TDSB Unveils Secret Art Stash

From The Group of Seven to Emily Carr, the cash-strapped Toronto District School Board is sitting on a virtual treasure-trove of art.

The collection is valued between $7 and $10 million dollars. It features paintings by Robert Bateman, Norval Morrisseau, and a Tom Thompson painting (pictured) valued at a cool $1.5 million.

The TDSB’s collection is estimated to be over one million objects – 7, 000 art works, thousands of photographs and hundreds of thousands of historical documents.

Many of these valuable pieces have turned up over the years in classrooms or in the offices of principals.

There have been many who have urged the TDSB to sell off the collection and use the money to bolster conditions for students. But they maintain that most of the proceeds would go back to donors.

Instead, the board plans to make these works available to students for educational purposes. They will also be developing a loan program.