Ash K. Prakash

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A. K. Prakash
NationalityCanadian
AwardsOrder of Canada (2016); D.F.A. (2018)

Ash K. Prakash CM D.F.A., is a Canadian art patron and scholar of Canadian art.

Career[]

After studies in business management at the University of California at Berkeley, the University of Michigan, and Harvard,[1] Ash Prakash emigrated to Canada 1968,[2] settling in Ottawa in 1970.[3][1] Here he worked in the public sector for 25 years, becoming the principal advisor on Information Management and executive director of The Privy Council and Prime Minister's Office in the Office of the Leader of Government in the House of Commons as well as serving on Royal Commissions of Inquiry.[2] He also advised the Canada Council for the Arts, the Canadian Broadcasting Company in Ottawa; UNESCO in Paris, Teheran and New Delhi; and the United Nations Development Program in New York and Cairo.[1] When he retired, he moved to Toronto in 1995, and guided the formation of some of North America's major art collections, along with a number of corporate and private art collections and became an art advisor to the Thomson Collection (Art Gallery of Ontario), as well as to The Sobey Art Collection, Nova Scotia, to UNESCO, Paris, and many other client groups.[1][3]

He has written many articles and books on Canadian art, among them Canadian Art: Selected Masters from Private Collections (2003), Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists (2008), a celebration of work by women artists who changed the face of Canadian art,[4] and Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery (2014), called “astonishingly comprehensive” by one reviewer.[5]

In 2012, he established the A. K. Prakash Foundation with the following goals: to advance scholarship on historical Canadian Art, and to promote Canadian medical expertise in increasing global access to health. The Foundation has sponsored numerous exhibitions and publications in major art galleries across Canada and abroad in the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Norway and the Netherlands.[6] Some of the major Canadian exhibitions included, among others, Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven (National Gallery of Canada),[7][2] Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859-1906) (Art Gallery of Hamilton),[8] From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia (Art Gallery of Ontario),[2] Modernism in Montreal: The Beaver Hall Group (Montreal Museum of Fine Arts),[9] James Wilson Morrice: The A.K. Prakash Collection in Trust to the Nation (National Gallery of Canada),[10] and Canada and Impressionism: New Horizons (National Gallery of Canada).[11] In 2021, he funded an exhibition of a collection of bronzes by Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Alfred Laliberté, and Louis-Philippe Hébert that he gave to the Musée d’art de Joliette.[12] Prakash also founded annual Fellowships in Advanced Surgery for medical graduates from developing countries to train under surgeons in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Toronto.[13]

In 2015, the National Gallery of Canada received 50 works by James Wilson Morrice, which Prakash acquired work by work since the early 1980s[2] and regarded as the heart of his collection, valued at more than $20 million.[14] The A.K. Prakash Foundation, founded by Prakash, made the donation in honour of the artist's 150th birthday.[15]

Prakash made the following announcement:

The collection represents a governing force of my life's work. It is my gift to Canada donated in the hope that Morrice will inspire and enrich the lives of my fellow citizens and help remind us that Canadian art stands with the best in the world.

In honour of the gift, in 2015, the National Gallery named a gallery for Prakash[1] and made the Morrice paintings part of a re-launch of the permanent collection in 2017, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the confederation of Canada.[15] Ash K. Prakash is a Distinguished Patron of the Gallery and serves as a Director on the Board of the National Gallery of Canada Foundation.[15]

Honours[]

In 2015 the National Gallery of Canada dedicated a gallery in his name. In 2016, Ash K. Prakash received the Order of Canada. In 2018, he received a Doctorate in Fine Arts (honoris causa) from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.[1][6]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Ash K. Prakash". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e Adams, James. "Collector Ash Prakash donates Morrice paintings to National Gallery". www.theglobeandmail.com. Globe and Mail, Dec 8, 2015. Retrieved 20 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b Mclaren, Leah. "The Collector: How Ash Prakash became the preeminent art dealer for the country's wealthiest families". torontolife.com. Toronto Life, October 17, 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  4. ^ "Independent Spirit: Early Canadian Women Artists". quillandquire.com. Quill and Quire. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  5. ^ Singhal, Sheila (2014). "Impressionism in Canada: A Journey of Rediscovery". magazine, National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b Sloane, Todd. "NSCAD University Announces Three Honorary Degree Recipients for Spring Convocation". nscad.ca. Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  7. ^ "Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven". mcmichael.com. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  8. ^ "A Message from the Exhibition Patron". Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859-1906). Hamilton, Ontario: Art Gallery of Hamilton. 2014. p. 7. Retrieved 22 May 2021.
  9. ^ "The Art Gallery of Windsor present the exhibition 1920s MODERNISM IN MONTREAL: THE BEAVER HALL GROUP". www.mbam.qc.ca. Art Gallery of Windsor. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  10. ^ "James W. Morrice. The A.K. Prakash Collection in Trust to the Nation". www.museejoliette.org. Musée Joliette. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  11. ^ "First major exhibition of works by Canadian Impressionists to open in Munich". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Gazes in Dialogue: Hébert, Laliberté, Suzor-Coté, and Fleming/ The A.K. Prakash Collection of Historical Sculptures, A Gift to the Musée d'art de Joliette". www.museejoliette.org. Musée d'art de Joliette. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  13. ^ "Ash Prakash". boundless.utoronto.ca. U of Toronto. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  14. ^ "James Wilson Morrice: The A.K. Prakash Collection in Trust to the Nation". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 19 May 2021.
  15. ^ a b c "Fifty Masterpieces by Canadian artist J. W. Morrice donated to the National Gallery of Canada". www.newswire.ca. Newswire, 2015. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
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