Saturday Snapshot

May 2015 - Toronto ON

As part of our Doors Open 2015 outing we also saw an exhibit of artifacts owned by Lillian Malcove.

Click here for an overview of our day.
We also went into the Soldiers' Tower, click here.
I used some of our photos for Sunday Scavenger Hunt, click here.
Click here for some photos of the Munk building we visited last year.
Click here for the some other photos from last year. And a reflection.

In 2005, Dawn Cain and Elisa Coish, former curator and curatorial assistant of the Malcove Collection, embarked on an independent research project about Dr. Lillian Malcove. The inspiration for the Lillian Malcove Biography Project came primarily from a box of Dr. Malcove’s personal effects that arrived at the University of Toronto in the winter of 2004. It wasn’t immediately clear where the box had come from, so it was initially dubbed “the mystery box.” It was soon discovered that the materials had been sent from New York by Dr. Mary Mercer, a dear friend of Lillian Malcove who was then in her early 90s. She had been given the materials in the box when Lillian died. The contents were remarkable. They included Lillian’s photo albums, personal letters, newspaper clippings, invoices for artworks, her last appointment agenda, bits of textiles, and various other treasures. Such documents permit one to witness random moments of Lillian Malcove’s life, which she appears to have lived joyfully and well. After assessing and archiving this material it was clear something significant had to be done with it. The Lillian Malcove Biography Project was born.

Lillian Malcove, a Training and Supervising Psychoanalyst at the New York Psychoanalytic Institute was also an avid Art Collector. She amassed a collection of over 500 pieces of exquisite thought-provoking art consisting primarily of ancient artifacts, orthodox religious icons and fewer pieces of 15th to mid-20th century art. Born into a Jewish family, within a Russian Orthodox culture, who immigrated to Canada, Malcove married late, had no children, and in her mid-40s lost her closest relationship when her husband died. She brought a deep intensity to her relationships, to her interests and to her psychoanalytic work.

Dr. Malcove died in 1981, having bequeathed her collection to the University of Toronto on the condition that it remains intact and that the art be used to inspire and teach students, faculty and others. This gift, a generative act, was also an expression of her deep commitment to her work as a psychoanalytic teacher and supervisor.

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