The stakes are cast: the current Director General and Chief Curator of the Musée d’art de Joliette (MAJ), Jean-François Bélisle, will lead the National Gallery of Canada (NGC). This appointment comes after a long period of strong turbulence created by the desire to begin a process of decolonization of one of the most important museum establishments in the country.
The Minister of Canadian Heritage formalized the appointment of Mr. Bélisle this Wednesday noon. The new director will take office on July 17 for a five-year term.
“With a wealth of experience as a curator and director of arts organizations at home and abroad, [Jean-François Bélisle] has proven that it can exercise inclusive and positive leadership, Minister Pablo Rodriguez said in a press release. I am happy that we can put his talent at the service of this important national institution. »
The selection committee met several candidates, according to information obtained by The duty. The appointment of Mr. Bélisle was the one and only recommendation submitted to the cabinet of the Department of Canadian Heritage, which finally ratified it.
The Quebec museologist, perfectly bilingual, has been leading the MAJ since 2016. He has strong expertise in contemporary art. He has notably worked for the Arsenal gallery in Montreal and Toronto, as well as for the Sotheby’s auction house in Geneva.
Mr. Bélisle will replace Angela Cassie, herself appointed on an interim basis after the departure of Sasha Suda, who resigned in 2022 to lead the Philadelphia Museum of Arts. Mme Suda had arrived in Ottawa in 2019 and had time to push through the NGC’s first-ever strategic plan.
Decolonization versus institutional tradition
This fundamental reorganization is based on the policy of equality, diversity and inclusion and on a firm desire to decolonize the museum, that is to say to modify the structures, practices and stories inherited from the Eurocentric colonial era. The establishment’s new slogan, “Ankosé – Everything is Connected – Tout est lien”, is borrowed from the Algonquin language to mark the objective of building bridges with all components of Canadian society, including the First Nations.
The impacts of the great mutation were felt during the past year. The crisis reached a new level when the NGC dismissed four employees and members of management. Among them were the Curator of Indigenous Arts and the Chief Curator.
Jean-François Bélisle has committed his establishment in Joliette to this path of decolonization of theories and practices by organizing the exhibition Views in dialogues in 2020-2021. This work proposed works from the turn of the XXe century of Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Côté, Alfred Laliberté or Louis-Philippe Hébert, emphasizing the stereotypes and discrimination they conveyed. Reviews of these artistic shots by three Aboriginal people completed the proposal by reframing the message.
The decolonizing turn comes up against the institutional tradition. The major collectors of the country have expressed their concerns about this transformation which will influence all the functions of the museum, the collection as well as the exhibition of works, hiring as well as the history of art practiced by specialists.
The tension surrounding the major retrospective which will be devoted to Jean-Paul Riopelle in the fall, to celebrate his 100e birthday, concentrated this clash of perspectives. The new ideological and historiographic orientation tended to want to reduce the resources devoted to yet another celebration of a white artist; on the contrary, collectors and curators of modern art wanted to add to it.