ExhibitionsJane Martin: The Ties that Bind
September 29 - December 14, 2024
Jane Martin, "Clematis Ramona," 1983, oil on Masonite. Carleton University Art Gallery: Gift of Bill Brown and John McKinven, 2004.
This first retrospective of Jane Martin's work spans fifty years of her practice.
Jane Martin’s subject has always been human relationships, whether within the family, among friends, or the intimate give and take of the couple. This exhibition, curated by former CUAG director Diana Nemiroff, takes its title from the ties – often literal in Martin’s work – that express both the fulfillments and frustrations of these connections.
Drawing on public and private collections, including CUAG’s rich holdings, this first retrospective of Martin’s work divides her fifty-year career into three periods.
In the first, spanning the 1970s and 1980s, the artist examines friendship and family life with a gaze by turns sentimental and sardonic. The second charts the sensuality and suffering of the flesh in works from the late 1980s and early 1990s, while the third is focused on the faithfully honest, yet tender late portraits she made of herself and her husband Ewen McCuaig, interspersed with paintings of the roses they grew and loved.
Thank you! CUAG acknowledges with gratitude the many lenders who are making this exhibition possible: The A.T. Tolley Art Collection, Bill Brown and John McKinven, Canada Council Art Bank, Daintry Topshee, Jane Martin, National Gallery of Canada and Ottawa Art Gallery.
Curated by
Diana Nemiroff
Artists in the exhibition
Jane Martin
