The Art of Collecting: A Conversation | Edmonton

Consistently named as a top 200 contemporary art collector in the world by ArtNews, Bob Rennie’s collection began modestly in 1974 with the purchase of the Norman Rockwell print, On Top of the World. Today the collection, comprising over 2,000 works by 300+ artists with more than 50 collected in depth, is shared with the community through free admission to exhibitions and programming at Rennie Museum, founded in 2009 in the oldest building in Vancouver’s Chinatown. A former Chair of Tate Modern’s North American Acquisitions Committee (2010-2016), Bob remains on the Executive Committee of the Tate International Council and the Tate Americas Foundation, and is a Trustee of the Art Institute of Chicago. Locally, he sits on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia and the Belkin Museum Acquisition Board. Bob is a recipient of both The Queen’s Golden (2002) and Diamond (2012) Jubilee Medals, and in 2014 he was appointed to the Order of British Columbia for his distinguished leadership and exceptional dedication to strengthening and enhancing arts and culture in BC. In 2008, Emily Carr University recognized Bob with an honorary doctorate. In 2017, Bob made one of the largest donations of contemporary art received by the National Gallery of Canada. The $12 million donation comprises 197 artworks by Geoffrey Farmer, Rodney Graham, Brian Jungen, Damian Moppett, Doris Salcedo and Ian Wallace.

Aaron M. Milrad is counsel to Dentons Canada LLP, a global law firm.  Aaron is headquartered in Toronto. At Dentons he provides specialized legal and business advice to clients nationally and internationally who are involved in the arts, media and copyright industries.  

He was Chair of the Board of the Museum Trustee Association of North America until 2010, a continuing member of the Board of Trustees of The International Foundation for Art Research in New York, the International Board of the Tel Aviv Museum, a member of the Canadian Friends of the Israel Museum, former Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of The George R. Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art and its American Foundation and a founding director of the Tate Canadian Foundation, former trustee of the Art Gallery of Ontario (“AGO”), Chair of the Acquisition Committee and was a member of the Photography Committee of the AGO former chair of the Koffler Centre for the Arts in Toronto, former VP of the Board of the McMurtry  Gardens of Justice Inc.  in Toronto and a board member of AXA Art Americas Insurance Corporation for the past many years.  

He and his wife, Brenda Coleman are collectors of postwar and contemporary paintings, photography, sculpture and ceramics.

Having been in the art business for over 40 years, Douglas Maclean has worked with every major corporate art collection in Calgary and has been involved with museum collections across Canada. He has sat on the Board of the Art Dealers Association of Canada for over 20 years. Today, he continues to advise private clients and collections across Canada as a private art dealer in Canadian art and to write semi-annual auction reports for Galleries West magazine.

Image credit: Luis Mora, Toronto 2017.