Artwork by Ronald York Wilson,  Tribute to the Group of Seven

York Wilson
Tribute to the Group of Seven

oil on canvas
signed lower centre right
56 x 52 ins ( 142.2 x 132.1 cms )

Auction Estimate: $7,000.00$5,000.00 - $7,000.00

Price Realized $10,030.00
Sale date: November 20th 2018

Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
Trained in art at the Central Technical School in Toronto, Wilson began work in commercial art at Brigden's, later moving to Sampson-Matthews. Working alongside Franklin Carmichael and A.J. Casson, this formative experience in graphic illustration and design with two artistic forerunners allowed Wilson to develop his own skills in a variety of mediums. His educational and early career experience provided the artist a solid foundation to work and develop his own unique style.

Wilson dabbled in figurative, abstract landscape and formal abstraction throughout his career. His highly abstract works are testament to a finite period for the artist's development and are among the most sought after. “Tribute to the Group of Seven” showcases the artist's work in more hard edge abstraction, favouring an energetic monotone of red hues. Evidence of knife work is present which gives warm texture and depth to the composition. The jewel-like patches of pigment are divided in jagged bands of colour adding movement to the compositional design. Perhaps, as the title suggests, Wilson was paying homage to the Group of Seven and their history making renderings of the Canadian landscapes imbued with vibrancy and energy. Stripping away the landscape and narrative, Wilson harnesses the same vigour in this bold work.

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Ronald York Wilson
(1907 - 1984) RCA, OSA

York Wilson studied commercial art at Central Technical School and first worked at Brigden's engraving house in Toronto (1926), where he was influenced by Charles Comfort and Will Ogilvie. Wilson was first recognized for paintings of the burlesque, such as those he exhibited with the Canadian Group of Painters at the World's Fair in New York (1939), and other social commentary pictures. He became a full-time painter in 1950. Trips to Mexico in 1950 and 1953 exposed him to the influence of Rico Lebrun and stimulated an interest in mural painting.

Wilson was best known for his commissioned murals, including those for McGill University's library (Montréal, 1954) and the Imperial Oil Building (Toronto, 1957). In the later 1950s, his interest in "picture construction" led him to abstract painting and then, in the 1960s, into geometric art.

Reference:
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/ronald-york-wilson