George Broomfield was born in 1906 in the village of Parkdale in Toronto. Broomfield was selected by Arthur Lismer to attend the Ontario College of Art at the age of 14. At the OCA Summer School in Port Hope, Broomfield studied under several members of the Group of Seven, including Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and Frank Carmichael, with assistance from A.Y. Jackson and Frank Johnston.
Broomfield balanced a successful career as a textile designer and colourist, with his private time as a prolific and thoughtful painter. He worked in the textile industry from 1926-30, 1934-37 and after World War II. In 1931-32, he travelled to Kearney in Northern Ontario, and worked as both a prospector and painter. When he returned to Toronto, he had first first solo exhibition at Mellors Gallery.
In 1934, Broomfield joined the Canadian Painters and Etchers Society, and began creating a collection of dry-point etchings and lino cuts in Hamilton with Leonard Hutchinson as his teacher. Broomfield lived in Tom Thomson's studio behind the Studio Building and exhibited often during this period.
The artist became an officer with the Royal Canadian Airforce during WWII, and was given special privileges to paint while posted overseas. He won Third Prize for oils in an Air Force exhibition held at the National Gallery of Canada in April of 1944. His winning painting entitled “Take Off for Essen” was reproduced in Canadian Art magazine, June-July issue of 1944. Consequently he set to recording activities of 143 Wing of the Second Tactical Air Force from the beaches of Normandy to the German border, 1944-5. He recorded the scenes by a process which he developed himself called Chalk and Water Tone Technique, a process in which he used coloured chalk in his drawings, for reasons of space and speed, and on returning to his mobile studio he would wash these drawings with water giving a watercolour-like finish.
Upon his return from active duty, Broomfield gifted thirty-five paintings from his posting to the Canadian War Museum, where they remain as part of their permanent collection in Ottawa. In 1944, he was elected as Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Art while serving abroad.
Broomfield's travels throughout Canada and Europe inspired a lifetime of painting. In 1946, he moved to Cooksville, Ontario with his wife and two children. From his studio-home in Gordon Woods, he painted for the next forty years. The artist exhibited across Canada in touring invitational shows with the O.S.A. and R.C.A. Later in life, he used his knowledge of textiles and colour to create a collection of tapestries entitled, 'Out of the Wilderness'.
George Broomfield's work has been exhibited across Canada and is featured in both private and public collections.
(Source: The Estate of the Artist)
