Bob Rennie donates $22.8 million in art to the National Gallery of Canada: 'We want the works to be shown'
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Vancouver real estate marketer Bob Rennie is starting to think about his legacy, and where to place some of the 4,000-plus works in his art collection.
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The National Gallery of Canada appears to be at the top of his list. On Monday, the Ottawa institution announced Rennie and his family had donated 61 works to the gallery, valued at $22.8 million.
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The trove includes 40 works by the late Vancouver artist Rodney Graham and three works by Ai Weiwei, the outspoken contemporary art superstar from China.
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Rennie has already donated a couple of hundred works to the National Gallery, bringing the total to 260 pieces of art valued at $35 million.
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'I'm 69,' said Rennie, a wildly successful real estate marketer and internationally known art collector. 'My kids don't have the capacity to manage this collection, so I want a custodian that is better than me and that is well-funded for conservation, preservation, (and) blending.'
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He also notes the National Gallery has a new position designed 'to make sure that there's a lending practice across Canada to major, modest and small museums. We want the works to be shown.'
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There may be more art on the way.
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'We're discussing two major Kerry James Marshall works,' he said. 'I think (the gallery was) surprised that we might be willing to give them, because they're extremely valuable.'
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That isn't hype. A Marshall painting sold for $21.1 million US at Sotheby's auction in 2018.
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'It's very hard for museums to keep up with contemporary market prices,' he said.
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To get expensive works, art galleries rely on donations. Rennie said for a collector, donating art is like 'you're marrying off your children.'
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'You hope that they're marrying the right person, and the journey will be protected,' he said. 'And that's been our relationship with the National Gallery. We've been (that way) ever since our first donation to them 20 years ago. We've been very comfortable.'
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Rennie had local shows of his collection for a couple of decades at his own gallery in Chinatown, located at the historic Wing Sang building. Many of the works he has donated were at shows at his gallery, including a Rodney Graham exhibition.
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