Art Collection: Works

Historical Canadian Art

At the time of the New Dominion (1867-1910), French Canadian artists were mostly interested in portraiture and church decoration. There was no market for art and there was no distinctive National approach to art. Painting to please the public was the most important aspect of art and art organizations were only formed later for sales promotion. In 1873, the Ontario Society of Artists had its first exhibit. The years of the artists that are featured in the Goodman collection range from 1860-1960 and are mostly landscape art. The early artists in the collection were born in England and many of them were trained there as well. Art in England at the time was influenced by the Romaticism of the second half of the 19th C. The Romantic idea of landscape that can be seen in many of the works in the Goodman collection is that of a peaceful sublime sanctuary.