TORONTO.- A boundless explorer, inquisitive experimenter and thought pioneer, Emily Carr created works of art that reflect the dramatic impact of her encounters with the indigenous cultures and the formidable landscapes of British Columbia in the first half of the 20th century. Breathing new life into Carr’s legendary fascination with the Pacific Northwest through the display of archival materials, paintings and artifacts, the Art Gallery of Ontario presents From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia in spring 2015. A joint project and collaboration between London’s Dulwich Picture Gallery and the AGO, the exhibition opened in Toronto on April 11, 2015, and runs through Aug. 9, 2015.

Curated by Canadian art critic Sarah Milroy and Ian Dejardin, Sackler Director of the Dulwich Picture Gallery, From the Forest to the Sea: Emily Carr in British Columbia comes to the AGO following its debut at the Dulwich Picture Gallery, where it was on view from Nov. 1, 2014, to March 8, 2015. Tracing a dramatic journey from darkness to light, and from winter to summer, the exhibition features nearly 100 paintings, watercolours and drawings by Carr, including rarely seen sketches, works drawn from private collections as well as the recently discovered illustrated journal Sister and I in Alaska, in which Carr documented her pivotal 1907 trip up and down the Northwest Coast. Visitors will be invited to explore with Carr as she responds to this landscape and its indigenous communities, searching for a sense of place and self in both her brooding forest scenes and the euphoric skyscapes of her late career.

“Emily Carr, one of Canada's most beloved and esteemed artists, lived at the intersection of two cultures. This exhibition gives us the opportunity to bring those artistic traditions together and approach her work with a new, contemporary lens,” said Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO’s director and CEO. “We have culled the best works from institutions across the country and have made no compromises. I’m delighted to collaborate on a project of this calibre with the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Like the artists of the Group of Seven, who made their 2011 London debut at Dulwich in Painting Canada, Carr is poised for discovery by the wider world and for rediscovery here at home.”

In dialogue with Carr’s paintings, the exhibition features more than 40 historic indigenous artifacts from the Pacific Northwest Coast, including masks, baskets and ceremonial objects by Haida, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, Salish, Tsimshian and Tinglit makers.

“Through her art-making, Emily Carr communicated her passion to root herself in a new landscape, finding her path to connection through a reckoning with native culture, which she strived to understand and to honour,” said Sarah Milroy. “Born in Canada to English parents and exposed to the indigenous cultures of the Northwest Coast through her travels and research, Carr demonstrated her attachment to both indigenous culture and European artistic and literary tradition. This exhibition explores Carr’s art and with it the paradoxes of the colonial imagination.”

The exhibition features loans from the Vancouver Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology at UBC, the National Gallery of Canada and the Royal British Columbia Museum, as well as various Canadian private collections. A catalogue will be available in March 2015, with essays by Dejardin and Milroy as well as contributions from writers and artists Corrine Hunt, Peter Doig, Jessica Stockholder, James Hart, and Marianne Nicolson; leading Carr scholars Charles Hill, Ian Thom, Kathryn Bridge and Gerta Moray; and noted British and Canadian anthropologists Robert Storrie and Karen Duffek.