Hidden Values presents-- in 100 full-colour plates--the first overview of contemporary Canadian art to appear in almost two decades.

Over the past thirty years, Canadian corporations have made a serious commitment to supporting the visual arts by collecting contemporary Canadian art. These unique collections of paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and sculpture form an important part of the nation’s cultural heritage. Hidden Values presents many of these works for the first time across Canada, in this book and in an unprecedented series of major regional exhibitions on Western, Ontario and Atlantic collections, as well as a video documentary on Quebec collections.

Hidden Values presents-- in 100 full-colour plates--the first overview of contemporary Canadian art to appear in almost two decades.

Over the past thirty years, Canadian corporations have made a serious commitment to supporting the visual arts by collecting contemporary Canadian art. These unique collections of paintings, prints, drawings, photographs and sculpture form an important part of the nation’s cultural heritage. Hidden Values presents many of these works for the first time across Canada, in this book and in an unprecedented series of major regional exhibitions on Western, Ontario and Atlantic collections, as well as a video documentary on Quebec collections.

Featured here are 100 seldom-seen works by Ioo contemporary Canadian artists, including Jack Bush, Genevieve Cadieux, Jack Chambers, Alex Colville, Ulysse Comtois, Chris Cran, Ivan Eyre, Joe Fafard, Gathie Falk, Betty Goodwin, Geoffrey James, Sam Lam, Rita Letendre, Jean McEwen, Medrie MacPhee, Vicky Marshall, Jane Ash Poitras, Leslie Poole, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith, David Thauberger and Tim Zuck.

Robert Fulford’s introductory essay explores the little-known passion of many Canadian corporations for collecting Canadian art and the forces that have placed art at the centre of our national consciousness.

Robert Swain’s ground-breaking essay provides a critical and historical overview of the evolution of private and corporate art collecting in Canada, from the Hudson’s Bay Company’s support of painter Paul Kane in the 1840s up to the present. There are also brief biographies of all the artists whose works are represented in this book.

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction: Art at the Centre

Toward a History of Canadian

Corporate Art Collecting

Western Collections

Ontario Collections

Quebec Collections

Atlantic Collections

Biographical Notes on the Artists

Liszt of Corporations with Works

in Regional Exhibitions and Video

List of Artists

in Regional Exhibitions and Video

List of Works

in Regional Exhibitions and Video

Index