To James (Ronald), 1988

William Ronald Helen Ronald / The Estate of William Ronald

“To James (Ronald), dated Feb. 6, 1988 is an acrylic on canvas painting by William Ronald. Given its small size, 8 x 10 inches, the artist creates impact with his signature central image in black against a silver metallic background. The black central image appears to be poured and then subtly brushed with traces of white and green. Against the metallic silver, there are gold drips with single dark yellow element which adds colour. Given its visual poetry, rare in his oeuvre for its metallic paint, this is simple but compelling abstract expressionist work by a Canadian master painter. Concerning its title, it was gifted to his then toddler grandson James Ronald who carries on the family artistic tradition as a musician (see YouTube & Twitter: Epic Game Music). Interestingly, a tweet by James featuring his grandfather’s 1956 painting J’accuse went viral in May 2022. With over 4 million impressions, it seems likely that this William Ronald painting was probably the most seen Canadian painting last year and possibly ever.” - By Lawrence Brissenden for The Estate of William Ronald