Canadian curator returns home to take top McMichael post
Canadian curator and art historian Thomas Smart is returning home to take on a top post at the McMichael gallery.
The gallery announced Wednesday that after an international search, the board has named Smart the new executive director, CEO and president of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation, effective July 1.
"We are fortunate that a person with Tom's credentials and passion for Canadian art is returning to Canada," Noreen Taylor, chair of the McMichael board, said in a statement.
"His proven leadership will be an enormous asset as McMichael continues to re-energize itself in our 40th Anniversary year."
Smart is currently director of collections and exhibitions at Pittsburgh's prestigious Frick Art & Historical Center. During his time at the well-known Pennsylvania gallery, he helped develop a variety of offerings, including programs promoting international exhibitions, education and outreach, visiting artists and fundraising.
Previously, Smart had work as a curator and manager in galleries across Canada, including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Samuel E. Weir Collection and Library of Art in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont. and Fredericton's Beaverbrook Art Gallery.
While at the Beaverbrook, Smart curated a celebrated retrospective of artist Mary Pratt and, in 1996, published the award-winning accompanying book The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light. In 2003, he published a new book examining another established Atlantic Canadian artist: Alex Colville.
Smart praised the McMichael's "enviable collection" and said he and his family would be moving into the gallery's neighbourhood — the "unique and beautiful setting" of Kleinberg, Ont.
"I am pleased to be returning to Canada to lead a gallery I have long admired," Smart said. "I look forward to focusing my energies on Canadian art and its critical role in defining our self image and nation."
Located north of Toronto, the McMichael grew out of art patrons Robert and Signe McMichael's extensive collection of Group of Seven art, which they began amassing in 1955. A decade later, the couple donated their home, their 40-hectare property and their collection of 1920s and 1930s Canadian art to the province of Ontario.
The gallery now holds one of the largest collections of art by Tom Thomson, the Group of Seven and their contemporaries, such as Emily Carr and David Milne. Six of the famous artists are also buried in a small cemetery on the McMichael grounds: Arthur Lismer, Frederick Varley, Lawren Harris, Frank Johnston, A.J. Casson and A.Y. Jackson.