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The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec ( en, National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an
art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own Collection (artwork), collection. It might be in public or private ownership and may be accessible to all or have restrictions in place. A ...
in
Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the Communauté métrop ...
, Quebec, Canada. The museum is situated in Battlefield Park and is a complex consisting of four buildings. Three of the buildings were purpose-built for the museum. One building was initially built as a provincial prison before being repurposed for museum use. The institution was opened as the Musée de la province de Québec in 1933. The museum was a provincial archives, arts, and natural science museum until 1962, when the natural science collection was removed. In the following year, the museum was renamed the Musée du Quebec. The provincial archives were relocated from the museum in 1979, leaving the institution with only an arts collection. In 2002, the museum was renamed the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. The collection includes over 40,000 works from the 16th century to the present day. The collection primarily includes works that were produced in Quebec, or by a Quebec artist, although it also includes works from other parts of Canada, and the rest of the world. The museum is affiliated with the
Canadian Museums Association The Canadian Museums Association (CMA; french: Association des musées canadiens, ''ACM''), is a national non-profit organization for the promotion of museums in Canada. It represents Canadian museum professionals both within Canada and internat ...
, the
Canadian Heritage Information Network , nativename_a = , nativename_r = , logo = Logo of Canadian Heritage Information Network.png , logo_caption = , seal = , seal_width = , seal_caption = , picture = , picture_width = , picture_caption = , formed = , preceding1 = ...
, and the
Virtual Museum of Canada The Digital Museums Canada (DMC; , ''MNC'') is a funding program in Canada "dedicated to online projects by the museum and heritage community," helping organizations to build digital capacity. Administered by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH) ...
.


History

Prior to the establishment of the museum, the province acquired several items and works in order to establish a provincial collection of art and natural history. The
premier of Quebec The premier of Quebec ( French: ''premier ministre du Québec'' (masculine) or ''première ministre du Québec'' (feminine)) is the head of government of the Canadian province of Quebec. The current premier of Quebec is François Legault of the ...
,
Lomer Gouin Sir Jean Lomer Gouin, (March 19, 1861 – March 28, 1929) was a Canadian politician. He served as 13th premier of Quebec, as a Cabinet minister in the federal government of Canada, and as the 15th lieutenant governor of Quebec. Biography ...
, first proposed the idea of establishing a provincial collection of art as a part of a program to "define the Quebec nation". However, the collections were primarily established and organized under his successor,
Louis-Alexandre Taschereau Louis-Alexandre Taschereau (; March 5, 1867 – July 6, 1952) was the 14th premier of Quebec from 1920 to 1936. He was a member of the Parti libéral du Québec. Early life Taschereau was born in Quebec City, Quebec, the son of Jean-Thoma ...
. The program formally began in March 1920, when the cabinet minister,
Athanase David Louis-Athanase David (June 24, 1882 – January 26, 1953) was a Canadian lawyer, politician, and businessman. He was a cabinet minister in the Provincial Parliament of Quebec, representing the riding of Terrebonne and serving as Provincial Secret ...
, announced an initiative where the province would support Quebec-based artists by purchasing their works. A five-man jury initially selected works for the collection, selecting works they believed pushed the concept of a common rural past, and affirmed "innovative art trends", by artists in Quebec. In 1922, the legislature of Quebec passed the ''Loi des musées de la province du Québec'' ( en, Act Respecting Museums in the Province of Quebec), providing funding for the construction of museums throughout the province. However, construction for the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion did not begin until 1928; the museum finally opened to the public in June 1933. Initially, the institution served as an
art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, natural science museum, and provincial archive. The natural history collection was removed from the museum in 1962, and the institution was renamed Musée du Québec the following year. The provincial archives moved from the museum to
Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montmo ...
in 1979, leaving the institution with only its art collection. The institution was formally made into a provincial
Crown corporation A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
in 1983. From 1989 to 1991, the museum renovated its original building, and expanded the building complex with the acquisition of the Charles Baillairgé Pavilion. The acquisition and renovation of the former prison building more than doubled the surface space the museum had. The renovation of the former prison expanded the museum's viewing space to 12 galleries, and provided space for an auditorium, a giftshop, restaurant, storerooms, and workshops. The museum's sculpture garden was completed shortly after the Charles Baillairginé Pavilion opened in 1993. In 2002, the museum was renamed the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Construction for the
Pierre Lassonde Pierre Lassonde (born 1947) is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. Early life Pierre Lassonde was born in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, the third of four children. He studied at the Séminaire de Saint-Hyacinthe and graduated in 1967 wit ...
Pavilion began in 2013 and opened to the public in 2016.


Grounds

The property is situated in Battlefield Park, with the museum complex made up of four buildings, the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion, the Charles Baillairgé Pavilion, the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion, and the Central Pavilion/Grand Hall. A tunnel network connects the pavilions.


Gérard-Morisset Pavilion

The Gérard-Morisset Pavilion was the first building built for the museum. Work on the building began in May 1928 and was completed in early 1931.
Wilfrid Lacroix Wilfrid Lacroix (6 March 1891 – 30 August 1970) was a member of the House of Commons of Canada from 1935 to 1958. His affiliation was mostly with the Liberal party except between 1944 and 1949 when he left the party to act as an "Independen ...
designed the building in a
Beaux-Arts style Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporat ...
and
Joseph-Émile Brunet Joseph-Émile Brunet (1893–1977) was a Canadian sculptor based in Quebec. His output includes more than 200 monuments in bronze. Many of his sculptures depict national figures and events in Canada. He was born in Huntingdon, Quebec in 1893. He ...
sculpted the reliefs on the facade. The building was opened to the public in June 1933. The building features white marble, wide Victorian style steps, and carved ceilings. In 2018, the museum completed renovations of the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion, which saw the brightening of its viewing spaces, as well as harmonizing the structure with the rest of the museum complex.


Charles Baillairgé Pavilion

The Charles Baillairgé Pavilion is the second building that the museum occupied, although its age predates the other buildings in the museum complex.
Charles Baillairgé Charles Baillairgé (29 September 1826 – 10 May 1906) was an architect, land surveyor, civil engineer, and an author. He was from a long line of sculptors, painters, and architects that began with his great grandfather, Jean Baillairgé. He wa ...
designed the pavilion in 1867 for use as a prison. The design was modelled after the
Auburn Correctional Facility Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village. It is classified as a maximum security facility. History Constructed in 1816 as Auburn Pri ...
, in
Auburn, New York Auburn is a city in Cayuga County, New York, United States. Located at the north end of Owasco Lake, one of the Finger Lakes in Central New York, the city had a population of 26,866 at the 2020 census. It is the largest city of Cayuga County, the ...
. The building housed inmates until 1970. Shortly after acquiring the property, the museum underwent a two-year renovation beginning in 1989. The renovations led to the creation of four exhibition galleries within the pavilion, and a section of preserved jail cells to highlight the building's former use as a prison. Designs for the renovation were by Charles Dorval and Louis Fortin. Along with the building, Dorval and Fortin also designed the underground access that connected the Gérard Morisset pavilion with the Charles Baillairgé pavilion. In an effort to maintain the Battlefield Park, the design concealed a section of the new wing under the park's natural landscaping. The museum opened the pavilion to the public in May 1991.


Central Pavilion

The glass-facade pyramid, known as the Central Pavilion or Grand Hall, was built during the 1989–1991 renovations of the museum complex, and was also designed by Dorval and Fortin. The Central Pavilion lies in between the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion and the Charles Baillairgé Pavilion. It serves as the museum's visitor centre.


Pierre Lassonde Pavilion

Construction of the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion began in 2013, with the building opened to the public in June 2016. The pavilion has a glass-enclosed access point from Grande Allée to the rest of the museum complex further within Battlefield Park. The
Office for Metropolitan Architecture The Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) is an international architectural firm with offices in Rotterdam, New York, Hong Kong, Doha, and Australia. The firm is currently led by eight partners - Rem Koolhaas, Reinier de Graaf, Ellen van ...
designed the pavilion, with the lead partners being Jason Long and Shohei Shigematsu. During the construction of the building, renovations were also undertaken to the museum's tunnel system, transforming them into viewing spaces. The pavilion largely uses glass and steel for its building material, in an effort to foster transparency between the museum and the general public. The building is adjacent to Saint-Dominique Church. The total cost of building the pavilion was approximately
Can$ The Canadian dollar (symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...
103.4 million. The pavilion features of gallery space; and also includes a café in its main lobby, a courtyard adjacent to the lobby, a white spiral staircase, and a gold-coloured elevator. The building was named after Pierre Lassonde, a benefactor of the museum. The colouring of the gold elevator was chosen to reflect Lassonde's work with gold.


Permanent collection

As of March 2019, the museum's permanent collection includes 40,000 works from 4,524 different artists from Quebec, the
rest of Canada Canada comprises that part of the population within Canada, whether of British origin or otherwise, that speaks English. The term ''English Canada'' can also be used for one of the following: #Describing all the provinces of Canada that ...
, and around the world from the 16th century to present day. The legislative act that governs the institutions notes that the museum's purpose is to promote, and preserve art from Quebec, from all periods in history, as well as ensure a presence for international art. The museum's permanent collection was acquired through donations, purchases, or ordered directly from the artist/collector/merchant. The first works acquired for the collection were from the Art Association of Montreal's 37th Spring Exhibition in 1920, although only six of the original works remain in the museum's permanent collection. Each pavilion in the museum complex houses a different department of the museum's collection. Gérard-Morisset Pavilion houses the museum's historical art collection; the Charles Baillairgé Pavilion houses works of
modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradi ...
, while the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion houses works of
contemporary art Contemporary art is the art of today, produced in the second half of the 20th century or in the 21st century. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a dynamic com ...
.


Selected works

File:Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry (1721-1797).jpg, Unknown, ''Gaspard-Joseph Chaussegros de Léry'', c. 1718. File:The Entombment of Christ by Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, 1770.jpg, Jean-Jacques Lagrenée, ''La Mise au tombeau'', 1770. File:Marguerite-Alexis Mailhot, epouse de Eustache-Ignace Trottier dit Desrivieres.jpg, François Beaucourt, ''Madame Eustache Trottier Desrivières Beaubien, née Marguerite Malhiot'', 1793. File:James Pattison Cockburn - Le Cône de glace de la chute Montmorency.jpg,
James Pattison Cockburn James Pattison Cockburn (18 March 1779 – 18 March 1847) was an artist, author and military officer. He was born into a military family and received his military training at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich where he received training in d ...
, ''The Ice Cone at Montmorency Falls''. c. 1830. File:Plamondon Mme Joseph Laurin.jpg,
Antoine Plamondon Antoine-Sébastien Plamondon ( – 1895) was an artist in Quebec, who painted mainly portraits and religious images, the latter commissioned primarily by churches in and around Quebec City. As a young man, he had traveled to France and studied ...
, ''Madame Joseph Laurin, née Marie-Louise Dalaire'', 1839. File:Montréal vu du mont Royal - 1853-54.JPG,
Edwin Whitefield Edwin Whitefield (September 22, 1816 – December 26, 1892) was a landscape artist who is best known for his lithographed views of North American cities and for a number of illustrated books on colonial homes in New England. Born in East ...
, ''Montréal vu du mont Royal'', 1853–54. File:Femme en train de tisser - William Brymner.jpg,
William Brymner William Brymner, (December 14, 1855 – June 18, 1925) was a Canadian figure and landscape painter and educator. In addition to playing a key role in the development of Impressionism in Canada, Brymner taught numerous artists who became leadin ...
, Femme en train de tisser/''La Femme au métier''/''Woman at Work'', 1885. File:L'Assemblée des six comtés à Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, en 1837 by Charles Alexander 1891.tif, Charles Alexander Smith, '' L'Assemblée des six comtés à Saint-Charles-sur-Richelieu, en 1837'', 1891. File:Quebec vu du bassin Louise en 1902 - Charles Huot.jpg, Charles Huot, ''La Traversée du fleuve en hiver'', c. 1902. File:L'arrivée de Champlain à Québec.jpg, Henri Beau, ''L'arrivée de Champlain à Québec'', 1903. File:La Chasse-galerie (1906).jpg,
Henri Julien Henri Julien, baptised Octave-Henri Julien (14 May 1852 – 17 September 1908), was a Québécois artist and cartoonist noted for his work for the '' Canadian Illustrated News'' and for his political cartoons in the '' Montreal Daily ...
, ''La Chasse-galerie'', 1906. File:Jacques Cartier rencontre les indiens de Stadacone, 1535.jpg,
Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté (April 6, 1869 – January 29, 1937) was a French Canadian painter and sculptor. He was one of the first native-born Canadian artists whose works were directly influenced by French Impressionism and Post-Impre ...
, ''Jacques Cartier rencontre les Indiens à Stadaconé, 1535'', 1907. File:Helen McNicoll - A l'ombre de l'arbre.jpg, Helen McNicoll, ''À l'ombre de l'arbre/In the Shadow of the Tree'', c. 1910. File:Le Fardeau - Alfred Laliberte.jpg,
Alfred Laliberté Alfred Laliberté (19 May 1877 – 13 January 1953) was a French-Canadian sculptor and painter based in Montreal. His output includes more than 900 sculptures in bronze, marble, wood, and plaster. Many of his sculptures depict national figures ...
, ''Le Fardeau'', c. 1925. File:Maurice Cullen - La Fonte des neiges.jpg, Maurice Cullen, ''La Fonte des neiges'', 1930. File:Construction de la porte Saint-Jean a l hiver 1939.jpg, Unknown, ''La Construction de la porte Saint-Jean, Québec'', c. 1938–39. File:L Arbre de la rue Durocher - 02.jpg,
Armand Vaillancourt Armand J. R. Vaillancourt (born September 3, 1929) is a Canadian sculptor, painter and performance artist from Quebec. He is known for his public art fountain entitled Vaillancourt Fountain located in San Francisco. He lives in Montreal. Biogr ...
, ''L'Arbre de la rue Durocher'', 1953–56. File:Demeure III - 01.jpg,
Étienne Martin Étienne Martin (1913–1995) was a French non-figurative sculptor. Biography He was born Henri Étienne-Martin 4 February 1913 in Loriol, Drôme, France. He attended the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lyon from 1929 to 1933, where he met Marcel Mi ...
, ''Demeure III'', 1960. File:La Cavaliere 01.jpg,
Charles Daudelin Charles Daudelin, (October 1, 1920 – April 2, 2001) was a French Canadian pioneer in modern sculpture and painting. He worked in a wide variety of media, including painting, metal and ceramic sculpture, jewelry, and marionettes which he m ...
, ''La Cavalière'', 1963. File:La Victoire et le Sphinx - 05.jpg,
Jean-Paul Riopelle Jean-Paul Riopelle, (October 7, 1923 – March 12, 2002) was a Canadian painter and sculptor from Quebec. He had one of the longest and most important international careers of the sixteen signatories of the ''Refus Global'', the 1948 manif ...
, ''La Victoire et le Sphinx'', 1963–65. File:Claude Tousignant-MNBAQ-2013.JPG,
Claude Tousignant Claude Tousignant (born December 23, 1932 in Montreal, Quebec) is a Canadian artist. Tousignant is considered to be an important contributor to the development of geometric abstraction in Canada. Biography Claude Tousignant was born in Montr ...
, ''Accélérateur chromatique 1967, de l'album'', 1971. File:Assemblée Meeting 1987 01.jpg,
Michel Goulet Michel Bernard Goulet (born April 21, 1960) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey forward who played for the Birmingham Bulls in the World Hockey Association and the Quebec Nordiques and Chicago Blackhawks in the National Hockey League. ...
, ''Assemblée'', 1987. File:Event Horizon - 04.jpg,
Bill Vazan Bill Vazan (born 1933) is a Canadian artist, known for land art, sculpture, painting and photography. His work has been exhibited in North America and internationally. Career Born in Toronto, Ontario, Vazan studied Fine Arts at the Ontario Colle ...
, ''Event Horizon'', 1989–91. File:Deux Arcs 02.jpg,
Bernar Venet Bernar Venet (born 20 April 1941) is a French conceptual artist. Early life Bernar Venet was born to Jean-Marie Venet, a school teacher and chemist, and Adeline Gilly and was the youngest of four boys. He was brought up in Château-Arnoux-Sai ...
, ''Deux Arcs de 245,5°'', 1997.


Library and archives

The museum also operates a library and archives that specializes in Quebec art. The library contains over 13,000 biographical files, in addition to catalogs, monographs, and audiovisual documents relating to art in Canada, and around the world. Access to the museums library and archives requires a scheduled appointment made with the museum. Fonds that have been computerized may be accessed from CUBIQ, the central catalogue for publicly operated libraries in Quebec.


See also

*
List of art museums Africa Algeria * Algiers: Museum of Modern Art of Algiers, Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions, National Museum of Fine Arts of Algiers * Oran: Ahmed Zabana National Museum ---- Egypt * Cairo: Egyptian Museum, Museum of ...
*
List of museums in Quebec This list of museums in Quebec, Canada contains museums which are defined for this context as institutions (including nonprofit organizations, government entities, and private businesses) that collect and care for objects of cultural, artistic, s ...


References


Further reading

*


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Musee national des beaux-arts du Quebec 1933 establishments in Quebec Art museums and galleries in Quebec Art museums established in 1933 History museums in Quebec Museums in Quebec City Prison museums in Canada