McMichael Director Sarah Milroy reflects on the gallery’s extraordinary holdings of works by Jean Paul Riopelle — paintings packed with gestural force that tell the story of Riopelle’s radical defiance in the face of social conformity and religious repression.
In this Director’s Choice essay, Sarah Milroy explores David Milne’s Passing Car, 1913, a vibrant depiction of modern New York painted at the height of the artist’s early career. The article considers Milne’s innovative painterly language, his complicated relationship with urban life, and the lasting significance of this rare surviving city scene in the McMichael collection.
Tom Thomson’s sketch and canvas depicting Algonquin Park during the spring thaw are among the most prized holdings of the McMichael.
Stan Douglas's photographs of Nootka Sound, on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, document many sites important in the history of both colonial and Indigenous people in the territory.
One of the pleasures of exploring the Kinngait Drawings Archive is discovering works by artists who may not have the household name recognition they deserve. Lucy Qinnuayuak (1915–1982) is one such artist.
