Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette - Hardcover

Curtis, Herb; Brandon, Laura; Smith, Gordon; Rogers Donaldson, Marjory; Rosenfeld, Roslyn

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 086492481X ISBN 13: 9780864924810

Publisher: Goose Lane Editions, 2006

Synopsis

Bruno Bobak became a professional artist before he was 20 years old, and more than 60 years later, his work remains vibrant and in demand by public galleries and collectors in North America and Europe. Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette celebrates his life and work. Five authors present Bobak's life and artistic development, stage by stage. Herb Curtis, a novelist and essayist, outlines the artist's early years in Hamilton, Ontario. Laura Brandon, curator of War Art at the Canadian War Museum , describes Bobak's development as a War Artist, and internationally renowned painter, print-maker, and educator Gordon Smith recalls Bobak's formative decade in Vancouver. Marjory Rogers Donaldson, a painter and portraitist, portrays the richness of Bobak's mature years in Fredericton, and independent curator Roslyn Rosenfeld examines the remarkable depth and range of Bobak's drawings and prints. Introduced by Herménégilde Chiasson, the author and artist who is Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Bronislaw Josephus "Bruno" Bobak sailed for Canada with his family at the age of two, eventually ending up in Toronto. A chance discovery of Saturday morning art classes at the Art Gallery of Toronto, organized by Arthur Lismer, changed the direction of his life. Today, Bruno Bobak's paintings, drawings, and prints hang in major collections in Canada, the United States, the UK, Poland, and Scandinavia. During the Second World War, Bruno Bobak became Canada's youngest Official War Artist. It was also during the War that he met Molly Lamb, whom he later married and with whom he relocated first to Ottawa and later to Galiano Island and Vancouver. In 1947, he became head of the design department at the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design) and began showing his work in national and international exhibitions. In 1960, he was appointed Artist-in-Residence for a one-year term at the University of New Brunswick. In 1962, he returned to Fredericton as director of the University of New Brunswick Art Centre. Bruno Bobak is best known for his tender yet aggressive figurative paintings. Large in scale, Expressionistic in style, and vigorous and surprising in colour, they show profound sympathy for the human condition mingled with shrewd recognition of human frailty. His use of bold angular lines, impastoed application of paint, and grand gestures are memorable attributes of his major work. This sweeping look at the life and work of an illustrious artist approaches Bobak's art from the point of view of six artists, curators, and colleagues: Herménégilde Chiasson, the multi-talented artist who is also Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick; Herb Curtis, a novelist, essayist, and fishing companion; Laura Brandon, curator of War Art at the Canadian War Museum; the internationally renowned Vancouver painter, printmaker, and educator Gordon Smith; Marjory Rogers Donaldson, a painter, portraitist, and colleague; and critic and curator Roslyn Rosenfeld. Combining distinctive, thought-provoking texts with more than 95 reproductions of his paintings, drawings, and prints, Bruno Bobak: The Full Palette is a fitting tribute to this remarkable artist's life work.

About the Author:

Bernard Riordan is the director and CEO of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. He was director of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia for nearly thirty years and the author of Joe Norris: Painted Visions of Nova Scotia. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery, with 114 Bobak works, holds the distinction of having the most extensive public collection of his work in Canada.

Herb Curtis is a well-known novelist and essayist. He divides his time between the written word and the river. His work as a seasonal fishing guide on the Miramichi River introduced him to Bruno Bobak and led to an abiding friendship.

Laura Brandon is the curator of War Art at the Canadian War Museum. She is the author of several seminal books including Pegi by Herself: The Life of Pegi Nicol MacLeod, Canadian Artist, which accompanies a retrospective exhibition.

Gordon Smith is a Vancouver painter and printmaker whose international reputation rests on his abstracted images of the Canadian landscape. His work can be found in New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian, and the National Gallery of Canada.

Marjory Rogers Donaldson is a painter and portraitist associated with the University of New Brunswick Art Centre since 1945. She worked as assistant director of the Art Centre under Bruno Bobak and later as its director. In 1991 she received the Award of Merit Citation from Association of Museums, New Brunswick.

About this edition

• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 086492481X
• ISBN 13: 9780864924810
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 168
• Editor: Riordon Bernard