In 1912, the Winnipeg Industrial Bureau and Winnipeg Museum of Fine Arts announced the opening of a new art gallery and an exhibition of works by Canadian artists, in the Industrial Bureau Building on Main Street. An opening ceremony on 16 December 1912 was attended by Lieutenant Governor Douglas Colin Cameron, Mayor Thomas Russ Deacon, President of the Industrial Bureau William John Bulman, and Royal Canadian Academy representative Homer Ransford Watson.
An MHS Centennial Organization Award was presented to the Winnipeg Art Gallery on 16 December 2012.
Period
Director
1950-1953
Alvan C. Eastman (1894-1959)
1953-1974
Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902-1995)
1974-1983
Roger L. Selby (?-1995)
1983-1985
Terence Heath
1985-1992
Carol Phillips
1993-1998
Michel Cheff
1999-2004
Period
President
1933-1938
Hugh Farquharson Osler (1881-1943)
1938-?
?
?-1941
John McEachern (1867-1942)
1941-1944
John Young Reid (1872-1945)
1944-1946
W. R. Devenish
1946-1947
John Parton (1878-1962)
c1949
Bernard Charles Scrivener (1883-1969)
1950-1958
John Alexander MacAulay (1892-1978)
1958-1960
?
1960-1963
William Arthur Johnston (1914-1997)
1963-1966
?
1966-?
George Aitken (1906-1984)
?-?
John Alonzo Russell (1907-1966)
?-?
Augustus Searle “Gus” Leach (1939-2021)
Period
Curator
1932-?
Alexander Johnston Musgrove (1882-1952)
See also:
The Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1912 and 1987: An Historical Assessment by Angela E. Davis
Manitoba History, Number 17, Spring 1989Historic Sites of Manitoba: Winnipeg Art Gallery (300 Memorial Boulevard, Winnipeg)
“Announcement,” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 December 1912, page 7.
“Winnipeg Art Gallery opens with exhibition,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 April 1933, page 4.
“H. F. Osler re-elected President of Art Gallery Association,” Winnipeg Tribune, 9 February 1937, page 6.
“Officers named by art gallery,” Winnipeg Tribune, 24 April 1941, page 21.
“Art gallery has active year,” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 March 1944, page 17.
“Parton to head art gallery,” Winnipeg Tribune, 13 April 1946, page 3.
“Art gallery director due to leave city,” Winnipeg Free Press, 24 September 1953.
“Former director of the Art Gallery,” Winnipeg Free Press, 11 December 1959, page 37.
“Phillips first female WAG chief,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 July 1985, page 37.
“WAG may name Cheff,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 January 1993, page 44.
Obituary [William Arthur Johnston], Winnipeg Free Press, 31 January 1997, page 38.
“Bovey takes charge of WAG's van Gogh ticket drive starts,” Winnipeg Free Press, 8 April 1999, page 29.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 30 May 2025
