Works from some of the leaders of Western art from Red Deer Polytechnic’s celebration collection are on display at Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery (MAG).
“Under the Influence… Ian Cook: selected works of RDP Permanent Art Collection” runs until Nov. 29 in conjunction with a retrospective of Cook’s own work.
Cook started then-Red Deer College’s Art and Design Diploma Program in 1973 and taught at the institution for 50 years. He began the Permanent Arts Collection in 1974 and in the following decades helped to collect and donate original works by Canadian and international masters. The collection now features more than 1,000 artworks, including works by Albrecht Durer and Goya.
“The students at the Visual Arts Program at RDP are certainly lucky to see original art,” said Cook.
The idea for the project came out of the relative isolation of Red Deer in the 1970s from the few art collections available in Alberta at the time.
“There weren’t any large galleries in central Alberta, or for that matter, in Alberta at that time. But it was really important in my mind for students to see original art,” he said.
One of the earliest works purchased, and which can be seen in the show, is Albrecht Durer’s “Christ Bearing the Cross,” which dates from 1512.
“It was an illustration for a Bible that was printed during that time period,” he said.
That work anchors in time a collection that now spans more than 500 years of art ending with contemporary works from artists, such as Jim Dine, whose works can be found in more than 30 prestigious internationally, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and the Tate Gallery in London, UK.
Dine’s work, “Worn Paintbrushes” is a significant work, he said.
Another exceptional print is from Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi’s series of 16 etchings from the mid-1700s called “Carceri d’invenzione,” which is usually translated as “Imaginary Prisons.”
“The work that Paranesi was doing for the prison series is considered some of the very best etching and engraving that has ever been accomplished” and on par with the etchings of Rembrandt, he said.
Another notable work is a sculpture by Sir Anthony Caro that was cast at RDP’s foundry. Caro, who died in 2013, was an abstract sculptor who was a student of Henry Moore and was considered by many art critics to be the greatest sculptor of his generation.
“The foundry cast seven of his pieces and he agreed to donate one of his pieces to the RDC art collection. We’re very lucky to have that piece in the collection.”
Other works on display include pieces by Spain’s Franciso Goya, French artist James Jacques Tissot and celebrated Canadian landscape artist and Alberta Society of Artists co-founder A.C. Leighton.
“It’s a really important art collection for the enjoyment of Albertans, but particularly central Alberta.”
