Norman MacKenzie: Raiders of the Lost Vault II

December 23, 2006 to February 18, 2007

Organized by the MacKenzie Art Gallery with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Saskatchewan Arts Board, and the City of Regina Arts Commission.

“History of Wooden Carving of Three Dragons. This was purchased by me in Mukden, Manchuria, from a Japanese collector.... it had formerly been in a Chinese temple destroyed by the Mongols.... It is one of the most valuable articles I obtained while on my trip to China in 1931.” Excerpt from Norman MacKenzie’s account of his 1931 trip to Asia.

This exhibition expands on the popular Norman MacKenzie: Raiders of the Lost Vault exhibition by presenting objects we were unable to display in the Shumiatcher Sculpture Court.

Among the antiquities in the collection acquired by Norman MacKenzie are many ivory and wood objects. Sunlight and changes in the environment can have an adverse effect on these sensitive materials so they require an extremely stable environment with no daylight. The RHW Foundation Gallery provides the required conditions to display these fascinating objects.

Intricately carved ivory plaques from the palace of Prince K’ung, Prince Regent of China; a wooden shrine collected in India in the 1880s which traveled to Ireland before eventually arriving in Canada, circa 1933; and an elaborate wooden bench from Japan, are all included in Raiders of the Lost Vault II.

Once again the exhibition will present many of these exceptional objects in the context of the time that they were collected, with excerpts from MacKenzie’s detailed records and correspondence.

Image Credit:

UNIDENTIFIED, Japanese

Woman Dressed in Armour, no date

ivory, 33.1 x 7.1 x 6 cm

MacKenzie Art Gallery, University of Regina Collection

Norman MacKenzie: Raiders of the Lost Vault II

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