“Uncovers an important chapter in the adolescent years of Canadian identity… the book is an expertly collected document of the early efforts made by a young, spirited country desperate to define itself. ” —Toronto Star

Art for War and Peace tells the amazing story of the largest public art project in Canadian history. The Sampson-Matthews print program began as wartime propaganda during WWII and lasted into the 1960s. It cost tens of millions of dollars. The bright silkscreens hung in every school, library, bank and dentist’s office from Whitehorse to St. John’s, shaping Canadians’ ideas about art—and their vast homeland. The silkscreens were based on designs by a who’s who of Canada’s greatest artists, including Emily Carr, Lawren Harris, A. Y. Jackson, and Tom Thomson. The book features full-colour reproductions of over a hundred silkscreens and contributions from several art writers, including Douglas Coupland.