Prints and Drawings

The National Gallery of Canada’s Prints and Drawings collection contains over 27,000 works on paper by Canadian, American and European artists. Notable both for its excellence and diversity, the collection represents all major schools from the 15th century to the contemporary period.

John A. Fraser, The Rogers Pass, 1886, 38.1 x 66.1 cm, watercolour over graphite on wove paper.

Canadian Prints and Drawings

With over 10,000 works on paper from the 18th century to the present day), the collection of Canadian prints and drawings offers a glimpse of the country’s rich diversity of artistic expression.
Edgar Degas, Racehorses (detail), c. 1895-1899, pastel on tracing paper, laid down on cardboard.

European, American and Asian Prints and Drawings

The European, American and Asian prints and drawings collection, which comprises more than 2,500 drawings and over 10,000 prints, is the most substantial in Canada and among the finest in North...

Friends of the Print Room

The Friends of the Print Room is a group of Gallery members who have a keen interest in works on paper, including prints, drawings and watercolours. In return for an annual donation, which goes towards the acquisition of works on paper, the Friends of the Print Room meet for sessions with curators and other art specialists to share knowledge and expertise. Activities feature exhibition tours and talks held in the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Study Room in the presence of artwork pulled from our vaults. To find out more on how to become a Friend, contact [email protected].

 

Prints, Drawings and Photographs Study Room

The collection is accessible in the Prints, Drawings and Photographs Study Room. Individuals interested in researching the collection and small academic groups are welcome by appointment on Wednesdays and Thursdays from 1:30 to 4:00 pm. To request an appointment, please fill out all sections of the Visitor Application Form at least two weeks in advance for individuals and four weeks in advance for academic groups.

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Collection

Curatorial Team

Sonia Del Re.

Sonia Del Re, Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings

Sonia Del Re holds a Master’s degree in Museology and a Ph.D. in Art History. She first interned at the NGC in 2004–05, officially joining its curatorial team in 2006. She now oversees a collection of over 27,000 works of art on paper created around the globe between the 15th and 20th centuries. She has curated exhibitions across the country and the Atlantic based on the national collection, including Storms and Bright Skies: Three Centuries of Dutch Landscapes; The Noble Art of the Carracci and their School; M. C. Escher: The Mathemagician  (as Coordinating Curator); Chagall: Daphnis & Chloé; Beauty’s Awakening: Drawings by the Pre-Raphaelites and Their Contemporaries from the Lanigan Collection; Picasso: Man and Beast. The Vollard Suite of Prints; Masters of Venetian Portraiture: Veronese, Tiepolo, Vittoria; and Beautiful Monsters: Beasts and Fantastic Creatures in Early European Prints (1450–1700).

Erika Dolphin.

Erika Dolphin, Interim Senior Curator, Prints and Drawings

Erika received her PhD on 16th-century Spanish art from the Institute of Fine Arts (NYU), and has been at the National Gallery of Canada since 2002. She has her feet solidly planted in the worlds of both European paintings and works on paper, and has curated a wide variety of exhibitions, including Baroque Masterworks from the National Gallery of Canada (2006), Central European Drawings from the National Gallery of Canada (2010), and Masterpiece in Focus: The White Dress (2016). In addition, she contributed to the major retrospective, Gustave Doré (1832–1883): Master of Imagination (2014), and was the organizing curator for Impressionist Treasures: The Ordrupgaard Collection (2018).