Eleanor Bond,
VII. Later, Some Industrial Refugees Form
Communal Settlements in a Logged Valley
in B.C., 1987, oil on canvas. Purchase,
Chancellor Richardson Memorial Fund and
Canada Council Acquisition Assistance
Fund, 1996 (39-018)
Exhibitions
New Canadiana: The Chancellor Richardson Memorial Fund and Art as Social History
Samuel J. Zacks,Davies Foundation,Contemporary and Historical Feature,
and R. Fraser Elliott Galleries
21 August - 5 December
Showcasing major acquisitions made possible by the Chancellor Richardson Memorial Fund, this exhibition highlights the value of works of art as historical documents and artefacts. Since 1968, this Queen’s Universitybased fund has supported the purchase of unique Canadian research material; the nation is at the core of the cultural sphere it aims to enhance and, over time, define.
Mingling historical and contemporary art spanning 1780 to 2005, New Canadiana exposes evolving narrative accounts and material conditions as these have been perceived and recorded by artists. Works most often celebrated for their aesthetic merit and place in the history of art are, on this occasion, examined through the lens of social history. The exhibition, jointly curated by Jan Allen and Alicia Boutilier, presents works under three thematic banners: Settlement, Nation and Migration; Nature and the Environment; and Social Life and Ritual.
A selection of the more than ninety works in the show offers a glimpse of this exhibition’s multi-faceted staging of the Canadian experience: William Armstrong, Otter Head Island, Lake Superior (1872); Carl Beam, The Columbus Suite (1989); Rebecca Belmore, Black Cloud (2001); Adrian Blackwell, Evicted May 1, 2000 (9 Hanna Ave.) (2000); AA Bronson, Felix, June 5, 1994 (2000); Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller, House Burning (2001); Emily Carr, Bay and Mountain (around 1937); James Pattison Cockburn, Barrack Gate, Kingston (around 1830); Sarindar Dhaliwal, Punjabi Sheets #2: Family Tree (1989); Daniel Fowler, Fallen Birch (1881); William Hind, A Visit to Otelne in his Lodge (1861-1862); William McFarlane Notman, Douglas Fir Trees, Vancouver (1887); Antoine Plamondon, Sainte Cécile (1872); Carl Schaefer, View of Kingston Penitentiary (1948); Robert Weins, White Pine (1997); Joyce Wieland, O Canada (1970) and Jin-me Yoon, Intersection 1 (1996).
Jan Allen and Alicia Boutilier