Statue of Our Lady by Gordon MacNamara

Born in Toronto, Ontario, he graduated from Upper Canada College in 1929; from the University of Toronto, 1934; from Osgoode Hall, 1937. He practised Law from 1937 to 1942. Served in the Canadian Army during World War II (1942-1946). Following his discharge from the Army in 1946, he returned to painting an devoted as much time as possible to that field while continuing with a minor amount of legal work. He visited Jamaica and New Mexico around 1949, where he painted in water colours. These paintings and others were exhibited at the Picture Loan Society in Toronto in 1949 and were noted by Rose MacDonald as follows, “There is in the new artist’s painting work at first glance an affinity with the work, perhaps not the most recent of, David Milne. The younger man, however, works out his own problems with an interest-compelling fluency and delightful sense of color composition, at times certainly the reverse of conventional. His landscapes, coast studies, have clarity and the charm of aliveness, though he is capable of sternness too, as appears in a sombre New Mexico landscape. Here is a decisiveness about his composition, which disciplines freedom from the use of colors – those clear buoyant greens and yellows, blues, now and then a lovely amethyst, and so on.” He held a number of solo shows, including those of the Picture Loan Society, Tor. (1951); Galerie Agnès Lefort, Mtl. (1952); Picture Loan Society (1952); (1953); Robertson Galleries (1955); Skelton Galleries, Collingwood, Ont. (1969). MacNamara’s studio was in the historically famed Studio Building, Toronto, originally built by Lawren S. Harris and Dr. James McCallum.

Literature Source:
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 4: Little - Myles", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1978