BACKGROUND AND MISSION

Installation view of Jack Lenor Larsen: Creator and Collector at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 2004.

The Stewart Collection, assembled by Liliane Stewart beginning in 1980, is one of the important international design collections in North America. In 2000, Mrs. Stewart donated this collection to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. That same year, she founded a new initiative, the Stewart Program for Modern Design, which continues her vision of collecting international design and making it accessible to the public.

The Stewart Program makes the international design collection accessible to the public through groundbreaking traveling exhibitions and publications that present new scholarship. Objects acquired by the Stewart Program are periodically donated to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, thus furthering the mission of enhancing the MMFA Stewart Collection.

LILIANE STEWART

 Liliane Stewart (1928–2014) was the primary force behind the creation of the Stewart collection of international design, which is now part of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 2000, she founded the Stewart Program for Modern Design to continue educating the public about design. Throughout her life Liliane Stewart actively supported many important causes through the Macdonald Stewart Foundation, founded in 1973 with her husband, David M. Stewart. Her interests were broad—ranging from Canadian heritage and military history to contemporary design -and her many philanthropic endeavors made her a well-known and beloved figure in Montreal and beyond.