J.E.H. MacDonald’s painting Mist Fantasy, featured in Art for War and Peace.
It was a public art project worthy of the name: Between 1942 and 1963, from the darkest days of the Second World War to the heat of the Cold War, the distinguished Toronto graphic-arts company Sampson-Matthews Ltd. produced tens of thousands of prints of archetypal Canadian scenes for installation in barracks, banks, embassies and mess halls, schools, libraries and government offices. Commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada, a total of 117 silkscreen images of works from more than 50 artists, including A.J. Casson, A.Y. Jackson, Emily Carr and Arthur Lismer, formed the basis of the patriotic enterprise.
Now the S-M screenprints have been reproduced in a lavishly illustrated book by British Columbia art dealer/collector Ian Sigvaldason and editor/consultant Scott Steedman. Titled Art for War and Peace: How a Great Public Art Project Helped Canada Discover Itself, this hefty volume boasts essays by Douglas Coupland, university professor Sam Carter and curators Ian Thom, Andrew Kear and Alicia Boutilier, among others. It's being launched Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Toronto's Mayberry Fine Art, which, unsurprisingly, also is selling 30-plus S-M screenprints. Prices range from $1,500 to $8,000 a print, depending on artist, size, condition and rarity.