| In his obituary it stated "Born into a family of prominent Canadian art collectors, he inherited his parents' eye and their zeal for collecting. "I wish I knew the first time I shook his hand," said art collector Ken Thompson, chairman of The Globe and Mail. "I think it was in the mid-50s and it must have been about art." For half a century, the two men discussed upcoming auction sales, although their Friendship meant they never bid against each other. "I respected his judgment on paintings," Mr. Thompson said. Whenever Mr. Band was "adamant" about a picture, such as The Steamship Quebec, painted by Cornelius Krieghoff in 1853, "I jolly well bought it. There wasn't going to be any doubt about that," Mr. Thompson admitted. "He was always around the corner from my house and up here," tapping his forehead with his finger, "he was right beside me all the time," Mr. Thompson said. "I never got along with anybody better." Mr. Band's love of art was ingrained growing up in a home where Arthur Lismer and Fred Varley were frequent guests and painting was a major dinner table topic. "John had a very keen eye for choice works and he sometimes went about acquiring them as though he was a detective," said Lisa Balfour Bowen, a family friend and art critic. "To my knowledge, he was filling gaps in his collection virtually until the time of his death." There was nothing passive about Mr. Band. "He spoke his mind, but it was something that you welcomed. There were no shades. He was always direct and clear," said Dennis Reid, chief curator of the Art Gallery of Ontario." |
