Once called the “Manchester of Canada"
or “Canada’s Motor City”, the city of Oshawa has historically been associated with industry. Situated in downtown Oshawa, The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (RMG) is named after the industrialist and philanthropist who pioneered Canada’s automotive industry.
This exhibition brings together historic photographs
of Oshawa from the Thomas Bouckley Collection with industrial themed artwork from the RMG’s collection. The documentary style photographs of the Bouckley Collection highlights the human side of industry, while the artworks explore and comment on the impacts of the industry.
Since the early 20th Century,
artists and photographers have embraced industry as a subject for various reasons, from a fascination and commentary on an evolving society and workforce, to simply being drawn to the formal qualities of industrial and mechanical structures.
Buildings, both interior and exterior, present a visual complexity of pipes, ducts, silos, and chimney stacks, which offer a unique technical challenge to artists working with traditional media.
The historic photographs of Oshawa,
from the Thomas Bouckley Collection, capture how industry has been a driving force behind the city’s economic growth, and an important employer to the community.
A project by local historian and collector Thomas Bouckley to document Oshawa, the Thomas Bouckley Collection consists of over 3,500 images that show the ever-changing nature of a city in transition.
The selections in this exhibition highlight
that while industry contributes growth and development to communities, it is ultimately driven by the labour force, without whom these industries would not exist.
By pairing documentary photographs with artist representations of industry, this exhibition explores the ways the subject can be captured and interpreted—with both beauty and harsh reality.
Oshawa (1986) by Jane ZednikThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Jane Zednik’s
Oshawa is a vivid depiction of the city the artist grew up in. Her painting is a more vibrant and whimsical depiction of industry, with autoworkers front and center in the scene.
The elaborate house in the background,
known in Oshawa as Parkwood Estate, is the home of past President of General Motors of Canada, Col. Sam McLaughlin. The auto industry played an important role in Oshawa’s population growth, which boomed in the 1920s.
While General Motors was an important employer in Oshawa’s history, Zednik’s work highlights the disparity between the living conditions between the labourers and the executives by using thorny roses to separate the autoworkers from the McLaughlin mansion.
Mosquito Bomber - Fueslage (1940) by UnknownThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
This photo from the Thomas Bouckley Collection depicts three men working on the manufacturing of a Mosquito bomber fuselage at the General Motors of Canada plant in Oshawa.
The Mosquito, the first warplane made by the Havilland Company, was made of wood making it extremely light, and was one of the first stealthy aircraft in the era of radar.
During the Second World War, over 1,100 Mosquitos fighter-bombers were produced in Toronto, and General Motors in Oshawa made the fuselage.
Man Against Economic Slavery (From the Seven Ages of Man) (1938) by Laurence HydeThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Laurence Hyde and Alice Bradshaw created
a series of prints in 1934 that focus on labour and workers. Man Against Economic Slavery is a striking image where the industrial smokestack towers over the worker, emphasizing the powerlessness of the worker in the face of mass industrialization.
However, the worker is depicted breaking their chains
in an act of rebellion. The angle of the industrial towers slanted and seeming to fall, and the figure’s bond-breaking, is a commentary on how industries’ success is dependent on the labour of the worker.
Assembly Line (1908) by Thomas BouckleyThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
This photo from the Thomas Bouckley Collection shows men working on an assembly line of cars on the second floor of the McLaughlin Carriage Company factory at William and Mary Street in Oshawa. The cars were pushed backward by hand, as each operation was completed.
McLaughlin Carriage Company was incorporated in 1901 and formed the McLaughlin Motor Car Company Limited in 1907. General Motors would eventually buy out the company in 1918.
Mine Elevator (1928) by Yvonne McKague HousserThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
In works that depict exterior rural scenes,
such as Yvonne McKague Housser’s Mine Elevator, the industrial forms and structures of the mine look out of place in the natural landscape, their towering presence a reminder of the industry’s importance to the community in which it existed.
The subject of the painting - Cobalt, Ontario - was a mining town and favourite painting site for Housser. The town attracted many artists, particularly between the world wars, due to its industrial atmosphere.
Housser arranged a number of sketching and painting trips
to Cobalt with other women artists, developing a network and asserting themselves as painters of the industrial landscape. The various active and abandoned mines were symbolic structures of the industrial achievements of a new Canada.
In Housser’s work, there is no sign of the workers – suggesting that this community is no longer thriving and benefiting economically from the mines.
Martin Neal (1993) by Gayle HurmusesThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
The Last Van (1993) by Gayle HurmusesThe Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Curatorial Text/Editor
Heather Riley
With Support From
Sonya Jones
French Translation by
Jay Gonzalez Tinoco
This project has been made possible by the Government of Canada.
Ce projet a été rendu possible grâce au gouvernement du Canada.
All content in this exhibition is copyright of Robert McLaughlin Gallery.
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