Includes bibliographical references (pages 439-443) and index

The age of Laval -- Votive painting in New France -- Local painters in New France -- Early painting in British North America -- The aftermath of the Seven Years' War -- British Army topographers in Eastern Canada -- The Golden Age in Quebec: the beginning -- The Golden Age in Quebec: maturity -- Along the Atlantic seaboard -- Portraits for the masses -- Kreighoff and genre in Quebec -- Pre-confederation years in Ontario -- The lure of the West -- The last frozen barrier -- Art in the New Dominion -- The British tradition at confederation -- A news search for Canada -- The dignity of labour -- French academic influences -- Contrasts in Quebec -- Painting as an aesthetic experience -- Nationalism and the 'Group' -- Contemporaries of the 'Group' -- Regionalism in the thirties -- Transformation in the West -- Towards non-objectivity: beginnings -- Reawakening in Montral -- Anglophone revolt in the fifties

Through a lively combination of entertaining anecdotes, descriptions of the cultural background, biographical accounts, and critical judgement, the reader comes to know intimately the artists, their paintings, and their environments

vii, 463 pages : 24 cm