Canadian art

Like the peoples that produced them, Indigenous art traditions spanned territories that extended across the current national boundaries between Canada and the United States.

One of the instruments of this policy was the Indian Act, which banned manifestations of traditional religion and governance, such as the Sun Dance and the Potlatch, including the works of art associated with them.

In 2019, he produced the diptych mistikôsiwak (Wooden Boat People) as part of a new series of contemporary projects presented in the Met's Great Hall.

Painters in New France, such as Pommier and Claude François (known primarily as Frère Luc, believed in the ideals of High Renaissance art, which featured religious depictions often formally composed with seemingly classical clothing and settings.

In particular, his depiction of the saint Marguerite Bourgeoys was hailed as "the single most moving image to survive from the French period" by Canadian art historian Dennis Reid.

Two girls drowned, weighed down by their heavy dresses, while two young men and one woman were able to hold on to the overturned boat until help arrived.

While off-duty, many of these soldiers sketched and painted the Canadian land and people, which were often sold in European markets hungry for exotic, picturesque views of the colonies.

For instance, in 1761, Short's sketches became the basis for a set of prints depicting the British conquest of Quebec City two years earlier.

[27] Forshaw Day worked as a draftsman at Her Majesty's Naval Yard from 1862 to 1879 in Halifax, Nova Scotia then moved to Kingston, Ontario to teach drawing at the Royal Military College of Canada from 1879 to 1897.

In the late 18th century, art in Lower Canada began to prosper due to a larger number of commissions from the public and Church construction.

[28] Lower Canada's artists evolved independently from France as the connection was severed during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars.

It is celebrated in part because of its complex arrangement of figures, decorative floor panels, and the detailed view of the landscape through the open window.

At about the same time, the Canadian artist Paul Kane painted pictures of Indigenous life around the Great Lakes, Western Canada and the Oregon Territories.

Romanticism remained the predominant stylistic influence, with a growing appreciation for Realism originating with the Barbizon school as practiced by Canadians Homer Watson and Horatio Walker.

The founders of the club were the painters Edmund Morris and Curtis Williamson, who attempted to establish higher standards through small, carefully hung shows.

Homer Watson was the first president, and other members included William Brymner, Maurice Cullen, and James Wilson Morrice.

[43] The First World War sparked a wide range of artistic expression: photography, film, painting, prints, reproductions, illustration, posters, craft, sculpture, and memorials.

[44] The Group of Seven asserted a distinct national identity combined with a common heritage stemming from early modernism in Europe, including Impressionism and Post-Impressionism.

[45] Some of the later members worked as commercial artists at a Toronto company called Grip Ltd. where they were encouraged to paint outdoors in their spare time.

[46] As mature artists, Influenced by the example of Tom Thomson, they painted works in the studio from sketches made on small panels while on location in Northern Ontario or in the environment closer to home.

The eventual members were Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley.

Tom Thomson, often referred to, but never officially a member, died in 1917 due to an accident on Canoe Lake in Northern Ontario.

[51] Tom Thomson's work is especially recognized as a contribution to North American Post-Impressionism[52] and the Group of Seven mythology has become an important part of national identity.

[53] In the 1920s, Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker and Lowrie Warrener independently experimented with abstract or non-objective art in Canada.

As a result of a growing rejection of the view that the efforts of a group of artists based largely in Ontario constituted a national vision or oeuvre, many artists—notably those in Québec—began feeling ignored and undermined.

The group's members included Alexander Bercovitch, Goodridge Roberts, Eric Goldberg, Jack Weldon Humphrey, John Goodwin Lyman, and Jori Smith.

[59] Les Automatistes were a group of Québécois artistic dissidents from Montreal, Quebec, founded by Paul-Émile Borduas in the early 1940s.

Robert Murray, one of Canada's foremost abstract sculptors, moved to New York City from Saskatchewan in 1960, and began his progression to International fame.