58/150 – Bertram Brooker: When we Awake

The McMichael Canadian Art Collection’s latest major exhibition focuses on the work of Bertram Brooker (1888–1955) , one of Canada’s first abstract painters.

Bertram Brooker: When we Awake! is the first comprehensive retrospective of the trailblazing Canadian artist in nearly half a century. It explores Brooker’s career and includes a work thought lost to history, as well as a curated selection of paintings and drawings by one of Canada’s most innovative artists.

The multi-talented Brooker was an advertising executive, painter, poet, graphic artist, novelist, and screenwriter. His trailblazing 1927 solo exhibition, which was mounted at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto with the support of Group of Seven members Lawren Harris and Arthur Lismer, is considered to be the first exhibition of abstract painting in Canada. Brooker described the pictures as stemming from a deeply personal response to music. Watch this video for a detailed biography.

McMichael Gallery exhibition page, here.

At the Art Canada Institute, here.

At the National Gallery of Canada, here.

NOTE: The title When We Awake! Is taken from Brooker’s intro to the Yearbook of the Arts in Canada 1928–1929. His essay encouraged Canadians to develop a national art inspired by their distinctive natural surroundings, but he also emphasized the need to awaken to “universal unity” through the mystical agency of “cosmic consciousness.”

This is No. 58 in 150 Artists, an ongoing series on Canadian artists you should know.