Emily Carr’s art was deeply rooted in the landscapes, forests, and Indigenous cultures of British Columbia, yet her artistic language was shaped by ideas that reached far beyond Canada. Among these influences was the art of Japanese woodblock printing. Japanese woodblock prints offered Carr a new way of thinking about nature, composition, colour, and the relationship between humans and the landscape. Although Carr did not simply imitate Japanese prints, she absorbed aspects…

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The story of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) up to its initial purchase of three Emily Carr watercolours in 1928 is especially interesting because Carr’s acquisition came at a moment when the Gallery was changing from a relatively small, government-administered collection into an institution with a national vision—and when Canadian artists were beginning to be taken seriously as part of Canada’s cultural identity. Read more: Beyond the…

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The 1971 Centennial Exhibition of Emily Carr was a particularly important exhibition in the history of Carr scholarship and in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s presentation of her work. It was much more than a commemorative birthday exhibition: it helped establish the framework through which Carr was understood for the next several decades. The official title was Emily Carr: A Centennial Exhibition Celebrating the One Hundredth Anniversary of Her Birth.

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