From the sometimes eccentric but remarkable work, rooted in symbolism and theosophy, of pioneers such as Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker and Lawren Harris, to the Automatistes in Montreal, to the conceptual art movement in Halifax, the urge to abstraction in art is spread wide across Canada. Abstract Painting in Canada covers the movement throughout the twentieth century, including highlights from 1940s Montreal and the Clement Greenberg influenced Prairies in the sixties and seventies. The book continues through the eighties and nineties, during which critics largely denounced painting, and concludes in the twenty-first century, with abstract painting alive and well again in the studios of Canada’s young artists. A monumental tome containing 200 colour reproductions, it mines a rich vein of art history ripe for international discovery.
In his introduction to this comprehensive overview of abstract painting in Canada, the eminent historian, critic and curator Roald Nasgaard
suggests that abstraction is better understood as a synergetic continuum between representation and pure painterly construction Thoroughly researched, highly readable and filled with top-notch illustrations, Nasgaard’s book firmly established a historical canon and sets a new standard for Canadian art publishing. -Canadian Art AUTHOR: From the sometimes eccentric but remarkable work, rooted in symbolism and theosophy, of pioneers such as Kathleen Munn, Bertram Brooker and Lawren Harris, to the Automatistes in Montreal, to the conceptual art movement in Halifax, the urge to abstraction in art is spread wide across Canada. Abstract Painting in Canada covers the movement throughout the twentieth century, including highlights from 1940s Montreal and the Clement Greenberg influenced Prairies in the sixties and seventies. The book continues through the eighties and nineties, during which critics largely denounced painting, and concludes in the twenty-first century, with abstract painting alive and well again in the studios of Canada’s young artists. A monumental tome containing 200 colour reproductions, it mines a rich vein of art history ripe for international discovery. 200 colour images
