Moshe Safdie

For Moshe Safdie, the way a space functions is fundamental; he is deeply committed to architecture as a social force for good, believing that any challenge, including extreme population density and environmental distress, can be addressed with solutions that enhance community and uplift the human spirit. In If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture, Safdie recounts his extraordinary career and the iconic structures he has built—from Habitat in Montreal and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore—and offers a manifesto for the role architecture should play in society.

Hardcover | 368 pages
16 x 23.3 cm (6.2 x 9 in.)
Publication Date: 2022

Pratapaditya Pal 

Images divines, perceptions humaines : la collection Max Tanenbaum d'art d'Asie du Sud et de l'Himalaya au Musée des beaux-arts du Canada 

While the Gallery acquired representative examples of historic Asian art beginning in the early 20th century, its holdings were transformed thanks to the generous gift of Max Tanenbaum (1909–1983), who donated part of the collection of the late Nasli Heeramaneck (1902–1971) in 1980. 

This book commemorates one of the most sumptuous gifts in the history of the National Gallery of Canada. Dr. Hsio-Yen Shih (1933–2001), the sixth director of the National Gallery of Canada from 1977–1981, attracted this remarkable donation in an attempt to expand the collection beyond the confines of the arts of Canada, Europe and North America. 

Softcover | 166 pages 
20.32 x 25.4 cm (8 x 11 in.) 
Publication Date: 1997 
Printed in Canada
Available in French only

Edited by Joe Karetak, Frank Tester, Shirley Tagalik, and Jrène Rahm 

The Inuit have experienced colonization and the resulting disregard for the societal systems, beliefs and support structures foundational to Inuit culture for generations. While much research has articulated the impacts of colonization and recognized that Indigenous cultures and worldviews are central to the well-being of Indigenous peoples and communities, little work has been done to preserve Inuit culture. Unfortunately, most people have a very limited understanding of Inuit culture, and often apply only a few trappings of culture — past practices, artifacts and catchwords — to projects to justify cultural relevance. 

Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit — meaning all the extensive knowledge and experience passed from generation to generation — is a collection of contributions by well- known and respected Inuit Elders. The book functions as a way of preserving important knowledge and tradition, contextualizing that knowledge within Canada’s colonial legacy and providing an Inuit perspective on how we relate to each other, to other living beings and the environment.

Softcover | 296 pages
15.2 x 22.8 cm (6 x 9 in.) 
Publication Date: 2024

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

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.)

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

Leslie Boyd

Kenojuak Ashevak was a matriarch of modern Inuit art. Raised on the land in an isolated Arctic community, she went on to break artistic gender barriers, set sales records, and lead her people through profound social change. Kenojuak created complex, rich images with intertwining, overlapping, and flowing forms. She was innovative, with an intuitive sense of composition and an instinct for depicting the interconnectedness of all living things. She lived a life of resilience through personal tragedy, and she created beauty and joy through her prolific art. Kenojuak Ashevak: Life and Legacy is the companion to the travelling exhibition of the same name, presenting dozens of Kenojuak’s prints side by side with their original drawings. In English, French, and Inuktitut, a foreword by Kenojuak’s daughter Silaqi Ashevak introduces readers to life with her famous mother, and an essay by curator Leslie Boyd provides a full, touching history of this pioneering artist of the Far North.

Trilingual
Hardcover | 112 pages
25.4 x 22.8 cm (10 x 9 in.) 
Publication Date: 2019

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 
22 x 27 cm (8.7 x 10.6 in.) 
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

Patrick Syme

This beautiful pocket-size facsimile is a charming artifact from the golden age of natural history and global exploration. In the pre-photographic age, almost all visual details had to be captured via the written word, and scientific observers could not afford ambiguity in their descriptions. In the late 18th century, mineralogist Abraham Gottlob Werner devised a standardized color scheme that allowed him to describe even the subtlest of chromatic differences with consistent terminology. His scheme was then adapted by an Edinburgh flower painter, Patrick Syme, who used the actual minerals described by Werner to create the color charts in the book, enhancing them with examples from flora and fauna.

Werner's handbook became an invaluable resource for naturalists and anthropologists, including Charles Darwin, who used it to identify colors in nature during his seminal voyage on the HMS Beagle. Werner's terminology lent both precision and lyricism to Darwin's pioneering writings, enabling his readers to envision a world they would never see.

Hardcover | 85 pages
15 x 24 (5.9 x 9 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