Provenance
Robert Vanderleelie Gallery, Lemarchand Mansion, Edmonton;
Peter Ohler Fine Arts, Toronto
Mountain Facade, Lake O’Hara was completed in Kerr’s late career, when at 78 years old, he was still painting ferevenlty. Even in these later years, he practiced painting outdoors, seeking the direct experience of “nature flowing through him”. (1) Kerr often stuck to a minimal palette during this period, using at most two to three colours, and most often rendered neutral tones and shadows in shades of purple.
1. Margaret Callahan, Harvest of the Spirit: Illingworth Kerr Retrospective, p. 44
Illingworth Holey Kerr, “Buck,” painter, illustrator, writer (b at Lumsden, Sask 20 Aug 1905; d at Calgary 6 Jan 1989). Kerr attended Central Technical School, Toronto, and Ontario College of Art. He also studied at Westminster School of Art, London, in 1936 and, returning to Canada, taught at Vancouver School…
Illingworth Holey Kerr, “Buck,” painter, illustrator, writer (b at Lumsden, Sask 20 Aug 1905; d at Calgary 6 Jan 1989). Kerr attended Central Technical School, Toronto, and Ontario College of Art. He also studied at Westminster School of Art, London, in 1936 and, returning to Canada, taught at Vancouver School of Art (1945-47). In 1947 he became director of the art department of the Provincial Institute of Technology in Calgary. His early landscape style reflects the influence of Lawren Harris in his long, curving brush strokes and emphasis on design. He applied paint heavily, giving relief to an otherwise flat, spatial quality in his work. In later works Kerr used a broken brushstroke style that creates visual tension to counteract this 2-dimensionality. Named to the Order of Canada in 1983, he was given a retrospective exhibition (<i>Harvest of the Spirit</i>) at 9 major public galleries in 1985.
His works can be seen in the Edmonton Art Gallery, the Glenbow Museum in Calgary, in the Lethbridge University Collection and in the Mendel Gallery, Saskatoon.
