Greg Curnoe was one of Canadian art’s leading lights in the 1960s and ’70s. Until his untimely death in 1992, he remained a critical force for a truly Canadian art. Curnoe raised the personal to the universal in his paintings and word-pictures, fusing the sensibility of pop art with a fierce nationalism and a self-conscious regionalism. Curnoe’s life and work are the subject of the excellent Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff ($75 cloth 1-55054-835-2, 220 pp., Douglas & McIntyre), published to coincide with an exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario. The book’s essays, by Dennis Reid and Sarah Milroy, are comprehensive and engaging, providing a compelling portrait of the artist.

Perhaps even more useful is Judith Rodger’s remarkable chronology of Curnoe’s life, a detailed list that is surprisingly fascinating to read. Rodger’s chronology skilfully mirrors the tone and content of much of Curnoe’s work, which often included research and record keeping. Replete with illustrations of his work, as well as with photographs documenting his life, Greg Curnoe: Life and Stuff is a welcome survey of the life and work of this important Canadian artist. Ray Cronin