This House Was Made for Christmas celebrated the art of Christmas greetings with a display of Christmas cards designed by seminal Canadian artists of the twentieth century. Several members of the Group of Seven, including Lawren Harris, J.E.H MacDonald, and A.J. Casson, and their contemporaries, as well as aboriginal artists of Canada were represented, with works drawn from the McMichael art and archival collections as well as from private holdings, some of which have never been displayed before. The inspiration for this exhibition came from Pierre Berton’s 1956 article “The House That Was Made for Christmas” (Canadian Homes and Gardens magazine), which featured the McMichael’s home — now the McMichael Canadian Art Collection — as a place of special Christmas spirit.

Curated by Sharona Adamowicz-Clements