"A Concise History of Canadian Painting" book cover
Dennis Reid, "A Concise History of Canadian Painting" book cover.
A Concise History of Canadian Painting
Dennis Reid
Oxford University Press, 2012
A strange thing happened on the way to the third edition of this scholarly survey of some three centuries of Canadian art history: It was waylaid by women. With 220 colour illustrations and a new chapter covering 1980 to 2000, readers get improved gender balance with the inclusion of the likes of Carol Wainio, Betty Goodwin, Wanda Koop, Joane Cardinal-Schubert and Joanne Tod. And there’s some new guys too – Attila Richard Lukacs, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, Chris Cran and others. Dennis Reid, a former curator at the Art Gallery of Ontario, notes it was impossible to include everyone, but the book reflects recent research “on the work of hitherto overlooked or insufficiently studied women artists.” Reid says painting remains relevant because it connects with traditions while adapting to new issues and approaches. “It has remained a central element of Canadian visual culture through the first decade of the 21st century,” he writes, “and shows every sign of continuing to hold that critical position into the foreseeable future.”