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Donald William Buchanan (1908 - 1966) - a great Canadian; an art collector; an influential writer about Canadian art, design, life, films and broadcasting; a perceptive photographer; the curator of the revolutionary exhibition, "Design for Use in Canadian Products" in 1946, Director of the Industrial Design Division of the National Gallery of Canada (1947 - 1953) and Chief of its Industrial Design Centre (1954 - 1955); and first Director of the International Fine Arts Exhibition at Expo '67 (1965 - 1966). This Site is dedicated to the outstanding accomplishments of Donald W. Buchanan. A prairie boy from Lethbridge, Alberta, Donald Buchanan forged a remarkable career. Hand-picked by Harry McCurry, then Assistant Director of the National Gallery of Canada, Buchanan began museum and art gallery studies in 1934 thanks to a fellowship from the Carnegie Corporation. Another Carnegie grant enabled Buchanan to complete this research for a catalogue raisonné on William James Morrice in Europe in 1935; Ryersen published this biography of Morrice in 1936. A long and devoted service with the National Gallery of Canada from 1947 to 1960 followed, after distinguished intermediary years with the National Film Society (now the Canadian Film Institute) from 1936 to 1937, the Canadian Radio Commission (now CBC) from 1937 to 1940 and the National Film Board from 1941 to 1947. Assistant Director of the National Gallery of Canada from 1956 to 1960, Buchanan also served on its Board of Trustees from 1963 to his untimely death on February 26, 1966. At a critical time when Canada was defining itself as a nation, Donald Buchanan played a vital role in developing the nation's sense of itself. He also "made us better known abroad and has endeavoured to make us better worth knowing."[1] How this came about is the subject of this Site. 1. ^ Robert Ayre, "The New Associate Director of The National Gallery," Toronto Daily Star, July 16, 1955. |
