Ian I Thom

Gordon Smith: The act of painting

Gordon Appelbe Smith, painter and printmaker, was born in Sussex, England in 1919. He emigrated to Winnipeg, Manitoba with his family in 1933. In 1937 he studied at the Winnipeg School of Art. He exhibited for the first time in his career in 1938 with the Manitoba Society of Artists. Smith joined th...

A Modern Life: Art and Design in British Columbia 1945-60

In 1949, the forest magnate H.R. MacMillan opened an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery entitled “Design for Living,” a show that brought together design and artistic communities to create four imaginary postwar households. It also heralded an unprecedented level of cooperation between industry...

Shore, Forest and Beyond: Art from the Audain Collection

Throughout the history of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gifts from private art collectors have played a vital role in building and expanding the institution's collection, providing economic support for artists and encouraging discussions of history and culture within the community. The gallery has regu...

Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast

In the past few decades, contemporary Native American artists of the Northwest Coast have made a name for themselves as among the most dynamic and important artists working in North America. Challenging Traditions celebrates this success by presenting the work of forty top living artists whose works...

Pause: An Emily Carr Sketch Book

While studying art in London, Emily Carr seriously undermined her health and was sent to a sanatorium for a complete rest cure. Bridling at the hospital’s rules, which prohibited excitement of any kind, the always rebellious Carr proceeded to make friends, raise birds, and cause trouble. In words an...

Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to The Group of Seven

Embracing Canada: Landscapes from Krieghoff to the Group of Seven provides a comprehensive survey of Canadian landscape painting between 1840 and 1940, bringing together over 150 works from the Vancouver Art Gallery’s permanent collection and a rare glimpse of an eminent private collection of Canadi...

From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia

Emily Carr captures the natural and cultural landscapes of British Columbia like no other artist before or after her. This major volume, designed to accompany an exhibition organized by the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, gathers work from all phases of t...

Jock Macdonald: Evolving Form

Scottish-born artist Jock Macdonald initially moved to Canada to take up a lecturing position at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, and went on to become a key, formative figure in the Painters Eleven, a group of painters who vigorously promoted abstract painting across Canada. Rel...

Robert Davidson: Eagle of the Dawn

The Cartoons of Arthur Lismer: A New Angle on Canadian Art

Maria Chapdelaine: Illustrations

The Prints of Edwin Holgate: Les Gravures D'Edwin Holgate

Form + Meaning: The Drawings of B.C. Binning

The Prints of Clarence Gagnon: July 10-September 8, 1981, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Alistair Bell, Prints, 1935-1981: April 8-May 9, 1982

David Milne