When Jean Sutherland Boggs was appointed to direct the National Gallery
of Canada in 1966, she became the first woman to direct a major museum
in Canada and the first to direct a national gallery anywhere in the
world. The subsequent appointments of Hsio-yen Shih in 1977 and Shirley
L. Thomson in 1987 built upon this milestone, creating a remarkable
precedent for the Canadian and international museum world. Women at the
Helm explores a transformative thirty-year period in the history of an
iconic cultural institution through the careers of three directors,
their accomplishments, and the challenges they faced. The obstacles to
success were many, beginning with an ambitious scheme to centralize the
administration of Canada's four national museums, which diminished the
autonomy of the gallery and the authority of its director. In spite of
this, as Diana Nemiroff demonstrates, the directors' many achievements
were noteworthy. Boggs's commitment to excellence and her key role in
building a permanent home for the gallery, Shih's desire to broaden the
collections to better reflect the diversity of Canadian peoples, and
Thomson's defence of artistic freedom and the gallery's arm's-length
relationship with government demonstrate these women's aptitude at the
highest echelons of leadership. From their leadership style to the
challenges they overcame and the contributions they made to the
institution, Women at the Helm considers the circumstances of these
directors' remarkable tenures and the obstacles still faced by women in
leadership roles today.
