Current Exhibitions
The Gold Rush: The Imaginary Klondike
January 18 – May 19, 2008
Main Gallery
Opening Reception: February 9, 2008 from 7-9 PM
The Klondike Gold Rush – of 1897 and 1898 – has become part of our collective imagination. Photography, more than anything else, succeeded in making the daring efforts of gold seekers come alive, making them known throughout the world through stereoscopic views distributed by the biggest publishers. The scenes depicted contain all the elements inherent in fairy tales: a far-off and unknown land, incredible physical and psychological obstacles and, at the end, the hope of finding immense wealth. It is an ideal homage to Canada but, at the same time, a moment of reflection on a great epic that, once again, saw mountains as the protagonist.
In 2005, photographer, Craig Richards traveled with the Director of the Museo Nazionale Della Montagna, Aldo Audisio, and Italian journalist Toni Cembran along the Klondike trail and captured imagery with his lens and his heart in a revival that is not nostalgia, but historical research and a valuable tool of comparison.
The exhibition consists of historical and contemporary photographs and is accompanied by a selection of historical films pertaining to the Gold Rush.
This exhibition is organized and circulated by, and selected from, the collection of the Museo Nazionale Della Montagna, Torino, Italy. The Gold Rush: The Imaginary Klondike was the feature exhibition at the Museo during the Torino 2006 Winter Olympics.
Through The Lens
January 18 – May 19, 2008
Main Gallery
Opening Reception: February 9, 2008 from 7-9 PM
Kids and creativity go together no matter where they are in the world.
Lord Beaverbrook High School, Calgary, has been invited to take part in this year’s Through The Lens program, now in its eleventh year. These students will join students from Banff Community High School, Canmore Collegiate High School, and Morley Community School in this photographic program. For the past three months they have participated in field trips, darkroom demonstrations, critiques, portrait workshops, and presentations by exhibiting photographers.
To date, over 350 students have participated in this program. Together with the Canadian Rockies School Division No.12 of Banff and Canmore, the Stoney School District of Morley and the Calgary Public School District No.19, we are working towards the mutual goals of learning and developing creativity and self-esteem. Through The Lens encourages the students to experiment and to learn about themselves, their community, and the exciting medium of visual communication through photography. This exhibition is a selection of each student’s photographs.
In May of 2007, Craig Richards worked with children from the Basua Pygmies on the border of Uganda and the Congo as well as former street kids in Kampala, Uganda. A selection of their photographs will also be incorporated into this exhibition.
“I’ve always had an interest in the things that make a place what it is, which means not exactly like any other place and yet related to other places…” Paul Strand
The Stuff of Legend: The Luxton Family in Banff and the Bow Valley
April 26, 2008 – October 31, 2009
Heritage Gallery
Opening Reception: April 26, 2008 from 7-9 PM
Through their strength of character and extraordinary lives, the Luxton and McDougall families helped bring the small mountain community of Banff and the Bow Valley to the world. At the same time, they brought the world to Banff. This exhibition is a tribute to the spirit, vision, commitment and creative energy of one of the early pioneer families in Banff and the Bow Valley.
With a keen sense that he was creating history, Norman Luxton, adventurer, entrepreneur and Banff booster, amassed his family’s history. His daughter, Eleanor, historian, scholar and educator, became the chronicler and preserver of the family’s history, as well as the human and natural heritage of this region.
This is their story. It is truly the stuff of legend.
The Group of Seven to Takao Tanabe...Inspiring landscape
May 24 – October 13, 2008
Main Gallery
Opening Reception: May 24, 2008 from 7-9 PM
Many great Canadian landscape artists taught at the Banff School of Fine Arts, now The Banff Centre, from the 1930s to the 1980s. From A. Y. Jackson to Takao Tanabe, all of the artists who taught here were inspired by the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of Alberta. They, in turn, inspired the work of their students, contemporaries and followers.
This exhibition presents the work of artists who taught landscape art in Banff, beginning with a member of the Group of Seven and culminating with Takao Tanabe, but also including examples from other long-serving instructors such as A. C. Leighton, Walter J. Phillips and H. G. Glyde. Some came only briefly, but others spent a major part of their careers at the Banff School of Fine Arts.
At one end of the spectrum was A. Y. Jackson, who spent many seasons teaching in Banff in the 1940s, capturing the spirit of the prairies and mountains alike. At the other end, was Takao Tanabe who turned to the plains for his greatest inspiration, and it was during his time in Banff (1973-1980) that he embarked on his innovative series The Land.
As much as possible, works have been drawn from the collection of the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, but we also thank the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Art Gallery of Alberta, The Banff Centre’s Walter Phillips Gallery, Glenbow Museum, Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery of the University of British Columbia, Government House Foundation Collection and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection for their support of The Group of Seven to Takao Tanabe… Inspiring Landscape.
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Dyea & Pier Pilings 2005
silver gelatin photograph by Craig Richards
Raphaele Bergeron
Self Portrait
George McLean (Walking Buffalo), Norman Luxton and Jonas Rider on the day Luxton was made honourary chief, 1935, Byron Harmon
Lux I/D1-3
J.E.H. MacDonald, Cathedral Mountain from Opabin Pass, Sept. 12, 1929
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