Pictures at an Exhibition

Our Arts centre is host to a unique exhibition.

In conjunction with the National Gallery of Canada, the prominent graphic firm of Sampson-Matthews produced a wealth of technically masterful silkscreens under the supervision of Alfred Joseph Casson.

Between 1942-1963, a total of 89 works of art by a virtual who`s who of Canadian artists were translated into oil pigment silkscreens. Such well known artists as AY Jackson, Lawren Harris, Tom Thomson and JEH MacDonald from the group of seven were represented along with woman artists including Yvonne McKague Housser, Rody Kenny Courtice and Emily Carr as well as a host of other well regarded and loved artists.

One of the most valuable morale boosters of the war, these silkscreens - depicting scenes from coast to coast - were sent to army barracks and were later available to schools, hospitals and libraries. Pegasus Gallery was fortunate enough to acquire a large group of prints, and is offering over 55 different images. They are visually rich, affordable documents of our Nation`s Heritage.

Most of the prints were simply junked after the war. This is a collection of the few remaining ones.

This was Canada's largest publicly funded art project and in today's money would cost more than a billion dollars.

More information on the process here.