The Arctic Image

Opens January 17, 2009 (Ongoing)

The Arctic Image exhibition examines Canada’s north from two distinct artistic perspectives: the Inuit people who lived there for generations, and those who came much later and experienced it as an unknown environment. The exhibition, consisting of over thirty works—paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and photographs—from the McMichael's permanent collection, and Cape Dorset collection, will re-examine the importance of the Arctic in relation to the Group of Seven and Inuit artists. Juxtaposing works by the Group of Seven artists with those of leading Inuit artists, the exhibition explores the expressiveness and vibrancy of Inuit culture, the spiritual vision of visiting southern artists, and the resulting cultural cross-influences.

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A.Y. Jackson, (1882-1974)
Eskimo Summer Camp, c.1927
oil on canvas
50.9 x 68.0 cm
Gift of Mr. S. Walter Stewart
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
1968.8.30

A Brush with War: Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan

January 17 to June 14, 2009

The exhibition, A Brush with War: Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan includes artworks dating from 1947 to 2008. In particular, it explores the two military art programs that started more than twenty years after the Second World War, the Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP, 1968–1995) and the Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP, 2001– present). Initially influenced by the art of the First and Second World War programs, over the past sixty years military art has moved gradually in new directions, current works expressing artists’ more personal rather than documentary responses to their subjects. A Brush with War: Military Art from Korea to Afghanistan was developed by the Canadian War Museum in partnership with the Directorate of History and Heritage, Department of National Defence, and has been made possible in part by a generous donation from the Beaverbrook Canadian Foundation.

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Ken Steacy
ASO-TACNAV-NAVCOMM-NASO: Hard at Work, 1985
watercolour and ink on paper
32.8 x 44.1 cm
Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
CWM 19850402-002

Yousuf Karsh: Industrial Images

January 31 to June 28, 2009

The Yousuf Karsh: Industrial Images exhibition is a culmination of Karsh’s industrial and commercial work with the Ford Motor Company of Canada, Atlas Steel in Welland, Ontario, and Sharon Steel in Pennsylvania, and a variety of other commercial images. The exhibition explores the tone of Karsh’s industrial and commercial portraits in relation to the work and life philosophies prevalent in post-WWII North America. It also explores consumerism, marketing  and the political atmosphere in Canada during the 1950s through his portraits. This project is organized  and circulated by the Art Gallery of Windsor with the support of the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd., Library and Archives Canada, Portrait Gallery of Canada, the Museum Assistanc e Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage, CAW-TCA Canada and Estrellita Karsh the Yousuf Karsh: Industrial Images exhibition opens at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection on January 31, 2009.

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Yousuf Karsh, (1908 - 2002)
Gow Crapper, 1951
Ford of Canada series
Putting trim cord on rear window, Trim Line No. 1, Plant No. 4.
gelatin silver print (press print)
51.3 x 66.2 cm
Collection of the Ford Motor Company of Canada, Oakville, Ontario

"Karshed": Yousuf Karsh Selected Portraits

January 31 to June 28, 2009

December 23, 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Yousuf Karsh, one of the most important portrait photographers of the twentieth century. To commemorate this, two special portfolios of thirty rare, limited edition portraits by Karsh will be on display at the gallery from January 31 to June 28  to complement the exhibition, Industrial Images . Karsh’s celebrated photographs of Muhammad Ali, Winston Churchill, Jacques Cousteau, Ernest Hemingway, Helen Keller, Georgia O’Keeffe, Andy Warhol, and many more  will be shown in an exclusive new exhibit at the McMichael, direct from the Estate of Yousuf Karsh in California.

Yousuf Karsh, (1908 - 2002)
Winston Churchill, 1941
photograph, gelatin silver print
60.96 x 50.8 cm
© The Estate of Yousuf Karsh
www.karsh.org