Room 179, University College,
University of Toronto,
At the turn of the twentieth century, numerous Canadian architects, artisans and artists set out to modify the esthetic and social environment through the integration of the arts. Inspired by Beaux-Art precedents in France and the United States and by Arts and Crafts ideals manifested in Great Britain and the United States, Canadians worked individually and as groups to see these ideals furthered in Canada. Beginning with Napoléon Bourassa in the 1860s, they argued for the application of aesthetic ideals to all aspects of modern society and for the betterment of industrial production and the lives of artisans. Charlie Hill will look at the development of urban planning, public monuments, architecture, mural painting, graphic design, photography and decorative arts in Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries outlining the diverse manifestations of these ideals in cities across Canada.
Charlie Hill has worked at the National Gallery of Canada since 1972 and is presently the Gallery’s Curator of Canadian Art. His exhibitions and publications include Canadian
Painting in the 1930s (1975), John Vanderpant Photographs (1976), To Found a National
Gallery: the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1980), Morrice: A Gift to the Nation The G.
Blair Laing Collection (1992); The Group of Seven: Art for a Nation (1995) and he is the coorganizer and co-author of Tom Thomson (2002) and Emily Carr: New Perspectives (2006) and the upcoming Artists, Architects, Artisans: Canadian Art 1890 – 1918 (autumn 2013).
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