Testing of Vancouver Art Gallery’s J.E.H. MacDonald paintings to begin

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More than a year after the Vancouver Art Gallery proudly announced its acquisition of 10 sketches by Group of Seven founding member J.E.H. MacDonald, the paintings will soon undergo testing at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa.

The sketches, which were to be shown at the gallery last fall, have still not been publicly displayed and questions have been raised about their authenticity.

The VAG submitted an undisclosed number of the works to the Canadian Conservation Institute for testing. The CCI is planning to test "a selection" of the canvases this spring. The testing follows a larger study (involving the McMichael Canadian Art Collection) of the artist's materials and techniques, which predates the VAG acquisition.

"Through our scientific examination, we will be able to determine if the materials of the VAG works are consistent with those of the J.E.H. MacDonald works studied as part of our project," CCI official Debbie Laplante wrote in an e-mail in response to questions from The Globe and Mail. (Requests for an interview were denied.)

The scientific testing will include technical photography, non-invasive analysis and the analysis of microscopic samples of paint removed from the works.

In January, 2015, the VAG sent out a news release announcing the acquisition of 10 "newly discovered and never-before-displayed oil paintings" by MacDonald. Senior curator Ian Thom explained to The Globe at the time that the sketches were wrapped carefully in cellophane and tar paper, placed in boxes and buried in various places around the artist's property in Thornhill, Ont., before MacDonald, in poor health, travelled to Barbados in 1931. The artist died the following year.

The oil sketches were unearthed by his son Thoreau MacDonald more than four decades later, Thom said, when MacDonald was planning to leave the property. Family friend Max Merkur, a real estate developer, was visiting as the sketches were being unearthed, and wound up purchasing them, Thom explained. Following the deaths of Merkur (in 2007) and his wife, Reta Merkur (in 2012), his sons donated the works to the VAG, after they were authenticated by Thom and Dennis Reid, another respected Group of Seven expert, formerly with the Art Gallery of Ontario.

The January, 2015, VAG news release said the works would be presented as part of a larger exhibition in the fall of 2015. "Following a remarkable history, 10 rare artworks will be made accessible to the public for the first time since their creation," the release promised.

The gallery's big show last fall was Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven. The major exhibition included several works by MacDonald – but none of the new acquisitions. "We're doing ongoing research on them," Thom told The Globe when asked about the absence of the works at the time.

In a subsequent telephone conversation, the collector who lent the VAG many of the works for the exhibition said he didn't want there to be any controversy connected to the show.

"I think Ian wanted to include them and I suggest[ed] that it wouldn't be in anybody's interest to have a controversial show. I didn't say 'don't' [show the recently acquired sketches]. I just said I think it's not in anybody's interest to have a controversy," the collector, who remained anonymous as the major lender for the VAG show said; The Globe has agreed not to identify him.

"I suggested if you want to show your pictures, just make an exhibition of MacDonalds," the collector recalled telling Thom.

(The show is currently at the Glenbow in Calgary and will travel to the Art Gallery of Hamilton in June.)

A number of experts in historical Canadian art have expressed concerns about the sketches. Among the issues raised to The Globe: the plausibility of the burial story, the pristine condition of the canvases in spite of the burial, and the techniques used in the sketches. Respected Montreal gallerist and Group of Seven expert, Alan Klinkhoff, was asked to appraise the sketches and refused. "I was not 100 per cent certain," he told The Globe last year. He says he would respond in the same way today.

The Vancouver Art Gallery declined to answer specific questions about the paintings this week, including whether the gallery is still confident that the works are authentic. A spokesperson said the VAG would not be commenting further on this "until we have an update."

It's unclear when the results of this testing will be known – but it won't be any time soon. "This type of project typically requires several months, therefore we cannot specify when it will be completed," CCI's Rachelle Laplaine wrote in an e-mail to The Globe.