Robert Houle

Robert Houle (born 1947) is a Saulteaux First Nations Canadian artist, curator, critic, and educator. Houle has had an active curatorial and artistic practice since the mid-1970s. He played an important role in bridging the gap between contemporary First Nations artists and the broader Canadian art scene through his writing and involvement in early important high-profile exhibitions such as Land, Spirit, Power: First Nations at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 1992). As an artist, Houle has shown both nationally and internationally. He is predominantly a painter working in the tradition of Abstraction, yet he has also embraced a pop sensibility by incorporating everyday images and text into his works. His work addresses lingering aspects of colonialism and their effects on First Nation peoples. Houle often appropriates historical photographs and texts, repurposing and combining them with Anishnaabe language and traditionally used materials such as porcupine quills within his works.

Biography Houle was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba on 9 March 1947 to parents Gladys and Solomon Houle. He was the eldest of fifteen children, all of whom were raised Roman Catholic and Saulteaux.

Houle earned his Bachelor of Arts in Art History from the University of Manitoba in 1972. After graduating, he augmented his art training by attending the Salzburg International Summer Academy focusing on painting and drawing. In 1975, he earned his Bachelor of Education degree in Art Education at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec.

Artwork

Houle's paintings have been exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney; the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris; and the Stedelijk Museum, Holland.

In Canada, he has shown work at the Mendel Art Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Carleton University Art Gallery, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, La Biennale de Montreal, the Art Gallery of Peterborough and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

His artwork has been collected throughout Canada and in parts of the United States and Australia.

Career From 1977 to 1981, Houle was the first Indigenous curator of contemporary Indigenous Art at the Canadian Museum of Civilisation (now the Canadian Museum of History) in Ottawa. His work at the CMC consisted of researching and writing about the pre-existing collection, as well as advocating for new acquisitions and developing his own practice. He travelled widely in pursuit of this work, becoming close with Abraham Anghik Ruben, Robert Davidson, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Beam, Daphne Odjig, Alex Janvier, and Robert Boyer in the process. Houle's considerable influence as an artist, curator, teacher and writer have led to his being awarded the Janet Braide Memorial Award for Excellence in Canadian art History in 2003; the 2001 Toronto Arts award for the Visual Arts; the Eiteljorg Fellowship in 2003 and in 2006. In 2015, he was awarded the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Collections Houle's work is in public collections including the Art Gallery of Ontario, Heard Museum, Laurentian University Museum and Arts Centre, McGill University, and National Gallery of Canada.