TORONTO.- The latest
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) publication, Paul Kane/the Artist/: Wilderness to Studio beautifully illuminates a jewel of the ROMs collections, the works of the Irish-born Canadian artist, Paul Kane (1810-1871). The book, published in the bicentennial of the artists birth, is written by Kenneth R. Lister, Assistant Curator of Anthropology in the ROMs Department of World Cultures. Paul Kane/the Artist/ is the perfect gift for students of Canadian history, art historians, connoisseurs of art, anthropologists, those interested in the cultures of Aboriginal peoples and, of course, the many admirers of Kanes art.
The ROMs anthropology section holds the worlds largest collection of Paul Kanes art 100 oil paintings and nearly 400 sketches in graphite and watercolour. This landmark study marks the first time that the ROMs collection has been published in a single work. In addition to providing the works historical context, Lister compares the wilderness sketches and studio paintings for ethnographic accuracy and artistic license.
To highlight further the artists life and work, Lister includes a rare manuscript from the ROMs collections, a previously unpublished account by Maude Cassels, daughter of the Honourable G. W. Allan, Kanes principal patron. Responding to Cassels observation that little was known of the artists family, Kanes great-great grandson, Paul James Kane, has contributed a section on Kane family genealogy, complemented by archival photographs. An exhibition history for each sketch and oil painting in the ROMs collection is also included.
Paul Kane/the Artist/: Wilderness to Studio is available in the ROM Museum Store on Level 1 of the ROMs Michael Lee-Chin Crystal for $75, plus applicable taxes. For the months of December and January only, the book is specially priced in the ROM Museum Store and ROM Museum e-store at $60 plus applicable taxes, with ROM Members receiving an additional 10% discount. The book is also available at select bookstores as well as at Amazon.com and chapters.indigo.ca. Paul Kane/the Artist/ is published by Royal Ontario Museum Press.
Kenneth Lister holds curatorial responsibility for the ROMs Subarctic, Arctic, and Northwest Coast ethnographic collections of North America and its Paul Kane collection of sketches and oil paintings. Listers areas of research include archaeological fieldwork in the Hudson Bay Lowland of northern Ontario, ethnographic research among the Cree of northern Ontario and the Inuit of Baffin Island, as well as field studies relating to sites sketched by Paul Kane. Drawing upon his Arctic research, Lister curated the exhibition In the Time of the Kayak: Hunting in the Eastern Canadian Arctic. Tuugaaq: Ivory Sculptures from the Eastern Canadian Arctic and Canada Collects: Treasures from Across the Nation, as well as four exhibitions highlighting Paul Kanes work, are among the other ROM exhibitions curated by Lister. He is also Curatorial Coordinator for the ROMs Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples. Lister has lectured widely on topics of traditional material culture and writes for popular as well as academic publications.