Full Description
This is a collection of rare prints capturing the transformation of Canadian from the late 17th to the late 19th century. From the mid-18th to the late 19th century prints were the only means of dispersing images of Canada. Because they could be produced in significant numbers, prints satisfied a population eager for scenes of a land of adventure and of settlements that promised peace and a prosperous future. Artists obliged the demand for images that appealed to dreams and ambitions of those who would venture through Canada and those who called it home. At times wild and powerful - and sometimes inaccurate - these images appealed to the temperament of the times. The works in this publication are sourced exclusively from the EY (formerly Ernst and Young) Art Collection, one of the largest private collections of original prints in Canada. The first items collected were historical works that captured in visual form the steady trans-formation of Canada: the excitement and wonder of the earliest travellers in the late 17th century, the strategic observations of military personnel in the late 18th century, and the confidence and boosterism of the late 19th century urbanite.Never exhibited to the public before, these images covering a span of over one hundred years are brought together to provide a panorama that extends to the brink of the 20th century and encompasses the formation of Canada.
