Ken Danby: Beyond the Crease - Hardcover

McKee, Greg; Oko, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0864929633 ISBN 13: 9780864929631

Publisher: Goose Lane Editions, 2016

Synopsis

Ken Danby (1940-2007) was one of Canada's foremost practitioners of contemporary realism. Rooted in the Canadian psyche, nourished by his Ontario rural roots, Danby's subject matter was broad and expansive, yet it was the images of Canadian landscapes and life that captured the public's attention. At the Crease, a 1972 egg tempera painting depicting a nameless hockey goalie viewed from ice-level, was his best-known work, and for many, it defined him as an artist.

An accomplished painter, watercolourist, printmaker, and commercial artist, Danby's career began to unfold with a modernist narrative in the 1960s and 1970s. It intersected with the fervent nationalism expressed in the music of Ian and Sylvia Tyson, Gordon Lightfoot, and Joni Mitchell. According to art historian Patrick Hutchings, Danby's paintings bring us "face to face with a moment of our own time."

Ken Danby: Beyond the Crease, the first major book on Ken Danby's creative practise in two decades, examines the depth and breadth of Danby's work. Designed to accompany a major retrospective exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of Hamilton, it features an essay by art historian Ihor Holubizky, a detailed chronology by Christine Braun, more than sixty reproductions of Danby&#s major paintings, including At the Crease, Lacing Up, Pancho, and Pulling Out, and dozens of archival photographs, as well as Danby's own words about his life and work drawn from an unpublished autobiographical essay that he completed shortly before his death.

Danby's work is highly collectable and can be found in numerous private and public collections, including those of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the National Gallery of Canada; the Musée des beaux arts, Montreal; the Art Gallery of Vancouver; the Art Institute of Chicago; and the Brooklyn Museum. Ken Danby became a member of the Order of Canada in 2001.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Ken Danby (1940-2007) was one of Canada's foremost practiioners of contemporary realism. Inspired by his rural Ontario roots, Danby's now-famous images, his sense of place, and his uncompromising lens reflect a profound connection to the Canadian landscape and he Canadian psyche. At the Crease , a 1972 egg tempera painting depicting a nameless hockey goalie viewed from ice level, was his best-known work, and for many, it defined him as an artist.

Ken Danby's career extended far beyond that one defining work. An accomplished painter, watercolourist, and printmaker, Danby emerged as an artist with a modernist narrative in the 1960s and 1970s. Influenced by the fervent nationalism expressed in the folk music of the period, Danby's paintings, says art historian Patrick Hutchings, bring us "face to face with a moment of our own time."

Ken Danby: Beyond the Crease explores the depth and breadth of Danby's work: his carefully structured compositions, the complex relationship between line, place, and space, the rigourous handling of egg tempera, the vigour and immediacy of his watercolours, and his masterful printmaking.

Demonstrating the full force of Danby's creative practice, this magnificent book features dozens of archival photographs and more than seventy reproductions of his major paintings, drawings, and prints, including At the Crease, Lacing Up, Pancho, and Pulling Out.

The volume also includes two perceptive essays by Ihor Holubizky and Greg McKe as well as Danby's own words — from an unpublished memoir and a celebrated interview with Andrew J. Oko — which together offer fresh insight into the origins of Danby's work and its enduring significance. Art works by Ken Danby may be found in numerous private and public collections, including Art Gallery of Hamilton; Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; Art Gallery of Vancouver; Art Institute of Chicago; and Brooklyn Museum. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2001.

From the Back Cover:

"We do not see with our eyes, but through them." — Ken Danby

About this edition

• Publisher: Goose Lane Editions
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0864929633
• ISBN 13: 9780864929631
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 198