallery in Victoria. But for one reason or another all attempts to establish an art centre in the capital city have failed.”  A proposal to construct a gallery space on the expanded Blanshard street library was denied by the Library Board, as was an ask to attach the gallery to the Provincial Museum, along with an earlier offer by the artist Josephine Crease to donate her house on Pentrelew (later demolished). Hope came in early 1951 when patron of the arts Miss Sara Spencer, who had already served on the Centre’s Board, offered her stately 1889 family mansion at 1040 Moss Street as a home for the Art Centre (after the City of Victoria had approved then promptly retracted an initial proposal for it to be used as a seniors rooming house).

Dr. Harry Hickman, President of the Arts Centre in 1949 and 1950, observed to the Times, “the proposed new gallery will give us a chance to move around, to give classes and stimulate real activity in the arts. The Massey Commission report revealed an awakening Canadian Culture. This splendid gesture indicates that Victorians are ready to take their places with other leading cultural centres in development of the arts.” While the Board echoed this enthusiasm, there were reservations by some Directors about the residential location far from downtown, and once again the lack of a purpose-built space. Board member Major Cuthbert Holmes cautioned, “it would be well to limit the time in which the building is to be used an art gallery for a definite number of years – perhaps twenty.”  There was considerable concern that the mansion was not fireproof, which was the reason the site was rejected for housing seniors. What expectation could there be that the top museums of North America would lend original art to exhibit in a wooden building? Yet the particulars around why the offer was not ideal were outweighed by the benefits it would contribute to the cultural life of Victoria. A concrete gallery space could (and would) be added when the funds allowed it, that alone was not an insurmountable reason to stall on the opportunity. Victoria had learned its lesson from giving no traction to the Maltwood Family donation offer in the 1930s nor Emily Carr’s request to establish a civic People’s Gallery at her Simcoe Street home. Upon her death in 1945 Carr’s best works were entrusted to the Vancouver Art Gallery, something which inarguably would not have happened had the city fathers hada a more forward-thinking vision.

That Fall, after much back and forth about who would pay the operational and maintenance costs and taxes, and before Miss. Spencer could withdraw the offer, city council approved the Spencer family gift. The Centre’s president, A.S. Wyllie, had already assured the public that a new Director/Curator had been courted, “his appointment as curator would place us in a very strong position as far as our status is concerned, and we would rank as a professional gallery on an equal basis with others across Canada.” This person would be tasked with establishing a modern art gallery in a Victorian home and fortunately for the city, Miss. Wyllie chose the perfect candidate.