1967
January
George Aitken, Senior Vice-President of the Great-West Life Assurance Company, becomes Board President.
Walter Gramatté: Paintings,...
read more »
February
Contemporary Americans opens on February 8..
The WAG-organized exhibition includes 24 prints and paintings by some of the best known and emerging...
read more »
April
The National Gallery of Canada’s first comprehensive exhibition of Canadian hand crafts opens at the WAG on April 7. The exhibition includes...
read more »
June
On June 5, the WAG opens an exhibition celebrating the Canadian Centennial, Canadian Art of our Time. It includes close to 60 works, most of which...
read more »
Has image
November
The Gallery is the public gallery to organize a solo exhibition for an Inuit artist with Tikito of Cape Dorset. The show includes 25...
read more »
December
Calligraphy in Islamic Textiles, from the Smithsonian Institute, goes on display on December 7. The exhibition attests to the continuing...
read more »
On December 18, the Gallery announces the results of the architectural competition to design the new WAG building. The winner is the relatively...
read more »
Has image Has video file
1968
March
The WAG-organized exhibition Directions in Western Canadian Printmaking, along with a handsomely designed catalogue, testifies to the continued...
read more »
Has image
April
Gustavo da Roza, accompanied by architectural colleague Isadore Coop (1926–2003), makes several consultation and fact-finding trips to...
read more »
Has video file
June
The Gallery’s collection of Inuit sculpture goes on display at Winnipeg’s Pan Am Swimming Pool. It remains there “until the new...
read more »
Mary Beamish becomes President of the Women’s Committee.
November
On November 1, Canada Post issues a stamp featuring an image of an Inuit carving from the WAG’s collection, Two Women with Child (c. 1958)....
read more »
Has image
December
The WAG hires Bonnie Pitman as its Art Educator, replacing Joyce Adamson who had left in 1964. Pitman would remain in Winnipeg until 1970, after...
read more »
1969
January
The Gallery exhibits Edvard Munch: The Graphic Work, a WAG-organized show that circulated to the Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton), Seattle...
read more »
February
Another major exhibition of contemporary American art—the second in two years—opens at the WAG on February 7. The WAG-organized OK...
read more »
Has image
March
The Women’s Committee organizes La Soirée Française, a black-tie Gallery fundraising gala at the Centennial Concert Hall.
A...
read more »
September
On Septembe 5, Dorothea Lange, an exhibition organized and toured by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and consisting of over 60 photographs,...
read more »
A couple of weeks later, the WAG Board of Governors and Building Committee announce a call for tenders for construction of the new art gallery...
read more »
December
Building construction begins.
1970
May
This year, Manitoba officially celebrates its centenary as a Canadian province. To mark the anniversary, the WAG organizes the first major...
read more »
Has image
Also in May, the WAG’s collection of modern Canadian art expands significantly with a second donation from the late Toronto art dealer...
read more »
Has image
June
Valerie Fraser (d. 2002), a dedicated community activist, becomes President of the Women’s Committee.
October
The Gallery announces the hiring of Jacqueline Fry (1923–1991) as Curator of Non-Western Art, her husband Dr. Philip Fry as Curator of...
read more »
November
During the twelfth Winnipeg Show, Montreal artist Roger Vilder’s Every Man's Dream No. 1 (a breast made of silicone) is stolen from the...
read more »
Has image
December
The exhibition The Screen Shop: Recent Winnipeg Prints opens, exposing audiences to the creative activities of the Grand Western Canadian Screen...
read more »
Has image Has video file
1971
February
The Manitoba Centennial Citizens’ Committee, chaired by Winnipeg businessman Samuel Nathan Cohen (1919–1988), hands over one million...
read more »
Has image Has video file
March
The Gallery acquires sculptor Leo Mol’s (1915–2009) bronze head of Group of Seven member A.Y. Jackson. Funds for the purchase were...
read more »
Has image
Around the same time, Joanne Bryers is hired as Art Educator in the spring, replacing Bonnie Pitmann. Bryers would later marry Canadian painter...
read more »
In anticipation of the opening of its new building in late September, the WAG reveals its first logo. Created by Winnipeg artist and graphic...
read more »
Has image
Around the same time, Joanne Bryers is hired as Art Educator in the spring, replacing Bonnie Pitmann. Bryers would later marry Canadian painter...
read more »
September
On September 25, HRH Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (1930–2002) and Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon, officially open the...
read more »
Has image
While the event is a resounding success, with well over 6,000 people touring the building over two inaugural days, a building trades strike had...
read more »
Has image Has video file
The Find Yourself posters, promoting the opening of the Gallery, are a big hit. Made of reflective material, they create the same effect as a...
read more »
Has image Has video file
To mark the opening of the new building, the WAG acquires one of its most significant collections, the 4,000-piece collection of Inuit art from...
read more »
Has image
November
Businessman and community leader William John Antliff Bulman becomes Board President. He is the grandson of William John Bulman (1870–1938),...
read more »
Has image Has video file
1972
January
January 18: With the strike over and all the jobs complete, the Gallery celebrates its re-opening with a “First Night” gala opening....
read more »
Has video file
March
The Gallery’s restaurant opens on the Penthouse level in March.
“Managed and operated by the owners of the popular Old Swiss Inn on...
read more »
Has image
June
The WAG acquires close to 180 Inuit sculptures presented to the Gallery by heirs of the late Bessie Bulman (d. 1972). To hear John Bulman,...
read more »
Has image Has video file
Opening on June 15, the exhibition Conceptual Decorative: Prints by Les Levine, 1965–1970, organized by the National Gallery of Canada, is...
read more »
July
The Gallery’s Art Education Department begins its Come Do-Come See classes for children.
The Come Do-Come See program offers art...
read more »
Has image
The Gallery announces that 13th Winnipeg Show planned for November is cancelled, making the 12th instalment of the exhibition in 1970 the last...
read more »
Has video file
August
Treaty Numbers 23, 287, 1171 opens on August 12. The WAG-organized exhibition, featuring work by Daphne Odjig, Jackson Beardy...
read more »
Has image
October
Dr. Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902–1995) celebrates his 20th anniversary as WAG Director. To hear Dr. Stephen Borys, current Executive Director of...
read more »
Has video file
November
The WAG continues to distinguish itself as an important venue for decorative arts with the exhibition The Development of English Porcelain,...
read more »
Has image
1973
May
The WAG’s elegant modernist rooftop sculpture garden opens to the public.
June
Diane Oades becomes President of the Women’s Committee.
October
Dr. Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902–1995) celebrates his 20th anniversary as WAG Director.
Board President W. John A. Bulman comments that...
read more »
Has image
Dr. Ann Davis is hired as Curator of Canadian Art.
For the first time, the WAG newsletter lists a wide array of Studio classes offered by the Gallery for both children and adults.
Classes...
read more »
Has image
November
The estate of the late Arnold O. Brigden (1886–1972) donates a significant collection of close to 600 Canadian, Inuit, and European...
read more »
Has image
December
The remaining loaned works from the 28-piece collection of Robert Standish Gage Prendergast Vereker, 7th Viscount Gort (1888–1975) enter the...
read more »
Has image
1974
January
The Women’s Committee supports the purchase of the Ivan Eyre painting Tanglewood, marking the City of Winnipeg’s Centennial. Valued at...
read more »
Has image
Businessman Augustus Searle Leach Jr. becomes Board President.
April
The Development of Canadian Silver opens on April 3.
The WAG-organized exhibition includes almost 200 works on loan from the Henry Birks...
read more »
September
Roger Selby (1934–1995) replaces Dr. Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902–1995) as WAG Director.
The new American Director, specializing in both...
read more »
Has image
December
Sonia Eckhardt-Gramatté (1899–1974), wife of former Director Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902–1995) and internationally acclaimed...
read more »
Has image Has video file
1975
January
The options available in WAG Studio classes for children, teenagers, and adults expand to include filmmaking, pottery, art appreciation, basic...
read more »
Around the same time, Jean Bloggett is hired as the first curator devoted exclusively to Inuit art. William Kirby becomes the Gallery’s...
read more »
May
The Women’s Committee marks International Women’s Year with the purchase of an Inuit sculpture, Camp Scene, by P.O.V. Abraham...
read more »
Has image
June
Vicky Wilson becomes President of the Women’s Committee.
July
Tilt! Pinball Machines 1931–1958, organized by Regina’s Dunlop Art Gallery, opens at the WAG on July 7.
This unorthodox and...
read more »
Has image
September
The WAG introduces special membership rates for full-time students and seniors.
November
Two very different exhibitions open at the Gallery, both marking International Women’s Year: Images of Women and Woman as Viewer. The latter...
read more »
Has image
December
The WAG awards its one-millionth visitor to the new Gallery building with a framed colour print by artist Don Proch.
1976
February
The exhibition Pitseolak. Retrospective. Graphic Works opens on February 13, representing “the first time an artist from Canada’s...
read more »
Later in February, the exhibition Americans in Florence: Europeans in Florence opens.
The exhibition is a loan from the Long Beach Museum of Art...
read more »
March
The Pipoon Festival, presented by the Indian and Metis Friendship Centre of Winnipeg, opens in the Gallery’s main foyer (today Eckhardt...
read more »
Has image
April
Manitoba’s parks department announces plans to fund an extensive landscape design project for the roof of the Gallery, in consultation with...
read more »
May
The Hudson’s Bay Company presents a cheque for $30,000, then the largest single donation in the Gallery’s history, toward the...
read more »
On May 11, two key individuals in the WAG’s history are honoured in with the official designation of the Muriel Richardson Auditorium and...
read more »
Has image
June
The Women’s Committee is renamed the Volunteer Committee. Manitoba’s Lieutenant-Governor Francis Laurence Jobin (1914–1995)...
read more »
Has image
As a result of increased government operations funding, the Volunteer Committee redirects its attention to a limited set of key areas of Gallery...
read more »
Has audio file
August
In August, the Gallery acquires a major collection of Inuit art—over 900 works—from the University of Manitoba professor and artist...
read more »
Has image
The exhibition Master Paintings from the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum opens later that month.
“Undisputedly,” Roger Selby...
read more »
Has image
September
In September, the Gallery announces that three of its curators—Ann Davis, Patricia Bovey, and Jean Blodgett—will begin teaching...
read more »
November
The exhibition Port Harrison/Inoucdjouac opens on November 20, representing the first of a series of exhibitions devoted to the art of particular...
read more »