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Name: ___________________________
Alex Colville Exhibit (6)
Alex Colville is a Canadian Artist whose paintings have a photographic quality to
them. Colville's paintings also have a narrative (hidden story) quality - his paintings
raise questions about the: who, what, when, where, and why? As a viewer it is as if
we are seeing into a moment of a character’s life. He creates a very magical mix of
the ordinary and the extraordinary; real and yet strangely unreal. This style is often
referred to as Magical Realism. His process is slow and his compositions are
constructed according to a precise geometry and executed with a technique that
consists of minuscule dabs of paint applied meticulously dot by dot.
Gallery Treasure Hunt: (Locate, Respond, and Inquire)
1. Find an artwork that reminds you of something from your past.
Think about those connections. Explain.
Title_____________________________________
2. Find an artwork that could be considered to be “typically”
Canadian or representing Canada.
Title____________________________ What does it say about Canada and
the people in it?
3. Find an artwork that, for you, embodies pure joy! Explain.
Title_____________________________________
4. Find an artwork that appears to be telling a story.
Title_____________________________________ What might happen next?
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5. Find an image of a person you would like to meet.
Title______________________________ Character___________________ What
might your conversation be about?
6. Find an artwork that has something to say about some aspect of
love. Explain. Title______________________________
Character___________________
7. Find an artwork that puzzles or intrigues you.
Title______________________________ Character___________________ What
question(s) might you ask the artist, if you could?
8. Find an artwork that you would like to walk into.
Title______________________________ Character___________________ What
would you see that we cannot? What might you smell, hear or
touch?
Critical Thinking: Make notes on the back of this page.
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Cause and Effect: Artists’ work is often in response to an experience or
time in their lives, just the way your ancestors choices were the result of
events or experiences in their lives.
A. Timeline: Take a close look at Alex Colville’s timeline.
1.What events may have inspired him to create Paintings like
Horse and Train (1954), Pacific (1967) and Target Pistol and Man
(1980) or one of your choice.
2.Explain
3.Describe how do you personally respond to these works?
Biography | Timeline
1920 August 24, David Alexander Colville born in Toronto
1929 Family moves to Amherst, Nova Scotia; Alex contracts
pneumonia and during the six- month isolated recovery, reads and
draws extensively
1934-37 Attends weekly art lessons instructed by Sarah Hart, a Mount
Allison University faculty member
1939 Colville attends Stanley Royle’s summer art programs in
Prospect, Nova Scotia. Royle becomes Colville’s mentor
1940 Colville designs poster for the Wartime Information Board and is
persuaded to enlist as a war artist after graduation
1941 Colville creates a mural design for the Sackville Train Station
1942 Graduates from Mount Allison University, Sackville, NB, with a
BFA. Enlists in the Canadian Army. Marries Rhoda Wright on Aug. 5
1943 Army training in Fredericton, NB and Camp Petawawa, Ontario;
earns the rank of sergeant
1944 First son is born, Graham Alexander. Colville stationed overseas
as a war artist
1945 April: following liberation, Colville is sent to Bergen-Belsen
Concentration Camp to document the Nazi horrors; May: Colville and
other war artists organize an exhibition in Amsterdam; Colville visits
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the Louvre in Paris, where the Egyptian art profoundly affected him;
Oct: six months posted to Ottawa to complete war artworks
1946 Second son, John Harrower, born. Colville begins teaching at
Mount Allison University; the art history teaching influences his
painting
1947 Paints Railroad Over Marsh
1948 Third son, Charles Wright, born; paints a mural, The History of
Mount Allison, at the university
1949 Home on York Street purchased; Colville undertakes house
renovations; helps his understanding of architectural spaces related to
his art; studio in the attic; Aug: daughter, Ann Christian, born.
1950 Paints Nude and Dummy, a seminal work that marks Colville’s
transition from war documenter
1951 First solo exhibition at the New Brunswick Museum, Saint
John
1953 Solo exhibition at Hewitt Gallery, New York City (“Magic
Realists”); introduced to
Lincoln Kirstein, patron and supporter of “Magic Realist” painters
(Horse and Train, ‘55; Woman at Clothesline,’56; Couple on Beach,
’57)
1963 Retires from teaching at Mount Allison to take up full-time
painting; exhibits at the Banfer Gallery, NYC; recipient of the Won
Dunn International Award, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton;
begins painting almost exclusively in acrylics
1965 Commissioned by the federal government to design coins for
Canada’s centennial year: animals on coins emphasize different
qualities of Canada; paints To Prince Edward Island depicting the ferry
between PEI and New Brunswick
1966 Colville represents Canada at the 33rd Venice Biennale with 12
paintings; a traveling exhibition of his war paintings is organized by the
National Gallery of Canada
1967 Named an Officer in the Order of Canada; paints Snowplow
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1968 Visiting artist at the University of California at Santa Cruz;
1971 Year-long artist-in-residency, Berliner Kunstlerprogramm,
Berlin; first time back since the war
1973 Colvilles move to Wolfville, NS, into Rhoda’s family home;
honourary degrees from Simon Fraser and University of Windsor;
paints Woman in Tub (AGO)
1975 Colville designs the Governor General’s Medal
1980 Paints Target Pistol and Man which becomes an iconic image
that surpasses Horse and Train
1981 Appointed Chancellor of Acadia University; traveling exhibition
of war art curated by the Canadian War Museum
1983 Retrospective exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario; travels to
six Canadian cities and Germany
1984 A documentary, Alex Colville: The Splendor of Order, is
produced by Minerva Films
1995 Another retrospective exhibition at the Montreal Museum of
Fine Arts; honourary degree from University of Manitoba
1997 Honourary degrees from Bishop’s University & Nova Scotia
College of Art and Design
2000 “Milestones” exhibition at National Gallery of Canada to mark
Colville’s 80th birthday; subject of CBC’s “Life and Times”
2003 Receives Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts;
“Alex Colville: Return, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints” opens at the
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and travels to five Canadian cities
2012 Dec 29, Rhoda Wright Colville dies at home 2013 July 16, Alex
Colville dies at home in Wolfville