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LETTERS IN CANADA: 1949 311 Principal of Emmanuel College, Toronto (Toronto, United Church Publishing House, x, 193 pp., $2.50). WARE (F. B.), History of Cronyn ·Memorial Church, London, Ont., 1873-1949 (London, .the Church, xvi, 329· pp.). WINNETT (F. V.), The Mosaic tradition (Toronto, Universi,ty of Toronto Press, xii, 219 pp., $3.75). 4. Books on Art D. ·"'l. BucHANAN No work of importance on the fine arts has been printed in Canada during the period under review. Valuable as a record, however, is Lawren Harris:~ Paintings, 1910-1948) a catalogue of an exhibition of work which was organized by the Art Gallery of Toronto late in 1948 and circulated throughout Canada by the National Gallery in 1949. This booklet contains a few friendly comments by A. Y. Jackson about Harris and his work, with reference mainly to his Group of Seven period. These are written in Jackson's usual straightforward and candid style. There is also a critical appreciation of the paintings by Sydney K.ey. Two women, E. Grace Coombs and K.atherirle E. Wallis, both relatively minor artists, have been recognized in short monographs, one privately printed and the other privately financed, which will be of interest mainly to these artists' own friends and acquaintances. Publicity is given to the work of Canada's many commercial artists in the First Annual of the Art Directors Club, an illustrated review of recent Canadian advertising and editorial art, as selected from works shown at an exhibition held in 1949 by the Club, in Toronto. The examples shown are not completely representative; strangely, only a few productions from Montreal appear. In addition, despite a pleasing enough arrangement of illustrations on the pages, the printing is poor, and many of the reproductions suffer as a result. If one takes this book as any criterion, only a limited nmnber of artists, such as Clair Stewart in posters and labels, and Oscar Cahen in magazine illustration, seem to be demonstrating any distinctive realization of their talents in commercial design. Yet this is perhaps more because of that yearning for the commonplace and that fear of originality which is present among so many advertising and publication sponsors in Canada than it is any fault of the artists themselves . While there is a time lag here, Canada is yet slowly catching up with contemporary achievements in the graphic arts and, as she does, these annuals should improve greatly from year to year. Linked to the campaign which the National Gallery of Canada has launched to raise the standard of public appreciation of good design in manufactured products, ·is the neatly illustrated booklet Canadian Designs for Everyday Use. It depicts sixty-one original Canadian product designs of merit, which have been .selected o_ut of currently available consumers' goods for inclusion in the Canadian Design Index, a project maintained ---·-- -- --- -- --- --- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 312 THE UNIVERJSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY by the National Gallery. That more such items could not be found shows how much in its infancy industrial design still is in this country. Autobiographical writing is not common among Canadian painters; in fact, few of them ever have indulged in this form of self-expression. Paul-Emile Borduas, the leader of the automatiste group of Quebec artists, has, however, in his Projections liberantes now given us a fresh and originally written, although highly personal, statement about his philosophy of art and education and how this philosophy led him into bitter conflict with officialdom in Quebec. Some of the best passages describe how he acquired a new freedom in painting from observing the more spontaneous world of vision to be found among the children he at one time taught in Montreal schools. His explanation of his own aesthetic aims will interest all contemporary artists. CHECK-LIST OF TITLES ART DIRECTORS CLUB, First annual of advertising and editorial art: reproductions of the first annual Art Directors Exhibition of advertising_ and editorial art, held at Eatons Fine Art Galleries, Toronto, Canada, April 1949 (Toronto, N. A_. MacEachern, .78 pp., $4.00). ART GALLERY OF ToRONTOJ Lawren Harris, paintings, 1910-1948 (Toronto, the Gallery, 1948, 38 pp.). BoRDUAS (PAUL-EMILE}, Projections liberantes (Montreal, Mithra-Mythe, 40 pp., SOc.). CoLLINS (A. R.), Katherine...

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