World Culture Galleries

Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples

Level 1, Hilary and Galen Weston Wing
This vibrant, spacious gallery explores themes ranging from 19th-century notions that Native cultures were vanishing from North America to professional museum collecting and the development of contemporary First Peoples’ art. More than 1,000 diverse artifacts provide a cultural context for Canada's earliest societies and reveal the economic and social forces that influenced Native art. Some of the collections are among the oldest in Canada, with many of the artifacts on display for the first time. Highlights include artifacts chosen by the gallery’s six Native advisors, a theatre devoted to the screening of films, interactive programs, and live performances by Canada’s First Peoples, a large changing exhibition space for contemporary Native artworks, and an area dedicated to the works and life of pioneer painter Paul Kane.

The changing exhibition space titled Contemporary Expressions showcases contemporary native artworks created in various media. The first installation features works from the recent Bernhard Cinader gift and bequest. Dr. Cinader avidly collected First Nations art for three decades, beginning in the 1970s. His collection focuses primarily on art by First Peoples of Ontario, but also includes art from across the country.

The BMO Financial Group Theatre, located within the gallery, is devoted to the oral cultures of Canada’s First Peoples both past and present. This multimedia space allows visitors to listen to Native stories such as those told by Cree elder Louis Bird, an advisor for the ROM, or watch video programs devoted to Native cultures. The area also features some of the ROM’s historic sound recordings, originally captured on wax cylinders and recently transferred to audio tapes.

The G. W. Allan collection, Canada’s largest collection of Paul Kane’s art, comprises over 100 of Kane’s paintings and 350 sketches. Considered the father of Canadian art, Paul Kane travelled extensively through Canada, north and west of Toronto by snowshoe, horseback, and canoe to sketch the Native Americans of the region. When he returned to Toronto in 1848, Kane began to work his sketches into more than 100 formal oil paintings. These paintings and sketches offer an extraordinary glimpse of Canada’s First Peoples and the pristine landscapes they inhabited. The initial display includes oil paintings and sketches from his 1845 trip around the Great Lakes. Some of the artifacts Kane collected are on display and a special kiosk features an interactive multimedia program about his life and works.

SITTING BULL’S HEADDRESS Sitting Bull was the great Lakota Sioux chief most famous for defeating General Custer’s Seventh Cavalry at the Battle of Little Bighorn. See more TOP 10 FAVOURITES (PDF)

 

Podcasts

Iconic Totem Poles
March 19, 2009
These four totem poles, carved by the Nisgaa and Haida peoples of Canada's Pacific Northwest Coast, commemorate family origins, rights, privileges, achievements and experiences. Standing just outside the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples, they have been selected as one of the must-see treasures in the ROM's collection.

Video Podcast (20.4MB, 3m 02s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Chief Sitting Bull’s Headdress
September 24, 2008
Chief Sitting Bull was a great leader, a holy man and a central character in North American history. Discover how Sitting Bull's headdress, shirt and other personal artifacts were prepared for display in the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples.

Video Podcast (52.5MB, 4m 06s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Staff Favourites: Paul Kane Paintings
April 26, 2007
Technician Liliane Lortie talks about the Paul Kane paintings on display in the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples.

Video Podcast (7 MB, 2m 3s)
Written Transcript (PDF)

Beadwork
January 11, 2007
Technician Liliane Lortie on the personal appeal of the beadwork displayed in the Daphne Cockwell Gallery of Canada: First Peoples.

Video Podcast (4 MB, 4m 02s)
Written Transcript (PDF)