Canadian Contemporary Art

Canadian art refers to the visual (including painting, photography, and printmaking) as well as plastic arts (such as sculpture) originating from the geographical area of contemporary Canada. Art in Canada is marked by thousands of years of habitation by Indigenous peoples followed by waves of immigration which included artists of European origins and subsequently by artists with heritage from countries all around the world. The nature of Canadian art reflects these diverse origins, as artists have taken their traditions and adapted these influences to reflect the reality of their lives in Canada.

The Government of Canada has played a role in the development of Canadian culture, through the department of Canadian Heritage by giving grants to art galleries, as well as establishing and funding art schools and colleges across the country, and through the Canada Council for the Arts (established in 1957), the national public arts funder, helping artists, art galleries and periodicals, thus contributing to the visual exposure of Canada`s heritage. The Canada Council Art Bank also helps artists by buying and publicizing their work. The Canadian government has sponsored four official war art programs: the First World War Canadian War Memorials Fund (CWMF), the Second World War Canadian War Records (CWR), the Cold War Canadian Armed Forces Civilian Artists Program (CAFCAP), and the current Canadian Forces Artists Program (CFAP).

The Group of Seven is often considered the first uniquely Canadian artistic group and style of painting; however, this claim is challenged by scholars and artists. Historically, the Catholic Church was the primary patron of art in early Canada, especially Quebec, and in later times, artists have combined British, French, and American artistic traditions, at times embracing European styles and at the same time, working to promote nationalism. Canadian art remains the combination of these various influences.

Indigenous art

Indigenous peoples were producing art in the territory that is now called Canada for thousands of years prior to the arrival of European settler colonists and the eventual establishment of Canada as a nation state. Like the peoples that produced them, Indigenous art traditions spanned territories that extended across the current national boundaries between Canada and the United States. Indigenous art traditions are often organized by art historians according to cultural, linguistic or regional groups, the most common regional distinctions being: Northwest Coast, Northwest Plateau, Plains, Eastern Woodlands, Subarctic, and Arctic. As might be expected, art traditions vary enormously amongst and within these diverse groups. One thing that distinguishes Indigenous art from European traditions is a focus on art that tends to be made for "utilitarian, shamanistic or decorative purposes, or for pleasure", as Maria Tippett writes. Such objects might be "venerated or considered ephemeral objects".

Many of the artworks preserved in museum collections date from the period after European contact and show evidence of the creative adoption and adaptation of European trade goods such as metal and glass beads. The distinct Métis cultures that have arisen from inter-cultural relationships with Europeans have also contributed new culturally hybrid art forms. During the 19th and the first half of the 20th century, the Canadian government pursued an active policy of assimilation toward Indigenous peoples. One of the instruments of this policy was the Indian Act, which banned manifestations of traditional religion and governance, such as the Sun Dance and the Potlatch, including the works of art associated with them. It was not until the 1950s and 60s that Indigenous artists such as Mungo Martin, Bill Reid, and Norval Morrisseau began to publicly renew and, in some cases, re-invent indigenous art traditions. Currently there are many Indigenous artists practicing in all media in Canada and two Indigenous artists, such as Edward Poitras