One the preeminent portrait photographers of the twentieth century, Karsh was born in Turkey to Armenian parents and sent to Canada in 1924 as a refugee. He studied photography under his uncle, who was a professional portrait photographer in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Karsh’s dramatically lit and carefully composed black and white portraits of luminaries such as Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, and Grace Kelly earned him international renown.

Born in Iraq of Assyrian origin, Kaspaules has based his artistic practice in Ottawa since the mid-1970s. The themes of migration, cultural exchange, and exile pervade his interdisciplinary work in painting, engraving, photography, and video. A graduate of the University of Ottawa, Kaspaules has exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions.

Kiakshuk was a gifted storyteller who took up drawing and printmaking in the last decade of his life. Like his stories, his artworks recount tales of the natural and spirit worlds, hunting, and domestic life. In addition to his drawings, engravings, and stencil and stonecut prints, he occasionally produced carvings.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Knowles became a noted Toronto painter, active in the city from the 1880s to 1920. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) in 1898. His work is in the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and other major collections in Canada.

A painter who emigrated to the United States from Europe in 1837 and then moved to Canada. Krieghoff was drawn to First Nations peoples and environments as subjects; he also painted landscapes and scenes of everyday Canadian life.