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
Gregorovius History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Small Dining Room presentation of Gregorovius History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. L to R Dr. C.W. Lightbody, History, E.M. McFadden, Library, Dr. J.E. Robbins, President, L.D. Whitehead, Publisher, Brandon Sun, donor
Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's abridgment of the History of Rome : to which is prefixed an introduction to the study of Roman history, and a variety of valuable information added throughout the work, on the manners, institutions, and antiquities of the Romans