Tag Archives: Retrospective

Becoming Art: Development and Process in the Sculpture of Bob de Castro (1924-1986)

Robert De Castro, Sketch #1
Robert De Castro, Sketch #1

June 17 – August 30, 1996

McPherson Library Gallery

This was a retrospective of Bob de Castro’s sculpture artwork ten years following his death. De Castro has been described as Canada’s Vincent van Gogh of sculpture, and his lifetime achievements were boundless.

A large collection of slides, photographs, negatives and newsclippings of de Castro’s works will be available from the University of Victoria’s archives. To view a selection of his sketches, visit out online inventory here and search “Robert De Castro”.

About the Artist:

Bob de Castro (1924-1986) was a sculptor based out of Victoria, B.C. but was born in Winnipeg.

During his lifetime, Robert De Castro asked for no grants, sold no pieces, and did not exhibit his work in public. He simply spent hours in his workshop, one might say obsessively, creating his bleak, black carvings.

-Robert Amos, “Carvings speak of dark nights of a soul”, Times Colonist, July 6, 1996

E. J. Hughes: A Retrospective

Cowichan Bay, E.J. Hughes, n.d.

Cowichan Bay, E.J. Hughes, n.d.

November 12, 1995 – January 21, 1996

Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery

Curated by Pat Salmon

A retrospective exhibition of the works of E. J. Hughes’ work from 1935 to 1995, and includes finished paintings accompanied by original pencil sketches with colour notations and separate colour cartoons.

This exhibit focuses on Hughes’ works relating to Vancouver Island. Hughes works from sketches made on location from which watercolours, acrylics and oil paintings are produced, sometimes years after the completion of the original sketches.

Artists and Teachers: A Faculty of Education Retrospective Exhibition, 1956 to 1992

December 13, 1992 – February 7, 1993

Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery

Art Education faculty at the University of Victoria (and its forerunner Victoria College) have served the teacher preparation needs to the BC public school system since the early 1900’s. The first half of the century was represented by the Maltwood gallery exhibition, John Kyle, Artist and Educator (1985). Artists and Teachers focuses on individuals who contributed in many ways to the design, the implementation and delivery of art education programs at the University.

Artists exhibited: A. Wilfrid Johns, Marion Small, Donald Harvey, John Dobereiner, Margaret Travis (née Moody), John Cawood, Geoffrey Hodder, Peter Shostak, William Zuk, and George Steggles.

Inner Journey

November 18 – November 30, 1986

McPherson Library Gallery

A retrospective highlighting the work of Ann Rosemary Conway. The exhibition explores the progressive healing effect of unconscious symbolism on the conscious mind.

About the Artist:

Ann Rosemary Conway was a symbolist painter, printmaker, book illustrator and teacher. In her work she explores the visual symbols of the feminine aspect of divinity. Her work has been featured in exhibits and the Maples, Media and Backroom galleries.

Leonard Frank: Photographic Artist

October 19 – November 30, 1986

Maltwood Art Gallery

Curated by Martin Segger

This exhibition showcased some of the early photographic works of Leonard Frank (1871-1944). Frank worked in urban and natural landscapes and his photographs showed British Columbia at the turn of the century.

He worked as a commercial photographer but was well known for his artistic works. This retrospective of Frank’s work drew from the Jewish Historical Society of British Columbia collection.

John Dobereiner: Retrospective

John Dobereiner
John Dobereiner

February 25 – April 13, 1986

Maltwood Art Gallery

View the online catalogue:

John Dobereiner: Retrospective – Catalogue

This was an exhibit highlighting the development of John Dobereiner as an artist. Many of his pieces work with the illusion of space and three dimensions through shaped canvases or intersecting boxes.

About the Artist:

Canadian born artist John Dobereiner was a professor at the University of Victoria and is known for his hard-edge abstract works. A number of his “shaped canvases” also hang in the McPherson Library.

I think it is when an artist places constraints on himself and invents within a limited format, attending to what he knows, that he starts to find things out and strikes the richest lodes.

-John Dobereiner

Similar Exhibitions

John Kyle: Artist and Educator, 1871 to 1958

November 15 – December 16, 1985

Maltwood Art Gallery

This was a retrospective exhibition of John Kyle’s works. Art, design, education and history merge in the figure of John Kyle. Following formal training in Britain and France, he came to Vancouver in 1906. For the next 32 years, John Kyle administered B.C.’s art and technical curriculum, which he also brought within the reach of all British Columbians through night schools and correspondence courses.

This exhibition recognizes an artist who contributed a memorable chapter to the history of education in British Columbia. His paintings, drawings, decorative arts and documents were displayed, as well as the magic lantern Kyle used in his lectures. The exhibition was proposed and organized by UVic’s Geoffrey Hodder.

Flemming Jorgensen

August 23 – October 6, 1985

Maltwood Art Gallery

An examination of the artistic development of Flemming Jorgensen. Twenty-five years of landscape painting unfolds through the drawings, watercolours and paintings of this exhibition.

About the Artist:

Flemming Jorgensen RCA has been an esteemed member of the Victoria artistic community since he began painting and teaching her in the early 1960s. Born in Aalborg, Denmark in 1934, Jorgensen immigrated to Canada in 1956. He is a co-founder of the Metchosin Internatonal Summer School of the Arts. He is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Gallery

Visit our inventory system here to see dozens more of Jorgensen’s works.

Similar Exhibitions:

Bart Pragnell

June 17 – August 2, 1985

McPherson Library Gallery

This exhibition is a retrospective highlighting Bart Pragnell’s coloured pencil drawings.

About the Artist:

Bart Pragnell (1907-1966) was part of the Prospectors, a group dedicated to encouragement and experimentation in creative work. He was well known as an artist and art educator.