John Martin Alfsen
{{Short description|Canadian artist (1902–1971)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox artist
| name = John Martin Alfsen
| image =
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name = John Martin Alfsen
| birth_date = {{birth date|1902|12|23}}
| birth_place = Alpena, Michigan
| death_date = {{death date and age|1971|11|30|1902|12|23|mf=y}}
| death_place =Markham, Ontario
| nationality = American-born Canadian
| spouse = Marion Beatrice Scott (married 1934)
| field =
| training = Ontario College of Art with Arthur Lismer, J.W. Beatty, and F. H. Varley; Art Students League, New York with Kenneth Hayes Miller; Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp; Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris; sculpture, with Antoine Bourdelle
| movement =
| works =
| patrons =
| awards = Canada Council grants (1958, 1963)
| elected =
| known_for = Painter, Sculptor
}}
John Martin Alfsen {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|RCA|size=100%}}, known more commonly as John Alfsen (December{{nbsp}}23, 1902{{snd}}November {{nbsp}}30, 1971){{cite web |title=John Martin Alfsen |url=https://app.pch.gc.ca/application/aac-aic/artiste_detailler_av-artist_detail_adv.app?rID=173&fID=2&lang=en&qlang=en&pID=11&sf1=BP&con1=AND&sf2=DP&con2=AND&mcon=AND&msf=ARRF&dsf=BDATE&dcp=EQUALS&flcon=AND&flcp1=GREATER_OR_EQUAL&flcp2=LESS_OR_EQUAL&dcon=AND&scon=AND&acon=AND&ccon=AND&tcon=AND&fcon=AND&ncp=EQUALS&sort=AM_ASC&ps=50 |website=app.pch.gc.ca |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=2021-03-24}} was a painter, known for his portraits, figurative work and paintings of circus life.
Biography
John Martin Alfsen was born in Long Rapids, Michigan,G. Campbell McInnes, "No. 2 - John Alfsen". The Canadian Forum vol. 16 ( March 1937), p. 18. and emigrated to Canada in 1913 as a boy of 11, settling in Toronto.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada. He studied at the Ontario College of Art with Arthur Lismer, F. H. Varley and J.W. Beatty (1920–1922), then at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, and sculpture with Antoine Bourdelle at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, Paris. Following his year in Europe, he took further study at the Art Students' League, New York, under Kenneth Hayes Miller (1925).
He taught at the Ontario College of Art from 1926 to 1971. For two years, he lived in Sarasota where he taught and painted winter circus people at the Ringling Brothers School of Art. An award was established in his memory at the College in 1986.{{cite web |title=John Martin Alfsen |url=http://www.johnalfsen.com |website=www.johnalfsen.com |publisher=John Alfsen House, Markham |access-date=2021-03-24}}
His work was featured in an exhibition with Randolph Hewton in 1943 at the then Art Gallery of Toronto,{{cite book |title=Exhibition |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/78944669 |via=www.worldcat.org |publisher=World Catalogue |oclc=78944669 |access-date=2021-03-24}} at the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, Kitchener, Ontario (1958) and recently, in the exhibition Drawn to Dance with York Wilson and Canadian artist Grant Macdonald in 2016 at the DCD Gallery, Toronto.{{cite web |title=Drawn to Dance exhibition|url=https://www.museumsontario.ca/museum/Dance-Collection-Danse/whats-on/events/Drawn-to-Dance-Exhibition |website=www.museumsontario.ca |publisher= Ontario Museums |access-date=2021-03-24}}
His works are in public collections such as the National Gallery of Canada,{{cite web |title=John Martin Alfsen |url=https://www.gallery.ca/collection/artist/john-martin-alfsen |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=2021-02-24}} the Art Gallery of Ontario,{{cite web |last1=Alfsen |first1=John Martin |title=The Collection |url=https://ago.ca/collection/browse?keys=W.%20McGillivray&collection |website=ago.ca |publisher=Art Gallery of Ontario |accessdate=2021-03-24 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, and the University College Collection of the Art Museum, University of Toronto.{{cite web |title=John Alfsen |url=http://collections.artmuseum.utoronto.ca:8080/objects/10215/lawrence;jsessionid=3D04CB6AA9E32EB0646D0A9C811E91BE?ctx=028ae3a0-9bc7-41c7-a66d-4e892b1e1b96&idx=232 |website=collections.artmuseum.utoronto.ca:8080/objects |publisher=Artmuseum, University of Toronto |access-date=2021-03-24}} Clown Alley in the collection of the Art Gallery of Ontario was painted when the artist was spending the winter with the Ringling Brothers School of Art in Florida.{{cite book |last1=Bradfield |first1=Helen |title=Art Gallery of Ontario. the Canadian Collection |date=1970 |publisher=McGraw Hill |location=Toronto |isbn=0070925046 |url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=Helen%20Bradfield%2C%20canadian%20collection%20%2C%20art%20gallery%20of%20ontario&Ntk=Anywhere |accessdate=2021-03-24 |archive-date=7 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200607002632/https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=Helen%20Bradfield,%20canadian%20collection%20,%20art%20gallery%20of%20ontario&Ntk=Anywhere |url-status=dead }} His work can be seen at Alfsen House, 154 Main St. North, Markham, Ontario.
Alfsen was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1959), the Ontario Society of Artists (1939); the Canadian Group of Painters and the Canadian Society of Graphic Art (1956).
References
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Category:OCAD University alumni
Category:Academic staff of OCAD University
Category:20th-century Canadian painters
Category:Canadian male painters
Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts