Emily Carr (1871--1945) is one of Canada's most beloved artists. An independent woman and a Westerner who gained prominence at a time when female painters were not recognized internationally, her life and work reflect a profound commitment to the land she knew and loved. Carr's sensitive evocations reveal an artist grappling with spiritual questions inspired by the Canadian sea, land, and people. Although more than half a century has passed since her death, any artist who engages with the West Coast must contend with her legacy. Her paintings continue to inspire generations of artists. Along with the Group of Seven, Carr became a leading figure in Canadian modern art in the early twentieth century. Emily Carr: Life & Work traces the artist's trajectory from her life in Victoria, where she struggled to receive acceptance, to her status as one of Canada's most influential painters. With insight and intelligence, author Lisa Baldissera explores how although during Carr's life she endured hardship, personal isolation, and rejection, she persevered to create an iconic vision for the nation. This book explores how Carr travelled extensively, learning from European, American, and Indigenous forms and receiving formal training at art academies as well as from private tutors. In doing so, she continued to grow in artistic power as a result of her own intense observation and of her vigorous experimentation with a variety of methods and media, reflecting the fusion of wide-ranging influences. Baldissera reveals why Carr's art remains relevant today and its legacy interests many contemporary West Coast artists.

Few twentieth-century artists were catalysts for the reclamation of a culture, but Iljuwas Bill Reid (1920-1998) was among them. The first book on the artist by an Indigenous scholar details Reid's incredible journey to becoming one of the most significant Northwest Coast artists of our time. Born in British Columbia and denied his mother's Haida heritage in his youth, Iljuwas Bill Reid lived the reality of colonialism yet tenaciously forged a creative practice that celebrated Haida ways of seeing and making. Over his fifty-year career, he created nearly a thousand original works and dozens of texts, and he is remembered as a passionate artist, community activist, mentor, and writer. Reid was often said to embody the Raven, a trickster who transforms the world. He followed in the footsteps of his great-great-uncle, master Haida artist Daxhiigang (Charles Edenshaw), engaging with a culture whose practices were once banned by the Indian Act and producing symbols for a nation. His iconic large-scale works now occupy sites such as the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., and the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. Reid's legacy is a complex story of power, resilience, and strength. In Iljuwas Bill Reid: Life & Work, acclaimed scholar Gerald McMaster examines how the artist made a critical inquiry into his craft throughout his life, gaining a sense of identity, purpose, and impact.

Saulteaux artist Robert Houle (b.1947) has claimed space and authority for Indigenous representation in contemporary art for more than fifty years. This new publication celebrates his generational influence and coincides with his exhibition Red Is Beautiful, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario and touring to the Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian Institution. A curator, writer, and educator as well as an artist, Houle has made a profound impact. Growing up on the Sandy Bay First Nation/Kaa-wii-kwe-tawang-kak in Manitoba, he was placed in residential school and denied access to his family and traditions. Always fiercely principled, he has dedicated his career to challenging colonialist perspectives. In 1980, he resigned from his position as the first curator of contemporary Indigenous art at the National Museum of Man (now the Canadian Museum of History) and set off on a path toward creating a remarkable body of work that spans painting, drawing, and large-scale installation. Robert Houle: Life & Work reveals how Houle's artistic output has opened critical discussion on political and cultural issues surrounding First Nations peoples, including Indigenous identity, the impact of colonialism, and land claims and residential schools. Houle has played a pivotal role in bringing contemporary Indigenous artists into the Canadian art mainstream through his writing and curating of important exhibitions, such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada in 1992. This book also explores the artist's public art projects, critical elements of his legacy for art in Canada.

Together with important First Nations material, the Thomson Canadian Collection is the largest of all private holdings of Canadian art. There are rare and incomparable examples of Northwest Coast Aboriginal art. Krieghoff's inspired accounts of life in the Canadas, prior to Confederation, bring the light and atmosphere of history fully into the present. A staggering power to capture the fleeting and the fugitive in paint still distinguishes the work of the early 20th-century painter Morrice.

Revision & Resistance reveals the story of Kent Monkman's monumental 2019 diptych commission mistik?siwak (Wooden Boat People) for the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book celebrates Monkman's historic achievement with essays and contributions by today's most prominent voices on Indigenous art and Canadian painting.

Joan Murray discusses social and political events in combination with the movements, ideas, attitudes, styles, and important groups in Canadian art of this century.