Robert Houle has been exhibiting his work since the early 1970s. His artistic career is punctuated by solo and group exhibitions in Canada, the United States, and abroad. He has curated many groundbreaking exhibitions and has written insightful essays on political and cultural issues surrounding Indigenous peoples, and monographs on contemporary Indigenous artists.
Solo Exhibitions
1989
Seven in Steel, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario.
1990
Robert Houle: Indians from A to Z, Winnipeg Art Gallery. Toured to the Glenbow Museum, Calgary; MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina; and Museum of Civilization (now Canadian Museum of History), Gatineau. Exhibition publication.
1991
Lost Tribes, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland.
1992
Hochelaga, articule, Montreal, and YYZ, Toronto.
1993
Kanata: Robert Houle’s Histories, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa. Exhibition publication.
Anishnabe Walker Court, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
1994
Premises for Self-Rule, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto.
1996
Pontiac’s Conspiracy, Garnet Press Gallery, Toronto.
1999
Robert Houle: Sovereignty over Subjectivity, Winnipeg Art Gallery. Toured to the Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, and Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2000–01
Palisade, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa. Exhibition publication.
2006
Nomenclature: Apache Bombs and Helicopters, Urban Shaman, Winnipeg.
2007
Troubling Abstraction: Robert Houle, McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, in collaboration with The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa. Exhibition publication.
2010–11
Robert Houle’s Paris/Ojibwa, Canadian Cultural Centre, Paris, France, and Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario. Toured to Art Gallery of Windsor. Exhibition publication.
2012
enuhmo andúhyaun (the road home), School of Art Gallery, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. Exhibition publication.
2014
Seven Grandfathers, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
2015
Robert Houle: Obscured Horizons, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie.
2016
Robert Houle: Shaman Dream in Colour, Kinsman Robinson Galleries, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2018
Pahgedenaun, Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa.
Group Exhibitions
1982
New Work by a New Generation, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina. Exhibition publication.
1983
Innovations: New Expressions in Native American Painting, Heard Museum, Phoenix.
1985
Challenges, de Meervaart Cultural Centre, Amsterdam.
1987
Eight from the Prairies, Part Two, Thunder Bay Art Gallery and Southwest Museum, Los Angeles.
1989
Beyond History, Vancouver Art Gallery. Exhibition publication.
1990
Why Do You Call Us Indian? Gettysburg College Art Gallery, Pennsylvania. Contemporary Rituals, White Water Gallery, North Bay, Ontario.
1992
Rethinking History, Mercer Union, Toronto.
1995
Notions of Conflict, Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam.
Displaced Histories, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa.
1996
Real Fictions: Four Canadian Artists, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney.
2000
Tout le temps/Every Time: La Biennale 2000, Montreal. Exhibition publication.
2001
Landmark, University of Waterloo Art Gallery in collaboration with the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, and The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa. Exhibition publication.
2003
Pathbreakers: Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis. Exhibition publication.
2004
We Come in Peace…: Histories of the Americas, Musée d’art Contemporain de Montréal. Exhibition publication.
2007
Testbed, Nuit Blanche, Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto.
2012
Changing Hands: Art without Reservation, Museum of Arts and Design, New York. Exhibition publication.
Sovereign Acts, Justina M. Barnicke Gallery, Art Museum at the University of Toronto.
2013
1992: Robert Houle, Duane Linklater, Nadia Myre, MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie.
Sakahàn: International Indigenous Art, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Exhibition publication.
IN/digitized: Indigenous Culture in a Digital World, SAW Gallery, Ottawa.
Four Contemporary Artists: Barry Ace, Bonnie Devine, Rosalie Favell, and Robert Houle, Carmel Art Gallery, Ottawa.
2013–14
Before and after the Horizon: Anishinaabe Artists of the Great Lakes, National Museum of the American Indian, New York, and Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2016
Form Follows Fiction: Art and Artists in Toronto, University of Toronto Art Centre.
Toronto: Tributes + Tributaries, 1971–1989, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Exhibition publication.
2017
Re:collection, Confederation Centre of the Arts, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Exhibition publication.
Selected Writings by Robert Houle
“Odjig: An Artist’s Transition.” The Native Perspective 3, no. 2 (1978): 42–46.
“The Emergence of a New Aesthetic Tradition.” In New Work by a New Generation, 2–5. Exhibition publication. Regina: Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, 1982.
“The Spiritual Legacy of the Ancient Ones.” In Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada, edited by Susan McMaster and Claire Rochon. Exhibition publication. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1992.
“A Context for the Janvier Legacy.” In The Art of Alex Janvier: His First Thirty Years, 1960–1990, by Lee-Ann Martin, 49–65. Exhibition publication. Thunder Bay: Thunder Bay Art Gallery, 1993.
“A Context for Haida Abstraction.” In Robert Davidson: The Abstract Edge, edited by Karen Duffek. Exhibition publication. Vancouver: Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 2004.
“Dibaajimowin/Storytelling.” In Stories from the Shield: Bonnie Devine. Exhibition publication. Brantford: Woodland Cultural Centre, 2004.
“Translation/Transportation.” In Nadia Myre: Cont[r]act, by Joan Reid Acland, Rhonda L. Meir, Robert Houle, and Anne Collett. Exhibition publication. Montreal: Dark Horse Productions, 2004.
“Creating Space within a National Identity.” In Vision, Space, Desire: Global Perspectives and Cultural Hybridity. Washington, D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian, 2006.
“Odjig: A Pictorial Style in Transition.” In The Drawings and Paintings of Daphne Odjig: A Retrospective Exhibition, by Bonnie Devine, 37–42. Exhibition publication. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 2007.
“Poetic Portals of Memory.” In Greg Staats: Reciprocity. Exhibition publication. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 2007.
“Interiority as Allegory.” In Rebecca Belmore: Rising to the Occasion, edited by Daina Augaitis and Kathleen Ritter, 19–23. Exhibition publication. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 2008.
“Shape-shifting Images.” In The Colour of My Dreams: The Surrealist Revolution in Art, edited by Dawn Ades, 27–75. Exhibition publication. Vancouver: Vancouver Art Gallery, 2011.
“Bonnie Devine: Land as Metaphor for Survival.” Exhibition catalogue essay for We Are Here: 7th Biennial Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, Indianapolis: Eiteljorg Museum, 2011.
“The Beardmore Garden Party.” In Norval Morrisseau 2012 Retrospective. Exhibition publication. Toronto: Kinsman Robinson Galleries, 2012.
“Anishnabe Supernova.” Exhibition catalogue essay for Copper Thunderbird: The Art of Norval Morrisseau, Toronto: Westerkirk Works of Art, 2012.
“Kay WalkingStick: Landscape, the Living Synthesis of Human Presence and Place.” Exhibition catalogue essay for Kay WalkingStick: An American Artist, Washington, D.C.: National Museum of the American Indian, 2013.
Selected Writings About Robert Houle
Douglas, Susan. “Crossroads Visualism: Robert Houle.” Parachute (Fall 1995): 42–46.
Hargittay, Clara. “The Struggle Against Cultural Apartheid.” Muse 6, no. 3 (1988): 58–63.
Longchamps, Denis. “Contemporary Art and Religion in Canada: A Selection of Works.” Journal of Canadian Art History 33, no. 2: 214–49.
McMaster, Gerald. Challenges. Exhibition publication. Hull: National Museum of Man; Amsterdam: de Meervaart Cultural Centre, 1985.
Musiol, Marie-Jeanne. “Robert Houle and the Ojibway Leaves.” The Native Perspective 2, no. 10 (1978): 21–23.
Rushing, W. Jackson. Native American Art in the Twentieth Century. London and New York: Routledge, 1999.
Scott, Jay. “I Lost It at the Trading Post.” Canadian Art 2, no. 4 (Winter 1985): 33–39.
Warner, John Anson. “New Visions in Canadian Plains Painting.” American Indian Art Magazine (Spring 1985): 46–53.
Videos
Niro, Shelley, writer, producer, and editor. Robert’s Paintings. 2011. Turtle Night Productions. Colour video, 52:00 min.
Roemer, Derreck, director. Robert Houle, Visual Artist. Canada Council for the Arts. Colour video, 4:15 min.
The View from Here: A Canadian Picture Show in Nine Acts. 1997. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada. Distributed by the National Film Board.
Wasserman, Leslie, producer. The Art of Robert Houle. 2000. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
About the Author
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Acknowledgements