Niagara Falls Collection

TAG Art Gallery features an extensive collection of 18th- and 19th-century lithographs, drawings and paintings of Niagara Falls. The chronological development of Niagara Falls illustrations by Europeans can be traced from those based on the late-1600s reports of explorer/missionary Father Hennepin which influenced map illustrator Henry Popple in the mid-1700s. In turn, by the late 1700s, G.M. Terrini of Italy and Robert Hancock of England were influenced by Popple. Acknowledged as producing the highest-quality lithographs of Niagara Falls are the French lithographers and illustrators of the first half of the 1800s.

Among the most prolific artists were William Henry Bartlett of England and Fred Holloway (who lived for a short time in Drummondville, now part of Niagara Falls). Both were under contract to publishers meeting high retail-market demand in Europe and North America for travel books and journals and sets of colour engravings.

In many of the depictions, the viewer can see the main tourist stops of those days, including Table Rock, the vertical stairways down the sides of the Gorge, the Terrapin Tower on Goat Island, and the tour boats to the bases of the American and Horseshoe Falls.

Further enquiries about this collection can be made directly to the Gallery.