A bronze sculpture, North Watch by Winnipeg's Ivan Eyre, is almost four metres high and depicts a man and his devoted dog.
The work, sponsored by the Richardson Family, was unveiled earlier this week in front of the Richardson Building at Portage Avenue and Main Street, Winnipeg.
"Ivan's always been considered a very significant artist—he's in every museum and gallery in the country," said gallery owner David Loch. "He's the greatest living Canadian artist."
Loch said it is especially important that the sculpture be placed at Portage and Main, where so many people can appreciate it. "It takes courage for the Richardson family to do that," he said. "There's no more recognizable spot in Winnipeg than Portage and Main," said Loch, pointing out the intersection that already boasts works by Leo Mol and Peter Sawatzky.
"We don't celebrate things here to the extent we should. This man works here, lives here," said Loch, who worked with Hartley Richardson to establish the Ivan Eyre Gallery in the Assiniboine Park Pavilion in the 1980s.
Last year Eyre donated nine monumental sculptures to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario.
Eyre, a University of Manitoba graduate, is a retired professor of art at the university.
