ASPIRING TO GREATNESS WITH THE HELP OF GOD: THE CHINESE COLLECTION OF NORMAN MACKENZIE OF REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN

摘要

This study is about Norman MacKenzie, a local patron of the arts from Regina, Saskatchewan, but it is also a study into the origins of museums and art collecting in the early twentieth century in western Canada. It examines MacKenzie's motives for collecting, and how he went about collecting religious objects from China in particular. Using his letters and personal memoranda as primary sources, the study chronicles his search for authenticity and excellence, a search which brought him into correspondence with some of the best scholars of Asian art at the time. The Norman MacKenzie Collection is not all that different from other museums' collections in the early twentieth century, the objectives of which were to educate the public and to bring civicpride to pioneering towns that aspired to be centers of culture. But, despite the good intentions of MacKenzie, economic factors, and the tastes of his times, played seminal roles in determining how his collection is perceived in the contemporary periodand why it is rarely displayed today.