Retrospective designed to attract people unlikely to visit an art gallery

ANN DUNCAN

THE GAZETTE

Saturday, September 12, 1992

 

Each fall for the past 20 years, the Galerie Walter Klinkhoff has done something that is truly exceptional for a commercial gallery. It organizes a museum-quality exhibition at its own expense - there are no government handouts here - of works of a Montreal artist that the Klinkhoff family believes has been far too neglected.

 

These exhibitions have cost, in recent years, upwards of $25,000 each, a hefty amount during these lean, mean recessionary times. But the real kicker is that the Klinkhoffs don't stand to make a cent from any of these shows, as none of the art on the gallery's walls is for sale. All the works have been borrowed from museums and private collectors throughout Ontario and Quebec, and they have been brought to the show at the gallery's expense.

 

A Great Education Tool

So why do the Klinkhoffs put on such exhibitions, especially now given the beleaguered state of the local art market? "Partly public relations," Eric Klinkhoff replied candidly this week. "And partly because it's a great tool for education." These exhibitions tend to draw a far larger and broader audience than usual, from students to people who would never otherwise set foot in a Sherbrooke St. W. gallery.

 

The Klinkhoffs are expecting close to 4,000 people will see the latest exhibition in this series - a retrospective of the work of Anne Savage (1896-1971) - which opens today. The exhibitions are aimed at helping to bridge the gulf that separates many people from the world of the visual arts, Klinkhoff said. Over the past several years, the Klinkhoffs have concentrated on showing the work of many of the original members of the Beaver Hall Hill Group.

 

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