Bio
Arlene Gehmacher is an Art Historian specializing in imagery of Canada from the 18th century to the present, primarily in the visual idioms of Western European art. Focusing on ROM collections, she studies the colonial and settler production of "Canada" in its social context, in terms of production, critical reception, institutional histories, and display strategies, as a path to understanding how identities and historical narratives from national to personal levels are articulated and communicated.
Her current research in this regard includes early depictions of Newfoundland; Canadian portraiture and concepts of national portrait galleries; pictorial presentations of Canadian history; and the mid-20th century work of Rex Woods.
Exhibitions & Galleries
Generating-Lead Curator (GLC), Co-Curator (CC), or Advising Curator (AC)
2023 Quilts: Made in Canada (AC/CC)
2022 Canadian Modern (AC)
2020 Portrait of Austin Clarke: Recognizing a Literary Great (GL)
2018 Being Japanese Canadian: Reflections on a Broken World (CC)
2016 Point and Punch: Historical Editorial Cartoons of J.W. Bengough (1851-1923) & Sam Hunter (1858-1939) (GLC)
2015 Worn: Shaping Black Feminine Identity (Karin Jones) (CC)
2014 Sir Edmund Walker and Family: Portraits of Patronage (GLC)
2013 Brushing It in the Rough: Women, Art, and Nineteenth-Century Canada (GLC)
2012 Afterimage: Tod Ainslide’s Vision of the War of 1812 (GLC)
2011 Sitting Still: Faces of Childhood (GLC)
2009 “A Nervous Desire”: Major Henry Davis at Niagara, 1846 (GLC)
2007 “Six Elegant Views”: Thomas Jefferys, 1760 (GLC)
2003 Tree Spirit: The Woodcuts of Naoko Matsubara (CC)
2001 The Stone Age: Canadian Lithography from its Beginnings (AC)
Publications
- 2024Canadian Watercolours and Drawings in the Royal Ontario Museum, Volume 3 (ROM: Toronto), 169 pages. Primary author, co-author with Mary Allodi.
- 2023“Speaking Volumes: James Duncan ‘Takes Note’ of Montreal,” in James Duncan (1806–1881): Painter of Montreal. Montreal: McCord Stewart Museum, 2023, 49–59.
- 2022“Magnesium Snowshoe”, 1948-49; “Clairtone Dealer Price List, Western Region, 1 August 1967”; “Centennial Mug”, 1967, and “Man and His World Ashtray,” 1967; “Punt Chair”, 2011; “Pride and Shame” (brooches), 2015, entries in Canadian Modern. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 2022.
- 2016“Tagasode, the sleeves of Naoko Matsubara, woodcut artist,” Ostasiastische Zeitschrift, new series n. 32 (autumn 2016): 44–51.
- 2015“Katharine Jane (Balfour) Ellice, Mrs. Ellice and Miss Balfour Reflected in the Looking Glass of their Cabin on Board the H.M.S. "Hastings,” entry in The Artist Herself: Self-Portraits by Canadian Historical Women Artists Ex.cat. Kingston, ON/Hamilton, ON: Agnes Etherington Art Centre/Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2015, 40.
- 2014“Paul Kane,” Art Canada Institute (online). Launched 9 December 2014.External link, opens in a new tab
- 2014“‘My sculpture queen’: Caroline Benedicks as Bruce’s Subject,” in Into the Light: The Paintings of William Blair Bruce (1859-1906). Ex. cat. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2014, 178 – 87.
- 2014Latif, N., Gehmacher, A., Castelhano, M.S. & Munhall, K.G. “The Art of Gaze Guidance.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance, Vol. 40 (1), 33-39. (PDF, 1.03 MB)
- 2012“Art, Illustration, and Zoology: The Drama Behind Arthur Heming’s Canadian Fur Trade Paintings.” In Cassandra Getty, Arthur Heming: Chronicler of the North. Ex.cat. London: Museum London, 2013, 49-61.
- 2010“The Death of Omoxesisixany or Big Snake,” catalogue entry essay for Ken Lister, Paul Kane, The Artist: Wilderness to Studio. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum, 2010, 372.
- 2005“The Phantom of the Snow,” catalogue entry essay for Lasting Impressions: Celebrated Works from the Art Gallery of Hamilton, ed. Tobi Bruce. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2005, 68.
- 2003“Canada in Paris: Krieghoff at the Universal Exhibition, 1867," Journal of Canadian Art History, vol. 24 (2003): 20-45.
- 2003“Early Prints,” 53-55; “Tale of the Shining Princess,” 82-83; “Nantucket,” 94-95; “Solitude,” 121-23; “Hands,” 139; “My Best Friend is Twelve Feet High,” 186; “Hagoromo,” 230-31; “Tibet” (co-author, with Klaas Ruitenbeek), 245-48, essays in Tree Spirit: The Woodcuts of Naoko Matsubara. Toronto: ROM, 2003.
- 2000William Blair Bruce: Painting for Posterity. Hamilton: Art Gallery of Hamilton, 2000. 72 pages.