From Collins to Cape Dorset: John Hartman: Early Works

Nicholas Metivier Gallery is pleased to present From Collins to Cape Dorset, a special exhibition of early paintings, pastels, and drawings by John Hartman. From an important private collection (London, New York, Toronto) and Hartman’s personal archive, the exhibition explores the formative years that shaped the artist’s distinctive narrative approach to landscape. 

Between 1976 and 1981, Hartman and his wife, Trish, lived in northern Ontario, in the First Nations communities of Heron Bay and Collins. With no road access, Collins became their home for much of this five-year period. It was there that Hartman began to see people not as separate from the landscape, but as integral to it. The experiences, stories, and histories he encountered would become enduring sources of inspiration.

After settling in Lafontaine, Ontario, in 1981, Hartman continued to explore the stories and histories of Northern Ontario, Georgian Bay, and the communities around him. In 1989, he travelled to Cape Dorset (now Kinngait) for a month-long residency at Kinngait Studios, where he worked alongside Inuit artists in the lithography workshop and taught drawing. The experience echoed his earlier time in Collins, introducing Hartman to new communities, stories, and histories that would find their way into his work.