User:Lithoderm/Canadian art


 * This article discusses broad developments in Canadian visual art. For more specific information see List of Canadian artists or Canadian literature, Canadian music, Canadian Cinema and Canadian Culture for other information on the arts in Canada.

Art of the Arctic
Traditional Inuit art in the Canadian arctic is usually divided into three periods: the Dorset culture, the Thule culture, and the historical period. The art of the Dorset culture, although the earliest, is generally considered to be more accomplished than that of the Thule culture, if not the historical period as well.

The Dorset culture most likely followed a shamanistic/animistic religion; it is believed that the tiny sculptures of animals found at Dorset sites were most likely fetishes used to effect success in the hunt. More puzzling are the carvings of faces into bone, sometimes more than one hundred on one antler. The most striking of the finds is known as the Tyara mask, after the location of the find at the Tyara site on the coast of northern Quebec. Other examples of Dorset art include small ivory figures known as flying bears, stylized polar bears with the skeletal structure of the animal indicated by incised lines.

The Thule people are the ancestors of the modern Inuit. They migrated from Alaska into the region of the Canadian arctic between   and   , gradually destroying or assimilating the Dorset culture. The art of the Thule people is more decorative in nature than that of the Dorsets- they favored geometric patterns decorating functional objects to shamanic objects and fetishes.

Art of the historic period (that is, post-contact with Europeans) was produced largely for the express purpose of trading with white whalers. It consists of ivory figurines depicting the accouterments of traditional Inuit ways of life and of whaling. Often functional objects were crafted out of ivory and merely incised with scenes of arctic wildlife: common examples include cribbage boards and inkwells.

Modern Inuit art began in the 1950s; its characteristics include the use of soapstone for sculpture and of printmaking mediums.

Art of the Northwest Coast and British Columbia
The artists of the Haida, Tlingit, and other Northwest Coast tribes have a rich tradition of woodworking. Totem poles, transformation masks, and other ceremonial implements all were carved from the redwood trees that grow abundantly in the region.

French Colonial Period (1665-1759)


Early explorers such as Samuel de Champlain made sketches of North American territory as they explored, but the Roman Catholic Church in and around Quebec City was the first to actively provide artistic patronage. Abbé Hughes Pommier is believed to be the first active painter in New France. Pommier left France in 1664 and worked in various communities as a priest before taking up painting extensively. Painters in New France, such as Pommier and another key painter Claude Francois, 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. Few arists during this early period signed their works making attributions today difficult.

Near the end of the 17th-century, Quebec's population was growing steadily but the territory was increasingly isolated from France. Fewer artists arrived from Europe, but Quebecois artists continued with commissions from the church. Two schools were established in Quebec to teach the arts and there were a number of artists working throughout Quebec until the British Conquest. Pierre Le Ber from a weathly Montreal family is one of the most recognized artists from this period. Believed to be self-taught since he never left Quebec, Le Ber's painting is widely admired. 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.

While the early religious painting told little about everyday life, numerous Ex-Votos completed by amateur artists offer vivid impressions of life in New France. Ex-Votos, or votive painting was made as a way to thank God or the Saints for answering a prayer. For example, one of the best known examples of this type of work is Ex-voto des trois naufragés de Lévis (1754). Five youths were crossing the Saint-Lawrence at night when their boat overturned in rough water. Two girls drowned, wieghed down by their heavy dresses, while the two young men and one woman were able to hold on to the overturned boat until help arrived. Saint Anne is depicted in the sky, saving the three youths. This work was donated to the church at Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré as an offering of thanks for the three lives saved.

Early Art in British North America
The early ports of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland did not experience the same degree of artistic growth, largely due to their Protestant beliefs in simple church decoration which did not encourage artists or sculptors. However, itinerant artists, painters who travelled to various communities to sell works, frequented the area. Dutch-born artist Gerard Edema is believed to have painted the first Newfoundland landscape in the early 1700s.

British Army Topographers
The battle for Quebec left numerous British soldiers garrisoned in strategic locations in the territory. 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. Furthermore, drawing was also required by soldiers to record the land, as photography had not been invented. Thomas Davies is championed as one of the most talented. Davies recorded the capture of Louisburg and Montreal among other scenes. Scottish-born George Heriot was one of the first artist-soldiers to settle in Canada and later produced Travels Through the Canadas in 1807 filled with his aquatint prints.

Quebec's Golden Age
In the late 1700s, art in Quebec began to prosper due a larger number of commissions from the public and Church construction which allowed a greater number of professional artists working and. Portrait painting in particular is recognized from this period as it allowed a higher degree of innovation and change. François Baillairgé was one of the first of this generation of artists. He returned to Montreal after in 1781 studying sculpture in London and Paris. The Rococo style influced several Quebecois artists who aimed for the style's light and carefree painting. However, Baillairgé did not embrace Rococo, instead focusing on sculture and teaching influenced from Neo-Classicism.

Quebec's artists evolved independently from France as the connection was broken off during the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. While not living in Quebec, William Berczy participated in the period's artistic growth. He immigrated to Canada from Saxony and completed several importaint portraits of leading figures. For example, he painted three portraits of Joseph Brant and his best known work is The Woolsley Family, painted in Quebec City in 1808-09. As the title suggests the work features full-length portraits of all the members of the Woolsley family. It is celebrated in part because of it's complex arrangement of figures, decorative floor panels, and the detailed view of the landscape through the open window. Art historian J. Russell Harper believes this era of Canadian art was the first to develop a truly Canadian character.

A second generation of artists continued this flourishment of artstic growth begining around the 1820s. Joseph Legaré was trained as a decorative and copy painter. However, this did not inhibit his artistic creativity as he was one of the first Canadian artists to depict the local landscape. Legaré is best known for his depictions of disasters such as cholera plagues, rocks slides, and fires. A student of Legaré, Antoine Sébastien Plamondon went on to study in France, the first Quebecois artist to do so in 48 years. Plamondon went on to become the most successful artist in this period largely through religious and portrait commisions.

Krieghoff and Kane
The works of most early Canadian painters followed European trends. During the mid 1800s, Cornelius Krieghoff, a Dutch born artist in Quebec, painted scenes of the life of the habitants (French-Canadian farmers). At about the same time, the Canadian artist Paul Kane painted pictures of Indian life in western Canada.

Nationalism and the Group of Seven
A group of landscape painters called the Group of Seven aimed to develop the first distinctly Canadian style of painting. All these artists painted large, brilliantly, coloured scenes of the Canadian wilderness.

The original members of the group consisted of Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J. E. H. MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Tom Thomson (who died in 1917) and Emily Carr were also closely associated with the Group of Seven, though neither were ever official members.

In the 1930s, members of the Group of Seven decided to enlarge the club and formed the Canadian Group of Painters made up of 28 artists from across Canada.

1930s Regionalism
Since the 1930s, Canadian painters have developed a wide range of highly individual styles. Emily Carr became famous for her paintings of totem poles of British Columbia. Other noted painters have included the landscape artist David Milne.

After World War II
Government support has played a vital role in their development, as has the establishment of numerous art schools and colleges across the country.

The abstract painters Jean-Paul Riopelle and Harold Town and multi-media artist Michael Snow] ]. The abstract art group [[Painters Eleven, particularly the artists William Ronald and Jack Bush, also had an important impact on modern art in Canada.

Canadian sculpture has been enriched by the walrus ivory and soapstone carvings by the Inuit artists. These carvings show objects and activities from the daily life of the Inuit.

==Post-Modern Canadian Art==

Groups in Canadian Art
* Group of Seven
 * Canadian Group of Painters
 * Eastern Group of Painters
 * Les Automatistes
 * Painters Eleven
 * Regina Five
 * General Idea
 * Photoconceptualism
 * Woodlands School
 * Indian Group of Seven
 * The Royal Art Lodge

Dealers

 * Max Stern, 1904-1987, art dealer