Artists, Society, and Activism: The Federation of Canadian Artists and the Social Organization of Canadian Art

Abstract

The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA), established in the wake of the 1941 Kingston Conference, became a central institution through which Canadian artists attempted to reorganize their relationship to society. In particular, members of the FCA built on a series of more long-standing concerns about the problematic relationship between art and society under conditions of modernity. The FCA's goal was to bridge the gap between the arts and life and, as such, it served as a focal point through which the artists debated the character this new relationship should take. Looking first to contribute to Canada's war effort and then post-war reconstruction, the FCA ultimately instituted a series of policies that lead it away from its original objectives even while it maintained a discourse critical of the fractured and alienating nature of modern life and culture.