This index has been compiled as a quick reference guide to biographies of 9,052 professional and amateur artists active in Canada from the seventeenth century to the present. The artists represent 42 professional categories, from animation to topography. In addition to 8,261 Canadian artists, the Index has 391 British, 300 American, and 100 European artists, all of whom spent part of their careers in Canada. Each entry provides the artist's name, date and place of birth and death (or years the artist flourished, if birth and death dates are not available), the nationality (if not Canadian), type of artist (major medium media used), and sources in which biographical information may be found. Several hundred cross-references link the various names used by some artists during the course of their careers.

Did he ever play Hamlet? Has she worked in television? What was the title of his first novel? Under whom did she study? How many children has he? Answers to such questions about contemporary Canadian artists have often been difficult, even impossible, to find. This series has been created to provide the answers; it covers creative and performing artists who have contributed as individuals to the culture of Canada in the twentieth century. Each volume in the series presents a cross-section of many different kinds of artists: authors of imaginative works, artists and sculptors, musicians (performers, composers, conductors, and directors), and performing artists in ballet, modern dance, radio, theatre, television, and motion pictures; directors, designers, and producers in theatre, cinema, radio, television, and the dance; choreographers and, for cinema, cartoonists and animators. Within each category of art is included a selection of those who have achieved national and international recognition; those who have been recognized locally, and some, now deceased, who markedly influenced their contemporaries locally, nationally, or internationally. This is not a critical compilation; rather it is an objective and factual reference work for those interested in contemporary Canadian culture. Information was collected by painstaking research in a wide variety of sources, and wherever possible it has been verified by the artist to make each entry as accurate and comprehensive as possible.

Did he ever play Hamlet? Has she worked in television? What was the title of his first novel? Under whom did she study? How many children has he? Answers to such questions about contemporary Canadian artists have often been difficult, even impossible, to find. This series has been created to provide the answers; it covers creative and performing artists who have contributed as individuals to the culture of Canada in the twentieth century. Each volume in the series presents a cross-section of many different kinds of artists: authors of imaginative works, artists and sculptors, musicians (performers, composers, conductors, and directors), and performing artists in ballet, modern dance, radio, theatre, television, and motion pictures; directors, designers, and producers in theatre, cinema, radio, television, and the dance; choreographers and, for cinema, cartoonists and animators. Within each category of art is included a selection of those who have achieved national and international recognition; those who have been recognized locally, and some, now deceased, who markedly influenced their contemporaries locally, nationally, or internationally. This is not a critical compilation; rather it is an objective and factual reference work for those interested in contemporary Canadian culture. Information was collected by painstaking research in a wide variety of sources, and wherever possible it has been verified by the artist to make each entry as accurate and comprehensive as possible.