19th-Century French Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada

Drawn from the National Gallery’s extensive collection of 19th-century French photographs, this exhibition consists of daguerreotypes and salted paper, albumen silver and photogravure prints. It features over 100 photographs made by some of the major practitioners working in France at the time, including work by Eugène Atget, Édouard Baldus, Maxime Du Camp, Gustave Le Gray, Nadar, Auguste Salzmann, and Félix Teynard,among others.

Image: Félix-Jacques-Antoine Moulin, Académie, c. 1845. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Gift of Phyllis Lambert, Montreal, 1988

Catalogue available

Ottawa Collects Edward Burne-Jones

The Pre-Raphaelite painter Edward Burne-Jones had a profound influence on the Symbolist generation of the 1890s. During his lifetime, he was recognized internationally for the dreamy, mystical look of his models and a style of rhythmic, curvilinear lines. A number of private collectors in the city, including the artist’s great-great grandson,have generously agreed to lend works to this exhibition to be joined by works in the National Gallery’s collection.

Image: Edward Burne-Jones, Ethel Burdet-Burgess (Study for the Central Figure in “The Garden Court” of the Briar Rose Series), c. 1888. Private Collection, Ottawa

Maurice Denis: Journeys

Maurice Denis was a member of the Nabis group of painters. Influenced by Catholic subjects and images of Italy, Denis illustrated many books, including classic works by poet Paul Verlaine and novelist André Gide. His mastery of line and colour is demonstrated in these sensuous lithographs and woodcuts.

Image: Maurice Denis, Le voyage d'Urien (Paris: Librairie de l’art indépendant, 1893). National Gallery of Canada Library and Archives, Ottawa

Hours: The Library is open to the public Wednesday to Friday 10 am to 4:45 pm, Thursdays (October 1 to April 29) until 5:45 pm.

David Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream

These works were executed over the past five years by Canadian multimedia artist David Hoffos. The series consists primarily of small, realistic-looking dioramas of dwelling spaces as well as urban and suburban landscapes that are hallmarked by Hoffos’ signature low-tech but highly effective illusionism.

Organized by Rodman Hall Art Centre/Brock University in collaboration with the Southern Alberta Art Gallery and TrepanierBaer Gallery, Alberta

Image: David Hoffos, Scenes from the House Dream: Circle Street, 2003 (detail) Courtesy the artist and Trépanier Baer Gallery.  Photo:  David Miller

Part II: Rethinking Abstraction from an Indigenous Perspective

This series of exhibitions presents works by celebrated artists such as Alex Janvier and Kenojuak Ashevak, whose expressive use of colour, line and form communicate their political, social and cultural concerns. Drawn from the NGC collection, the series presents abstract and modernist work produced by Indigenous artists in Canada and abroad, from the 1960s to the present.

Image: Bob Boyer, Indian Psychology 101, 1997. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo © NGC

Douglas Gordon. Play Dead: Real Time

“Play dead” is one of the tricks performed by Minnie, the elephant star of internationally acclaimed artist Douglas Gordon’s mesmerizing three-channel video installation. The artist arranged for the young Indian elephant to be brought to New York City’s spacious Gagosian Gallery, where a professional crew filmed her performing a series of tricks – play dead, stand still, walk around, back up, get up, and beg.

Image: Douglas Gordon. Play Dead: Real Time, 2003. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Douglas Gordon. Photo © NGC

General Idea. One Year of AZT

This installation renders in high relief the drug AZT that is prescribed to HIV-positive patients to delay the onset of AIDS. The pills are arranged on the wall in daily, monthly, and yearly dosages, the composition recalling both the calendar and the efficient look of pharmaceutical packaging. The Toronto-based collective General Idea - AA Bronson, Felix Partz and Jorge Zontal - created a profound body of work in response to the HIV/AIDS crisis until 1994, when Partz and Zontal were lost to the disease.

Image: One Year of AZT, 1991 and One Day of AZT, 1991. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo © NGC.

Indigenous Art Collection

The Indigenous art collection comprises works by Aboriginal artists in Canada and Indigenous artists from around the world. Many of the works demonstrate ongoing links to the ancestral visual traditions of the past as they engage in the social, political and theoretical discourses that inform much of the art produced today. These works are integrated in chronological, thematic and monographic installations throughout the Canadian, Indigenous and Contemporary art galleries.

Image: Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun. Tweaker, 2008, NGC, Ottawa. Photo © NGC

Contemporary Art Collection

The contemporary art collection is the beating heart of the National Gallery of Canada and offers visitors a rich and varied encounter with the best Canadian and international works in sculpture, painting, video, film, drawing, printmaking and installation produced over the past three decades.

Engaging with living artists, the contemporary collection represents current trends in the art world while continuing to build upon and create relationships to the museum’s historical works. As one of Canada’s foremost institutions to experience contemporary art, the gallery is a site for exchange, debate and contemplation.

Image: Liz Magor Hollow, 1998-1999 National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa