The exhibitions of the Portrait Gallery of Canada will encourage
visitors to explore and enjoy the personalities from Canadian history,
along with the remarkable journeys and stories they reflect.

100 Wellington Street (coming in 2007) : Introduction - Long-term Galleries

Flowing chronologically and divided over two floors of the historical 100 Wellington Street building, Canada's story will be told through the meeting of peoples and the intersection of their ambitions and challenges.

View of Parliament Hill through windows of historical 100 Wellington Street building (photo: Luc Bouvrette)

100 Wellington Street : Historical Galleries

Encounters from the 16th century (and earlier) through the 1830s will include the earliest unique portraits from the first Aboriginal/white contacts and subsequent interactions, as well as an exploration of the nature of Aboriginal portraiture prior to white contact.

Tangled Gardens will feature portraits from the 16th century through the 1830s, showing the desire of early settlers to Canada to re-create their homelands through their government and social structures, their ideals and explorations in the tumultuous conflicts of this period.

Becoming Canadians shows portraits from 1840 to 1914 of those involved in the run up to Confederation and its subsequent socio-economic shifts, regional ambitions and mass immigration within which Canada was born and took its first steps onto the world stage. Within this section, the birth of photography will point to a democratization of the portrait image, and the shift from formal sitting to informal and candid images.

Sir John A. Macdonald(1815-1891), ca. 1843 by unknown artist Oil on canvas, 56.3 x 46.2 cm C-092419

Sa Ga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow (Christianized Brant), 1710 by John Verelst (1648-1734) Oil on canvas, 91.5 x 64.5 cm C-0092419

The Wickens Sisters, ca. 1860 by unknown photoprapher Ambrotype, 9.1 x 6.9 cm PA-096623

Pierre de Rigaud de Vaudreuil de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil(1698-1778), ca. 1753 by unknown artist Oil on canvas, 80.0 x 62.0 cm Purchased with the assistance of the Minister of Canadian Heritage under the authority of the Canadian Cultural Property Export and Import Act. C-147536

William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950), 1902 by John Wycliffe Lowes Forster (1850-1938) Oil on canvas, 108.2 x 76.7 cm C-151422

Unknown male Chinese seamstress, ca. 1889 by Robert Wilson Reford (1867-1951) Gelatin silver print, 6 cm PA-118195

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100 Wellington Street : Modern and Contemporary Galleries

Changing Tides explores the early 20th century, in which Canadians lived through both harsh tragedy and exhilarating innovations.

Rising Voices focuses on the 1950s through the 1970s, from the Quiet Revolution to Trudeaumania, when new heroes were defined. In this section, a gallery will be devoted to Canada's first internationally renowned portrait artist, Yousuf Karsh.

In the Here and Now introduces personalities from the 1980s to the present day, and explores key interests of Canada's population as reflected in the work of our most talented contemporary portraitists. This section will also showcase new commissions by the Portrait Gallery of Canada.

In addition to the chronological exhibition spaces, with their selected archival material enhancing the portraits, two smaller integrated interpretive spaces called Making History address a series of contextual issues within the historical and modern/contemporary periods. To further enrich the experience, original archival and published documents, films, broadcasts, cartographic material, landscapes and other historical artwork are presented.

Norman McLaren (1914-1987), 1947 by Alma Duncan (born 1917) Oil on masonite, 63.6 x 50.8 cm C-146244

Group of people around a grain-cleaning table, ca. 1910 by unknown photographer Gelatin silver print, 9.6 x 12.1 cm PA-143700

Pierre Elliot Trudeau (1919-2000), 1968 by Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002) Gelatin silver print, 24.1 x 19.0 cm PA-212248

Joyce Borenstein at six years old, 1957 by Sam Borenstein (1908-1969) Wax crayon and oil on paper, 77.4 x 64.6 cm C-151425

Just Say No (Elijah Harper), 1991 by David Neel (born 1960) Serigraph on wove paper, 66.1 x 55.4 cm C-138082

Self-Portrait, 2004 Irene Whittome (born 1942) Gelatin silver print, 120.0 x 120.0 cm PA-215111

100 Wellington Street : Thematic and Special Exhibition Galleries

Thematic and special exhibition galleries will offer space for short term changing exhibitions around concepts, historical topics or monographic installations, including some borrowed exhibitions. Examples might be explorations of self-portraiture, the definition of the family, the work of a specific artist such as Harold Town or Frederick Varley, the commissioning of an artist installation or recitations from diaries or journals to give voice and presence to those for whom there are no portraits.

CURRENTLY ON VIEW: GROUND BREAKERS SERIES

PAST EXHIBITIONS

Karsh Masterworks - A Tribute