I’m back home in Ottawa for Christmas and I had the chance to get to our National Gallery to check out their collect. Early Canada was a rough time for painters; outside of Cornelius Krieghoff there just wasn’t a lot of talent in the country until the Group of Seven came along. This means that when you go to the National Gallery, breeze through the first couple of rooms and wait until you get to about 1900; that’s where the fun begins. If you go, check out the following paintings to get a sense of Canada’s contribution to painting.
Note: my blog template resizes the images badly. Try opening any of the images below in a new window to get a sense of what they really look like.
CW Jefferys – Western Sunlight, Last Mountain Lake. If you stare at this painting in the gallery, you can make out the faintest shades of pink in the sky. If you’ve spent any time on the Prairies, you can relate to this.
Tom Thomson – The Pool. Anyone who has spent a fall in Ontario knows exactly where this comes from.
Tom Thomson – The Jack Pine. Possibly the most famous Canadian painting. Many a child grew up staring at this on a place mat.
Arthur Lismer – The Guide’s Home, Algonquin.
Jean Paul Riopelle – Pavane. Fast forward 30 years. Canada is a more urban (but definitely not urban) society. This is reflected in a new artistry. You can’t tell from below, but Riopelle’s canvasses are massive. The work below is roughly 10×20 feet. His brushstrokes are as much a part of the painting as the colour and the composition.
Marcel Barbeau – Nataskhouan. This is possibly my favourite piece of Canadian art. When you stand close to it, it occupies your entire field of view and the canvas begins to dance in front of your eyes.
Gershon Iskowitz – Seasons, No.1. Little globules of colour float across a massive canvas.
Claude Tousignant – Gong 88, No. 1. At first this seems like a silly visual trick: a bunch of bullseyes of different colours. However, as you stare relentlessly at the center of the painting, all colour merges into one. If you blink, the whole scene flashes before you eye and you realize that there is a picture within the picture…
Eric Cameron – Red and Yellows on Green (Type 111q, 1/2″ tape).
Just for fun, here are some shots from the building itself. The Moshe Safdie-designed Gallery is probably one of the best buildings of the 1980’s (a true rarity).
