The Collection

Kent Monkman
Installation
Purchased with funds from the Volunteer Committee Acquisition Fund (1956-2017) in memory of Shelagh Martin-McLaren, 2017

Why we chose this

In Nativity Scene, artist Kent Monkman imagines the birth of his alter ego, Miss Chief, who appears in many of his paintings, videos, installations, and performances. Here, he uses familiar and evocative objects like a Coca-Cola bottle, a Hudson’s Bay blanket, and draws on symbols from popular culture, sports, and Christianity to disrupt colonial narratives. His work opens up conversations about the harmful legacy of residential schools, inequality, representation, and re-frames Indigenous presence at the centre of history. This work was part of Monkman’s 2019 solo exhibition, Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience at Museum London.

Jack Chambers
oil on wood
Purchase, John H. and Elizabeth Moore Acquisition Fund, 2026
Photo Credit: Alex Walker

Why we chose this

Jack Chambers remains one of London’s best known 20th century artists. 401 Towards London No. 2 is the unfinished companion to the first version, now at the Art Gallery of Ontario, in which an expansive view of southwestern Ontario landscape plays backdrop to a full cast of vehicles, signage, and serpentine asphalt. In this painting, we’re a little further down the road, the overpass that provided the first’s elevated perspective squarely in our rear-view.

While the sky reveals Chamber’s telltale care, the landscape is roughly rendered, the details of the urban fabric absent. Begun in 1968, it is not entirely clear why Chambers left No. 2 incomplete. Regardless, it offers a rare peak at the process beneath his famously airtight realism.

Patricia Deadman
black and white photo mural
Gift of the Estate of Patricia Deadman, St. Thomas, Ontario, 2025
Photo Credit: Alex Walker

Why we chose this

Respected artist and writer Patricia Deadman hailed from Ohsweken, Six Nations of the Grand River, Ontario. She exhibited across North America and in Europe, and curated at Toronto’s Power Plant, Museum London, the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Woodstock Art Gallery, and the Woodland Cultural Centre. Museum London displayed her art regularly, including 2015’s Reading the Talk and 2007’s solo exhibition Ground Cover.

Deadman gained acclaim for experimental, abstract photo installations that resembled Indigenous blanket patterns. Her imagery of severe European garden designs paralleled the colonial oppression of peoples. This work monumentalizes this region’s wilderness, celebrating dramatic light play in the forest.

Stuart Kent Harper
Gift of Gwen Zezulka, Toronto, Ontario, 2025
Photo Credit: Alex Walker

Why we chose this

Designer Stuart Kent Harper made this suit for his wife, Phyllis, in the 1950s. Born in Malahide Township, Ontario, in 1907, Harper graduated from Queen’s University. After a course at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art, he entered the design world in Paris where he did a year of research and freelance work. Harper then returned to New York and opened a shop. Following service overseas with the American Forces in the Second World