'Abstract' by Arthur McKay, Canadian Modernist, Regina Five, Post Painterly Abstraction, New York Museum of Modern Art

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Signed lower left, 'A. McKay' for Arthur "Art" Fortescue McKay (Canadian, 1926-2000) and painted circa 1975.

An important Canadian painter, … Read more Signed lower left, 'A. McKay' for Arthur "Art" Fortescue McKay (Canadian, 1926-2000) and painted circa 1975.

An important Canadian painter, draftsman, printmaker and an influential educator, Arthur McKay was born in Saskatchewan and first studied at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary, Alberta, most notably under Jock Macdonald (1946-1948). He subsequently studied in Paris at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière (1949–1950) before attending classes at Columbia University and the Barnes Foundation (both between 1956 and 1957). McKee worked most of his life in Regina, Saskatchewan (1950–1994) and first gained national recognition exhibiting as a member of The Regina Five (circa 1959 – 1966), an experimental group whose work is considered a milestone in the development of Canadian Abstraction. McKay exhibited widely and with success including at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Canada, where he also participated in the Canadian Biennials (1957, 1959, 1961, 1963, 1965), and with Clement Greenberg’s landmark touring exhibition "Post Painterly Abstraction". He also exhibited in the Canadian Government Pavilion at Expo 67, Montreal, with the Ontario Society of Artists (1959), the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1961, 1962, 1963, 1968), the Albright–Knox Art Gallery (1962), the Vancouver Art Gallery (1964); the MacKenzie Art Gallery, and the Moose Jaw Art Museum (1975), among others.

After serving in the Canadian Army (1943–1945), He continued his studies at the Emma Lake Artists' Workshop in Saskatchewan, taking classes under Jack Shadbolt, Joe Plaskett, Will Barnet, Barnet Newman, Herman Cherry, Clement Greenberg, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Donald Judd, Anthony Caro, John Ferran, Frank Stella, and Lawrence Alloway (1955–1965).

In 1950, McKay began teaching as a part-time instructor at the School of Art of Regina College. He became as associate professor in 1963 and was Director from 1964–1967. He took leave to work as Professor of Art at the Nova Scotia College of Art, Halifax for one year (1967–1968) and returned to the University of Regina where he was Artist-in-Residence (1978) and associate professor until 1987. Claude Breeze and Brian Fisher were two of his most famous students.

Arthur McKay's work is held in numerous permanent collections including the Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton), Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario), Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax), Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto), Art Gallery of Windsor (Ontario), Glenbow Museum (Calgary, Alberta), Justina M. Barnicke Gallery – Hart House Collection (University of Toronto, Ontario), MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina, Saskatchewan), Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art (Quebec), Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Quebec), Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery (Saskatchewan), Museum London (Ontario), Ottawa Art Gallery (Ontario), University of Lethbridge Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Canada.

Among McKay’s honors and awards are a Canada Foundation grant (1956), a Humanities Research Council grant (1957) and three Canada Council grants (1963, 1967 and 1968).

Bibliography:

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