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The Canadian Forum
CategoriesLiterary and political
FormatMagazine
PublisherCanadian Forum Limited
Founded1920
Final issue2000
CountryCanada
LanguageEnglish
ISSN0008-3631
OCLC1553097

The Canadian Forum was a literary, cultural and political publication and Canada's longest running continually published political magazine (1920–2000).[1]

History and profile

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The Canadian Forum, A Monthly Journal of Literature and Public Affairs, was founded on 14 May 1920[2] at the University of Toronto as a forum for political and cultural ideas. Its first directors were G. E. Jackson, chairman, Barker Fairley, literary editor, C. B. Sissons,[3] political editor, Peter Sandiford,[4] business manager and Huntly Gordon, press editor.[5] Throughout its publishing run it was Canadian nationalist and progressive in outlook.[1]

Politically, it was a forum for thinkers such as Frank Underhill, F. R. Scott, Ramsay Cook, Mel Watkins, John Alan Lee, Eugene Forsey[1] and Robert Fulford.[6] Poetry and short stories by Irving Layton, Earle Birney, A. J. M. Smith, Helen Weinzweig, Margaret Atwood,[1] Al Purdy and E. J. Pratt,[7] appeared[6] as well as editorials,[8] reviews and articles discussing art and artists, sometimes written by the artists themselves, such as A. Y. Jackson,[9] or Lawren Harris.[10] J. E. H. MacDonald[11] and Bertram Brooker[12] even contributed their poetry. From 1928 on, critic Robert Ayre began to contribute reviews.[13]

The Forum prided itself on reproducing a picture by a Canadian artist in each issue, "selected by competent critics",[14] though leaning towards the progressive side in art, at least in the early years.[15] Art editors included Pegi Nicol MacLeod.[16] Among the artists who lent their work to the publication the most often used was Thoreau MacDonald but a pen sketch by Tom Thomson (now lost) also appeared.[17] It published the art work of the Group of Seven and many other artists in black-and-white, one work per issue. The full range of the artists published in the Forum was discussed in the Fiftieth Anniversary issue in a lengthy article by the then art editor (1970-1975) Joan Murray.[18]

In 1934, publisher Steven Cartwright purchased the periodical from J.M. Dent & Sons.[19] After owning it for about a year, Cartwright unloaded the money-losing venture for one dollar to Graham Spry a member of the socially progressive think tank the League for Social Reconstruction (LSR).[19] It was printed using Spy's printing press company, Stafford Printers, which also printed the Ontario CCF's newspaper The New Commonwealth.[19] Spry purchased the press with financial help from both the LSR and English socialist Sir Stafford Cripps, hence the name Stafford Press.[19] in 1936, the LSR bought the Forum for one-dollar from Spry, and assumed all its debts.[20] University of Toronto Classics professor George Grube, a member of the LSR, became the editor in 1937.[21] During his tenure, the periodical was the LSR's official organ.[22] Grube stepped down as editor in 1941, about a year before the LSR officially disbanded.[21] It has also been operated at times as a co-operative and was owned for a number of years by James Lorimer and Co.[1]

Editors have included Mark Farrell,[23] G. M. A. Grube,[21] J. Francis White, Northrop Frye, Milton Wilson, Abraham Rotstein, Denis Smith and the final editor Duncan Cameron.[1]

The magazine suspended publication following its summer 2000 issue.[6] The Canadian Forum Archives (1953-1978) is at Trent University Library and Archives in Peterborough, Ontario.[24]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Granastein, J. L. (2011). "Canadian Forum". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Toronto: The Historica-Dominion Institute. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
  2. ^ Roy Macskimming (11 January 2012). The Perilous Trade: "Book Publishing in Canada, 1946–2006". McClelland & Stewart. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-55199-261-7. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  3. ^ Charles Bruce Sissons (1879–1965)
  4. ^ (1882–1941)
  5. ^ Canadian Forum, vol. 1, No. 1, Oct. 1920, p. 14 and No. 2, Nov. 1920, p. 45
  6. ^ a b c Fulford, Robert (2001-04-17). "The Canadian Forum: alive or dead?". National Post. Toronto. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2011.
  7. ^ E. J,. Pratt, "The Ice-Floes". The Canadian Forum vol. 2 (April 1922), pp. 591-593
  8. ^ "Editorial".The Canadian Forum 1 (November 1920 ), p. 27.
  9. ^ A. Y. Jackson, "Sketching in Algoma". The Canadian Forum vol. 1 (March 1921), pp. 174-175.
  10. ^ Lawren Harris, "Modern Art and Aesthetic Reactions". The Canadian Forum vol. 7 (May 1927), pp. 239-292.
  11. ^ J. E. H. MacDonald, "Poems". The Canadian Forum, vol. 2 (May 1922), p. 624.
  12. ^ Bertram Brooker, The Canadian Forum, vol. 10 (April 1930) p. 252p. 399; vol. 11 (Nv. 1930), p. 61.
  13. ^ Valliant, Lois. "Robert Hugh Ayre (1900-1980), art -- a place in the community : reviews at The Gazette, Montreal (1935-1937) and at The Standard, Montreal (1938-1942), Masters Thesis, 1991". spectrum.library.concordia.ca. Concordia U. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
  14. ^ The Canadian Forum vol. 3 (November 1922), p. 64.
  15. ^ Helen Frye, "Portrait of the Artist in a Young Magazine". The Canadian Forum vol. 22 (May 1942), p. 54.
  16. ^ G. Campbell McInnes, 'No. 8 - Pegi Nicol". The Canadian Forum vol. 17 (Sept. 1937), p. 202-203.
  17. ^ "Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné". www.tomthomsoncatalogue.org. Tom Thomson Catalogue Raisonné. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  18. ^ Joan Murray, "Graphics in the Forum 1920-1951". The Canadian Forum, vol. 50 (April-May 1970), pp. 42-45.
  19. ^ a b c d Horn (1980), p.129
  20. ^ Horn (1980), p. 130
  21. ^ a b c Podlecki (1994), p. 237
  22. ^ Horn (1980), pp. 14, 202
  23. ^ Horn (1980), p. 131
  24. ^ "Fonds". archives.trentu.ca. Trent U. Retrieved 3 April 2024.

References

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