Some 21 different art galleries and collectors have contributed to a traveling exhibit opening soon at a downtown Sarnia art gallery, on a lesser-known, Group of Seven-linked artist, its curator says.
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“A lot of these institutions, like JNAAG (the Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery in Sarnia), they had one work … and that’s it,” by Frances-Anne Johnston — daughter of founding Group of Seven member Franz Johnston, said Rebecca Basciano .
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“You don’t get to see them all together unless you do a show like this where you can then put them into context,” said the Ottawa Art Gallery curator.
A Family Palette, exhibiting Oct. 6 until March 16 at the JNAAG, features the work of Frances-Anne Johnston, her famous father, and her husband Franklin Arbuckle.
Examples includes works from all three, but the focus is Frances-Anne Johnston, who was overlooked in her time as one of Canada’s best still-life and interior paintings, Basciano said.
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“She has definitely not been given her due.”
The exhibition that features more than 35 paintings, studio and kitchen space setups that reflect Frances-Anne Johnston’s work, photos and murals from Franz Johnston, and other aspects of their family story, first opened a year ago in Ottawa, before exhibiting in Queenston, in the Niagara region, Basciano said.
Sarnia was selected for the final leg of the tour because the venues are similar physically, they have a focus on the Group of Seven in their collections, and have feminist focuses, she said.
“It just seemed like a perfect fit.”
Still Life with Flowering Begonia, the 1967 Frances-Anne Johnston painting from the JNAAG’s permanent collection hasn’t been exhibited in years, maybe since before the gallery’s move to its current location in 2012, said JNAAG curator Sonya Blazek.
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It was in Ottawa and Queenston for the first two legs of the tour, she said.
“It’s so wonderful… to unveil it in the context of this show and welcome it back,” she said.
Basciano also spent three years researching Frances-Anne Johnston, delving into archives, reading letters and newspaper reviews, to create a book about the painter.
“Because you don’t have other books or anything written about her,” she said.
Frances-Anne Johnston: Art and Life, the first monograph on the artist, will also be for sale at the gallery, Blazek said.
Upcoming gallery programming will be focused around the exhibit, guided and singing docent tours are planned, and Basciano will offer an Art & Ideas lecture Nov. 16, 7 pm at the gallery, she said. Details, including how to register for the lecture, are available at jnaag.ca.
A public opening is Oct. 6, 6-9 p.m.
“We’re delighted” to be hosting the exhibition, Blazek said.
“Especially because of how epic the return of this painting is.”
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