To open a year-long, changing display on the power of colour in Canadian art, this exhibition celebrates the achievements of the artists who formed Painters Eleven in the fall of 1953. These painters, the first to popularize abstraction in English Canada, liberated the elements of form and colour for successive generations of artists.
This exhibition studies the virtuosity of each of the group members' colourism, approach and media. Each member asserted his or her own voice, be it via the brash visual impact of works by William Ronald and Harold Town, or the contemplative intellectualism of Kazuo Nakamura.
Paint by Numbers includes highlights from the Museum London collection and important canvases and works on paper loaned from citizens in the London region, attesting to the discernment and generosity of collectors in the area.
It is important to realize the newness of Painters Eleven philosophy during the 1950s. Their first exhibition, for instance, drew large crowds but no sales. Through annual exhibitions and efforts outside the country-such as showing with renowned American Abstract Artists in New York in 1956-their work injected new visual vocabularies into the mainstream Canadian art scene.
This exhibition is generously supported by MacTop Publishing Inc., Thielsen Gallery, Eugene and Patricia Ostapovich, David and Susan Woodruff, Miriam Shiell Fine Art, Rynsburger - Rathwell Family, Dr. Gordon and Carol Schacter, Rob and Mim O'Dowda