Mystery of the Nudes at Renaissance Gallery

Issue Date: 2010-01-22

Pender Island’s own Renaissance Gallery currently has a show that has attracted the attention of the National Gallery of Canada.
Milada and Jan Huk, owners of Renaissance Gallery, have mounted a show of hundreds of works by Canadian artist John Wentworth Russell. Russell spent most of his life in Paris, where he was regarded as one of the best of his generation. During his painting life in the first half of the Twentieth Century, Russell painted two Canadian Prime Ministers and the King of England. His works were displayed in Paris and in Canada, and are now housed in some of Canada’s most prestigious galleries, as well as many private collections.
Russell died in 1959, and his widow, Anna Russell, kept most of his painting as a memory of her late husband. As a result his reputation has been diminished because his work was not on the market. Milada and Jan became friends with Anna Russell in Toronto in the 1970s and ‘80s. They tried to convince her to sell the paintings, but she couldn’t part with them.
When Anna Russell died ten years ago, the works were offered to the National Gallery of Canada. They took some but left many because they needed restoration. Anna Russell’s executor offered them for sale to Milada and Jan as they had been close friends when Anna was alive. The Huks have worked hard to restore, stretch and frame all of the works. Now Pender Islanders can have the pleasure of enjoying the works of a historical Canadian painter, right their own Pender Island.
The Huks invite Penderites and all other islanders to a special opening for the second part of the Russell show, entitled “The Group of One--The Paintings of John Wentworth Russell,” on February 13 between 2 and 7 pm at Renaissance Gallery, 3302 Port Washington Road. The gallery is open every day between 11am and 5pm.