Our National Gallery exists, in large part because of Shirley Thomson.
Shirley and Jean Sutherland Boggs were tapped by Prime Minister Trudeau to oversee the building, acquisitions, and layout of the collection. They were a power trio and I dare say we would not have this gallery without the vision of these three.
I shot this portrait in the former National Gallery at the Lorne Building on Elgin Street in 1986 as part of the documentation of the Curators and Exhibits of the upcoming new building.
The shot was not planned and I still remember Shirley looking disapprovingly at me as I suggested two staff hold the frame in front of her. I proceeded to shoot a black and white Polaroid of the setup and a huge smile came over her face…On her passing in 2010, the National Gallery chose this image to honor her in a range of articles, including their magazine Vernissage. They told me it was her favorite portrait.
In the following years, Conservatives were outraged Ms. Thomson had spent $1.8-million, more than half the gallery’s acquisition budget, to buy Barnett Newman’s modernist painting, Voice of Fire.
Unrepentant, in an interview, Shirley simply said “One never hesitates before a masterpiece.”
Voice of Fire was cutting-edge work and Conservatives saw it for what they deplored: something modern, dangerous and expensive. History has proven Shirley right as it is currently valued in the range of 50 million dollars….effectively a 5,000 percent increase on the investment.
Among my many memories of Shirley, two stand out. I was on a date and shuffled into my seat at the NAC when from directly behind me a voice says hello…I turn and she introduces me to famed dancer Celia Franca as Ottawas “new” Karsh. While recovering from that compliment my date…who was an aspiring painter, whispered, who is that…and I responded….Oh, just the Director of the National Gallery.
Shirley was passionate about the arts and often expressed her frustration not only about the politicians she battled but the arts bureaucracy itself. I fondly remember starting a shoot in the main Rotunda of the Gallery for Time with the intention that Parliament would be seen in the open windows. To my horror, during the narrow time-frame the blinds were down and every level of bureaucrat hovering around told me they had no control over my dilemma. With the clock ticking, who should walk by me but Shirley. With a big smile she said how was it going and I explained the problem…she wheeled on her heel and simply said…I want those fu#*king blinds up in five minutes or someones head will roll.
They were up in three minutes.