Larry Humber

Rediscovered Emily Carr painting bought for $50 sells for 5,000 times original price

The Carr painting was one of the star attractions at the Heffel Fine Art Auction House’s marquee autumn sale in Toronto, alongside works by Tom Thomson, Marcelle Ferron, Kenojuak Ashevak and Chief 7IDANsuu James Hart

New public art partnership will link New York and Toronto

The forthcoming Lassonde Art Trail is teaming up with both the Public Art Fund and York University’s L.L. Odette Sculptor in Residence programme

Toronto will celebrate Henry Moore Day on 13 November

The municipal observance comes 50 years after the city’s leading art museum launched an art centre devoted to Moore

Emily Carr painting bought for $50 at barn sale could bring $148,000 at auction

The 1912 painting is believed to have been gifted by the artist to friends who later moved to the Hamptons, where a discerning dealer nabbed it decades later for a bargain

Cree artist Kent Monkman commissioned to create large outdoor work for new Toronto art trail

The Lassonde Art Trail will launch along the city’s waterfront in 2026

Toronto Biennial spotlights 36 artists—from international stars to emerging Canadian talents—at venues across the city

The biennial’s third edition, organised by co-curators Dominique Fontaine and Miguel A. López under the theme “Precarious Joys”, spans artist-run spaces, major museums and the airport

Art Gallery of Ontario receives 37 works from late telecoms executive's estate

Philip B. Lind left the Toronto museum a trove of works by Stan Douglas, Jeff Wall, Ai Weiwei, William Kentridge, Laurie Simmons and others

Prizesnews

Former Art Gallery of Ontario curator wins Canadian foundation’s curatorial award

Wanda Nanibush and the artist Curtis Santiago are the recipients of this year’s Hnatyshyn Foundation Mid-Career Awards

Prizesnews

Finalists for Canada’s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award, revealed

From an initial field of 30 nominees, a shortlist of just six artists is now competing for the prize

‘Electric’ mood at Heffel’s spring sales in Toronto leads to new auction records for Mary Pratt and Takao Tanabe

Works by Jean Paul Riopelle, Emily Carr, Tom Thomson and other titans of Canadian art history contributed to the evening’s total take of C$22.6m

Prizesnews

Pool of artists vying for Canada’s top art prize expands with addition of new regional category

Thirty artists are nominated for the Sobey Art Award this year, with the total purse for the award growing to C$465,000

Art Gallery of Ontario to reopen after month-long strike as workers and leaders reach contract agreement

The Toronto museum had been closed since 26 March, when members of a union representing more than 400 employees went on strike

Meeting of Canadian and Italian prime ministers at Art Gallery of Ontario cancelled due to protest

Pro-Palestine activists rallied outside the museum in protest of Justin Trudeau’s response to the Israel-Hamas war

Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum reveals details of $97m renovation project

The institution's “gift to the city, the province and beyond”, OpenROM will upgrade its public space, improve accessibility and add 6,000 sq. ft of galleries

Art marketanalysis

Works by Canadian abstractionist Jean-Paul Riopelle rack up $8m at Heffel’s evening sale in Toronto

The two-part auction, coinciding with the centenary of Riopelle's birth, took in $17.2m in total

Prizesnews

Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak wins Canada’s top art prize

The 2023 Sobey Art Award went to the Calgary-based artist, who is known for her wide-ranging, multidisciplinary approach that incorporates and reimagines Inuk traditions

Canada’s new two-dollar coin features detail of Jean Paul Riopelle painting

Three million of the coins, affectionately known as “toonies”, will go into circulation to mark the artist’s centennial

Prizesnews

Finalists revealed for Canada’s top contemporary art prize

The winner of the C$100,000 Sobey Art Award for 2023 will be announced in November

Jean-François Bélisle to succeed Angela Cassie as National Gallery of Canada director

NGC's new director, formerly chief curator of Musée d’art de Joliette in Quebec, enters the organisation at a turbulent time in its management

Paintings by Alex Colville and Emily Carr top the bill at Heffel’s big spring auctions in Toronto

The Canadian auction house also saw strong results from works by members of the Group of Seven and a soaring Warhol print

Photographer Edward Burtynsky brings in high-tech scanner to help digitise Inuit art

The complex machine, developed in collaboration with Factum Arte, processes thousands of drawings from the Cape Dorset collection

Shows, plays and pavilions at home and abroad mark Canadian modernist Jean Paul Riopelle's centennial

The pioneering abstract painter’s legacy will be front and centre in Montréal, Ottawa, Paris and elsewhere

Art Gallery of Ontario reveals designs for new $73m modern and contemporary art wing

Construction of the 40,000 sq. ft space, dubbed the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, is expected to begin in early 2024, with an opening scheduled in 2027

National Gallery of Canada reopens after tumultuous end to 2022

From an exhibition celebrating Canadian women artists to a major centennial retrospective of Jean Paul Riopelle, the museum has ambitious plans for 2023

Michael Snow, avant-garde film-maker and sculptor, has died aged 94

The witty Canadian polymath caused a sensation with his 1967 underground film "Wavelength" and enjoyed public dispute over his city sculptures

Canada’s National Portrait Gallery has no collection or physical space—but it does have ambitious plans

More than a decade after a previous attempt fizzled out, a new institution is on the prowl for prime real estate in Ottawa

A new exhibition in Toronto sheds light on the Leonard Cohen few knew

“Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows” chronicles the late, multi-hyphenate artist’s life and many creative careers

Queen Elizabeth II portrait makes $853,000 in Toronto—a record for a Warhol print at auction

Healthy bidding at Canadian auction house Heffel also achieved strong results for painter Lawren Harris

Canada's National Gallery abruptly lays off four senior staff, including chief curator and Indigenous art curator

In an internal memo to staff, the museum's interim director wrote that the sudden changes were made "to better align the gallery’s leadership team with the organisation’s new strategic plan"

Prizesnews

Divya Mehra wins Canada’s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award

The Winnipeg-born artist’s work spans many media and often incorporates humour all the while addressing issues of identity, repatriation and cultural consumption