This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  Ivan Kenneth Eyre is a painter, sculptor, graphic artist, printmaker and educator. He was born in Tullymet, Saskatchewan, Canada. His family subsequently lived in Red Deer, Alberta and the Saskatchewan communities of Turtleford, Southey and Ituna before moving to Saskatoon in 1942. Since 1953 his home has been Winnipeg, Manitoba.
His painting and graphic mediums are acrylic, oil, graphite, Conte crayon, woodcuts and mixed mediums. His sculptures are bronze, terra cotta, plaster and wood. His subjects are landscapes, figures, fantasy, spiritualism, symbolism, portraits, social commentary, mythology, allegory, colour, texture and shape. His styles are Realism, Surrealism, Expressionism and Abstraction. His most recognized mature works are vibrantly coloured enigmatic landscapes, occasionally populated with nameless objects. According to Eyre, his figurative work belongs to the tradition of northern Europe. The influences of Peiter Brueghel (1525 - 1569), Max Beckmann and Arshile Gorky (see all in AskART) are often noted by critics. Almost all of his work is of a serious, often disturbing, nature. QUOTE: “…something less than a full understanding of a work is desirable in that it allows the painting to keep giving. A complete understanding would signify that we don't have to think about it anymore. Some mystery should remain, compelling viewers back to the paintings...possibly to reaffirm themselves.” – Ivan Eyre.
He studied at Saskatoon Technical Collegiate (1950 - 1953) under Ernest Lindner (see AskART); at the University of Saskatchewan (1952) under Eli Bornstein (see AskART); and at the University of Manitoba (1953 - 1957), where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, under William McCloy, John Graham, George Swinton and Robert Allen Nelson (see all in AskART). He also did graduate studies and teaching at the University of North Dakota (1958 – 1959). He became a professor of painting and drawing at the University of Manitoba in 1959, a full professor 1976, and taught there until retirement in 1992. He was also invited to teach at The Banff School of Fine Arts (Alberta) in the summer of 1973.(1)
His travels include an extended trip to England (Surrey) and Europe in 1966 and 1967, and another trip to Europe in 1973.
There have been solo exhibitions of his work since 1962; the venues have included the University of Manitoba (1962, 1964, 1976, 1994); the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1964); the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1964, 1966, 1969, 1974, 1982, 1988, 1992, 2005); the Mendal Art Gallery, Saskatoon (1968); the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, B.C. (1973, 1982); the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (1978, 1988) (2); the Art Gallery of Peterborough, Ontario (1979, 2003); the Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina (1996); the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario (1980); the Pavilion Gallery, Winnipeg (1998, 1999 and 2000) and many more. He has also been included in the National Gallery of Canada 6th and 7th biennials in 1965 and 1967, and in group shows there in 1974 and 1976.
His works are in many private and corporate collections. They are also in the permanent collections of many museums including the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Vancouver Art Gallery (B.C.), the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Art Gallery of Peterborough (Ontario), the Hamilton Art Gallery (Ontario) and the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto). The National Gallery of Canada has 16 of his paintings in its collection. The Pavilion Gallery in Winnipeg houses the largest public collection of Eyre's works including 200 paintings, over 5000 drawings and 16 sculptures. The third floor of the facility is permanently dedicated to rotating exhibitions of this collection.
His many awards and honours include the highest honour of his home province the Order of Manitoba (2007). He was also awarded a Canada Council Senior Grant (1965), the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal (1977), the University of Manitoba Alumni Jubilee Award (1982), and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2002). He was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1974) and he was named Professor Emeritus by the University of Manitoba (1994).
He is listed in “A Dictionary of Canadian Artists" (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald; in "The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction" (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar; in “The Canadian Encyclopedia” (1985), Hurtig Publishers; in “Art and Architecture in Canada” (1991), by Loren R. Lerner and Mary F. Williamson; in “Canadian Who’s Who 2005", edited by Elizabeth Lumley; and in Jaques Cattell Press, "Who's Who in American Art 15th Edition" (1982).
His work has been discussed in several TV documentaries including : “Four Prairie Artists” (1980, CBC), “Ivan Eyre - Seeing it Our Way” (1981,CBC), “Ivan Eyre – Spin” (1981,PPTV), “Visions – Artists and the Creative Process" (1982,TV Ontario) and “Ivan Eyre…I Am Hornblower” (1988, CKNDTV).
There is also the biography “Ivan Eyre” (1981) by George Woodcock, published by Fitzhenry & Whiteside, Markham, Ontario (191 pgs, colour).
Footnotes:
(1) Gordon Smith, William Townsend, H.G. Glyde, Charles Stegeman, Françoise Andre, Roy Kiyooka, and Claude Breeze were also invited that summer by the new Head of the Painting Division Takao Tanabe (see all in AskART). The source: “Artists, Builders and Dreamers – 50 Years at the Banff School” (1982), by David Leighton and Peggy Leighton, McClelland and Stewart (160pgs, B&W) is ambiguous and implies its the summer of 1974 but, according to all records, William Townsend died in Banff on July 4,1973, so it couldn’t be 1974. The name became The Banff Centre in 1989.
(2) "Ivan Eyre: Personal Mythologies/Images of the Milieu, Figurative Paintings, 1957-1988", organized by the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1988).
Prepared and contributed by M.D. Silverbrooke |
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