The McMaster Museum of Art has received an exceptional collection of prints, paintings and sculpture from Douglas Davidson, Professor Emeritus, McMaster University Department of Biology.

COLLECTION HIGHLIGHTS

• Inuit prints, drawings, and carvings by such artists as Kenojuak, Johnniebo, Kalvak, and Ohovelok
• First Nations paintings, drawings and prints by Norval Morrisseau, Roy Thomas, Daphne Odjig and Joshim Kakegamic
• European and post-War modern prints by Karel Appel, Milton Avery, Corneille (Dutch “Cobra” artist), Alan Davie, Stanley Hayter, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Eduardo Paolozzi, Victor Pasmore, Georges Rouault, and Antonio Saura
• Canadian post-1960 works by David Blackwood, John Hartman, Toni Onley, Jack Shadbolt
• Plus Canadian stage design drawings, works by American artist Leonard Baskin, and an engraving by 18th century master, Tiepolo

“We are grateful for this extraordinary gift, a testament to Douglas’s enduring passion for art and scholarship, and his discerning eye,” said Carol Podedworny, Director and Chief Curator, McMaster Museum of Art.

Davidson joined the faculty of McMaster’s Department of Biology in 1969 and continued to be active in the Department after his retirement in 1988. This generous gift is only the most recent of many contributions he has made to the arts during his long tenure at the University. He was on the President’s Art Board from 1975-1979. In 1987, he made his first donation of art to the Museum (then “McMaster University Art Gallery”), a gift which included three German Expressionist prints. One, by Erich Heckel, is currently on view in the Museum’s exhibition Living Building Thinking at the Vancouver Art Gallery. As recently as 2016, Davidson gifted a large oil painting, Anne, with hands on shoulder, by English artist John Bratby.

In 1991 he joined the Museum’s Acquisitions Committee, which guides all art purchases and collecting policies, and remained an active member until the end of 2017.

A celebratory exhibition is being planned.

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