Literature
Ted Fraser, "Kenneth Lochhead: Garden of Light", Regina, 2005, page 54
Kenneth Lochhead moved to Regina in 1950 to teach art at the University of Saskatchewan. Because of his art, teaching, as well as his active role in the contemporary art world, Lochhead helped to give the Regina arts scene national status and has inspired generations of artists across Canada in the second half of the twentieth century. The artist’s cubist path to abstraction resulted in a colourful geometric abstract style, with clean, straight lines and shapes, as well as a large scale, as exemplified in "Wide Inside (AC-33)".
Dating to 1964, this work was painted during the height of Lochhead’s career as an abstract artist. The early sixties were highly active and successful for the painter on a national and international level. Lochhead had been painting in an entirely non-representational manner since the beginning of the decade, and was included in the 1961 National Gallery exhibition, Five Painters from Regina, who were considered to be at the forefront of Canada’s modern art movement. He had been participating in the Emma Lake Professional Artists’ Workshops since 1955, with guest workshop leaders including Abstract Expressionist painters and critic Clement Greenberg. Lochhead’s abstract work of the 1960s and 1970s, such as "Wide Inside (AC-33)", bear resemblances to the Colour-Field painting movement, which had recently established itself in New York. The curved blocks of black, blue, orange and red radiate from the centre of the composition, creating a pentagon shape within the negative space of the bare canvas.
The year 1964 was a significant one for Lochhead, as it marked a shift in his work from gestural to hard-edge abstraction. Toward the end of 1963, he had abandoned using masonite as a support, in favour of adjustable rolls of cotton duck canvas. Lochhead also abandoned textural enamel paint for the new transparency of water-based acrylic, a preferred medium among Colour-Field painters. The artist corresponded frequently with Clement Greenberg during 1963-64, discussing formalism, the international art scene, and exhibition opportunities. Lochhead and Kenneth Noland were both featured in Clement Greenberg’s 1964 influential exhibition "Post-Painterly Abstraction", curated for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and subsequently the Walker Art Center and the Art Gallery of Toronto.
This artwork is being sold to benefit the Winnipeg Art Gallery (WAG)-Qaumajuq in establishing an endowment fund to support more diverse representation in the permanent collection, beginning with contemporary Canadian art. Cowley Abbott is pleased to donate our selling commission to the fund as part of the sale.
