Harold Town

{{Infobox artist

| name = Harold Town

| image =

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| birth_name = Harold Barling Town

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1924|6|13}}

| birth_place = Toronto, Ontario

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1990|12|27|1924|6|13}}

| death_place = Peterborough, Ontario

| nationality =

| spouse = Trudie Carol Tredwell

| field = Painter, printmaker, illustrator

| training = Western Technical School, Ontario College of Art

| movement = Painters Eleven

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Harold Barling Town, {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}} D.Litt (June 13, 1924 – December 27, 1990) was a Canadian artist who worked in many different media, but is best known for his abstract paintings.{{cite web|title=Harold Town|url=http://www.gallery.ca/en/see/collections/artist.php?iartistid=5495|publisher=National Gallery of Canada|access-date=12 October 2013}}

He was a member of Painters Eleven, an abstract group of artists in Toronto (1954-1960). Town coined the name of the group, which was based simply on the number of artists that were present the first meeting.Fulford, "Introduction"

He also worked as an illustrator, a profession he credited with imparting a sense of discipline that would last throughout his entire artistic career.{{cite book|url=https://www.aci-iac.ca/art-books/harold-town|title=Harold Town: Life & Work|last=Moray|first=Gerta|publisher=Art Canada Institute|year=2014|isbn=978-1-4871-0026-1}}

His early illustrative appeared in magazines such as Maclean's and Mayfair.

Life and work

Harold Town was trained at Western Technical-Commercial School and the Ontario College of Art, both in Toronto. The Royal Ontario Museum gave him what he called a global horizon which influenced his commercial and abstract art. His early work also reflected his interest in Pablo Picasso and Willem de Kooning.[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/harold-barling-town Harold Town], The Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed August 29, 2019

Gerta Moray in [http://www.aci-iac.ca/harold-town Harold Town: Life & Work] described his collages as similar to his paintings, because in them he juxtaposed textures and fragments to startle the viewer.

Town's work moved from a dark expressionist style to abstraction in vivid colours,Fulford, "Introduction" exploring a range of styles and media, using artistic traditions from other cultures to reflect his own experience.

In the 1960s, Town developed colourful monotype prints which he called Single Autographic Prints, a phrase he never explained. These won him awards in Ljubljana, Yugoslavia and Santiago, Chile, and the prints were acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York.{{cite web |title=Collection |url=https://www.moma.org/artists/5913 |website=www.moma.org/ |publisher=MoMA |access-date=14 February 2024}} Alfred Barr, then director of Museum of Modern Art, called Town one of the world's greatest printmakers. Roald Nasgaard describes these prints as being of great finesse and subtlety.Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, p.104

Honours

In 1956 and 1964, Town and others represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.{{cite web |title=Venice Biennale |url=http://www.gallery.ca/venice/80.htm |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131013125245/http://www.gallery.ca/venice/80.htm |access-date=2021-05-11|archive-date=2013-10-13 }} He also exhibited at the São Paulo Art Biennial in 1957 (receiving the Arno Award) and 1961. He became an associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1958.{{cite book |last1=McMann |first1=Evelyn |title=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts |date=1981 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto|url= http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/aMcMann/amcmann/1%2C2%2C11%2CB/frameset&FF=amcmann+evelyn+de+r+evelyn+de+rostaing+1913+1999&8%2C%2C10|access-date=2022-06-04}}{{cite web|title=Members since 1880|url=http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp|publisher=Royal Canadian Academy of Arts|access-date=11 September 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110526215339/http://www.rca-arc.ca/en/about_members/since1880.asp|archive-date=26 May 2011}} York University granted him an honorary doctorate in 1966. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1968.{{cite web|title=Harold B. Town, O.C., D.Litt., A.R.C.A.|url=http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=1678|publisher=Governor General of Canada|access-date=12 October 2013}}

Town had retrospective exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Windsor in 1975 and the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1986.

In 1994, the Harold Town Conservation Area in Peterborough, Ontario was donated to Otonabee Conservation by Town's estate.{{Cite web|url=https://www.otonabeeconservation.com/camping-outdoor-recreation/harold-town/|title = Harold Town Conservation Area}}

Painters Eleven

In the late 1940s, Town joined Painters Eleven, but their early exhibitions were met with disdain.Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, p.92Burnett and Schiff Contemporary Canadian Art, p. 46 The Riverside Museum in New York hosted the Twentieth Annual Exhibition of American Abstract Artists with 'Painters Eleven' of Canada in 1956.Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, p.96 A year later, American art critic Clement Greenberg paid a visit to Toronto.Roald Nasgaard, Abstract Painting in Canada, p.91 In the Canadian press, the group's most ardent supporters were Robert Fulford and Pearl McCarthy, art critic of the Globe and Mail.

Record sale prices

In Cowley Abbott's Live Auction of Important Canadian & International Art, Nov. 27, 2024, Lot ##83 Variation on a Variation (1957), oil and lucite on board, 48.25 x 45 in ( 122.6 x 114.3 cm ), Auction Estimate: $18,000.00 - $22,000.00 realized a price of $66,000.00.{{cite web |title=Works |publisher=Cowley Abbott Auction, Live Auction of Important Canadian & International Art, nov. 2024 |url=https://cowleyabbott.ca/items/1372?p=5 |website=cowleyabbott.ca| access-date=29 November 2024}}

Notes

External links

[http://www.robertfulford.com/town.html Robert Fulford's essay on Harold Town]
[http://archives.cbc.ca/arts_entertainment/visual_arts/clips/12795/ CBC Radio interview with Harold Town]
[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/harold-barling-town Harold Town] at The Canadian Encyclopedia
[https://web.archive.org/web/20110716080110/http://pi.library.yorku.ca/dspace/handle/10315/1478/browse?value=Harold+Town&type=series Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University] - Archival photographs of Harold Town from the Toronto Telegram fonds.
[http://haroldtown.com/ Official Harold Town website]
[http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=107231&lang=eng Harold Town fonds (R5740)] at Library and Archives Canada

Category:20th-century Canadian painters

Category:Canadian male painters

Category:Canadian printmakers

Category:Canadian abstract artists

Category:Canadian illustrators

Category:Canadian collage artists

Category:1924 births

Category:1990 deaths

Category:Painters from Toronto

Category:Officers of the Order of Canada

Category:20th-century Canadian printmakers

Category:Canadian contemporary artists