Evening star., 1938-11-13
Praises Advancement
In Canadian Art
By FREDERIC J. HASKIN.


trodden wilderness OF illimitable dis
tances where the picturesque Mounted
Police track down criminals amid almost
eternal SHOWS Or, perhaps, given to
picturing the dominion as land of end
less wheatf1elds or dense forests where
trappers bring in the fur pelts which 90
into the richest garments Of Fifth ave-
nue.. Some think OF Canada chiefly in
connection with winter sports and 9TH
ers-indeed, probably most Americans Of
the moment-in terms Of the Dionne
quintuplets.
1t is fairly safe guess that very few
ever have regarded our vast neighbor to
the north as country with long ira
dition Of art. Even in some remote parts
OF the United States art remains a trif1e
suspect and the painter not infrequently
seems to the sturdy farmer a somewhat
Idle fellow who wastes his time daubing
on canvas.
Perhaps a reason for the American
lack OF appreciation of Canadian art is
due to the circumstance that it has been
celebrated so little. Canadians, especial
ly Canadian artists, have not received
much publicity in the United States. nor,
indeed, anywhere and yet Canada has
tradition Of art which extends back for
two and one-half centuries
Englishmen, that is, Englishmen OF
England proper, always have had the
reputation of belittling the people of the
colonies and dominions, although, as was
so thoroughly proved in the World War,
so much support depends on them They
are set down as mere colonials who may
produce wealth, but not much else of
consequence-unless one except fighting
men. So it has been that England also
has known almost nothing of Canadian
art
What will serve to correct the impress
sion OF both Americans and Englishmen
is a great exhibition which has been
placed on view at the famous Tate CAL
lery in London and may, at the end Of
that engagement, be brought to New
York. The exhibition is called "A Gen.
tury of Canadian Art, but actually many
OF the examples shown go back to the
17th century.
Early Canadian art, as might be sup
posed springs from French rather than
English sources, for the French were well
established in Quebec for many years
before British dominance was asserted.
The first patron of Canadian art was a
Frenchman, Msgr. De Laval, Archbishop
OF Quebec, who, in 1872, founded the
Ecole des Arts ct des Meters at Cap
Tourmente on the north shore of the St.
Lawrence River. This was, indeed, set
ting up the elder arts in the wilderness.
But the development of Canadian art
was not to stop there: Population came
slowly to Canada and such population as
did come had little time for anything but
fighting Indians and hunting and trap
ping for food and pelts. However, in the
early 18th century man who has been
called the father of Canadian art ap-
peared. He was Paul Kane and was In
the employ OF the Hudsons Bay Co., or,
to give it its full title, used to this day.
The Governor and Company of Gentle
men Of England Trading Into Hudsons
Bay.
After working near comparative civili-
zation Kane, in 1846, was dispatched by
the company on an exploring journey to
the North and West. That was hazard
Gus business, not only because there were
still plenty of hostile Indians, but also
wolves and other feral creatures while
the bitter cold of the winters was an ever
present enemy. He crossed the continent
by canoe, on horseback and afoot seal
ing the Selkirk or Canadian Rockies and
explored Puget Sound and the Island of
Vancouver. All the time while on this
epic journey, much of the time alone
and at other times accompanied only by
Indian guides, he sketched and painted.
He made paintings of Indians of the
many tribes, he painted their ceremonial
dances and showed their costumes, native
rites and customs, and, as we'll, painted
the majesty of the vast plains and noun
talns. These works are regarded as hav-
ing great historical and ethnic value.
Several examples of his work hang in
the collection, taken on loan from the
Royal Ontario Museum at Toronto
Then there was Cornelius Krieghoff, an
Immigrant to Canada from Germany
and a man of wide travels and many
adventures. He fought for the new
American Republic in Florida and later
was employed by the War Department in
making sketches, but he returned to
Canada. There he painted chiefly from
French Canadian subjects. He was
mainly landscape painter and his
paintings reflect the biting cold of
snowy scenes.
Although the European tradition held
the earlier painters and even in paint
Ing Indians the manner and style of
European models were followed, there
developed modern school, the creature
of the dominion itself When impress
sionism reached Canada it was gladly
accepted because it was felt to be so
readily adaptable. The SHOWS and for
ests of the great North were perfect sub
jects for the artist of an impressionistic
school.
The pioneer of the new movement was
Tom Thomson, a backwoods trap,er
turned painter. He organized a group of
Canadian artists who called themselves
the Group of Seven and this group exer-
cised strong and benign influence on
modern CanadianSart. No longer were
stilted canvases produced after European