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Ad Code: 3
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"Fire Down on the Labrador"
- etching and aquatint, dated 1980. Art Gallery of Ontario collection.
Artwork images are copyright of the artist or assignee
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This biography from the Archives of AskART:
|  David Lloyd Blackwood CM, O.Ont., D.Litt., LL.D, RCA, CPE, CSGA, CFS, OSA, CSPWC.
David
Lloyd Blackwood is an important and distinguished Canadian
printmaker. He is also a painter, draughtsman, illustrator and
author. His etchings are among the most easily recognized and
avidly collected works of art in Canada. Examples are in the
permanent collections of most major Canadian art museums. (1)
He
was born in Wesleyville, Newfoundland, on Bonavista Bay, one of the
eastern most places in North America and of, what is now, Canada
(2). His home since 1974 has been Port Hope, Ontario, about 50
miles east of Toronto, on the north shore of Lake Ontario.(3)
Blackwood’s
most famous mediums are etching* and aquatint*; however, there are
monotypes*, watercolors, graphite drawings and oil tempera* paintings
in his oeuvre. His primary subjects include genre*, allegory*,
portraits, historic events, landscapes, seascapes, nautical themes,
myths, legends, regional culture, whales and other creatures. His
most famous works portray seafaring life and death in Newfoundland
focusing on the island’s industries – whaling, seal hunting, and
shipbuilding. Recently, he has also done a series of watercolor
floral studies.
His styles include Fauvism*, Realism*, Expressionism*, Regionalism* and Surrealism*. His etching and aquatint, Fire Down on the Labrador
(1980) is considered one of his greatest works, and one of the most
popular prints in Canada. It’s an excellent illustration of the
style and subject for which he is best known (see AskART images). (4)
His
formal art education includes a degree from the Ontario College of Art,
Toronto (1959 – 1963) where he studied under Carl Schaefer (5), John
Alfsen, J.W.G. MacDonald and Robert Frederick (Fred) Hagan (1918 –
2003). Blackwood also credits the work of Käthe Kollwitz as an
influence. (6)
He has been a full time artist for most of
his life; his teaching career consists of largely part time
positions. They include Art Master at Trinity College School (one
day a week) in Port Hope, Ontario (1963 – 1988); teaching graphics at
the OCA (1963 – 1964); and artist-in-residence at the University of
Toronto from 1969 to 1975. (7)
He is a member of the
Society of Canadian Painters-Etchers and Engravers* (1966), Canadian
Society of Graphic Artists* (1967), Colour and Form Society (1967),
Ontario Society of Artists* (1970), Canadian Society of Painters in
Watercolour* (1971), and Print and Drawing Council of Canada*
(1976). He was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of
Arts* in 1975 and served on its council. (8)
In addition
to exhibiting with the above organizations his works were also included
in several important group exhibitions including: “Biennial of Canadian
Prints”, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario (1964, 1966);
“Exhibition of Canadian Art: Works from the National Gallery of
Canada”, Expo ’67, Montreal (1967); “The Centennial Exhibition for
Australia and New Zealand”, National Gallery of Canada (1967);
“Canadian Watercolour Painting”, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
(1967); “Three Canadian Printmakers: Blackwood, [Vera] Frenkel,
[Charles] Pachter”, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (1969); “Canadian
Graphics ‘69”, Art Gallery of Ontario (1969); “International Graphics
‘71”, Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (1971); “Aspects of Canadian
Graphics”, Canadian National Exhibition, Toronto (1973); “Biennial
International De L’estampe”, Paris, France (1973); “Atlantic Graphics”,
Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Charlottetown, P.E.I.; “The Expressionist
Image”, Mount St. Vincent University, Halifax, N.S. (1978); “Printers
‘82” Art Gallery of Ontario (1982); and “Canadian Contemporary Prints”,
Bronx Museum, New York City (1982). (9)
The venues for his
over 50 public venue solo exhibitions include the Brantford Art
Gallery, Brantford, Ontario (1965); McMaster University Art Gallery,
Hamilton, Ontario (1967); Memorial University Art Gallery, St. John’s,
Newfoundland (1967, 1978, 1986, 1993); Mount Allison University Art
Gallery, Sackville, New Brunswick (1969); New Brunswick Museum, St.
John, New Brunswick (1970, 1974); Confederation Art Gallery,
Charlottetown, P.E.I. (1971, 1985); Art Gallery of Peterborough,
Ontario (1977, 1997); The University of Maine at Orono (1980); Art
Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, B.C. (1981); Burnaby Art
Gallery, B.C.(1981); Art Gallery of Algoma, Sault Ste. Marie (1984);
Canada House, London, England (1985); Sir Wilfred Grenfell Art Gallery,
Cornerbrook, Nfld (1985,1994); Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax
(1985); Zuider Zee Museum, Amsterdam (1986); Canada Cultural Centre,
Paris (1986); Edmonton Art Gallery, Alberta (1987); Beaverbrook Art
Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick (1994); Thunder Bay Art Gallery,
Ontario (1995); Nickel Arts Museum, Calgary (1996); The Canadian
Embassy, Tokyo, Japan (1997); Montréal Museum of Fine Arts (1999); The
Varley Art Gallery, Unionville, Ontario (1999); The Marine Museum of
the Great Lakes, Kingston, Ontario (2000); and the Art Gallery of
Ontario (2002).
Through the years, venues for his private
gallery solo and group shows have included Abbozzo Gallery, Oakville,
Ontario; Michael Gibson Gallery, London, Ontario; Winchester Gallery,
Victoria, B.C.; Emma Butler Gallery, St. John’s, Newfoundland; Gallery
One, Toronto, Ontario; Edward Day Gallery, Kingston, Ontario; The West
End Gallery, Edmonton, Alberta; Heffel Gallery, Vancouver, B.C.; The
Madison Gallery, Toronto, Ontario; Robertson Gallery, Ottawa, Ontario;
Gallery Pascal, Toronto, Ontario; Masters Gallery, Calgary, Alberta;
Gallery Guilia, Rome; Fleet Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba; Damkjar Burton
Gallery, Hamilton, Ontario; The Spurrell Gallery, St. John’s,
Newfoundland; and Wells Gallery, Ottawa.
Blackwood’s works
are in numerous private and corporate collections. As noted
above, they are also in most major Canadian public collections.
According to the Canadian Heritage Information Network* they include:
Museum London (Ontario), Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario), Winnipeg
Art Gallery (Manitoba), Vancouver Art Gallery (B.C.), Art Gallery
of Nova Scotia (Halifax), Owens Art Gallery (Sackville, N.B.), Tom
Thomson Memorial Art Gallery (Owen Sound, Ontario), Simon Fraser
University Gallery (Burnaby, B.C.), Art Gallery of Greater Victoria
(B.C.), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Art Gallery of Alberta
(Edmonton), Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, Ontario), Montreal
Museum of Contemporary Art, Nickle Arts Museum (Calgary), Agnes
Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, Ontario), Confederation Centre Art
Gallery & Museum (Charlottetown, P.E.I.), Glenbow Museum (Calgary,
Alberta), Art Gallery of Mississauga (Ontario), Art Gallery of
Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's) and the National Gallery of
Canada.(10)
Thanks to the donation of 242 prints by the
artist, the Blackwood Research Centre within the Marvin Gelber Print
and Drawing Centre at the Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto) has by far
the largest collection. It is described as the ‘collection of
record’ for the artist. (11)
He’s co-authored three books, Wake of the Great Sealers (1973), with Farley Mowat; The Art of David Blackwood (1988), with William Gough; and Master Printmaker (2001), with William Gough. (12)
His
honors and awards include the Ingres Medal from France (1963); Honorary
Doctor of Laws, University of Calgary (1992); Honorary Doctor of
Letters, Memorial University, St. Johns; the ‘Heritage Award’, Canadian
Parks Service, Government of Canada (1993); and the Order of Ontario
(2003).(13)
He was also the subject of Blackwood,
the 1974, National Film Board of Canada documentary, which won 10
international awards and an Academy of Arts and Sciences (Oscar)
nomination in 1976 for Best Documentary.
Other honors include
the renaming of the Erindale College Art Gallery; which he founded in
1971 on the University of Toronto, Mississauga campus; the Blackwood
Gallery (1992); being named to the Board of Directors of the Art
Gallery of Ontario (2002); and appointment as Honorary Chairman of the
Art Gallery of Ontario (2003), the first time this post has been
awarded to a practicing artist.
In 1993, Blackwood
received one of Canada's highest honors, appointment as a Member of the
Order of Canada (CM). The citation reads: “Painter and master
printmaker in the intaglio style, he has brought to life the history
and cultural landscape of his native Newfoundland and the human drama
of its inhabitants. His compassionate portrayal of people facing the
adversities of outport life has made him an internationally respected
interpreter of the province's traditional way of life. His etchings
grace public and private collections around the world.” (14)
Footnotes:
(1) People not familiar with his name may be familiar with his etching Hauling Job Sturge’s House used on the Scribner (1994) paperback cover of the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Shipping News by Annie Proulx; or his original etching used on the cover of A Whale for the Killing (1972) by Farley Mowat.
(2) When Blackwood was born, Newfoundland was a Dominion of the United Kingdom. It joined Canada in 1949.
(3) Source: David Blackwood .Com – http://www.davidblackwood.com/cv/BlackwoodCV.htm.
(4)
Sources: AskART Images; Museum illustrations and descriptions of
mediums in the Canadian Heritage Information Network* data base;
illustrations on Abbozzo Gallery website –
http://david-blackwood.abbozzogallery.com/; illustrations of the
permanent collection of the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador –
http://www.heritage.nf.ca/arts/agnl/blackwood5.html; and The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar (see AskART book references).
(5)
All artist teachers, and artist associates mentioned in this biography,
except those with bracketed dates after their names, have their own
pages in AskART.
(6) Sources: Artists 4 Kids biography – http://www.artists4kids.com/artists/blackwood.php; and A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald (see AskART book references).
(7) Sources: David Blackwood .Com – http://www.davidblackwood.com/cv/BlackwoodCV.htm and A Dictionary of Canadian Artists (1974), by Colin S. MacDonald (see AskART book references).
(8) Source: A Dictionary of Canadian Artists
(1974), by Colin S. MacDonald (see AskART book references). Note: The
Colour and Form Society is an exhibiting society, founded in 1952 and
based in Ontario, Canada. One of its initial focuses was to provide new
Canadians who were visual artists with an association to exhibit their
work as a unit. Source: Colour and Form Society –
http://www.colourandformsociety.ca/pages/about_cfs.html.
(9)
Source for all exhibitions: Blackwood CV at Abbozzo Gallery website –
http://david-blackwood.abbozzogallery.com/david-blackwood-biography.htm.
(10)
The Canadian Heritage Information Network* does not include the works
in the Art Gallery of Mississauga (Ontario) and the Art Gallery of
Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's); those were obtained from the
respective museum’s websites. Also note: His CV and many sources
include The Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy; the collection of Her
Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II (Windsor Castle) and the National Gallery
of Australia, Canberra. Unfortunately, we were unable to confirm those
using the following websites: http://www.uffizi.com/ (no search
available); http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/eGallery/search.asp; and
http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/, though it is not unlikely Blackwood’s
work would be in those collections.
(11.1) The Blackwood
Research Centre was established in 2000 to coincide with the donation.
Source: Art Gallery of Ontario –
http://www.ago.net/celebrating-the-centennial. Note: The Art Gallery of
Newfoundland and Labrador appears to have the next largest collection
with 46 –author.
(11.2) "The Marvin Gelber Print and
Drawing Study Centre, a state-of-the-art facility dedicated to the
study of prints, drawings and photographs, opened in 1993. The centre
houses a collection of over 60,000 works on paper dating from the 13th
century to the present day. Among the fastest growing collections at
the AGO, it includes works by international artists James Tissot, Ernst
Barlach and Henry Moore, as well as numerous works by Canadian artists
David Milne, Betty Goodwin and David Blackwood." Source: Ibid. (AGO)
– http://www.collectionx.museum/en/user/9566.htm.
(12) Source: Art Gallery of Ontario archives (online).
(13) Source: David Blackwood .Com – http://www.davidblackwood.com/cv/BlackwoodCV.htm.
(14)
Source: The Governor General of Canada –
http://archive.gg.ca/honours/search-recherche/honours-desc.asp?lang=e&TypeID=orc&id=567.
*
For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see
AskART.com Glossary
http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx.
Prepared and contributed by M.D. Silverbrooke.
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