A museum as a legacy

View of the facade of the Bruck Museum, a red brick building with three skylights.

The Bruck Museum in Cowansville, 2021

A museum named in honour of Gerald Bruck
Turning a new page in its history, the Bruck House becomes the Bruck Museum in 2009. Its collection is listed with the Société des musées du Québec and the Canadian Heritage Information Network. The museum is the culmination of a conservation project initiated by the Municipality of Cowansville and is officially inaugurated on June 16, 2009 by Gerald Bruck, then 94 years old, Mayor Arthur Fauteux, and former Bruck Mills general director, Ralph Maddocks.

Color illustration with the portrait of a man (Gerald Bruck) in front of a montage of various images and a collage of letters spelling out the word invitation.

Invitation card for the opening of the Bruck Museum, 2009

The Bruck Museum opens a new chapter in Cowansville’s artistic and cultural history. Its mission, inspired by the historical site, is to preserve and celebrate the social and cultural heritage of the town and the region. Deepening the historical links between the textile industry and the arts in the region, it also offers a new showcase for contemporary textile art.

Color photo of a large room with artwork hanging on pale gray walls.

Bruck Museum Exhibition Hall, 2019

Collections and exhibitions: a renewed cultural vocation
The Bruck-Lee collection, inherited from the Cowansville Art Center, is included in a permanent exhibition at the museum. On the same floor, historical photographs assembled by the Société d’histoire de Cowansville adorn the walls. The Bruck Museum presents several temporary exhibitions in visual arts and contemporary textile art each year. They highlight regional and national artists, and reach an increasingly large audience.

Montage of three images of an exhibition room at the Bruck Museum. In two images, a lady examines the works and in the third image, we see a dress mounted on a wooden mannequin in front of a frame on the wall.

The Filon textile group exhibition at the Bruck Museum, 2018

A second collection is added to the museum’s heritage in 2009. Dedicated exclusively to works of contemporary artists, the Lee-Vermeille Collection is created in partnership with several local patrons. Contemporary sculptures from this collection can be found in the museum’s gardens.

The Cowansville Art Centre and the Bruck-Lee Collection Preserving the collective memory