An exhibition of works by the Official Canadian War Artists. A directive from Ottawa ... charged them with the "portrayal of significant events, phases and episodes of the war" ... the spirit and the character, appearance and the attitude of service men and women as individuals or groups. "Any instruments, machines, equipment, weapons, or clothing which appeared in the work had to be authentic." All works by these officers were the property of the Government of Canada. In 1946, when the National Gallery was given custody of the collection, it included 5000 works. Includes a list of the war artists, and an essay, I Love the Army, by Molly Lamb Bobak (Canadian Art 2, April-May 1945.)

Joan Murray, an independent curator and art historian, is considered one of the most accessible of Canadian art writers and has studied and exhibited Tom Thomson for four decades. Since the late 1960s, she has been a curator of several institutions, including the Art Gallery of Ontario, and director of the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa (1974-99) and the McMichael Canadian Art Gallery in Kleinburg (2005-6). Murray was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy in 1992 and has been honoured with the Senior Award from the Association of Cultural Executives, the Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Ontario Association of Art Galleries and the Order of Ontario. She lives in Toronto, Ontario

Joan Murray's profile page