MMFA 2019: Bruce Bailey Collection

FOR EVERY ATOM BELONGING TO ME AS GOOD 

BELONGS TO YOU

Selections from the Bailey Collection

December 4, 2019 – March 29, 2020

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) presents a selection of artworks from a private art collection of an Ontario philanthropist, collector, and MMFA patron W. Bruce C. Bailey. It offers to the public over 100 paintings, sculptures, photographs, and works on paper from different time periods and cultures, all from Bailey's vast collection.

The exhibition borrowed its name For Every Atom Belonging to Me as Good Belongs to You from the title of Walt Whitman's poem Song of Myself (1881). Like this poem, W. Bruce C. Bailey's collection is meant to invite the audience to consider how art expresses unique sensibilities and also some shared commonalities of human experience.

Nathalie Bondil, MMFA's Director General and Chief Curator, has stated:

"So many words could be used to describe Bruce Bailey: gentleman-farmer, magician of the everyday, brilliant intellect, passionate heart, friend to artists, patron of the arts, lavish salonnier and extravagant businessman. An Ontarian who loves Quebec, fiercely proud Canadian and citizen of the world, this man of faith and conviction is unveiling his collection, revealing a deep, complex humanity, with its doubts and its struggles. He is committed to contemporary art that explores the timeliest of topics: gender, indigenous issues, feminism, conflicts. With his generosity and his vision, he encourages the best artists at home and abroad. This steadfast friend of the Museum has loaned works by Peter Doig and Robert Mapplethorpe, and enriched its collections with spectacular pieces by Kent Monkman, Shary Boyle, Geneviève Cadieux, Kim Dorland and Tony Matelli.  Moreover, thanks to his exceptional donations and fundraising efforts, the Museum has been able to purchase remarkable works by old masters and contemporary artists."

Started in 1975, Mr Bailey's collection stands out through its interest in the Other. The collector is strongly attracted to works that deal with the meaning of "being human" and with good, evil, beauty, sadness, neglect and ugliness in humanity. The dichotomies of life/death, black/white, good/bad and love/hate reflect the facets of human condition.

Mr. Bailey is a major patron of the Canadian arts community. Every other year, he holds a country celebration on his estate in Ontario, with all profits going to the MMFA to enrich its collection.  The funds raised made it possible to acquire historical works such as the Modello for the "Portrait of Louis XIV in Royal Ceremonial Robes" (1701) by Hyacinthe Rigaud, as well as recent acquisitions by contemporary artists Shilpa Gupta, Gauri Gill and Betsabeé Romero. Since 2003, Bailey has donated numerous works to the Museum by artists that include Jules de Balincourt, Geneviève Cadieux, Petah Coyne, Evergon, Tyler Bright Hilton, John Massey, Tony Matelli, Kent Monkman and Erik Parker. He has served on the MMFA's Acquisition Committee –International Art after 1900 since November 2010. 

This exhibition is organized by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts in collaboration with W. Bruce C. Bailey.

Curator: Mary-Dailey Desmarais, Curator of International Modern and Contemporary Art, MMFA.

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Exibition Location
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Contemporary Art Square, Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion – Level S2

For more information about the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts exhibitions and activities, visit the museum's website.

Additionally, you can read a separate article about Paterson Ewen's paintings at the Bruce Bailey Collection ehhibition here.