Skip to main content

Virtual Museum of Canada

Galerie de l'UQAM

Français
English

Introduction
150 years 150 works
Themes
Your history
Museum trivia
Quiz
Artists
References
Survey and comments
Galerie de l’UQAM

Credits
Site map
Copyright

Representing History

Fifty-five thousand little signposts are fixed on a large platform. A different word is glued onto each one. The words, cut out of a dictionary, are in alphabetical order.

The frames of houses in ruins stand in a devastated landscape. The ravaged ground is marked by two large craters from exploding shells. The sky is black, orange and red.

This painting portrays a succession of empty rooms. Some of the walls are depicted in sweeping brushstrokes, while others are coloured like patterned wallpaper. In the background, beyond an open doorway, a balcony and a tree are visible.

This painting shows three anchored ships profiled against a blue sky. Several figures are at work on the ship in the foreground, while two men and a woman converse on the wharf.

Bundled up in warm winter clothes, seven people, young and old, are clustered in front of a painting of a sunlit landscape. The rest of the wall is covered with winter landscapes. Two abstract sculptures are also on display.

1952 Representing History, Representing History, Representing History

On the right side of this painting, a group of men is standing on a platform. One of them is addressing a large crowd, with one armed raised. Waving Patriote flags, the crowd occupies the left side of the composition.

This black-and-white photograph shows a woman in overalls with her hair wrapped in a kerchief. Seated on a table, she is smoking a cigarette while gazing at a Bren machine gun. A factory building is visible through the window behind her.

Pairs of military boots arranged in rows are suspended on black strings. The right-foot boots, raised slightly off the floor, create the impression of troops marching.

A bearded man at the centre of the composition is grappling with a serpent coiled around his arms and legs. The two smaller figures flanking him are also in the reptile’s grip. The drawing is composed of lines and cross-hatching.

The black silhouettes of three men occupy the foreground of a large horizontal composition. A white building and an orangey sky are in the background. One figure stands at the left while the other two are at the right, leaving the centre empty.

A cluster of electric blue trees stands on rough red ground. An orangey sky is visible through the intertwined branches that occupy nearly the entire picture.

This drawing shows thirty-four men gathered in a large room, each depicted in great detail. The yellowed paper, lack of colour and roughly sketched back wall suggest that it is a preparatory drawing for a finished work.

This colour photograph of an urban setting shows building façades covered in graffiti. A man dressed all in black, his face blurred, is preparing to throw something toward the camera.

This horizontal mural in tones of yellow and ochre depicts a man, seen from the back, reaching toward a radiating hexagon at the centre of a spiral. Round and polygonal translucent forms revolve around the central motif.

Copper-skinned people wait in line in the doorway of a gloomy cabin. Seated at the left of the composition, a white man is measuring out a ration of flour.

This calendar cover depicts a maple tree with black leaves that occupy the upper half of the image. The title “Ninety Eight,” framed by red plant motifs, stands out against the foliage. In the lower half, a sun and its rays fill the background.

Three puppets – a policeman, a labourer and a banker – are at the top of a red structure at the centre of the composition. A man with a drum is narrating the show to the dense crowd of spectators. The scene is set on a square surrounded by steeply tilted buildings.

This black-and-white photograph presents an oblique view of a multistory building with large dark windows. The tight framing reveals only part of the architecture, whose structure occupies the entire surface of the image.

This photo shows an immense white stone monument framed against a blue sky. At the left, two pillars on a vast rectangular base soar nearly 40 metres above the ground. A number of smaller allegorical sculptures adorn the monument.

Linda is a white plaster statue of a woman standing with her bare feet firmly planted on the ground and her hands behind her back. She is wearing a simple dress and looking straight ahead with a determined expression.

This photograph shows the four flights of a spiral staircase seen from the top. The landings have checkerboard-patterned floors. The structure is supported by stacked white columns seen on the right.

This black-and-white photograph shows a jumbled heap of ice slabs in the foreground. Buildings in Montréal’s harbour appear in the background.

This painted photograph represents a crowd gathered on an immense skating rink. Garlands and flags of different countries hang from the ceiling. Several public figures well known at the time appear among the 150 costumed skaters photographed by Notman.

Four painted panels assembled side by side depict the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant. The two almost identical black masses stand out against a leaden sky. They loom above treetops that form a low horizon line.

This painting depicts a large cargo ship alongside a dock. It is flanked by two tugboats. The sky is overcast, but rays of light piercing the clouds reflect in the harbour’s greenish water.

1927 Representing History

This painting depicts a winter scene set on the edge of a public square. In the foreground, three fur-clad men are gesturing in front of a man and a woman. Other figures are going about their business in the background.

The word AIDS is painted in blue on a square red-orange canvas hanging on the back wall of a ceiling-lit room. On the left and right walls are two paintings of the word in other colours. Wallpaper with the same design in different colours covers the walls and part of the ceiling.

This poster for a short film shows a worker cranking a machine. The film’s title, The Labour Front, is written in white capital letters in the lower half of the poster, beneath the image.

1943 Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History, Representing History

This photograph shows an immense illuminated sculpture in the shape of a cross rising above an urban landscape. Within the cross, the vertical word “East” and the horizontal word “Van” intersect at the letter “A.”

A cart mired in mud occupies the centre of this painting. It is piled with corpses. Farther back, a man leaning on a shovel stands near a row of white crosses.

This black-and-white engraving shows black poles standing on a hill with figures grouped among them. A mountainous landscape looms in the background while the long shadows of the poles and figures occupy the foreground.

This sculpture made of wire and copper-tubing represents a slumped human body bristling with spike-like projections. It stands on a wooden base.

A black woman in a Canadian Army uniform is facing forward, her arms crossed. On the counter in front of her are two pieces of fruit, two doughnuts, bottles, cups and glasses. Behind her are canteen shelves stocked with provisions.

Loading