Introduction

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in front of you are three paintings each

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work raises questions about Canada –

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through depictions of land and one

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through the depiction of important

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moments in the history of the land that

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is often referred to as Canada

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we will explore the paintings of Tom

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Thompson Emily Carr and Robert cool

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three artists who are inspired by place

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but today we look beyond the surface to

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ask the important question who is Canada

Who is Canada

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[Music]

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close your eyes and think about Canada

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what kind of things do you think about

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when touring the groups we get answers

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like hockey Tim Hortons maple syrup and

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more and one thing that is always

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mentioned is the land large forests open

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planes crashing oceans towering

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mountains and a vast Arctic as Canadians

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our identity is often highly connected

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with the land looking at this wall you

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will immediately recognize two paintings

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as traditional landscapes Emily Carr on

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the left and Tom Thompson on the right

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are two of the most recognized and

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beloved artists and Canadian art they

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are key figures that led to the

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development of a distinctly Canadian

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school of landscape painting in the

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early 20th century their work helped to

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create a body of work that is considered

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emblematic of Canada by many people it

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is likely that many of our visions of

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the land are derived from these artists

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and their paintings of that land today

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though our key question is whether or

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not this is an accurate representation

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let’s take a closer look we begin this

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journey by looking at Tom Thompson’s

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Birchgrove

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autumn from 1915 to 1916 Thompson who

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was born in 1877 is synonymous with

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Canadian landscape painting though not

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technically a member of the group of

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seven due to his untimely death in 1917

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he arguably was one of the greatest

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influences in creating what we now

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consider to be a national identity his

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works consist almost entirely of

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landscapes depicting trees skies lakes

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and rivers in May 1912 he visited

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Algonquin Park for the first time it was

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there that he acquired his first

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sketching equipment and began to paint

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nature scenes during his short career

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less than five years he produced roughly

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400 oil sketches on small wood panels

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along with around 50 larger works on

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canvas painted in 1915 this work was

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created around the midpoint of his

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painting career it is the larger studio

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version worked up from a small oil

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sketch painted on site we can see

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Thompson’s characteristic brushwork and

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bold colors use

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to capture the unique details of a place

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he visited noticed the slightly curved

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trunks of the birch trees and the

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particular arrangement of the rocks but

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at the same time we can see his growing

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sophistication as an artist as he

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explores a flattening of space and

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pattern in the way the trees and skies

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are painted in the top third of the

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canvas next we move to the far left to

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look at Emily Carr who lived from 1871

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to 1945 Emily Carr along with Thompson

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in the group of seven was one of the

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exceptional and perhaps most original

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Canadian painters of the first half the

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20th century early in her artistic

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career she spent time in Europe

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primarily in France where she was

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exposed to Post Impressionism in Fauvism

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these two styles heavily influenced her

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artistic creation and she was the first

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to introduce Fauvism to Vancouver upon

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returning home to Vancouver Carr began a

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project of documentation travelling to

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the islands of the northwest coast

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including Haida Gwaii in the upper

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Skeena River at that time indigenous

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culture was thought to be dying and soon

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to be extinct this belief was reinforced

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through colonialist propaganda and

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despite Carr’s interest in indigenous

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culture she shared the prevailing

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attitude that this extinction was an

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inevitable process her intention was to

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make a visual record of totem poles in

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their village setting before they

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disappeared forever to create these

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images Carr made sketches and

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watercolors studies she worked on plain

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air drawing and painting on sight often

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from the back of a canoe during this

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period her subjects were single totem

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poles or figures as well as village

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scenes all were infused with the vibrant

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colour active brushwork and reduced form

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of the French school as can be seen in

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Yan qci in Yan qci or Queen Charlotte’s

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Island we can easily see the influence

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of post-impressionism on cars early work

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she uses dabs of bright colors to create

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a scene of landscape sky with a coastal

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village we know from cars writing that

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her intention was to capture a true

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representation of the villages that she

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visited but as we see in this painting

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she does this through a very European

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lens having looked at to pay

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things that are easily defined as

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landscape we can now return to the key

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questions that began this tour whose

Robert Houle

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Canada do we see in these paintings and

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is this an accurate portrayal to answer

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those questions we turn to our final

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painting Aboriginal title by Robert

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Huell from 1989 Robert Huell born in

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1947 grew up in Sandy Bay First Nation

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though his time there was cut short

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Judas forced removal to attend a

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residential school most of his artwork

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emphasizes how land is the key element

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in understanding one’s history and

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future path and is essential in shaping

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his own Anishinaabe identity for who’ll

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the loss of ancestral land has been a

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cause of a grave identity crisis for

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generations of First Nations peoples the

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legacy of European colonization has

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rendered First Nations peoples alienated

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in their own territories as in

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Aboriginal title Cole’s work is meant to

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function directly within art

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institutions called Aboriginal title it

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subverts and critiques the very

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institutions in which it hangs which is

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a common practice of holes as both an

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artist and a curator this painting

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depicts the history that shaped the

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lands on which we live and these four

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crucial dates forever altered both

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Canadian and indigenous peoples

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relationships with the land and this

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place looking closely at the painting we

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ask why red what is the importance of

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the color what else is red this forceful

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piece with its bright cadmium background

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presents four crucial dates in a deep

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crimson marking years when legislation

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was passed that served as legal

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precedents for First Nations Rights and

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Freedoms regarding land 1763 1867 1876

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and 1982 for many of you at least one of

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these dates may stand out as significant

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to Canada’s history and nationhood but

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let’s take a very quick look at each one

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considering the impact that each date

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had on indigenous culture in 1763 the

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Royal Proclamation claimed territory in

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North America with guidelines for

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European settlement of indigenous

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territories in 1867 Confederation was

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the first

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in defining Canada as a nation by

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uniting the first four provinces but

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support wasn’t Universal as indigenous

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people were not asked if they wanted to

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join 1876 was the Indian Act it

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authorized the Canadian government to

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control the affairs of indigenous people

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and reservation communities it allowed

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the banning of indigenous culture and

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language and opened the door for

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residential schools and in 1982 it was

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the Constitution Act the Constitution

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Act enshrined the Charter of Rights and

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Freedoms in the Constitution while

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section 35 recognizes and affirms

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indigenous rights early drafts of the

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Constitution Act did not many still feel

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that this document reinforces

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colonialism by recognizing Canadian law

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of supreme expecting indigenous cultures

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to adapt to fit rather than allowing for

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self-determination thinking back to the

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landscapes depicted by Thompson and Carr

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we can agree that they offer a beautiful

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and important view of landscape painting

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from the early 20th century but do you

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think they offer us a true vision of the

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Canadian landscape especially when

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considering that the landscape is so

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often tied to the idea of nationhood

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when we look at historical works of art

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it is always important to consider the

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time in the place in which they were

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created but also to consider the time

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and place where we now encounter them

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now in the 21st century the narrative of

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nationhood presented by Thompson Carr

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and the group of seven as a whole

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propagates a very particular vision of a

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Canadian landscape that is neither

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Universal or inclusive this vision

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depicts Canada’s land as barren and

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available in the case of Thompson’s

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Birchgrove and presents a vision of the

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imminent extinction of indigenous

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culture in the case of cars yawn qci

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both these landscapes emit or allow for

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the erasure of indigenous people in land

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claim by linking the land to a sense of

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nationhood it is linking the land

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directly to the country as a whole and

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its borders which further reinforces

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government ownership of the land at the

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turn of the century these ideas were not

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considered but now it is essential that

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we use a consideration of context

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authorship and

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new framework of inclusion to truly

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understand the power of images to

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communicate ideas this arrangement of

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three artistic treasures offers us an

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important opportunity to explore these

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ideas not to devalue important

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historical works but to use our

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perspective to appreciate the potential

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to see a way forward

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you

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