Book Review Compairisons: On Canadian Art Historical Texts- Paper prepared for FINA 3041. WINTER TERM 2006. Mount Allison University.

An Essay on Comparisons of Fine Art History Reviews Of Style Conventions and Text

Sabrina Hickey
FINA 3041:
Canadian Art Up To The 1960's
Dr. G. Kelly
WIN 2006
Mount Allison University,

When scanning over books on Canadian art history we find that the majority are written by males experts on art or male artists and that there are very few written by females. Joyce Millar has mentioned in a review on a women historian, Marie Tippett, that it wasn’t until the, “mid 1970’s Canadian women historians have started to focus on Canadian women artists…rediscovering an important part of Canada’s cultural hertitage.” (Millar 1995: 47). Books before this time books were written by men experts and or artists. One such book is the reference book for our Canadian art course is the second edition of, A Concise History of Canadian Art (1988), by Dennis Reid.

Dennis Reid’s second edition book is divided into 17 chapters and is 398 pages long. The book’s cover is the self portrait watercolor of painter, William Hind. Perhaps the choice for this particular work to grace the cover of Reid’s book is to bring attention to Hind’s work and his life, as a forgotten English immigrant Canadian artist, who has traveled from coast to coast. Reid’s 1988 edition’s 17 chapters follow a time line, from the first painters in Quebec from the old world up to the art after the 1960’s, influenced by technology and the changing attitudes on painting as art. This last chapter is omitted in the first edition of Reid’s for obvious reasons because the date of the first edition and much of the art after this dates edition could only be covered at a later date.

For purpose of a reference point I have chosen two common images found in each of Reid’s books, in order to compare the language, layout, content, and format, in order to make note of any differences. The two images I have chosen are, “Dharana” by the late Group of Seven’s own, Fred H. Varley and, “Young Canadian”, by Charles Comfort. Both paintings are dated 1932. I have chosen these two because these are the most common of the images reproduced in Canadian art history texts.(Harper 1966, 1977; Lord 1968; Reid 1973, 1988)

Although the Charles Comfort watercolor image is not in Reid’s 1973 (first) edition, it is in his second, also Reid does mention Charles Comfort in his first edition. Both images were not found in Marie Tippett’s and it was hard to find many of her images also in the other Canadian art histories. The other Canadian art history texts including these two artists and their paintings are, Painting In Canada: A History (both 1966 and 1977 editions) by, J.Russell Harper; The History Of Painting in Canada: Towards a People’s Art by, Barry Lord. Both images were not found in Marie Tippett’s: By A Lady: Celebrating Three Centuries of Art by Canadian Women, and it was hard to find many of her images also in the other Canadian art histories. Perhaps the wording of the title could be aluded to the fact that not only is the book covering just Canadian women artists but also that the women artists had perhaps not just been influenced by Canadian art in their own art: hence, “…three centuries of art by…”.

By looking at these four Canadian art histories and paying attention, to the two prior images selected, we can get a glimpse at the differences in content, language, layout and format used by their descriptions of these two painting and the artists.

First looking at the Dennis Reid texts, covering the biographical information on the life of Charles Comfort and his works, that in the second edition, Reid follows the same form but the text has been revamped to include more specifics in relation to Comfort’s life. For example in the first edition, Reid has written that Comfort, “was born in Edinburg…” but in the second edition this has been clarified, in that Comfort, “was born at Cramond, near Edinburg…” (Reid 1973: 181; Reid 1988:186). The rest of the text and language is the exact same, however in Reid’s first edition, he has not included the watercolor by Comfort, but has made reference to it as being one of Comfort’s, “most successful body or work…the portrait of Carl Shaefer, Young Canadian….” (1988: 186). Reid’s information on Fred H. Varley painting, “Dharana” is exactly the same in both editions.

Both of J.Russel Harper’s editions (1966 and 1977) follow text and language word for word in the chapter titled: “Nationalism and the ‘Group’”. Harper gives an biographical account in a chronological overview of Fred Varley’s work in the late 20’s and 30’s. In relation to the ‘Dharana’ painting, only a brief mentioning of a spiritual theme involved in the painting is noted in two lines in the text, and then quickly moves on to quickly to describing another work by Varley. Both editions contain the Dharana painting.

The only difference between these two editions, is that, in the early edition the images of the artists are included within the text but in the later: images are in their own collective section at the end of the book. The images included within the text in the earlier edition do not line up with the descriptions of them,and this makes it distracting, since one may have to flip back and forth. The language used (the exact same in both), is similar to Barry Lord’s in the way that it decribes much of the background of how men and women Canadian artists worked during the war years and the influences of war on their art. However Harper’s differs from Lord’s in that it is not offered in the same socialist viewpoint, since Lord decribes the socio-political and economic background of Canadian society throughout the course of his text. Barry Lord’s book contains images of both paintings within the text, as well as having them co-ordinating with the artist descriptions and historical information.

One thing that should be mentioned is that the earlier edition of Harper’s, the pages are horizontally wider, than the later (which is actually the same size as Reid’s 1988 edition-in book thickness and page size) and when trying to flip back and forth between the images and text, it can take longer to read. The later edition’s text allows for a better flow of reading, provides reference of images at the end of the text and allows for better handling and storage. Both editions of Harper’s book show the Charles Comfort watercolor, and also offer the same account of the ‘Young Canadian’ (Carl Schaefer portrait), who worked in the bombing crews in WWII. (Harper 1966: 336; Harper 1977: 288). Interesting to note is that, Harper’s 1966 edition is the only one to include a photography of the Group of Seven artists and this edition also includes color images, unlike the 1977 edition.

These two images are not included in Marie Tippett’s book, for the reason that they are done by men artists. Tippett’s book is unlike the others not just for the simple fact that she is the only woman writer, but in the form of language she uses. It is like Tippett is closely situated to the artists experiences and procedures and she offers much more personal exposure of the artists thoughts through the use of quotations of artists. In this way it seems more ethnographical in that there is less of a distancing effect of her from the women artists and therefore more like a dialogue between them, and further so, like a dialogue between both of them, and us the readers. (She also includes quotes of male artists as well.) Tippett leaves also leaves room for uncertainity of artists intentions in their art. (75) and she explains the stylistic work women painters and their realization that they needed to paint in certain ways, much like the Group of Seven (85). The layout of the book is different in the way that the book itself is much wider, with bigger margins and the text is more spaced out as well as the pictures from the text. The book’s print is much larger and the pictures are mainly in color. Considering all this, the book seems more inviting to read and enjoy.

By comparing all four other histories to Reid’s second edition (note I say 4 not the 5th - being Reid’s 1973 edition because the only real difference is the extra added chapter and the language is the same), I think it is a good course reader, because it is compact, and the images line up with corresponding text. I do believe that it could offer more on women artists and the influences on their art, rather than just covering art icons like Emily Carr. I like how Reid has covered art in the later time period up to the sixies, by divding the sections by the city art centers and regions, and each serious artist would greatly influence the surrounding areas from which they worked and also be advocates of schooling and museum arts of these areas. Dividing it this way allows for an easy access to moderately recent established art; perhaps because artists become more locationally bound and travel is more expensive. Reid’s book delivers exactly what it has set out to do, in that it is a ‘concise’ history of Canadian art history.


Sources
Harper, J.R. 1977. Painting in Canada: A History. University of Toronto Press: Toronto,
283-285.

-1966. Painting in Canada: A History. University of Toronto Press: Toronto,
178-180.

Millar, J. 1995. “Review: By A Lady, Celebrating Three Centuries of Art By Canadian
Women. Women’s Art Journal, Vol 16 (2); 47-9. JSTOR. Retrieved Oct. 4, 2006.

Reid, D. 1988. A Concise History of Canadian Painting. 2nd Edition. Oxford
Univerisity Press: Don Mills, Ontario.

-1973. A Concise History of Canadian Painting. Oxford University Press. Don Mills, Ontario.

Tippett, M. 1992. By A Lady: Celebrating Three Centuries of Art By Canadian Women.
Peguin Books Ltd: Toronto: Ontario.