A Concise History of Canadian Painting

First published in 1973, this book quickly became an indispensable short history of Canadian painting. This new edition has been extensively revised and expanded to reflect new information and new interpretations. The first edition studied Canadian painting through 1965, masterfully combining visual description, anecdotes, and aesthetic evaluation with full accounts of the careers of most of the leading Canadian painters, beginning in the French colonial period. The second edition covers events through 1980, with a new long chapter covering the crucial intervening fifteen years that saw developing in Canada a tremendous interest in other art forms, and an apparent waning of interest in painting. Reid contends that this was not so, and traces the contributions of established artists who produced steadily in the period as well as new arrivals on the scene who have since joined the ranks of leading Canadian artists. Lavishly illustrated with nearly 200 illustrations, 36 of them in color, this edition is simply the most wide-ranging and authoritative handbook on its subject available and will be of interest to anyone involved in art and art history.