Here and Now Gallery, Toronto
Private Collection, Ontario
Exhibited
"VI Biennial", Museum of Modern Art, São Paulo, Brazil, September-December 1961, no. 5 as "White Sun", 1961
"Ron Bloore", Here and Now Gallery, Toronto, 1-19 March 1962
"Canadian Painting", The Tate Gallery, London, England, 1964
"R.L. Bloore-Sixteen Years: 1958-1974", London Art Gallery; travelling to the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; Musée d’art contemporain, Montreal; the Winnipeg Art Gallery; the Vancouver Art Gallery; the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina and the Art Gallery of Windsor, 3 February-23 November 1975, no. 12
"The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950’s", Musée du Quebec; travelling to National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina; Glenbow Museum, Calgary and Art Gallery of Hamilton, 18 November 1992-30 January 1994, no. 13 as "White Sun- Green Rim", 1960
Literature
"VI Biennial", Brazil, 1961, no. 5, listed page 150 as "White Sun", 1961
Ted Fraser, R.L. "Bloore-Sixteen Years: 1958-1974", Windsor, 1975, no. 12, unpaginated, reproduced as "White Sun-Green Rim"
Denise Leclerc, "The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s", Ottawa, 1992, no. 13, reproduced page 91
In 1958, Ronald Bloore, then the director of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery (now MacKenzie Art Gallery) in Regina, brought national and international exhibitions to Regina. He and four other abstract painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton and Ted Godwin shared a common professional commitment and became a small but active artistic community in Regina. Having studied throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe before moving to Regina, the artists combined the major currents of abstract expressionism in the context of 1950s Saskatchewan. Their bold, non-figurative paintings represented a new direction in abstract painting in Western Canada and reflected the influx of advanced ideas discussed in the annual Emma Lake Artists' Workshops, especially the workshop held by Barnett Newman in 1959.
The painters drew national attention when Bloore organized "The May Show"; in 1960, featuring the five prominent abstract artists and architectural drawings and models by architect Clifford Wiens, along with sculptures by Wolfram Niessen, to coincide with the meeting of the Canadian Museums Association. The exhibition inspired Richard B. Simmins, Coordinator of Extension Services at the National Gallery of Canada, to select the work of the five painters for a travelling exhibition titled "Five Painters" from Regina that appeared in 1961 in Ottawa. Simmins' essay in the exhibition catalogue stressed the importance of Emma Lake Workshops and of Ron Bloore, who acted as a catalyst. Simmins wrote that Bloore brought to Regina a set of values which challenged the other painters. Bloore painted "White Sun-Green Rim" in 1960, when he was in the spotlight and during the height of the anticipation of the exhibition of the group who would become known as “The Regina Five”. Perhaps as a result of this increased attention, this painting was extensively exhibited in Canada and abroad as soon as it was completed, going to the VI Biennial in São Paulo in the fall of 1961, the National Gallery of Canada in 1962, and the "Canadian Painting" show at the Tate Gallery in London, England in 1964.
