Remai Modern is a public art museum in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

, Canada. The art museum is situated along the west bank of the

South Saskatchewan River The South Saskatchewan River is a major river in Canada that flows through the provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. For the first half of the 20th century, the South Saskatchewan would completely freeze over during winter, creating spectacular ...

, at the

River Landing River Landing is an ongoing redevelopment district in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that will create a commercial/cultural development along the bank of the South Saskatchewan River in downtown Saskatoon. River Landing is divided into two phases. Th ...

development in Saskatoon's Central Business District. The museum's building was designed by

Bruce Kuwabara Bruce Bunji Kuwabara, (O.C., B.Arch, OAA, FRAIC, RAIC, AIA, RIBA) is a Canadian architect and a founding partner of the firm KPMB Architects (formed in 1987). He is an invested Officer of the Order of Canada and recipient of the RAIC Gold Me ...

KPMB Architects KPMB is a Canadian architecture firm founded by Bruce Kuwabara, Thomas Payne, Marianne McKenna, and Shirley Blumberg, in 1987. It is headquartered in Toronto, where the majority of their work is found. Aside from designing buildings, the firm al ...

in association with Architecture49. Plans to create a new art museum in Saskatoon emerged after plans to renovate the

Mendel Art Gallery The Mendel Art Gallery was a major creative cultural centre in City Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Operating from 1964 to 2015, it housed a permanent collection of more than 7,500 works of art. The gallery was managed by the city-owned Saskatoon G ...

were abandoned in 2009. The new art museum was formally incorporated on 9 July 2009 as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan. In 2016, the institution was rebranded as ''Remai Modern'' by the Saskatoon City Council; after Saskatoon-based entrepreneur and philanthropist Ellen Remai announced a donation of million on behalf of the Frank and Ellen Remai Foundation to fund the construction and programming for the museum. Construction for the art museum took place from June 2013 to 2017, and was opened to the public in October 2017. The museum's permanent collection features over 8,000 works from Canadian and international artists. Its collection includes the collection of the former Mendel Art Gallery; and a collection of more than 400 linocuts and ceramics by Pablo Picasso. In addition to exhibiting works from its collection, the museum organizes exhibitions and hosts a number of travelling exhibitions.

History

Plans to develop a modern and

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 co ...

museum began in the late 2000s and early 2010s. These plans originated from expansion and moving plans of the former

, which announced its intention to move to the

development in April 2009. However, in November 2009, the city council of Saskatoon voted to establish a new art museum at the River Landing location. The art museum was formally incorporated on 9 July 2009 as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan Inc. The new art museum is not considered a direct continuation of the Mendel Art Gallery, although it did inherit its permanent collection after its closure in June 2015. The assets of the Mendel Art Gallery were split between the City of Saskatoon government and the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan following the Mendel's closure. In 2011, lead patron Ellen Remai donated $15 million toward construction costs of a new art museum, $15 million to support international exhibition programs, and also donated the most comprehensive collection of Picasso linocuts to the future art museum's permanent collection. As a result of the donation, the museum announced it was rebranding as the Remai Art Gallery of Saskatchewan. Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan

Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan

The inaugural director and CEO of the museum,

Gregory Burke Gregory Burke (born 1968) is a Scottish playwright and screenwriter from Rosyth, Fife. Early life and education Burke's family moved to Gibraltar in 1979 and returned to Dunfermline in 1984. He attended St John's Primary in Rosyth, St Chris ...

, was appointed in May 2013. Construction for the museum building began on 7 June 2013. Funding to build the museum building came from the federal, provincial, and municipal governments, as well as private donors. The federal government contributed $13,020,000; the provincial government contributed $16,744,000, and the municipal government contributed $30,287,000. The final budget approved to build the museum was $84,634,160, with the remaining $24,095,160 collected through fundraisers and private donors. The museum was later rebranded as Remai Modern Art Gallery of Saskatchewan in April 2014. In doing so, it became the first art museum in Canada to brand themselves specifically for modern art. During construction for the museum building, the museum's Board of Directors became the subject of controversy. In December 2015, local artists submitted a letter to the Remai Modern's board requesting the removal of board member, John Gormley. In the letter, the artists referred to a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

post made by Gormley suggesting violence against Muslims in the wake of the

November 2015 Paris attacks The November 2015 Paris attacks () were a series of coordinated Islamist terrorist attacks that took place on Friday, 13 November 2015 in Paris, France, and the city's northern suburb, Saint-Denis. Beginning at 9:15p.m., three suicide bomber ...

. Gormley remained on the board while an independent third-party review was performed. In January 2016, the third-party review found Gormley was not in breach of the Remai Modern's code of conduct. On April 12, 2016 Gormley resigned from the Remai Modern board of directors. In June 2016, the museum rebranded again as Remai Modern, with the museum's logo stylized as "rRemai mModern". Karlssonwilker was contracted by the museum for $90,000 to design the museum's logo, website, and other merchandise. Although the institution's rebranding saw "Art Gallery of Saskatchewan" omitted from its name, the museum remains formally incorporated as the Art Gallery of Saskatchewan Inc., under the province's ''Non-profit Corporations Act''. Remai Modern Art Gallery Entrance (42191207931)

Remai Modern Art Gallery Entrance (42191207931)

A civic ceremony to open the museum was held on 21 October 2017, which featured

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: ** First Nat ...

and

Métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United States. They have a shared history and culture which deri ...

performances. On the same day, Remai Modern opened its first exhibition, ''Field Guide''. The museum-spanning exhibition included select works from the museum's contemporary collection, as well as the 13 works donated by Fred Mendel that formed the basis of the Mendel Art Gallery, including works by Lawren Harris, Emily Carr and David Milne. Shortly after the museum opened, the City of Saskatoon was informed that construction for the museum building had exceeded the approved budget by $2.5-$4 million, due to delays relating to drawing corrections and clarifications.

Architecture

Under the Remai Modern Overhang (46784056024)

The museum property is situated in River Landing, a development area of the Saskatoon's Central Business District, and is positioned in an area that overlooks a bend in the

. The design for the museum building was by

, in association with architectural firm Architecture49.

EllisDon EllisDon is an employee-owned construction services company that was founded and incorporated in 1951 in London, Ontario, Canada, by brothers Don and David Ellis Smith. The company is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. History ...

was contracted to construct the museum building. The building's design is influenced by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

Prairie style Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped ...

. The design of the building's exterior was based on region's open

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

landscape, and the barns, field sheds, and silos that occupy that space. The exterior features cantilevered stacks that extend towards the South Saskatchewan River; and its glass and copper mesh exterior. The exterior steel mesh is a solar shading device and provides a shadowing effect on the building as the sun arcs through the sky. The design of the copper patina was inspired by the roof of the

Delta Bessborough The Delta Hotels Bessborough, formerly and commonly known as the Bessborough (), is a historic hotel in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The hotel is within the Central Business District, a commercial district in Saskatoon. The Bessborough was des ...

, a hotel located nearby along the South Saskatchewan River. The building takes up approximately of space, and is made up of approximately four floors, and an underground parkade. Approximately of steel was used for the construction of the building; most of which was supplied by the Walters Group. The glass walls on the ground floor are intended to provide visitors with a sense of "transparency between the interior and the outdoors". The "openness" of the prairie landscape were also reflected in the interior design of the building, with the ceiling of the main atrium extending to the fourth level of the building, and its walls being made of glass and overlooking the South Saskatchewan River. The main atrium also features a communal fireplace. The building includes eleven galleries dedicated to exhibiting artworks. The building also includes an in-house cafe, community atrium, a restaurant, a retail store, two learning studios, a 150-seat theatre, rental spaces, a rooftop patio, and a lounge.

Permanent collection

As of December 2020, Remai Modern had over 8,000 works in its permanent collection when including the works from the former Mendel Art Gallery. Acquisitions for the Remai Modern's permanent collection began in 2014, with modern and contemporary artworks being the primary focus of the museum's collecting efforts. The majority of the works in the museum's collection were acquired through donations, although the museum has also purchased works directly from the artist or vendor. Artists whose works are featured in the Remai Modern's permanent collection includes

Rebecca Belmore Rebecca Belmore D.F.A. (born 1960) is an interdisciplinary Anishinaabekwe artist who is notable for politically conscious and socially aware performance and installation work. She is Ojibwe and member of Obishikokaang (Lac Seul First Nation). B ...

Eli Bornstein Eli Bornstein (born December 28, 1922) is an American-born Canadian artist and teacher who has spent most of his life in Saskatchewan, Canada. He is known for his three-dimensional reliefs. Early years Eli Bornstein was born in Milwaukee, Wisc ...

Georges Braque Georges Braque ( , ; 13 May 1882 – 31 August 1963) was a major 20th-century List of French artists, French painter, Collage, collagist, Drawing, draughtsman, printmaker and sculpture, sculptor. His most notable contributions were in his all ...

Stan Douglas Stan Douglas (born October 11, 1960) is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Douglas' film and video installations, photography and work in television frequently touch on the history of literature, cinema and music, while examining t ...

Brian Jungen Brian Jungen (born April 29, 1970 in Fort St. John, British Columbia) is an artist of Dane-zaa and Swiss ancestry living and working in the North Okanagan of British Columbia.Hoffmann, Jens. "Brian Jungen: Prototypes for New Understanding ." ''Flas ...

, Jimmie Durham and Haegue Yang.

Mendel collection

The Mendel collection, now known as the Mendel Art Gallery Collection at Remai Modern, was the permanent collection of the former Mendel Art Gallery and was inherited by Remai Modern. The Mendel collection includes the historical works in Remai Modern's collection, with most of the works dating back to the early 20th century. The Mendel collection has 7,700 works by artists including Emily Carr, Lawren Harris,

Cornelius Krieghoff Cornelius David Krieghoff (June 19, 1815 – March 5, 1872) was a Dutch-born Canadian-American painter of the 19th century. Krieghoff is most famous for his paintings of Canadian landscapes and Canadian life outdoors, which were as sought ...

, and murals by

William Perehudoff William Perehudoff (April 21, 1918 – February 26, 2013) was a Canadian artist closely associated with colour field painting. He was married to the landscape painter Dorothy Knowles. Life and career Perehudoff was born in St. Paul's Hospita ...

. Works from the Mendel collection have been exhibited at the museum since its opening in October 2017. As of March 2019, the Mendel collection formally remains in the possession of the Saskatoon Gallery and Conservatory Corporation, and will be transferred to the Remai Modern after it receives "Category A" status from

Heritage Canada The National Trust for Canada (french: La Fiducie nationale du Canada; formerly known as the Heritage Canada Foundation) is a national registered charity in Canada with the mandate to inspire and lead action to save historic places, and promot ...

Picasso collection

An area of the museum's permanent collection is the Picasso collection, featuring ceramics and

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

s by

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is ...

. In 2012 Ellen Remai donated 405 Picasso linocuts to the museum. Valued at $20 million in 2012, the linocut collection is the world's largest collection of Picasso works in this medium, representing 194 out of 197 subjects known to exist. In addition to the linocuts, the collection features 23 Picasso ceramics, donated to the museum by Frederick Mulder in 2014. He also donated an additional linocut subject to the museum at that time.

Programming

Remai Modern offers a variety of programming. In addition to the permanent collection and rotating exhibitions on display, the museum screens films, hosts talks, runs art programs for students and visitors, and offers offsite art programs. The museum also presents live performance art programs including dance, sound, music and other live media. A variety of online programming can also be viewed on the museum's website and through their social media channels.

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control Museums in Saskatoon Art museums and galleries in Saskatchewan Modern art museums Contemporary art galleries in Canada KPMB Architects buildings Art museums established in 2017 2017 establishments in Saskatchewan