Description
By the early 1950s, art societies and academies held a tight grip on what could and could not be shown in their annual public exhibitions. Their juries were conservative tastemakers and rabid anti-modernists. Abstract art was rarely selected for display, thus robbing innovative painters of opportunities to have their work seen, reviewed, and purchased. With no outlets to show their art, ambitious, impatient painters sought alternative exhibition venues as a means of advocating for changes in the status quo.
In Eleven Painters Start a War, Tom Smart tells the story of the “Painters Eleven,” a group of abstract painters whose anti-establishment ethos was defined by a respect for diversity, creative freedom, abstraction, and contempt for aesthetic complacency. He charts their paths through the 1950s and early 60s as they fight for the acceptance of abstract painting in Canadian art galleries, the critical press, and in the public imagination. Through their interactions and steadfast belief in the promise of abstract art to contribute to a better society, the Painters Eleven managed to change attitudes toward this new way of painting, but not without facing the vitriol of the art establishment who accused them of “starting a war.”
Praise for Peter Clapham Sheppard: His Life and Work
“In the long term, it will be the resource to spark and fuel the curiosity of future art historians, collectors and writers . . . The book will remain, is an important addition to the artist’s legacy.”
—Globe and Mail
“An ambitious monograph . . . [Peter Clapham Sheppard: His Life and Work] provides readers with a more expansive picture of historical Canadian art.”
—Quill and Quire
“A stunning new book chronicles and highlights the life and work of this incredibly talented artist . . . a celebration of rediscovery of an outstanding Canadian artist.”
—CBC Radio Canada International
“Peter Clapham Sheppard was a retiring, elusive artist whose skill and vision, untouched by the noisy nationalism of some of his peers, can now finally be properly celebrated in the remarkable artistic rediscovery that is unveiled in the pages of this book.”
—Ross King
Praise for Christopher Pratt: Six Decades
“The magnificent new book illustrating his career, Christopher Pratt: Six Decades, with a valuable text by Tom Smart, demonstrates that Pratt’s work makes a powerful impression when viewed in quantity. ”
—Robert Fulford, National Post
