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Since its establishment as one of Canada’s earliest civic art museums in 1912, WAG-Qaumajuq has grown to house over 28,000 works of art.

Today, WAG-Qaumajuq holds in trust the world’s largest public collection of modern and contemporary Inuit art. Other areas of note include historical and contemporary Canadian art, historical British and European art, decorative art, and photography. Explore the constantly evolving collection, reflecting the combined efforts of generations of curators, researchers, collectors, donors, and artists.

Our exclusive Guide to the Collections provides an overview of WAG-Qaumajuq’s defining collection areas through 400 artwork highlights.

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WAG-Qaumajuq is committed to extending engagement with the collection and supporting learning initiatives that advance our mission. We welcome proposals for loan requests for consideration by our team.

Today, WAG-Qaumajuq’s primary collecting interests include both historical and contemporary works of art in the following areas: Inuit Art, Canadian art, Indigenous art, and European art.

If you are interested in pursuing a donation to the WAG-Qaumajuq Collection, please feel free to send the following information to the Collections & Exhibitions and Museum Services Assistant at curatorial@wag.ca:

1. Name of the artist(s)
2. Title of artwork(s)
3. Photo of artwork(s)
4. Dimensions, medium
5. Year the artwork(s) were created
6. Acquisition details

Donations of works of art to the Winnipeg Art Gallery go through a very considered process. The artwork is assessed to ensure it complements our existing collection and addresses our collecting mandate. Once assessed as such, the curator develops a justification and makes a presentation to WAG’s Works of Art Committee, where the artwork is voted upon for acceptance to the collection. The Committee meets on a quarterly basis.

Please note the Gallery does not provide appraisals for works of art. If you are interested in the value of your artwork, please contact the Art Dealers Association of Canada, who will put you in touch with a qualified appraiser.

Many artworks in the WAG collection are available to license for scholarly, personal, and commercial use. Requests can be made via our Right and Reproductions Request Form or by contacting Collections Management at collections@wag.ca.

We are continually researching our collections and acquiring new documents in an effort to expand, amend, and refine artwork records and information. If you have any corrections or suggestions regarding the information on the catalogue, please contact Collections Management at  collections@wag.ca

WAG-Qaumajuq welcomes exhibition proposals. If you are a practicing artist and would like your work to be considered for an exhibition, or are a curator with an exhibition proposal, please send the following information digitally to our curatorial department.

The WAG requires that all Exhibition Proposals contain the following:

  • Cover Letter
  • Artist / Curator / Project Statement
  • Current Curriculum Vitae
  • A Maximum of 20 Images
  • Relevant Support Material

An email of receipt will be sent out once the submission is received by the curatorial office. Proposals are generally considered on a quarterly basis.

As per standard art gallery practice the WAG’s exhibition schedule is programmed roughly 3 years in advance. This enables the WAG to fulfill provincial and federal government funding requirements and provide adequate planning time to mount significant exhibitions that are supported through educational programs and public relations.

Please email your proposal.

Provenance refers to the ownership history of an artwork from the time it was created to the present day. It is an important way to understand the cultural, social, and economic contexts of an artwork. The provenance of some artworks may have legal and ethical implications such as requiring the return, or repatriation, of looted or illegally exported works to their rightful owners.

If an artwork is found to be acquired in an unethical manner by the WAG or by the individual or institution who collected the works prior to it entering the Gallery’s collection, the WAG would move forward with the necessary steps towards repatriation. Public access to provenance information on all artworks in the WAG collection is available upon request. Research on the provenance of artwork in the WAG collection is an ongoing exercise that is part of the WAG mission and operations. For instance, in 2014, the WAG was one of six galleries who participated in a pilot research project coordinated by the Canadian Art Museum Directors Organization (CAMDO) to research the provenance of Holocaust-era artworks.

The WAG’s permanent collection, like most museum collections, contains artworks that have incomplete provenances. For art objects that are several centuries old, it is quite common for their provenance history to be incomplete.  This is especially true of works whose histories intersect with periods of political and social upheaval, or in situations of cultural inequity, when all forms of moveable assets tend to change hands frequently – legally or otherwise. Since records of ownership are often lost or don’t exist in writing, it is often difficult to fully document the provenance. While researching and securing the provenance for these objects is complex, it is a scholarly activity that the WAG is always doing as part of its broader mission.

Provenance research is undertaken in a variety of ways, starting with clues that may still exist on the artworks themselves such as on the backs of paintings, on their frames, or on labels or inscriptions that point to earlier owners or transactions, or at least to their locations. It is a form of forensic investigation, requiring specialized expertise. A wide variety of relevant documentation must be identified, located and consulted such as old auction sale catalogues, dealer records, exhibition records, archival photographs, personal papers, family histories and stories, and other forms of published sources. Each artwork presents its own particular case and challenges. Whereas intensive provenance research on a particular artwork may result in the complete reconstruction of its provenance, there are no guarantees of success.

The WAG is committed to investigating the provenance of works in its permanent collection and is open to reviewing new evidence as emerges through the varied channels of research and reconciliation.

As with many historical collections of artworks, there are certain works in the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s collection that are culturally inappropriate in today’s context. This could include their subject matter, their mediums, or their institutional cataloguing and titles. The Artworks Renaming Initiative addresses these problematic pieces by incorporating Indigenous knowledge in their renaming.

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Contact

For inquiries

Nicole Fletcher
Registrar

For loans

Mandy Hyatt
Exhibitions & Loans Administrator
Plan Your Visit
WAG-Qaumajuq recognizes that land acknowledgements are part of an ongoing dialogue with Indigenous Nations, and we are grateful to live and work on these lands and waters. Institutionally, WAG-Qaumajuq is committed to acknowledging our colonial history and we are actively working to interrogate the Gallery’s colonial ways of being.

WAG-Qaumajuq is LEED certified.

WAG - Winnipeg Art Gallery Outline
Winnipeg Art Gallery—Qaumajuq
300 Memorial Blvd
Winnipeg, MB
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