Don LeQuesne, Associate Professor of Art and Art Education at Brandon College 1962-1965, was from the Toronto area where he had been supervisor of art in the Pickering school system and taught Art Methods in Summer school for teachers at the Ontario College of Education. His parents immigrated to Quebec from the Channel Islands. Don obtained his B.F.A. degree from Mount Allison University. (1969 inventory)
Don LeQuesne, Assistant Professor of Art and Art Education at Brandon College 1962-1965, came here from the Toronto area where he had been Supervisor of Art in the Pickering school system for several years and had taught Art Methods in the Summer School for Teachers at the Ontario College of Education. His parents came to Canada from the Channel Islands. Don grew up at a number of places in Quebec. He obtained the BFA degree from Mount Allison University. This picture was painted while he was on study leave at the University of Georgia in the first half of 1964. (1969 inventory)
Arthur Lismer (1885-1969) was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, in a family of six children. He studied art extensively in Europe before coming to Canada. In Toronto, he first worked in the Grip Engraving Company with J.E.H. MacDonald and Tom Thomson. He exhibited with the Group of Seven since their first show at the Ontario Art Gallery in 1920. Besides his career as an artist, Lismer held important offices as an art educator (Director of the Victoria School of At and Design, Vice-Principal of the Ontario College of Art). He promoted visual art education for children, soldiers, sailors, handicapped people; he was one of the cofounders of the Art Centre for Children. The artist participated in Art Education conferences all around the world. (A Dictionary of Canadian Artists; Colin S. MacDonald. Canadian paperbacks LTS, 1991. P.860-66) The Group of Seven: "The goals of the artists who would form the Group of Seven in 1920 were idealistic and nationalistic in intent... They set out to throw off the colonial attitude which denigrated all Canadian creative ventures and slavishly imitated worshipped all things British or European...The rough wildness of the landscape, its raw, dramatic austerity, coupled with breathtaking color and light, spoke far more directly of Canada for these artists than anything to be found in the cities or settled areas. For them the north, a constant motif in earlier discussions of Canadian identity, found its first expression in the rocks, burnt land, trees, color, and light of Algonquin park... Like other major art innovators, the Group were united in their intent and cooperative action, and together they were remarkably effective in promulgating their vision across Canada and internationally." (Charles C. Hill: The Group of Seven, Art for a Nation. The Canadian Publishers, 1995. P.15-33)
Dimensions
40 X 50 cm
Size Overall
53 X 62.5 cm
Medium
oil
Condition
Frame has minor scratches on right and left arms.
Primary Support
canvas
Secondary Support
frame - wood
Inscriptions
Inscription: A gift of the teacher training classes of Brandon College, 1955-65.
James (Jock) W. G. MacDonald was born in Thurso, Scotland in 1867. He studied at Edinburgh College of Art, and later worked as a fabric designer. He taught at Lincoln School of Art; Vancouver School of Art; School of Decorative and Applied Arts, Vancouver; Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary; and at Ontario College of Art after 1947. MacDonald was a member of Canadian Group of Painters and Painters Eleven. He died in Toronto in 1960. The artist was conducting independent experiments in Vancouver while the others worked in Winnipeg and Toronto. He had painted 'automatics' by 1934 and completely abstract or non-objective works by 1935 or 1936. (Painting in Canada: A History. Harper J. Russel. U of Toronto Press, 1977. P 327) Jock MacDonald was one of Canada's first painters to explore the relationship between abstraction and landscape. What MacDonald did is take the formal qualities of his subjects and isolate or abstract them form the landscape. (The History of Painting in Canada. Barry Lord. Toronto: NC Press, 1974. P 205-7)
Dimensions
23.5 X 33.5 cm
Size Overall
45 X 52.5 cm
Medium
watercolor
Condition
Slight cockling of surface.
Primary Support
paper
Secondary Support
mat, plexiglass, backing board; frame - wood and plaster with gild
Inscription on back: Robert Mancuso, a member of the Sioux Valley band, residing in Brandon, MB, has been developing his art since childhood. It is only recently, however, that he's been working in the native style, reflecting the spirituality that comes from the native view of things. He has undertaken native art classes at Brandon University that he says has greatly influenced his direction. He says it is like stepping through a new door into a world full of wonders waiting to be explored through his art. Contemporary native art is exciting and challenging to work in. He says 'it always has a horizon'. This picture, depicted in ink, represents the four elements showing the sun as fire, buffalo as earth, eagle as wind, and the lines as water. He has tried to convey the feeling of the spiritual force as it moves, with boldness across the vastness of the plains.
