Blog
Classic Canadian Literature and Modern Canadian Trees
by Siobhan
Art & Photography + Design & Typography / November 01, 2010
The New York Times Sunday Book Review ran a great feature on The Native Trees of Canada this weekend.
Leanne Shapton was inspired to create the book after discovering a copy of “Native Trees of Canada, Bulletin No. 61, Fifth Edition,” originally published in 1917 by the Forestry Branch of the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources.
In its flat, monochrome survey photographs I saw a simplified version of the Canadian landscape, like the one I understood as a child. Seeing the pictures reminded me of our capacity to colorize memories, some not even our own. I made a series of paintings from the book, and afterward, whenever I read a story, any mention of a tree stood out like an old friend.
Check out the New York Times Sunday Book Review feature to read how Leanne matches up passages from classic Canadian literature with her modern trees.