Still Life by William Goodridge Roberts
Goodridge Roberts
Still Life
oil on canvas laid down on board
signed lower right; titled and dated circa 1950 on the gallery label on the reverse
14.5 x 11.5 in ( 36.8 x 29.2 cm )
Auction Estimate: $2,500.00 - $3,500.00
Price Realized: $4,320.00
Dominion Gallery, Montreal
Joyner’s, auction, Toronto, May 26, 1995, lot 165
Private Collection, Toronto
By descent to the present Private Collection, Toronto
McMichael Canadian Art Collection, “Goodridge Roberts Revealed Tour”, 1998-1999, Cat. No. 78
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, “Goodridge Roberts” April 1 - June 13, 1999
Beaverbrook Gallery, Saint John, 1998-1999
Sandra Paikowsky, catalogue, 1998, No. 78
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William Goodridge Roberts
(1904 - 1974) Canadian Group of Painters, RCA
Roberts was born in Barbados in 1904 to a prominent Canadian literary family. His father, Theodore, was a poet, novelist, and journalist. Roberts began his studies at Montreal's Ecole des Beaux-Arts but, encouraged by his art-critic aunt, Mary Fanton Roberts, he enrolled at New York's Art Students League. His New York schooling would prove to be a major influence on his career.
During the 1930s, Roberts lived, painted, and taught in Ontario. He was the very first artist-in-residence at Queens University in Kingston. Refusing to incorporate nationalist content into his work, Roberts became recognized for his modernist approach. In the 1940s, Roberts moved to Montreal and continued painting and teaching. He was admired by Quebec's francophone art community who saw in his work a reflection of the modernist figurative tradition from France, known in Montreal as "living art." His works were equally divided into the themes of landscapes, portraits and still lifes; all are textbook examples of each style. The artist's last major retrospective was held at the National Gallery of Canada in 1969. He died in January 1974.