Unveiling the Vault: Sonia Del Re on the Hidden Treasures of ‘Gathered Leaves’

Behind the doors of the National Gallery of Canada lies a world of rarely seen drawings by masters like Degas, Klimt, and Picasso, alongside overlooked gems by underrepresented artists. In Gathered Leaves: Discoveries from the Drawings Vault, Senior Curator Sonia Del Re brings over a century of hidden treasures into the light.

In this interview, Del Re discusses the curatorial vision behind the exhibition, the fine balance between conservation and access, and why drawings—intimate, immediate, and often surprising—deserve a closer look.

Gathered Leaves features over 130 works by 84 artists. What was your curatorial approach when selecting pieces from such an expansive and historically rich collection?

Sonia Del Re: “To help us celebrate in style the centenary of the department of ‘Prints and Drawings,’ we received a major grant from the Getty Foundation’s Paper Project supporting the work of young and mid-career curators of works on paper. Therefore, there was an understanding that we’d focus on promoting the acquisitions and research that we undertook in our time at the National Gallery of Canada. There was also a wish to look back and see if we could uncover new information about drawings that had been in our collection longer, but that we knew relatively little about.

“In other words, we wanted to share new knowledge with our audiences, either by way of pieces making their Canadian debut or by digging deep into the collection for those objects that have received little attention throughout the decades. For instance, a charming study of a reclining ewe that came into our collection almost by mistake and that we knew virtually nothing about has now firmly been attributed to a remarkably successful woman painter of the 19th century, Rosa Bonheur. The underlying thread, however, was to show the breadth of our holdings and therefore expand the notion of drawing.”

How does this exhibition reflect the evolution of drawing as a medium—from preparatory sketch to finished artwork—across centuries and artistic movements?

“The exhibition covers five centuries of draughtsmanship in Europe and demonstrates that even as early as the Renaissance, drawing was used for a variety of ends. The juxtaposition of straightforward black chalk studies of nudes by Antonio Campi that were likely made in preparation for elaborate paintings and a consummate chiaroscuro drawing (on a paper layered with a bold red ground) of a ‘Dead Christ with Angels’ of circa 1560 by Romulo Cincinnato that is a finished artwork in and of itself, both dating to the 1550s to 1560s exemplifies this spectrum.

“On the contrary, the medium of pastel was used in the Renaissance to make quick sketches, and it was only in the 18th century, following the example of the widely acclaimed Venetian portraitist Rosalba Carriera, that it came into use for highly finished pieces that read like painting but take a lot less time to execute since there is no need for paint to dry in between sessions.

“Nevertheless, we didn’t want the exhibition to feel like an art course. Therefore, while the exhibition takes advantage of the variety of techniques, functions, time periods, movements, formats, etc., in our collection, it is not built around these categories. The arrangement is lively and focused on enjoying the art and its stories as opposed to lecturing on art history.”

Many of the drawings are rarely shown due to conservation concerns. What steps were taken to balance preservation with public access in this exhibition?

“Works on paper are sensitive to many factors. In a museum setting, which is temperature and humidity controlled, the greatest danger they face is being overexposed to light: paper can change colour, and some of the materials (ink, watercolour, etc.) can fade or oxidize. Museums of our size, therefore, usually have large holdings of works on paper so that they can rotate the works on view. Indeed, objects on ‘permanent view’ are not possible in our collecting area.

“Additionally, light levels are kept low where works on paper are on display: illumination is topped at 50 lux. Whenever a work on paper is shown, we must calculate how much ‘dark time,’ as we say in our lingo, it will require afterwards to ensure the accumulation of light exposure over time does not result in a change (discoloration mostly). In most common cases, a work can sustain about 12 months of display at 50 lux or less without changes, provided the piece gets thereafter five or even more years of ‘beauty sleep,’ as I like to say.

“With close to 30,000 works on paper at the National Gallery of Canada, there’s plenty to go around. Furthermore, members of the public (most frequently researchers) can access works that are not available for display in the ‘Prints, Drawings and Photograph Study Room,’ by appointment, so that objects remain accessible even when not on view.”

The show includes works by renowned names like Degas and Kandinsky, but also lesser-known women artists. How did you ensure gender equity and diverse representation in the selection process?

“This feels like it came together quite naturally. Because I have been interested in acquiring more works by women artists and because those already in the collection were often less researched, they were good candidates for this exhibition, presenting ‘discoveries.’ It’s important to note that the women artists in Gathered Leaves were celebrated in their day, which explains why their art survived, though they are certainly less well-known in the 21st century.

“Take our 1664 drawing by Elisabetta Sirani, a preeminent Baroque painter from Bologna: it had been in our collection since the 1950s, yet it was likely only shown once because we knew virtually nothing of it other than the author and subject. Now that we know it was made in preparation for an important painting commissioned by none other than the Medici family in Florence, the sheet takes on a whole new significance within our own collection, and in the field of art history more widely.”

What role did recent acquisitions play in shaping the narrative of Gathered Leaves? Could you highlight a particularly exciting recent addition?

“The title of the exhibition brings to mind the idea of curators gathering sheets (drawings) to form a collection, which is among our most significant responsibilities in our line of work. This thread guided many of our choices in the project. Additionally, exhibition projects can often drive acquisitions. Gathered Leaves in fact became a catalyst for several noteworthy acquisitions in the months leading up to it by such giants as Wassily Kandinsky, whose watercolour in the show was brought to Canada during the Second World War by a Jewish family escaping from Mannheim, Germany.

“As we were working on acquiring the Kandinsky, the rest of that collection was sold at auction in Europe. We’re pleased we were able to keep the Kandinsky in Canada, especially since the NGC does not have a painting by this beloved artist in our collections, nor could we afford to buy one in today’s market.”

The exhibition celebrates the 100th anniversary of the “Department of Prints and Drawings” at the NGC. How has this department evolved since 1921, and what legacy are you most proud of continuing?

“What I find most striking about the department’s history is not so much related to the collections, but rather to the curators who have led this storied department over the years. In 1928, the NGC hired Kathleen M. Fenwick, hailed as the first woman curator in Canada. She headed the department for 40 years, after which she was awarded the Order of Canada for her professional achievements. She was succeeded by another esteemed curator, Mimi Cazort, who marked the history of the department for another three decades. They attracted other brilliant women curators like Rosemarie Tovell, who went on to build the NGC’s renowned collection of Canadian Prints and Drawings at the NGC. I’m humbled to be following in their footsteps.”

As a curator, what do you find most compelling or revealing about works on paper that differs from other media?

“By nature, works on paper usually require close examination. Whereas paintings and sculptures are more often than not best contemplated from a few steps back, drawings demand proximity from their viewers. It is this intimacy between artwork and viewer that I find most compelling about works on paper, and it is why, as a hands-on curator, I feel right at home in the vaults, handling Picasso and Chagall.

“Along the same lines, there is an enthralling immediacy to drawings that beckons us to commune with the artist: getting up-close and personal with Klimt as he feverishly layers short dashes of graphite that combine into the silhouette of his sitter, Eugenia Primavesi, whose portrait he was preparing to paint, is a vibrant experience.”

You co-authored the exhibition catalogue with Kirsten Appleyard. What new research or discoveries are you particularly excited to share with the public through this publication?

“In 2021, Kirsten acquired what may just be the only drawing in a Canadian public collection by the pioneering Expressionist Edvard Munch, of Scream fame. At more than half a meter long and picturing a self-assured frontal female nude created through a frenetic application of pastels, readers and exhibition goers will discover a different side to this sensitive and perhaps misunderstood artist.

“Kirsten and I also enlisted the help of our retired colleague, Erika Dolphin, who, like us, has an affinity for historical drawings, to contribute a dozen entries to the catalogue. The new research she presents in her text on two previously undecipherable compositions featuring the patron saint of Palermo, Saint Rosalia – one in which Rosalia is heroically protecting Palermo from Earthquakes and other disasters – is riveting.”

Gathered Leaves is now travelling to Whistler. How does taking these works beyond Ottawa reflect the NGC’s national mandate, and what do you hope visitors at the Audain Art Museum take away?

“The artworks we look after belong to all Canadians. It is therefore paramount to tour the exhibitions that originate from these permanent collections to all corners of the country. Gathered Leaves is the third NGC exhibition (photography first, then prints, and now drawings – all on paper, after all) to travel to the enchanting Audain Art Museum. This unique institution is rightfully focused on collecting and displaying art from coastal British Columbia from the 18th-century on.

“With Gathered Leaves, visitors can engage at close quarters with art from all the major European schools (British, French, German, Italian, and so forth), from Pontormo’s 1530s quintessential Florentine Renaissance male nude, to the exacting 1960s pen(wo)manship of op-art icon Bridget Riley, the only living artist (now 94) to make the cut in Gathered Leaves.”

In your view, how can historical drawings resonate with today’s audiences, especially those unfamiliar with this medium?

“Drawing is rather universal, whether done with a stick in the sand, or with crayons on a piece of scrap paper, or with ink on a napkin. It is more often than not the first form of visual art we produce as children. To witness how artists have used it across time and space is an occasion not to be missed. While rich in techniques and materials, it is the stories Gathered Leaves tells that will remain in the visitors’ minds. Tales of how M.C. Escher, revered worldwide for his mathematical compositions and impossible structures, climbed onto a perilous rock formation to capture waterfalls cascading into the Corsican Calanques on his sketching pad on May 13th, 1933, or how Francisco Goya invites us to observe the point-blank assassination of Valencian bandit Anton Requena in the late 1700s will enliven visitors’ journey through Gathered Leaves.”

Can you recall a moment in the vault—perhaps while uncovering a forgotten or rarely seen piece—that profoundly moved or surprised you?

“A recent occurrence was finding the Leonora Carrington that is in Gathered Leaves in Whistler. Surrealists such as Salvador Dalí don’t require much of an introduction. On the other hand, women Surrealists (an expression Carrington disliked!) have only recently become the subject of more in-depth research. While I was in the vault in the summer of 2023, I had the absurd thought of looking for Leonora Carrington. I was quite surprised to find her name listed on a box containing large British 20th-century drawings. I quickly pulled the box from the shelf and Carrington’s piece. And I was shocked that I had never seen or had been aware of this 1962 drawing we purchased in 1963, just a few the months following its creation.

“This means Kathleen Fenwick must have outright sought an example of Carrington’s work for the NGC. Yet the work remained unexhibited, unpublished, and therefore unknown until we included it in Gathered Leaves last year. This was all the more surprising in that it is a good-sized sheet very distinctive in its aesthetic: instead of using a dark medium (black ink or black chalk, for example) on pale paper, the artist went about it the other way around, so to speak: she darkened the white paper by applying black wash all over it and proceeded to draw a Goddess figure in white pencil overtop the wash. Right there and then, I knew I had to bring this drawing to light.”

Looking ahead, what are your hopes for the future of the NGC’s Prints and Drawings department, especially as digital tools and broader access reshape how people experience art?

“My hope for the future of the department is to continue to be a place where we explore and expand the canon of art history, collecting, and looking after the greats who have been remembered through the ages, as well as those whose art is just as noteworthy, but whose names may not sound as familiar. By the same token, I have endeavoured to assemble a collection of prints by early women printmakers dating from about 1550 to 1800. While we boast, for instance, a rare set of colour drypoints of 1890–91 by the distinguished Impressionist Mary Cassatt, earlier women printmakers were not well recorded, making this an area where we can develop expertise and make our mark.

“In addition to artistic talent, printmaking requires a complex set of cognitive and technical skills, which digital tools can help us describe and demonstrate to our exhibition visitors or online users. Imagine viewing an engraving printed by Diana Mantuana in the 1570s on a piece of paper that has survived that long and not only understanding the social barriers she broke through to live as a respected artist in 16th-century Rome, but also using a nearby giant screen to zoom into the print’s finest details to witness the painstaking creative process she undertook. That combination can be powerful.”