WORKS BY JEFF WALL, RODNEY GRAHAM AMONG COLLECTION DONATED TO WEST VANCOUVER MUSEUM

Canadian artist Gordon Smith has decided to donate his art collection—which includes works by other renowned Canadian artists such as Jeff Wall, Douglas Coupland, and Bill Reid—to the West Vancouver Museum, reports the Globe and Mail’s Marsha Lederman.

“I think the collection should be kept in West Vancouver,” he told the Globe and Mail today. “I’m ninety-six for God’s sake; I’m going to die soon. I want to get rid of the bloody things.”

The gift is the largest single donation in the museum’s history. It’s meant in part to spur other collectors to help along the museum’s plans for a new facility. Said Smith, “That’s got to be built.”

In the words of West Vancouver Museum director and curator Darrin Morrison: “What’s really, really interesting about the collection is it really illustrates his importance as one of the most respected Canadian artists by showing his personal connections and friendships with other Canadian artists.”

Morrison pointed out that many of the works were “personally inscribed,” such as a Rodney Graham self-portrait, Untitled (Musician), 2009, which portrays Graham in chaps, playing an accordion.

Smith’s own work was reviewed in Artforum.com here.