Ottawa’s Blue Barn Group: Mid-Century Modern Art

Wall Space Gallery Celebrates Ottawa’s Modern Art Legacy During the City’s 200th Anniversary Year

Duncan de Kergommeaux, Untitled, Acrylic on canvas

Ottawa’s Blue Barn Group: Mid-Century Modern Art

October 3–13, 2026
Reception: Saturday, October 3, 2–5pm
RSVP your attendance to responses@wallspacegallery.ca
Wall Space Gallery, Ottawa

As Ottawa commemorates the 200th anniversary of the founding of Bytown in 2026, Wall Space Gallery is celebrating an important chapter in the city’s artistic history with Ottawa’s Blue Barn Group: Mid-Century Modern Art, an exhibition running October 3–13, 2026.

The exhibition shines a light on a remarkable group of Ottawa artists who, during the 1950s and 1960s, helped transform the city’s artistic landscape and connect Ottawa to the broader Canadian contemporary art movement.

Victor Tolgesy, Four-part Form, Cast concrete

At the centre of this story is the Blue Barn Gallery, a pioneering Ottawa venue that became an important gathering place and exhibition space for contemporary artists during the 1960s. Under the direction of artist and entrepreneur Duncan de Kergommeaux, the Blue Barn Gallery provided a platform for artists committed to creating, educating and challenging the public’s perception of contemporary art.

These artists were more than individual practitioners. Together, they helped build an artistic community in Ottawa at a time when the city was still developing its identity within the Canadian art world.

Among the artists associated with the Blue Barn and this important period are Gerald Trottier, Victor Tolgesy, James Boyd, David Partridge, Norman Takeuchi, Georges de Niverville, Harold Town, Toni Onley and Art Price, as well as Duncan de Kergommeaux.

Gerald Trottier, Crucifixion, Oil on canvas

The significance of the Blue Barn has been recognized by contemporary art historians. In the Art Canada Institute’s 2022 on-line publication “Ottawa Art and Artists,” curator and historian Jim Burant describes the Blue Barn Gallery as a major contemporary art space in Ottawa during the 1960s. The gallery presented exhibitions by numerous Canadian artists, often in conjunction with galleries in Toronto and Montreal, helping bring national attention to contemporary art in Ottawa.

The Ottawa Art Gallery’s historical publication, “History of Art and Artists of Ottawa, Part III: 1946–1970,” also records de Kergommeaux’s recollections of the period. He described the Blue Barn exhibitions as an important venue for contemporary art activity in Ottawa and recalled a close-knit group of artists determined to change the perception of art within their community.

Images left to right: Georges de Niverville, Portrait of Mother, Acrylic on canvas. James Boyd, Red Baron, Peace, Metal plate collage

A Window into Ottawa’s Artistic Past

Ottawa’s Blue Barn Group: Mid-Century Modern Art offers visitors an opportunity to discover the work of artists who played a formative role in Ottawa’s modern art history.

Presented during the city’s 200th anniversary year, the exhibition invites audiences to look beyond Ottawa’s political and architectural history and consider another important part of the city’s development: the artists who helped establish Ottawa as a place where contemporary art could be created, exhibited and discussed.

This exhibition is an opportunity to revisit an extraordinary moment in Ottawa’s history. These artists were creating new work, building community and opening doors for contemporary art. We are pleased to bring greater attention to their legacy during Ottawa’s 200th anniversary year.

For individual artist inquiries contact: ddekerg@gmail.com

Wall Space Gallery
1090 Bank Street
Ottawa, ON K1S 3X5
wallspacegallery.ca