“B.R. Brooker”, The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1972 and travelling to other galleries including the Confederation Art Centre, no.1
“The Logic of Ecstasy: Canadian Mystical Painting 1920-1940”, London Regional Art and Historical Museums, March 10-April 22, 1990, travelling to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Edmonton Art Gallery, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, and Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax
Literature
Dennis Reid, “Bertram Brooker (1888-1955)”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1979, cat. no.1, reproduced page 21
Ann Davis, “The Logic of Ecstasy: Canadian Mystical Painting 1920-1940”, Toronto, 1992, reproduced page 71
A forerunner for abstraction in Canada, Brooker was originally criticized for his innovative work which contrasted with the traditional landscape art of the time. His work was included in the “International Exhibition of Modern Art”, Assembled by the Société Anonyme in 1927 at the Art Gallery of Toronto, the first exhibition to introduce Canada to abstraction. Friends with the Group of Seven, and particularly close with Lawren Harris, Brooker was also a member of the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto, often socializing and discussing theosophy with Harris and its place in painting.
Exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada in 1972, “Creation” features the abstracted orb-like form, a hollowed figure filling the image plane, as the predominant feature of the composition. Rays of yellow emit vertically from behind the orb while diagonal lines in the upper left and lower right corners frame the composition, harnessing the powerful energy. The title hints at Brooker's endeavour to not simply paint static objects, but to capture an action; to paint verbs in a non-literal representation.
