The Bull Fight by Ronald York Wilson
York Wilson
The Bull Fight
mixed media on board
signed lower left
42 x 67.25 ins ( 106.7 x 170.8 cms )
Auction Estimate: $7,000.00 - $9,000.00
Price Realized $7,200.00
Sale date: December 3rd 2020
Roberts Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
“The Bull Fight” is a complex composition of layers of texture, form, shape and colour. Both the title of the work and the radiant swaths of deep red sweeping across the composition reference the tradition of Spanish- style bullfighting and the waving of the matador’s banderilleros’ cloak. York Wilson’s energetic and rich composition is clearly inspired by his experiences in Spain and is an impassioned representation of the artist’s lifelong commitment to the visual arts.
Share this item with your friends
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
