A original new look at the life and art of Emily Carr and her relationship to the international art of her time “I had an interesting French Artist to see me this summer”: Emily Carr and Wolfgang Paalen in British Columbia brings together new research concerning the French/Austrian artist Wolfgang Paalen (1905-1959), and the great Canadian modernist, Emily Carr (1871-1945), both of whom dedicated their most productive years to what Paalen called “the direct visualization of the forces which move our body and mind.” Accompanying an exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery scheduled for July 1 to November 13, 2016, the catalogue will tell the story of how both artists met in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1939, and how the creative vision of each one expanded in reaction to the landscape and the monumental art of the Northwest Coast First Nations. The catalogue will present an essay by the scholar Colin Browne, ancillary archival materials, as well as full colour reproductions of both early and late works by both artists as they moved toward their transcendent visions.

With objects assembled from public and private collections internationally, this first pairing of these two modernist painters is being organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery, and curated by Colin Browne.

Colin Browne
Writer, filmmaker, teacher, critic and poet Colin Browne is the author of Abraham (Brick Books, 1987) and the critically acclaimed book of poetry Ground Water (Talonbooks, 2002), which was nominated for a Governor General’s Poetry Award and a BC Book Prize in 2003. Most recently he completed a documentary portrait of jazz musician Linton Garner, Linton Garner: I Never Said Goodbye, which was screened at the Vancouver Film Festival and aired on CBC’s Opening Night series.

Colin Browne's profile page