Josée Drouin-Brisebois, Greg A. Hill, Andrea Kunard

It Is What It Is: Recent Acquisitions of New Canadian Art features a selection of over seventy works created by more than fifty artists working across the country in a range of media, practices and sensibilities. More than a catalogue, this publication can be seen as a document that acknowledges some of the most compelling works being produced in Canada today.

FEATURED ARTISTS: David Altmejd, Stephen Andrews, Shuvinai Ashoona, Mary Anne Barkhouse, Rebecca Belmore, BGL, Valérie Blass, Shary Boyle, James Carl, Patrick Coutu, Thirza Cuthand, Geoffrey Farmer, Karel Funk, Tim Gardner, Chris Gergley, Greg Girard, Rodney Graham, Pascal Grandmaison, Adad Hannah, Isabelle Hayeur, Antonia Hirsch, Kristan Horton, Simon Hughes, Spring Hurlbut, Sarah Anne Johnson, Wanda Koop, Rodney LaTourelle, Tim Lee, Mark Lewis, Liz Magor, Luanne Martineau, Scott McFarland, Sandra Meigs, Chris Millar, Gareth Moore, Alex Morrison, Nadia Myre, Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, Shelley Niro, Ed Pien, Tim Pitsiulak, Yannick Pouliot, Steven Shearer, Ron Terada, Susan Turcot, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, Chih-Chien Wang, Colleen Wolstenholme, Kevin Yates, Robert Youds, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Etienne Zack, Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky.

Paper | 160 pages
22.5 x 29.5 cm (8.9 x 11.6 in.) 
Publication Date: 2010

David Franklin

Seventy of the finest Italian drawings from the 16th to the 18th centuries in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Canada are featured in this volume. Brilliant examples by such artists as Giulio Romano, Parmigianino, Annibale Carracci and Piranesi were selected and described. This is the first in a series of catalogues presenting selected treasures from the Gallery's permanent collection.

Paper | 176 pages
Publication Date: 2003

François-Marc Gagnon

The artist Jean Paul Riopelle is best known for his renowned mature abstract style. In this fascinating history, François-Marc Gagnon begins with the artist's first paintings and his early commitment to objectivity to explore Riopelle's involvement with the Automatiste movement and its lasting impact on his work.

Hardcover | 224 pages
21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.) 
Publication Date: 2020

François-Marc Gagnon

The artist Jean Paul Riopelle is best known for his renowned mature abstract style. In this fascinating history, François-Marc Gagnon begins with the artist's first paintings and his early commitment to objectivity to explore Riopelle's involvement with the Automatiste movement and its lasting impact on his work.

Hardcover | 224 pages
21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.) 
Publication Date: 2020

Scotiabank Photography Award

Covering over 30 years of artistic practice, this book celebrates the complex yet highly distilled photographs of Jin-me Yoon’s dynamic vision. Showcasing a camera that is a witness to performative acts occurring both inside and outside the frame, the book reveals how Yoon has expanded conceptualist understandings of image-making and contributed to ongoing discussions of place and identity. In doing so, this volume illustrates how she uses the inherent mobility of images and the forces of diasporic thinking to bring disparate worlds together in poetic relation and create conditions for a different future.

Hardcover | 228 pages
24.8 x 30.5 cm (9.76 x 12 in.)

Ming Tiampo

In Jin-me Yoon: Life & Work, Ming Tiampo reveals how Yoon’s multidisciplinary art—which includes photography, video, performances, and installations—reconnects troubled pasts with damaged presents and offers hope for a better future. It considers how one of Canada’s most important voices on the nature of identity developed a critical perspective on the representation of this country in museums, art history, the tourist industry, and monuments with groundbreaking works such as Souvenirs of the Self, 1991, and Group of Sixty-Seven, 1996, projects that, as Tiampo notes, have become “canonical touchstones in the public articulation of Canadian identity and race.”

Hardcover | 128 pages
20x28 cm (8x11 in.)

Ann Thomas, Vladimir Birgus, Ian Jeffrey 

Josef Sudek. Le monde à ma fenêtre examines how Sudek’s photographs reflect his relationship to the world around him; his endless fascination with light and its absence led him to create some of the 20th century’s most haunting images of nature, monuments, city streets and objects. This generously illustrated catalogue offers a compelling view of Sudek’s photographs and the rich artistic environment of Prague in the decades before and after the Second World War. 

Hardcover | 272 pages 
24.5 x 30.5 cm (9.7 x 12 in.) 
Publication Date: 2016 

Available in French only

Katie Putt, translation by Laurence Seguin

30 fabulous projects for beginners – get comfortable with watercolor using only 3 colours at a time! With this book you'll be able to paint animals, flowers, plants, and more with quick and easy strokes, using minimal yet complimentary colour palettes. 

Paperback | 128 pages 
17.8 x 25.4 cm (7 x 10 in.) 
Publication Date: 2024

David Franklin

Among Renaissance artists, Parmigianino was perhaps more conscious than any of the potential of the graphic arts to convey, and indeed broadcast, complex ideas. He explored this potential himself, not only by means of his numerous drawings but also through the etchings he produced on his own (effectively introducing this print medium into Italian art) and through the engravings and chiaroscuro woodcuts that were made after his designs.

Paper | 289 pages
Publication Date: 2001
Available in French only

Andréi Nakov

Beginning in 1914 in Russia, a group of artists primed for experimentation introduced an entirely new direction for the visual arts, articulating the language of abstraction with Suprematism and Constructivism. This catalogue centers on the emergence of the Russian avant-garde movement in Moscow until the mid-1920s. Works by El Lissitzky, Vladimir Tatlin, Kazimir Malevich, Ilya Chashnik, Liubov Popova, Olga Rozanova and Ivan Kliun are featured. Also included is a rich selection of books, manuscripts, drawings and prints, reminding us that, for many Russians in the early twentieth century, art was a part of everyday life.

Paperback | 164 pages
Publication date: 2016

Sonia Del Re, Dennis T. Lanigan, Christopher Newall

L'éveil de la beauté expresses the richness, diversity and flair of British draftsmanship and illustrates the appreciation developed for the art of drawing during the Victorian era. Included are drawings by such masters as Edward Burne-Jones, John Everett Millais, William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Edward Poynter and Frederic Leighton.

Paperback | 216 pages 
23 x 30 cm (9 x 12 in.)
Publication Date: 2015

Jean Clair

The Great Parade: Portrait of the Artist as Clown is a spectacular international exhibition featuring masterpieces that explore the fascination the circus has held for artists from the 18th century to the present. The catalogue brings together nearly 200 works - paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures and videos - from Watteau and Chardin to Boltanski and Cindy Sherman, via Tiepolo, Goya, Daumier, Courbet, Seurat, Ensor, Rouault, Léger, Klee, Chagall and Picasso, among others.

Hardcover | 424 pages
Publication Date: 2004
Available in French only

Phyllis Webstad and Orange Shirt Society

A special abridged version of the award-winning book Orange Shirt Day: September 30th. Orange Shirt Day, observed annually on September 30th, is also known as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. It is an official day to honour Residential School Survivors and their families, and to remember the children who did not come home. What was initially envisioned as a way to keep the conversations going about all aspects of Residential Schools in Williams Lake and the Cariboo Region of British Columbia, Canada, has now expanded into a movement across Turtle Island and beyond. La journée du chandail orange: Chaque enfant compte aims to create champions who will walk a path of reconciliation and promote the message that 'Every Child Matters'.

Softcover | 108 pages
21 x 27.3 cm (8.2 x 9.3 in.) 
Publication Date: 2024

Andrea Kunard

The variety, width and breadth of photographic culture in Canada is extraordinary, and Canadian photographers are among the most prominent and influential in the world today. From classic street photography, documentary images and landscape imagery, to experimental abstractions and conceptual work, photography is an area of particularly rich exploration in our country. Photography in Canada 1960–2000 is the fifth in a series that presents the Gallery's Photographs Collection, and this catalogue is the first to be published by the newly established Canadian Photography Institute (CPI).

Featured artists: Raymonde April, Roy Arden, Barbara Astman, Claire Beaugrand-Champagne, Pierre Boogaerts, Robert Bourdeau, Jim Breukelman, Robert Burley, Edward Burtynsky, Michel Campeau, Serge Clément, Lynne Cohen, Sorel Cohen, Carole Condé, Marlene Creates, Donigan Cumming, Walter Curtin, Jack Dale, Robert Del Tredici, Stan Denniston, Jennifer Dickson, Lutz Dille, Evergon, Charles Gagnon, Pierre Gaudard, General Idea, Tom Gibson, Lorraine Gilbert, Rafael Goldchain, Rodney Graham, Ted Grant, Angela Grauerholz, Clara Gutsche, Dave Heath, Fred Herzog, Hubert Hohn, Thaddeus Holownia, George Hunter, Geoffrey James, Yousuf Karsh, Holly King, Suzy Lake, Michel Lambeth, Ken Lum, Chris Lund, Arnaud Maggs, John Massey, John Max, Susan McEachern, David McMillan, N.E. Thing Co. (NETCO), Shelley Niro, Nina Raginsky, John Reeves, Mark Ruwedel, Jacye Salloum, Michael Semak, Orest Semchishen, Sandra Semchuk, Michael Snow, George Steeves, Gabor Szilasi, Sam Tata, Jeff Thomas, Diana Thorneycroft, Serge Tousignant, Larry Towell, Bill Vazan, Jeff Wall, Ian Wallace, and Jin-me Yoon.

Paperback | 176 pages
20.5 x 26.5 cm (8 x 10 ½ in.)
Publication Date: 2016

Lori Pauli, Marta Weiss, Ann Thomas, Karen Henry

Since the earliest days of photography, artists have directed models posing before the camera and, through the use of theatrical props, costumes, and lighting, have created "staged" photographs that tell a story. Acting the Part is the first major history of this enduring and highly creative branch of photography. Beautiful illustrations range from the earliest salted paper prints and daguerreotypes to today's digitally manipulated images. The book also presents 57 short biographies of the genre's leading practitioners, including Oscar Rejlander, Julia Margaret Cameron, Lewis Carroll, Man Ray, Duane Michals, Les Krims, Jeff Wall, Yasumasa Morimura and Wang Qingsong, among others.

Softcover & Hardcover | 176 pages
28.5 x 23.5 x 1.5 cm (11.2 x 9.3 x 0.6 in.)
Publication Date: 2006

René Villeneuve

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Laurent Amiot redefined religious, domestic and commemorative silversmithing, turning it into an art form. Produced in conjunction with the first retrospective devoted to one of Canada’s finest silversmiths, this stunning, richly-illustrated catalogue explores the quality and importance of Amiot’s oeuvre while providing a fresh perspective on the history of the society he helped shape and define.

Hardcover | 256 pages
26 x 31 cm (10.2 x 12.2 in.) 
Publication Date: 2018

René Villeneuve

During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Laurent Amiot redefined religious, domestic and commemorative silversmithing, turning it into an art form. Produced in conjunction with the first retrospective devoted to one of Canada’s finest silversmiths, this stunning, richly-illustrated catalogue explores the quality and importance of Amiot’s oeuvre while providing a fresh perspective on the history of the society he helped shape and define.

Hardcover | 256 pages
26 x 31 cm (10.2 x 12.2 in.) 
Publication Date: 2018

Joan Murray

Lawren Harris, one of the greatest painters of Canadian art, was a leader in the creation of the Group of Seven.  This illustrated introduction to Harris's work traces his artistic development through the study of his paintings, drawing a lively picture of this energetic and charismatic individual who contributed so much to Canadian art.

Paperback | 64 pages 
22.8 x 22.8 cm (9 x 9 in.) 
Publication Date: 2003

Erika Dolphin
with Jonathan L. Meakins

Le cosmos des collectionneurs. La Collection d’estampes Meakins–McClaran provides a glimpse into the making of what is, undoubtedly, the foremost private collection of 16th and 17th-century Dutch and Flemish prints in Canada. While that is the strength of the collection, there is also a joyful touch of eclecticism reflecting the Renaissance interests of the collectors Dr. Jonathan Meakins and Dr. Jacqueline McClaran.

In this beautiful and fully illustrated catalogue, Dr. Meakins takes us through the collection’s history, which began forty years ago in Paris following an afternoon in a room full of prints by Camille Pissarro at the Grand Palais. He reflects upon how a collection is never static; it ebbs and flows much like life. The other essay by Erika Dolphin, a personal account of her exploration of the collection, examines the flourishing of images of landscape in northern Europe and illustrates how art in the form of a humble print can lead us to reflect upon the myriad wonders of life.

Softcover | 216 pages
24.5 x 30 cm (9.6 x 11.8 in.)
Publication Date: 2021

Martina Weinhart

With contributions by Rebecca Herlemann, Ruth Phillips, Carmen Robertson, Jeff Thomas, Georgiana Uhlaryik, Reneée van der Avoird, Martina Weinhart and Interviews with Lisa Jackson and Caroline Monnet

In the early 20th century, artists such as Emily Carr, Tom Thomson, and members of what would become the Group of Seven, transformed Post-Impressionism techniques into exciting new ways of interpreting the Canadian landscape.

Challenging existing traditions, they left major cities such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver and ventured deep into the Canadian wilderness. Often remaining in the bush for weeks on end, they reimagined the natural world using bold colours, stylized forms, and dynamic brushwork, producing vibrant modernist works that would define Canada and Canadian art for decades to come.

Premiering at Frankfurt’s Schirn Kunsthalle, Magnetic North features 87 works of art, including 23 works from the National Gallery of Canada. The exhibition also comprises five films, including two by contemporary Indigenous artists: How a People Live, a documentary by filmmaker Lisa Jackson and Mobilize, a short film by artist Caroline Monnet.

Magnetic North was organized by the SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada, with the generous support of the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Hardcover | 240 pages
23.5 x 27.5 cm (9.25 x 10.82 in)
Publication Date: 2021