Each work is arranged according to a specific nomenclature in one of the museum’s three reserves, which have been set up in the heritage building that once housed the Eastern Townships Bank. Some 5,200 works by more than 800 artists have accumulated, the majority left in reserve by private collectors since the museum was founded in 1982.
“It is mainly in the form of donations and patronage that the collection has been built over the years,” says the curator of the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, Frédérique Renaud.
The majority of the preserved works come from artists from the region, creations which sometimes date back to the 19th century.
(Journalist: Delphine Belzile | Videographer: Jean Roy | Production and editing: Mòrag Bélisle)
Several Quebec artists, automatists of Refus global for example, also appear in the collection of the Sherbrooke museum. Alongside some international artists.
“It creates strange dialogues between works that are from different eras and by different artists.”
— Frédérique Renaud
A first reserve is devoted to the conservation of works certified by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Commission, the equivalent of more than 1,300 photographs, canvases and sculptures. A collection which holds “greater historical importance”, explains the museum curator.
It is also in this room in the basement that a pop art silkscreen print by the artist Andy Warhol rests. In addition to a range of paintings by Quebec artists, including the famous Frederick Simpson Coburn. His easels, paint palettes and invoice books are stored.
More than a fifth of the Sherbrooke museum’s collection comes from the artist born in Melbourne in Estrie. The establishment has also given itself the mission of firstly promoting artists from the region.
Frédérique Renaud has held the title of curator of the MBAS since 2021. (Jean Roy/La Tribune)
The largest painting held by the museum is leaning against one of the walls of this reserve. It is no less than 12 square meters, an abstract legacy from Quebec artist Guido Molinari.
“A work that is quite impressive in terms of its dimensions. We even wondered how we were going to get it out of storage since it wasn’t our team that brought it in the first time,” says Frédérique Renaud.
A second reserve is intended for sculptures and various objects, kept like the other rooms at a more than controlled temperature and humidity level. Accessories from the house of the painter Serge Lemoyne are also kept there.
And in the third reserve no less than 900 paintings are kept in a rather small space, all classified according to their weight, medium and format. “We are jam pack as they say,” lets Frédérique Renaud down.
Among the paintings waiting to be brought upstairs in a permanent exhibition hangs an artistic print by the renowned Salvador Dali. A galloted horse in the waves, an untitled surrealist lithograph donated by a collector to the museum.
Showcase to the general public
In the reserves, the paintings are hung on huge panels or distributed like books in a large library. Each work on paper is covered with a sheet of acid-free cellophane to prevent it from yellowing or getting damaged in drawers in the basement.
It is for the sake of space that the permanent collections are kept in several reserves, located on each floor of the museum.
And if the works can sleep for a long time in the vaults, the curator Frédérique Renaud makes sure to let them see the light again on the occasion of a permanent exhibition or different temporary exhibitions. She tries to ensure a rotation according to the themes and historical moments to be highlighted.
Less than half of the works in the museum’s permanent collection are certified by the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board. (Jean Roy/La Tribune)
“Leaving a legacy, sharing the works with future generations” is often the desire of collectors to hand over their finds to museums, explains Frédérique Renaud. It is also the mission of the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts to preserve works in parallel with the market.
“To spoil her with great care to make sure she doesn’t deteriorate,” she says. Because once a work appears in the inventory of a museum, it loses its market value in a way, notes Frédérique Renaud. The museum represents the “ballast of art”, it is rather the heritage value that matters.
Since 2021, it is therefore Frédérique Renaud’s job to bring back to life her works which rest in the darkness of the museum on rue Dufferin. She even says she knows the inventory almost by heart. “It’s very varied, it makes our work interesting,” underlines the curator.
More than 900 paintings by various artists are piled up in a small storage room on one of the museum’s floors. (Jean Roy/La Tribune)
“We try to highlight as many as possible, but I certainly don’t think they’ve all been through a rotation yet,” she emphasizes.
And sometimes, to ensure the visibility of the Sherbrooke museum’s collection, works are shared elsewhere in the network in Quebec, and they then return to rest in their respective reserves.
Lack of space
Each donation to the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts is meticulously numbered, according to the year and the collector’s lot. A way to understand the diversity of the inventory that has been growing since the 1980s.
But because the museum is limited in its storage space, the establishment imposed a moratorium in 2015 to reorganize the reserves. “We are lacking a lot of places,” says Frédérique Renaud.
Expansion talks are also underway with the City of Sherbrooke. But nothing is set in stone yet.
