Harold Town - Canadian Abstract Expressionism Art

 Harold Barling Town (1924 – 1990) was a Canadian abstract painter. He is best known as a member of Painters Eleven a group of abstract artists active in Toronto from 1954-1960. Town coined the name of the group, which was based simply on the number of artists that were present the first meeting.He also worked as an illustrator, a profession he credited with imparting a sense of discipline that would last throughout his entire artistic career.
 “It’s easy to slip into the obvious when talking about Harold Town’s work—his ideas hit with such an impact that the viewer quickly begins babbling wildly about vigour and power and vitality… As you begin to read his paintings and collages carefully, you begin to sense behind them a master draughtsman and a graphic artist of international stature—and Town, as it happens, is both of these… Anyone who puts one word after another and calls it art criticism is tempted to make aesthetic predictions. Since Town—like all good artists—has always been unpredictable, let me skirt possible disaster by saying only that he seems to me now to be an excellent painter, and that his paintings and collages—with their swift, unexpected movements in space and their shattered, swooping shapes—are already as invigorating as anything in Canadian art.”Robert Fulford 

 

 

William Ronald - Canadian Abstract Painter

"William Ronald, Canadian painter (born Aug. 13, 1926, Stratford, Ont.—died Feb. 9, 1998, Barrie, Ont.), was the driving force behind the formation in 1953 of Painters Eleven, a group that introduced abstraction to Canadian art. Ronald studied with Jock Macdonald at the Ontario College of Art in 1951 before briefly attending Hans Hofmann’s school in New York City the following year. Ronald embraced the contemporary, international style of Abstract Expressionism, and his monumental canvases were a striking departure from the then-prevailing approach of the Group of Seven, who painted folkloric subjects featuring Canadian themes in an earnest, traditional manner. Originally based in Toronto, Ronald visited New York City frequently before moving there in 1955. Several of his works were shown there in the Kootz Gallery, and others were purchased by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Art Institute of Chicago. After a decade in New York City, he returned to Toronto. During a period of relative artistic inactivity, Ronald developed a flamboyant public persona and worked as an arts broadcaster on television and radio. He resumed painting in the early 1970s on a prolific scale, partly to fund his lavish lifestyle, but his extravagantly self-hyped works of this period, featuring an increasing preoccupation with Action painting, did not enhance his reputation. Ronald’s works from the middle and late 1950s were considered his most significant--large, ambitious panels of great spontaneity and exuberance, showing the influence of Willem de Kooning but featuring bold central images."(britannica.com)

 

Abstract Expressionism Art William Ronald

"William Ronald, (born Aug. 13, 1926, Stratford, Ont.—died Feb. 9, 1998, Barrie, Ont.), Canadian painter who was the driving force behind the formation in 1953 of Painters Eleven, a group that introduced abstraction to Canadian art. Ronald studied with Jock Macdonald at the Ontario College of Art in 1951 before briefly attending Hans Hofmann’s school in New York City the following year. Ronald embraced the contemporary, international style of Abstract Expressionism, and his monumental canvases were a striking departure from the then-prevailing approach of the Group of Seven, who painted folkloric subjects featuring Canadian themes in an earnest, traditional manner. Originally based in Toronto, Ronald visited New York City frequently before moving there in 1955. Several of his works were shown there in the Kootz Gallery, and others were purchased by the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Art Institute of Chicago. After a decade in New York City, he returned to Toronto. During a period of relative artistic inactivity, Ronald developed a flamboyant public persona and worked as an arts broadcaster on television and radio. He resumed painting in the early 1970s on a prolific scale, partly to fund his lavish lifestyle, but his extravagantly self-hyped works of this period, featuring an increasing preoccupation with Action painting, did not enhance his reputation. Ronald’s works from the middle and late 1950s were considered his most significant--large, ambitious panels of great spontaneity and exuberance, showing the influence of Willem de Kooning but featuring bold central images."(britannica.com)