Donated Works of Art - Musée d'art de joliette

The Musée d’art de Joliette receives a large number of donation offers. Due to limited reserve space and ongoing structural changes, please note that processing times are longer than usual and that selection criteria have been tightened in terms of the importance of the works and their relevance to our collection at this time.

Acquisition proposals for the current year are received:

Until October 1 for all regular donations.

Until June 28 for donations that must be submitted to the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (CCPERB).

Processing time is normally from three to six months for regular donations and nine months to a year for those involving the CCPERB.
The reference year for tax purposes is the one indicated on the donation agreement the MAJ will provide to the donor once the offer has been accepted by the museum’s board of directors.

The MAJ reserves the right to modify the donation process at any time.

First Steps

The MAJ accepts donation proposals at any time. Each offer must be accompanied by a donation proposal form, a photograph of the work and the original invoice for the work.

Please send the form to Julie Alary Lavallée (Collections Curator): jalavallee@museejoliette.org

For this first step, the MAJ team must validate the proposed donation and may request supplementary information from the donor. At this stage proposals may either be declined or sent for more detailed analysis.

See the form

Subsequent Steps

When a donation proposal is referred for more detailed analysis, a member of the MAJ’s collections team will contact the donor to confirm the proposed donation and begin the subsequent steps:

Internal Acquisition Committee

An internal committee, comprising the MAJ’s director and chief curator, the collections curator and the contemporary art curator, advises for or against the acquisition based on several criteria, including the artist’s position in the wider context of art history, the aesthetic value and quality of the work, the historical importance/value of the work, the suitability of the work for the collection and the work’s physical condition.

External Acquisitions Advisory Committee

The external advisory committee’s members are appointed by the museum’s board of directors. The members are collectors, art critics, artists and art historians with specific expertise. The committee’s role is to study and examine each work submitted for potential acquisition by the MAJ. The committee sends its recommendations to the board of directors. The external acquisitions advisory committee meets twice a year: once in the winter and again in the fall.

At each meeting of the external committee, the members study the works and assess their condition. Therefore, each work submitted to the external committee must be physically present at the MAJ. The museum’s policy is that the donor is responsible for shipping costs for works to be examined, payable via the MAJ. In order to be recommended for acquisition, the work’s condition must be deemed satisfactory by both the external committee and the museum’s conservators. The work will remain at the MAJ throughout this process.

Appraisal by an Independent Expert

Once the artwork has been recommended to the board by the external committee, a qualified expert is engaged to determine the work’s fair market value. The cost of this expert appraisal is also the donor’s responsibility and payable via the MAJ.

Please note that the appraisal and authentication of works of art are beyond the scope of the museum’s mandate.

Acquisition Recommended to the MAJ’s Board

The MAJ’s board of directors has the final say, via resolution, on whether the museum acquires a given work. The board reviews works for approval one month after the meetings of the acquisition committees.

Donation Agreement

Once the board has approved the acquisition, the donor and the MAJ sign a donation agreement.

Tax Benefits

Donors of artworks have the choice of two ways to receive tax benefits. Please note that the option chosen must be based on mutual agreement between the donor and the MAJ. We will be pleased to explain the options in detail when the time comes.

The MAJ is a registered charitable organization. It can therefore issue a charitable donation receipt for the fair market value of the donation.

When the donated work meets the criteria for designation as a work of exceptional interest, it may be to the donor’s advantage to submit the work to the CCPERB. The MAJ submits donation proposals to the CCPERB twice a year.

Art Rentals

The art rental collection is comprised of works that were acquired for the purposes of promoting, presenting, and making art accessible beyond the Musée’s walls while providing an additional income stream for the institution. More than one hundred works are available to enrich public, corporate, or private spaces. Works by some of Québec’s greatest artists can be found, including Jean-Paul Riopelle, Marc Séguin, Irene F. Whittome, Jacques Hurtubise, and Betty Goodwin.

You may view the art rental collection here.

To learn more or to schedule a visit, please contact Isabel Boucher: iboucher@museejoliette.org

Thanks to all of those who support the development of the arts and the MAJ: Ratelle, Ratelle et associés, and Gabriel Ste-Marie, federal deputy of Joliette.

Please contact us if you have any questions:

Julie Alary Lavallée
Collections Curator, Musée d’art de Joliette
450-756-0311, ext. 223
jalavallee@museejoliette.org