Early Days Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection

200 years of history and artistic creation

Early Days. Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection is the first exhibition of Canadian Indigenous art to circulate on the international scene. The MNBAQ is hosting its exclusive Québec engagement. Organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in collaboration with Indigenous specialists in light of recent research, the exhibition assembles nearly 110 works from artists across Canada. 

This sweeping panorama presents a fine selection of objects ranging from 18th-century ceremonial insignias to the significant work of avant-gardist artists of the 1960, 1970s, and 1980s, and including works by contemporary artists.

More than 50 artists from 13 nations

The MNBAQ is proud to contribute to raising the profile of more than 50 artists from nations across Canada, including Caroline Monnet (Anishinabeg, French), Norval Morrisseau (Anishinaabe), Nadia Myre (Anishinabeg), Meryl McMaster (Plains Cree/Métis, Dutch, and British), 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). 

Early Days proposes a unique encounter with living cultures that are deeply rooted in our shared history. Eight guiding themes structure the exhibition, thus enabling visitors to discover the root of the artistic history of the Indigenous peoples in modern-day Canada: 

To highlight the Early Days, the MNBAQ is offering free admission to the members of the First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Indigenous peoples from October 17, 2024 to April 21, 2025. Visitors will be asked to present their status card at the ticket office and the offer is limited to the eligible individuals.

This major exhibition is a rare opportunity to reveal our relationship with the earth and our ancestors, and the ties that bind us.

Activities

Credits

¹ Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun (b. 1957), New Climate Landscape (Northwest Coast Climate Change), 2019. Acrylic on canvas, 193 × 243,8 cm. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchase by BMO Financial Group in 2020 (2020.10) © Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun / Photo: Courtesy of Macaulay + Co.

² Dana Claxton, Headdress–Shadae, 2018. LED firebox with transmounted lightjet chromogenic transparency, 152,4 ×101.6 cm. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchase by BMO Financial Group in 2020 (2020.5) © Dana Claxton / Photo: Courtesy of the artist

³ Carl Beam, Various Concerns of the Artist, 1984. Photo etching on paper, 121,7× 80,5 cm. McMichael Canadian Art Collection, purchase 1985 (1985.29.3) © Succession Carl Beam / Photo: Craig Boyko