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A National SoulCanadian Mural Painting, 1860s - 1930s |
eBook Available
From Confederation to World War II mural painting was an important tool for Canadian nation-building. In A National Soul, Marilyn McKay shows how, in both Protestant English Canada and Catholic French Canada, these artworks were designed to promote specific civic values.
Examining their social, political, and economic contexts, McKay shows how the murals of this period glorified Canada as a modern nation state, extolled the virtues of commerce and industry, inculcated conventions of gender and race, and shared the intensity of nationalistic sentiment that led to the work of the more renowned painters of Toronto's Group of Seven. Bringing together for the first time a body of Canadian work - civic, commercial, religious, and private - that has been largely ignored by art historians, A National Soul challenges previous histories of Canadian painting.
This generously illustrated book reproduces seldom-seen works from across the country, many of which have been moved or destroyed, and includes a comprehensive listing of all works from the period, their original and present locations, and their state of preservation.
Examining their social, political, and economic contexts, McKay shows how the murals of this period glorified Canada as a modern nation state, extolled the virtues of commerce and industry, inculcated conventions of gender and race, and shared the intensity of nationalistic sentiment that led to the work of the more renowned painters of Toronto's Group of Seven. Bringing together for the first time a body of Canadian work - civic, commercial, religious, and private - that has been largely ignored by art historians, A National Soul challenges previous histories of Canadian painting.
This generously illustrated book reproduces seldom-seen works from across the country, many of which have been moved or destroyed, and includes a comprehensive listing of all works from the period, their original and present locations, and their state of preservation.
Details
320 Pages
colour plates, illustrations
ISBN 9780773522909
May 2002
Formats: Cloth, eBook
"A thorough and definitive study of murals in Canada. This book will become a classic on a long-neglected but complex and important aspect of Canadian art." Laurier Lacroix, Art History, Université de Québec à Montreal
"An important and fascinating study of mural painting in Canada from the 1860s to the 1930s. McKay's scholarship is exhaustive and theoretically astute, showing us how mural movements functioned to support nationalistic aspirations and political ideologies while providing a history of the mural movement across Canada and explaining why Canadian art histories since the World War II have chosen to ignore this body of work." John O'Brian, Art History, University of British Columbia
"An important and fascinating study of mural painting in Canada from the 1860s to the 1930s. McKay's scholarship is exhaustive and theoretically astute, showing us how mural movements functioned to support nationalistic aspirations and political ideologies while providing a history of the mural movement across Canada and explaining why Canadian art histories since the World War II have chosen to ignore this body of work." John O'Brian, Art History, University of British Columbia
Marylin J. McKay is associate professor and chair of the Art History Department, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.
Finalist
Harold Adams Innis Prize (Social Sciences)
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2003)
Harold Adams Innis Prize (Social Sciences)
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (2003)
