Glenbow Museum to exhibit 'epic' Calgary painting lost for more than 20 years

It's hard to fathom howa12-metre-long painting could go missing.

But that'swhat happened about two decades ago toThe Demise of Seventeenth Avenue the13-panel artwork Robert McInniscraftedbetween 1979 and 1982 in Calgary.

During that time, he painted 60 portraits ofthe movers and shakers inthe city's art scenewho congregated along 17th Avenue S.W.

Artists likeIllingworthKerr andJoaneCardinal Schubert,curatorNancyTousleyandart dealerDouglasMacLean.

The Glenbow Museum described the work as "epic."

"Just as Calgary was experiencing a boom at the time, our art scene was really experiencing unprecedented growth," saidmuseum spokesperson,ZoltanVaradi.

"Soit was a really interesting historical document of some of the people who were working in the art scene."

'We would be the custodians'

According to the Glenbow, McInnis didn't have the wall space to hang the massive painting so helent it to a friend in 1982.

That friend was Tim Christison,wholeft the paintings on the wall of her Bankview home when she rented it to Kathy Bentley and her husbandin1987.

They eventually bought the home from Christisonunder the condition thatthey wouldtake care ofthe paintings and eventually, return them to the artist.

"We would be the custodians," saidBentley.

Calgary Eyeopener6:48Massive Calgary painting rediscovered in Yellowknife

A 70s era painting entitled "The Demise of 17th Avenue" has been rediscovered and donated to the Glenbow Museum. We talk to the woman who has been acting as the painting's "caretaker" for the past 25 years.

Journey to Yellowknife

In 1992, Bentleytried finding McInnisbefore she and her family moved to Yellowknife but the phone number she had for him was disconnected.

"This was allpre-internetdays so there wasn't such a thing as Googlingit to find him," said Bentley.

I loved the paintings the people in them. I felt they were part of my life. They were my inanimate, inarticulate, non-verbal friends.- Kathy Bentley

She also couldn't reachChristison, who was fightingterminal cancer when she sold Bentley herhome five years earlier.

Bentley fearedChristison had passed away (she in fact, hadn'tand is still alive), so she crated the paintings up and took them north.

"We weren't going to leave them in Calgary. And we loved the paintings. They're very special."

Andfor the next 22 years, theyhung in her Yellowknife home.

Reunited in Calgary

Through the magic of Google, in 2014Bentley's daughter helped connect her with the artist through his website and gallery in Winnipeg, where he currently resides.

To be cautious, she had her lawyer reach out to McInnis.

"I didn't know whether or not Robert would be upset or happy or would think that I had stolen the paintings," said Bentley.

Her lawyer got a message from McInnis"within hours" of reaching out.

"Everything since then has been just the development of a very wonderful friendship."

New home at Glenbow Museum

Bentley and McInnis met,and agreed, that the entire series should be in a public collection in the city it was created.

The paintings are now part of the permanent collection of theGlenbow Museum.

"Important historically aswell as artistically, the painting documents a pivotal time in the development of Calgary's art scene, and records many of the individuals involved in building our city's art community," the museum said in a release Thursday.

"It's very bittersweet, I loved the paintings the people in them. I felt they were part of my life. They were my inanimate, inarticulate, non-verbal friends," said Bentley.

The Demise of Seventeenth Avenueis on display at the Glenbow Museum untilMay 22, 2016as part of the exhibitionRecent Acquisitions.