Harold Town, O.S.A., R.C.A. (1924-1990)

Harold Town, O.S.A., R.C.A. (1924-1990) – Artist Biography

Harold Town (b. June 13, 1924, Toronto - d. December 27, 1990, Peterborough, Ontario) 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, appearing in magazines such as Maclean's and Mayfair.

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Harold Town was a master of many mediums. As a draftsman, he is compared to Picasso. As a painter, his first abstract expressionist works garnered for him immense acclaim. His collages and assemblages are monumental. And it is as a printmaker that he won his first international art prizes.

Town was invited to represent Canada with his prints at the Venice Biennale in 1956. William Withrow, former Director of the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the Art Gallery of Ontario), wrote: "Town's abilityas a draftsman is undisputed. And his Single Autographic Prints, produced between 1955 and 1957, were surely among the most beautiful art objects ever made by a Canadian artist".

A movie buff, Town created a series of drawings: Silent Stars, Sound Stars, Film Stars, many of which were included in a book by that title, with a foreword written by Vincent Price. Town also created a stunning suite of lithographs titled Popsters and Celebrities, of his all-time favourites: Joan Crawford; Charlie Chaplin; Clark Cable and pop icons:

Yoko Ono ; John Lennon; and Mick Jagger, among dozens of others.

Town's Enigma drawings created an uproar whenever they were exhibited. He called them his "savage political cartoons" - they were ahead of their time. In 1964, Town was again invited to the Venice Biennale and this time he showed some of his Enigmas. A Cardinal of Venice ordered two of them to be removed from the exhibition for being "completely unseemly". Town's response was widely reported: "It's such an honour being banned in Italy, the mother of sensuality. It's like being asked to straighten your tie in a bordello".

While Town's early abstract expressionist paintings gained early recognition, he never stopped painting. He produced multiple themes, one more stunning than the other. He continued painting until the few months of his life before his untimely death in 1990 of cancer, at the age of 60.

Harold Town received dozens of distinguished honours, including the Order of Canada, an Honorary Degree from York University (Toronto), and the Canada Centennial Medal. He has received prestigious art prizes in Canada, Europe, and South America. His work is included in leading Canadian, American, and international art institutions, among them the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada's provincial public galleries, and American institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York), the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York), the Brooklyn Museum (New York), Albright-Knox Gallery (Buffalo, NY), and other leading American galleries. His work appears in major European art centres: The Stedelijk in Amsterdam; Poland; Germany; Switzerland; Spain; Italy; the Tate Gallery in London; and in the Museum of Modern Art (Sao Palo, Brazil); the Muso d'Arte Contemporaneo (Santiago, Chile); the Galleria d'Arte di Villa Ciani (Lugano, Switzerland); and others. The finest private and corporate collectors continue to collect Harold Town's work.

— Iris Nowell, author of "Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art".

Gallery Gevik Exhibitions

Harold Town Toy Horses March 22 to April 7, 2011 (image: Toy Horse #229)

Harold Town · Willaim Ronald · Jack MacDonald Members of Painters 11 October 16 to November 5, 2010 (image: Kite Flying)

Harold Town Paintings and Works on Paper October 4 to October 15, 2008 (images: God Series #22, Enigma, The Windshield of Poetry)