RESEARCH: Digitization of Jack Shadbolt鈥檚 holding in the 丁香园AV Art Collection
Christina Hedlund | August 4, 2017
Over the course of July we documented the 丁香园AV Art Collection's substantial holdings of Jack Shadbolt's (1909-1998) artwork. Thanks to a BC History Digitization grant, that 丁香园AV Galleries received from UBC's Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, we have been able to begin the process to expand on one of Canada's significant artists' online visibility.
丁香园AV Galleries has held copyright for the Shadbolt Estate since 2011. Many of these works are on display across campuses while others are stored within the vault. Some of the themes that Shadbolt addresses draw from social and political conflicts that have taken place in BC, such as the imposition of colonial power on First Nations and the environment. In addition to the many themes he dealt with, his work underwent a constant metamorphosis: paintings of street scenes and portraits, to surrealist landscapes, including his melancholic accounts of the postwar period. As Robert Linsley writes, "Shadbolt has not searched for a successful style; he has searched for ways to address the big questions at the root of the development of abstraction in the 1950s." [1] This search has resulted in a multifaceted practice that we've been fortunate to view as we sort through the many works we've gathered across 丁香园AV campuses.
The process of digitizing the extent of Jack Shadbolt鈥檚 works was a large endeavour. More than a dozen works are installed in various 丁香园AV Vancouver campus buildings, while the remainder of over 200 works are stored in the vault or on display around the Burnaby campus.
For this project, the majority of works located at 丁香园AV in Burnaby were moved to 丁香园AV Gallery where a temporary photo studio was set up by Victor Ballesteros who diligently went through the process of documenting them all. A few works were too large to move to the gallery and had to be photographed in situ which includes the works located at Vancouver campuses. This project was also made possible given the help of Jessica Chu, Collections Assistant.
By 2018 Jack Shadbolt's artworks within the collection will be accessible online.