“It feels like he stumbled out of the Edwardian era, through a portal at the back of an antique closet...” says director Paul Johnston of Canadian art collector and philanthropist Bruce Bailey. “...Arriving to save a party with his colorful wit and charm.”

In this documentary profile, Johnston invites the audience to step behind the "crushed velvet curtain" of Bruce Bailey’s life as an investment banker, lawyer, farmer and patron. The enthusiastic collector, who has worked with artists such as Marina Abramovic and Kent Monkman, is one of a few notable individuals who still host traditional art salons; a form of egalitarian lab for the breeding of ideas made popular in seventeenth-century France, where literary luminaries, artists and thinkers gathered to discuss philosophy, politics, art and other matters of the day. 

“He believes that truly living life is itself a form of artistry," says the director of Bailey, whose eclectic wardrobe is that of a mid-century thespian alternating between silken damask pyjamas, Japanese Haori, and English country tweed. "He shares a conviction that artists bring their whole life to bear in their work; and that one’s lived experience, be it triumphs or tragedies, informs our perspective of the world." 

As the documentary unfolds from wit to wonder, Bailey reveals the hardships, battles and prejudice he suffered before becoming a magnanimous financier of young Canadian talent in the art world.

"Bailey is a self-professed dandy, who reveals that the fashion, art, and parties, are all his way of rebelling against the darkness of his past,” says the Toronto-based director. “And by living through it, he offers opportunity and support to others who are struggling to find their way via the healing power of art.”

Bailey’s 80-hectare ranch in Ontario, Canada is home to his impressive private art collection, which is currently on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts—where he is a major benefactor and patron—until March 2020.