Early Days is the first exhibition of Canadian Indigenous art to circulate on the international scene. The MNBAQ will host its exclusive Québec engagement in the fall of 2024. It will propose a sweeping, varied panorama of the art past and present of the First Nations.
Organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in collaboration with Indigenous university specialists and living artists, the exhibition will assemble historic art works as well as the works of contemporary artists from across Canada.
Early Days will showcase the diversity and vitality of Indigenous art in Canada. It will encompass objects ranging from 18th century ceremonial insignia to the works of contemporary Indigenous artists, and include the work of avant-gardist artists of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. The exhibition will also include recent acquisitions.
Nearly 50 artists from Aboriginal nations across Canada will participate in the exhibition, including Caroline Monnet (Anishinaabe/French), Norval Morrisseau (Anishinaabe), Nadia Myre (Algonquin), Meryl McMaster, (Plains Cree) Kent Monkman (Cree), Shuvinai Ashoona, Annie Pootoogook, Pudlo Pudlat, Nick Sikkuark (Inuit), Dana Claxton (Wood Mountain Lakota), Lawrence Yuxweluptun (Cowichan/Syilx), Carl Beam (Ojibwa), Robert Houle (Anishnabe Saulteaux), and Faye HeavyShield (Káínawa).
This major exhibition will also explore our relationship with the earth, ancestors, and the ties that bind us. An essential encounter with cultures and history.
Credits
Attributed to Albert Edward Edenshaw (1812–1894), Raven Rattle, c. 1860. Wood with paint 11 × 31,7 × 10,3 cm. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchase in 1974 (1974.6) / Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid
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