Born in Chesley, Ontario, he graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1958, when he won the T. Eaton Co. Award, then took further studies at the Chelsea Polytechnical School, Lond., Eng. (1958). Inspired by Canadian Painters Graham Coughtry, Gordon Rayner and Richard Gorman and by German Expressionists, Fenton painted with spontaneity, passion, and tremendous energy. This can be seen in his portraits, landscapes and still life. He is noted for heavily impastoed surfaces that radiate with sensuality.
Viewing his work at the Lake Galleries, Toronto, in 1992, Christopher Hume noted, “Here’s someone who appreciates flamboyance. An extravagant painter of grand gestures and loud, acidic colors, Fenton loves drama. His ability to reconcile the abstract and figurative and extract a likeness from canvases crawling with pigment, borders on the amazing. Though there isn’t a politician in the bunch, his sitters include some of the country’s best known artists, such as Gordon Rayner, Graham Coughtry, the late Robert Markle, as well as former art dealers Av Isaacs and Jack Pollock.” Performers Fenton painted include Marilyn Monroe, Sammy David Jr., Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong and Tony Bennett. He had also done on-the-spot conté drawings of the Camelot cast prior to opening on Broadway: Richard Burton, Robert Goulet, Julie Andrews, Robert Cootes; the Toronto cast of Cabaret and numerous drawings from life of the National Ballet Company of Canada.
Literature Source:
"A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, Volume 1: A-F, 5th Edition, Revised and Expanded", compiled by Colin S. MacDonald, Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Ltd, Ottawa, 1997
