Il Realismo magico di Alex Colville

David Alexander "Alex" Colville (Toronto, 24 agosto 1920 - Wolfville, 16 luglio 2013) è stato un pittore Canadese.

Nato a Toronto (Ontario), si trasferisce da piccolo con la famiglia in Nuova Scozia.

Frequenta la Mount Allison University dal 1938 al 1942.

Nel 1942 si è sposato con Rhoda Wright; per alcuni mesi parte all'estero come artista di guerra.

Tiene la prima mostra personale nel 1951 a New Brunswick Museum.

Negli anni cinquanta tiene mostre a New York e Toronto.

Nel 1966 rappresenta il Canada alla Biennale di Venezia.

L'anno seguente viene nominato ufficiale dell'Ordine del Canada.

Espone, negli anni settanta, frequentemente in Europa (Berlino, Londra, Düsseldorf, Arnhem) e negli anni ottanta anche in Asia (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Pechino).

Nel 1982 viene nominato compagno dell'Ordine del Canada.

Diviene, nel 1990, membro del consiglio della National Gallery of Canada di Ottawa.

Nel 2003 viene nominato membro dell'Ordine della Nuova Scozia.

È morto serenamente nel luglio 2013.

Onorificenze

👉 Ufficiale dell'Ordine del Canada - «Per il suo contributo alle arti come artista, insegnante e designer» - nominato il 6 luglio 1967, investito il 12 novembre 1968.

👉 Compagno dell'Ordine del Canada - «Un importante artista canadese che ora vive a Wolfville, Nuova Scozia. Come giovane artista di guerra nella seconda guerra mondiale ha cominciato a sviluppare il suo stile inconfondibile, che unisce il realismo preciso a composizioni efficaci con una sottile espressione del suo oggetto e per questo in termini universali è internazionalmente riconosciuto come uno dei pittori più importanti del suo tempo. Ha anche contribuito notevolmente alle arti in Canada per il suo insegnamento e il suo servizio in enti culturali nazionali», - nominato il 14 dicembre 1981, investito il 21 aprile 1982.

👉 Membro dell'Ordine della Nuova Scozia, 2003.

Colville had some success while still enrolled at Mount Allison, exhibiting at the Art Association of Montreal (now the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts) in 1941, and the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1942.

After the war, Colville returned to New Brunswick and became a faculty member with the Fine Arts Department at Mount Allison University, where he taught from 1946 to 1963.

Colville is often cited as belonging to the Magic Realism movement, and within this he developed his own style that influenced both a regional and national art community, as teacher and founder of what would become known as Maritime Realism.

By contrast to other members of the Maritime school, the composition of his work involved geometry.

Often too, in his later work, he seized on the fugitive moment, imagining a hypothetical "What if" something happened in the conscious world.

Maritime Realism came to fruition during the apex of abstract painting's ascendancy both nationally and internationally.

Colville influenced a host of students that pursued a realist painting style.

Norman Eastman (class of 1952), Hugh Mackenzie (class of 1953), Tom Forrestall (class of 1958), Christopher Pratt (class of 1961) Mary Pratt (class of 1961), Daniel Brown (class of 1961), Nancy Stevens (class of 1962), Ken Tomlie (class of 1962), Roger Savage (class of 1963), Suzanne Hill (class of 1964), Glenn Adams (class of 1965) and Don Pentz (class of 1966).

He left teaching to devote himself to painting and print-making full-time from a studio in his home in Sackville on York Street; this building is now named Colville House.

The house was donated to Mount Allison by the Colville family. It now serves as a museum and gallery dedicated to Alex Colville's life and work under the auspice of the Owens Art Gallery.

Colville often used his immediate surroundings as subject matter, using his family as models.

Throughout his career, his wife Rhoda Colville, who was also an artist and poet, served as a model for a number of his celebrated works.

Rhoda Colville's recreational life as a swimmer, skater, dancer, singer, pianist and cyclist was featured in her husband's pieces, often set in the landscapes and waterways of Annapolis Valley.

In 1966, works by Colville along with those of Yves Gaucher and Sorel Etrog represented Canada at the Venice Biennale.

In 1967, Colville was made an Officer of the Order of Canada, elevated to Companion in 1982, the order's highest level.

In 1973, the University of Windsor gave him an honorary doctor of laws.

Colville lived in St. Catharines, Ontario, for three years before moving to Nova Scotia.

In 1973, he moved his family to his wife's hometown of Wolfville, where they lived and worked in the house that her father built and in which she was born.

In contrast to many of his contemporaries, Colville aligned himself with the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada and was a card-carrying party member for many years.

In 1981 he was appointed chancellor of Nova Scotia's Acadia University serving in that role until 1991.

In 1997, he received an honorary degree at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.