The non-circulating collections support research activities of WAG-Qaumajuq staff and are also available to the academic community and general public. It overlooks Ilipvik (the learning steps) and features an outdoor terrace.
Online Library Catalogue
Please note that our library is currently unavailable as we are in the process of a full inventory of our library holdings. Thank you to the WAG Associates for helping us with this important process.
Niizhwaaso means “seven” in Ojibway, in honour of the Indigenous group of seven.
The library maintains over 10,000 artists’ biography files, focusing on Manitoban and Canadian artists. Files contain clippings and pamphlets and other ephemera on artists represented in the WAG collection, as well as Canadian and international artists. Access to this collection is available on the Canadian Heritage Information Network database, Artists in Canada.
The Periodicals collection includes magazines, newspapers, and other serial publications available for browsing and research. Our library subscribes to scholarly and general art magazines, featuring key Canadian, North American, and international titles as well as the Art Index database.
The WAG Archives collection represents the activities of the Gallery from its inception to the present. In addition to institutional records, the collection also includes the archives of individuals uniquely connected to the Gallery.
Please note, we are working on migrating our records to the main database.
Contact
Staff Projects & Publications
Monday, Jun 17 '24
Behind-the-Scenes with Vitaliy
Every year, a handful of artworks from the WAG-Qaumajuq collection are selected for conservation. The artwork may be new to the collection and require immediate…
Thursday, Sep 29 '22
Remembering Elisapee Ishulutaq
WAG-Qaumajuq Curator of Inuit Art, Darlene Coward Wight reflected on the time she spent with renowned Inuit artist, Elisapee Ishulutaq in the new McMichael Canadian…
Friday, May 20 '22
From Considering a Burn to Into the Light
Head of Collections & Exhibitions, Riva Symko wrote about decolonizing museums in Anchorage Museum’s latest issue of Chatter Marks. In the article, From Considering a…
Monday, Sep 6 '21
Qaumajuq Centre Sets Tone for the Decolonization of Collections
Darlene Coward Wight, WAG-Qaumajuq Curator of Inuit Art talked about the new Inuit art centre with Rachel Ozerkevich of Art & Object. “Since 1961, WAG…
Tuesday, Sep 15 '20
Inuit woman brought carved stone to life
In this Kingston Whig Standard article, WAG-Qaumajuq Curator of Inuit Art, Darlene Coward Wight gives insight into the life of Oviloo Tunnillie. The novice artist’s…
Friday, Aug 27 '21
Germaine Arnaktauyok: Creating a visual language
WAG-Qaumajuq Curator of Inuit Art, Darlene Coward Wight, wrote an article for Above & Beyond – Canada’s Arctic Journal about Germaine Arnaktauyok. “In 1998, I…
Learn More About Our Collection
Friday, Mar 1 '24
New Acquisitions, Old Favourites
We’re pleased to welcome five artworks from the Kathleen Burrows Lightcap Collection into the permanent collection. If they look familiar that’s because these pieces have…
Wednesday, Mar 17 '21
Moving Art into the Visible Vault
The world’s largest public collection of contemporary Inuit art will soon be accessible for all to see in the new Visible Vault at Qaumajuq, the…
Wednesday, Jul 31 '19
Catching up with the Interns
Every summer, the WAG is pleased to welcome students for internships in a variety of departments and roles. Hear from four interns on their experience…
Monday, Feb 22 '21
Acquisitions in 2020-21
Due to construction and opening of Qaumajuq – the Inuit art centre, the WAG instituted an acquisitions slowdown for 2020-21, both for artwork donations and…
Thursday, Sep 3 '20
Caring for the Spirit of the art
Today was an important day at the WAG. With the leadership of Elders Clarence and Barbara Nepinak and their daughter Rebecca, Ceremony was held in…
Wednesday, Feb 24 '21
New WAG Acquisition
This small painting carries big energy. The striking, intense colour and strong, urgent brushstrokes seem to animate the image beyond the edges of the paper….
Thursday, Oct 29 '20
These 7 artworks joined your collection in 2019-20
Our curators always have an eye out for works of art to add to the WAG collection, your collection. Both to build exhibitions and diversify…
Thursday, Mar 19 '20
Meet Riva
Get to know the WAG’s Head of Collections & Exhibitions and Curator of Canadian Art, Dr. Riva Symko, who started in January. Riva’s primary areas of…
Wednesday, Apr 29 '20
My Daily Art
The WAG received an early holiday present in 2016 with the loan of the monumental sculpture The Thinker by Auguste Rodin (1840-1917). One of the…
Friday, Apr 3 '20
My Daily Art
Shortly after my arrival at the WAG, we organized a retrospective exhibition of the Winnipeg artist, Bruce Head (1931-2009). Sadly, a year later Bruce passed…
Sunday, Apr 26 '20
My Daily Art
Every so often there is a singular artwork that seems tailor made in scale and timing for a gallery space. This was the case for…
Monday, Mar 23 '20
My Daily Art
I often associate spring with new growth – and the waiting and hoping for things planted in past seasons to rise up. It’s like the…
Tuesday, Mar 24 '20
My Daily Art
Speaking of spring and planting, one of my favourite photographic series by Winnipeg artist Sarah Anne Johnson is her series on tree planting. A few…
Sunday, Mar 29 '20
My Daily Art
When visitors see “The Story” (1890) by the Canadian artist George Agnew Reid (1860-1947) at the WAG, they often ask two things – what are…
Saturday, Mar 28 '20
My Daily Art
Winnipeg-born Rosalie Favell often incorporates material from family photo albums and popular culture and media to document her experience as an Indigenous woman and artist….
Saturday, Apr 25 '20
My Daily Art
A 737 cargo jet filled with Antique Greek and Roman sculptures and artifacts destined from Berlin to Winnipeg. That was the start of the 2015…
Thursday, Apr 9 '20
My Daily Art
The main limestone-clad stairway originating from the entrance hall of the WAG provides a gracious entree to the Mezzanine and Gallery levels, offering exhibition spaces…
Sunday, Apr 19 '20
My Daily Art
I remember clearly the day I first met the Winnipeg artist Eva Stubbs (1925-2017). I had just arrived at the WAG as Director a few…
Thursday, Apr 16 '20
My Daily Art
Turning from the art collection to the architecture and back to the collection, I wanted to devote some posts to the artists behind the works….
Friday, Apr 10 '20
My Daily Art
For me, it’s the best rooftop garden in the city hands down. On a bright spring day, hot summer evening, or fall afternoon, this expansive…
Monday, Apr 27 '20
My Daily Art
We called it a summer with the Impressionists: “French Moderns: Monet to Matisse, 1850-1950” brought together 70 paintings and sculptures from the Brooklyn Museum in…
Monday, Apr 13 '20
My Daily Art
A window is a valued asset in these days of self isolation; and a window that opens up to a view is a prize. With…
Monday, Apr 20 '20
My Daily Art
You may have seen a star blanket mural by Kenneth Lavallee on the side of a building in Winnipeg. I wanted one for the WAG…
Sunday, Apr 12 '20
My Daily Art
“Easter Morning, La Petite Penitente, Brittany” was painted by Mary Riter Hamilton (1873-1954) around 1900 while she was studying in Paris. After her studies, Hamilton…
Friday, Nov 6 '20
My Daily Art
My Daily Art . . . Over life-sized on a pedestal, she stands over two meters tall, sheathed in sculpted white plaster – honest, direct,…
Friday, Apr 17 '20
My Daily Art
For some reason several of my photos of these two artists happen to show them standing together – Jaimie Isaac and Julie Nagam. Of course…
Monday, Nov 2 '20
My Daily Art
My Daily Art is back . . . Fifty years apart they both wore blue. Half a century ago it was Her Royal Highness Princess…
Monday, Apr 6 '20
My Daily Art
Turning from the WAG collection to the architecture behind the art, I wanted to feature some of the spaces of what is considered one of…
Saturday, Apr 11 '20
My Daily Art
Art is a voice, and a powerful one. Art also brings us together and helps us communicate with each other, and learn – as a…
Wednesday, Mar 25 '20
My Daily Art
From the surreal images of the northern Manitoba landscape to the fields and forests of 19th-century France, I wanted to share a painting by the…
Sunday, Apr 5 '20
My Daily Art
I am hoping this is the last day for months that I post a snow picture. But to bid adieu to the winter I may…
Tuesday, Apr 21 '20
My Daily Art
In 2016, I came across a Globe & Mail story about an artist, Teva Harrison, who, after being diagnosed with Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer,…
Tuesday, Mar 31 '20
My Daily Art
Another celebrated Victorian artist, William De Morgan (1839-1917) was one of the most influential ceramic artists of his day, even though some said his vessels…
Saturday, Apr 4 '20
My Daily Art
Participating in the WAG’s INSURGENCE/RESURGENCE exhibition in 2017, Joi T. Arcand chose Cree syllabics in neon and other materials to explore the revitalization of the…
Monday, Mar 30 '20
My Daily Art
The British painter John Everett Millais (1829-1896) gave his painting “Afternoon Tea” in the WAG collection the subtitle “The Gossips”. Perhaps it was because he…
Thursday, Nov 5 '20
My Daily Art
Often when we think about Inuit art, carvings, prints, drawings, and textiles come to mind. But there is a lot more to this contemporary artistic…
Thursday, Mar 26 '20
My Daily Art
Still thinking of the landscape, I wanted to return to Winnipeg – and our amazing river landscapes. In Native Fires (1996) in the WAG collection,…
Friday, Mar 27 '20
My Daily Art
In this time of self-isolation and quarantine, people’s faces are protected, covered, and even hid. It made me think about the hooded portraits by Winnipeg…
Saturday, May 2 '20
My Daily Art
A big part of great architecture is relationships. Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of working with Michael Maltzan on the creation…
Wednesday, Apr 22 '20
My Daily Art
Robert Archambeau has been working and teaching with clay for over sixty years. This is a legacy of studio excellence, academic prowess, and profound mentorship…
Wednesday, Nov 4 '20
My Daily Art
My Daily Art . . . This morning I woke up searching for an artwork that would help me look ahead, focus on the positive,…
Saturday, Mar 21 '20
My Daily Art
The title of this 1922 painting by Frank Johnston – Serenity, Lake of the Woods – says so much and offers so much about the…
Friday, Mar 20 '20
My Daily Art
Raised by family friends in Germany through her formative years, Christiane Pflug and her family later settled in Toronto in the early 1960s. For many…
Wednesday, Apr 8 '20
My Daily Art
Fittingly, the main entrance hall of the WAG is named in honour of Dr. Ferdinand Eckhardt (1902-1995), the visionary WAG director that ushered the Gallery…
Friday, May 1 '20
My Daily Art
It’s Friday, and the WAG is planning to reopen next week after a seven-week closure. It’s also Day #44 in my series. I’m not really…
Thursday, Apr 2 '20
My Daily Art
Since it’s my birthday today, I thought I would share a personal story. Museum directors sometimes ask each other – which artwork would you grab…
Wednesday, Apr 15 '20
My Daily Art
Same artist two days in a row – but Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890-1956) deserves it this time around. Imagine working on a retrospective exhibition for…
Thursday, Mar 19 '20
My Daily Art
While the WAG is temporarily closed, your collection is still here for you. Stay connected with the art through daily posts from our Director & CEO, Dr….
Monday, May 4 '20
My Daily Art
My LAST Daily Art . . . Art is a Voice – and I’ve heard and seen countless voices over these days of isolation and…
Tuesday, Nov 3 '20
My Daily Art
My Daily Art . . . In these challenging days of the pandemic, I often find myself turning to art for inspiration, even escape. With…
Friday, Apr 24 '20
My Daily Art
I was a curator long before I was a director – and it remains my first love in the museum world. For a curator, there…
Wednesday, Apr 1 '20
My Daily Art
The inspiration for “Girl with Red Shirt” (2005) by the Winnipeg-born Janet Werner was a magazine advertisement for children’s clothing. The artist then reduced the…
Sunday, May 3 '20
My Daily Art
Winnipeg is a city of many nations and cultures. When it comes to architecture, this diversity is mirrored through a mix of regional, national, and…
Tuesday, Apr 28 '20
My Daily Art
Since the 1970s, Tony Scherman has pursued image and figuration over other movements of the day such as Pop Art and Conceptualism. And for his…
Tuesday, Apr 7 '20
My Daily Art
The architectural competition for the new WAG attracted 109 entrants from around the world. The jury selected Gustavo da Roza, a young Portuguese-Canadian architect and…
Thursday, Apr 23 '20
My Daily Art
35 daily art posts and I still haven’t talked about the magicians at the WAG. So before I share a few of my favourite exhibitions…
Tuesday, Apr 14 '20
My Daily Art
On April 2 we opened the exhibition Into the Light: Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald to an audience of one – the security officer on duty that morning….
Thursday, Apr 30 '20
My Daily Art
After years of planning we were thrilled to break ground on the WAG Inuit Art Centre on May 25, 2018. This would be the home…
Saturday, Apr 18 '20
My Daily Art
For me, the Winnipeg artist Cliff Eyland cannot be defined by one of his paintings, photo-based works or any art object. When I think of…
Sunday, Mar 22 '20
My Daily Art
I included this wool felt embroidery work by the Inuit artist Marion Tuu’luq (1910-2002) in my 100 Masters: Only in Canada exhibition at the WAG…
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