TORONTO.- To celebrate the Hart House Centennial, the Art Museum will display a new selection of art works recently acquired by Hart House for its permanent collection. Presented throughout publicly accessible spaces of the historic building, the Hart House Collection: Works on View will launch on Wednesday, September 4, with an opening reception from 6-8pm.

The artists whose works are featured in this presentation of the collection include Meryl McMaster, Jon Sasaki, Divya Mehra, Jalani Morgan, Jérôme Havre, Shelley Niro, Deanna Bowen, Laurel Woodcock and Erika DeFeritas. These will be displayed alongside artists’ works acquired over the previous decade, such as Norval Morrisseau, Scott McFarland, Stan Douglas, Lynne Cohen, Joanne Tod, Kent Monkman, Greg Curnoe, Carol Condé and Karl Beveridge, Micah Lexier, and Monica Tap, among others.

“Over the course of the past century, Hart House has built an impressive and rich collection of art through a commitment to purchase works and thereby support artists living and working in Canada. Working with a Student Volunteer Art Committee, and mentored by the Art Museum’s team of staff, the process of acquiring works for the collection represents a unique highlight for students from across diverse disciplines and backgrounds, offering a rare opportunity to become directly involved in and gain insight into the art of their time and its context.” stated Barbara Fischer, Executive Director and Chief Curator of the Art Museum.

The Hart House Permanent Collection was established in 1922, shortly after the House was founded, with the acquisition of A.Y. Jackson’s “Georgian Bay, November”. With a mandate to collect contemporary Canadian art, the Hart House Art Committee built the core of the original collection with representative artworks by members of the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, including Tom Thomson, Emily Carr, Charles Comfort, David Milne, and Carl Shaefer, as well as works by the Automatistes and Painters Eleven. With a focus on living artists, the collection’s most recent mandate has been to strengthen the representation of emerging and midcareer artists of First Nations and culturally diverse backgrounds, and artists working in a greater diversity of media, including language-based works, photography, video, and installation.

“We remain enthusiastically committed to expanding and diversifying the Hart House Permanent Collection, and to supporting living Canadian artists and their practices,” remarked Hart House Warden John Monahan. “We are confident this Centennial rehanging will inspire even more students from all walks of life to immerse themselves in Hart House’s stimulating programs and take part in the dialogues and conversations that shape contemporary art and culture both in Canada and beyond.”

In 1983, the Justina M. Barnicke Gallery at Hart House was built to house and care for the growing Hart House art collection. With its exclusive focus on supporting living Canadian artists through the purchase of their work, the collection now numbers over 700 works of art. Works from the Hart House Permanent Collection are on view throughout Hart House and are in constant demand for exhibitions at major museums around the world.