Subseries

This subseries contains correspondence sent to Lucile Gagnon regarding her husband's personal and professional affairs. It illustrates the extent of Clarence A. Gagnon's fame, as several Quebec and Canadian institutions wished to organize tributes to him in the years following his death. The subseries includes letters, lists of works and telegrams.

Numerous letters, from individuals like Paul Rainville, curator of the Museum of the Province of Quebec (today the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec), Charles F. Martin, director of the Art Association of Montreal, Martin Baldwin, curator of the Art Gallery of Toronto (today the Art Gallery of Ontario) and Harry Orr McCurry, director of the National Gallery of Canada, chronicle how these museums organized tribute exhibitions to Gagnon. Covering topics like the selection of works to exhibit, overtures to owners regarding the loan of paintings, insurance, the creation of exhibition catalogues, transport logistics, and the organization of peripheral activities, these missives reveal the primary steps involved in preparing these large-scale events. They also highlight how these institutions co-operated, working together to arrange the loan and transport of paintings that, in most cases, moved directly from one museum to the next.

In addition, the subseries contains exhibition-related communications from other members of these organizations, such as a request from Nancy Stirrett, public relations secretary of the Art Gallery of Toronto, for photographs that could be used in the media. The Daily Star, she notes, "likes to have pictures with the 'human interest' element in them, i.e. Mr. Gagnon at work in his studio or out-of-doors […]; Mr. Gagnon at his favorite pastime — fishing, ect. [sic]" Several additional letters from Harry Orr McCurry reveal that a travelling exhibition was created from the National Gallery exhibition and that it visited the Canadian cities of Windsor, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Other documents chronicle exhibition proposals presented by the Cercle Universitaire, the Arts Club of Montreal, and the London, Ontario, civic art gallery.

Fifteen or so letters from poet Duncan Campbell Scott mention a variety of projects (the writing of articles about the artist, the posthumous publication of some of his writings, the preparation of a biography by Jean-Marie Gauvreau, the sale of a series of sketches), while also documenting his friendship with Gagnon and his wife. Letters and telegrams from Earle Grey and R. S. Lambert reveal that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) produced a radio show about the painter as part of its school broadcasts series "The Adventure of Canadian Painting."

Testimonials from several personalities, including painter Robert W. Pilot and Quebec Premier Adélard Godbout, as well as an unsigned typewritten letter from a female friend (perhaps the wife of Frederick Hutchison), complete the subseries.