Top Ten Articles of 2022
As we reflect on 2022, we highlight the most-read articles of the past year. Emerging from the seclusion and restrictions of the pandemic years, we thought about how our lives have been affected. It was very telling that an article on artists finding beauty in domestic spaces captured the interest of so many readers. The art of Margaret Watkins, Mary Pratt and Dustin Brons clearly resonated with our own experiences of exploring, changing and being in such private spaces. Observing changes in one's own surroundings, and in society, is also an element in the work of Inuit artist Jutai Toonoo, whose Untitled (Landscape) was the focus of the article published to mark Earth Day.
The Stan Douglas exhibition in Venice and the Gallery exhibition Movement: Expressive Bodies in Art were the focus of several articles, the latter of which also featured an interview with Chicago-based Canadian artist Brendan Fernandes. Combining dance, art and colonial studies in his work, Fernandes explores themes that address issues related to power, social injustice, racialized communities and his understanding of queerness. The national collection and the holdings of the Gallery's Library and Archives also caught the attention of many readers this year. From books published by the late-19th-century Kelmscott Press to Degas' letters and a page from Emperor Akbar's Baburnama – the popularity of these articles revealed the wide-ranging interests of our audiences.
These articles are a reminder of the many entry points to art. Whether it is historical or contemporary, installation or painting, works on paper or sculptures in steel, viewers and readers continue to seek out and find their own tastes and passions among the many works, artists and themes represented at the Gallery. In a world full of images, we navigate our way to the works that speak to us, intrigue us and connect to us in a very personal way.
Mary Pratt, Red Currant Jelly, 1972, oil on masonite, 45.9 x 45.6 cm. Purchased 1976. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Estate of Mary Pratt Photo: NGC
FINDING BEAUTY IN DOMESTIC SPACES
In their work, Margaret Watkins, Mary Pratt and Dustin Brons transform ordinary objects and interiors into works of art that remind viewers that beauty can be found everywhere, even among dirty dishes.
LADY GEORGIANA EYRE’S PREMIER VIEW OF TORONTO 1857
Lady Georgiana Eyre belongs to a small but important group of 19th-century women artists who captured the Canadian landscape
EDGAR DEGAS' LETTERS IN THE NGC LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES COLLECTION
The Gallery's Library and Archives houses nineteen letters by French painter and sculptor Edgar Degas that provide insight into his life and his concerns as he aged.
NEW GENERATION PHOTOGRAPHY AWARD 2022
In their work, the winners of the 2022 New Generation Photography Award probe shared concerns and anxieties, always mindful of their own role in supplementing an already visually saturated culture.
A PAGE FROM EMPEROR AKBAR’S FIRST BABURNAMA
A painting of a garden scene from an illustrated "Baburnama," the autobiography of Emperor Babur, is among the National Gallery of Canada's best-known works of Mughal art.
BOOKS BY THE KELMSCOTT PRESS: THE DOUGLAS SCHOENHERR DONATION
Part of the Douglas Schoenherr donation, books and related ephemera produced by the Kelmscott Press illustrate the artistry of its founder William Morris and artists such as Edward Burne-Jones and Arthur J. Gaskin.
STAN DOUGLAS AT THE VENICE BIENNALE: 2011 ≠ 1848
In Venice, Stan Douglas' exhibition explores moments of social and political turbulence that resonate and connect across time and place.
THE BODY IN MOTION
The exuberant selection of works currently on view in "Movement: Expressive Bodies in Art" celebrates the power of art to connect, engage and inspire.
EARTH DAY: JUTAI TOONOO
Jutai Toonoo spent his life in Nunavut, capturing the northern landscape and life within his community in his signature non-traditional expressionistic style.
BRENDAN FERNANDES: BREAKING DOWN BOUNDARIES AND CREATING SPACES
Frequently working at the intersection of visual art and dance, Brendan Fernandes examines issues of migration, identity and decolonization, as well as social and political spaces.
CAPTIONS: Lady Georgiana Eyre, Valley of the Don, Toronto, 1857, watercolour with gouache over graphite on ivory wove paper, 36.7 × 51.7 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC; Edgar Degas, At the Café-concert (detail), c. 1879–84, oil on canvas, 65.8 × 46.7 cm. Gift of the Saidye Bronfman Foundation, 1995. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC; Attributed to Basawan and Suraj Gujarati, Babur Orders the Spring of the Three Friends at Istalif Enclosed, folio from a Baburnama manuscript, c.998 AH / c. 1590, ink, opaque watercolour and gold on paper, sheet: 26.5 × 15.9 cm. Gift of Max Tanenbaum, 1979. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC; Geoffrey Chaucer, The Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, Kelmscott Press, 1896. Photo: NGC Library and Archives; Installation view of Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848 at the Canada Pavilion at the 59th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, 23 April to 27 November 2022. Photo: Jack Hems / Courtesy of the artist, the National Gallery of Canada, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner; Installation view of Suzy Lake, Sequented Rope Trick series, 1976. graphite drawings, 66.2 × 51 cm each. CMCP Collection, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Suzy Lake Photo: NGC; Jutai Toonoo, Untitled (Landscape), 2008, oil stick on wove paper, 118 × 118 cm. Purchased 2010. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Estate of Jutai Toonoo, Dorset Fine Arts Photo: NGC; Brendan Fernandes, As One IX, 2017, printed 2021, inkjet print on paper, 86.5 × 122.2 cm. Purchased 2022. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. © Brendan Fernandes Photo: NGC
Discover all articles at National Gallery of Canada/magazine; see also our December articles, which due to publication deadlines were not included in this list. Share this article and subscribe to our newsletters to stay up-to-date on the latest articles, Gallery exhibitions, news and events, and to learn more about art in Canada.