45 Replies to “Alex Colville, 1920 – 2013”

  2. RIP, Mr. Colville. There’s something mystical in the simplicity of his paintings. There’s often a question left in the viewers mind …

  3. I’ve had a print of “Moon and Cow” hanging on my wall for almost half my life.
    Glad Colville had a long and productive life. RIP.

  6. The beauty of having a lifes body of work like Alex Colville is that he lives on and continues to make other’s lives better.
    I had brunch with Colville once back in the 70s thanks to a family get together and some cousins who were hosting him and his wife. I always enjoyed his art.

  8. I chanced across an interview of Mr. Colville some years back and credit him with helping me find the focus in my own art. “The idea that ordinary things are important.” Simple, powerful, and true. RIP, sir.

  9. I always enjoyed his pictures but really didn’t appreciate them until I moved to the coast. Everyday I can see some of his inspiration. RIP sir, you were a great artist…

  12. Kate,
    Your choice of commemorative painting suggests his loss is especially poignant to you, knowing that you understand his craft much better than most. My heartfelt condolences to those who are particularly touched by his loss.

  13. Beautiful artistic tribute to Colville, Kate!
    The unspoken genius of the ARTIST!
    Kate McMillan, YOU ARE THE BEST, this world has to offer!

  14. His paintings were simple yet strangely haunting. Mention the name Alex Colville and most of us of a certain age can immediately conjure up the image of one or more of his works, the most likely being the woman with binoculars on the ferry to PEI and, of course, the horse and train. His World War 2 painting of Canadian infantry near Nijmegen beautifully captured the bone weariness and grim determination of foot soldiers. We are fortunate to have shared the planet with such genius. RIP, Alex.

  15. I say this meaning to offend noone, and I truely hope nobody is overly angry, no mater how much they disagree. My father was a professional artist and he considered Colville a highly over-promoted “third rate hack”. Promoted for nationalistic reasons. A sort of painter’s equivalent of Margaret Atwood.
    I don’t post this to piss people off. I don’t do it lightly, and I know it will offend the notions of many people on SDA. I love this blog. But we care about the truth, right? So that’s what my father thought, anyway.
    RIP Mr. Colville of course.

  16. A truly great Canadian artist of a time long past.
    He must have wondered what happened to his country.

  17. I grew up in Sackville New Brunswick and saw Mr. Colville almost every day as he and his faculty friends ate brunch at the Kennel Club restaurant next to the bank where I worked.
    Also, for many years I could name most of the people he immortalized in his paintings. Naturally, I saw his paintings in Tweedie Hall and his triptych at the entrance to the Athletic Centre. He was a marvellous talent and he started a school of painters who magnified his work.
    I am so pleased he lived a long and full life. We will be able to celebrate his life for ages to come.

  18. Not being an artist, Black Mamba, I am in no position to contradict your father, particularly on technical grounds. Colville’s work, or at least the pieces I refer to, were, to me, memorable and thought-provoking, and that was before I knew he was supposed to be a national icon.
    From the interviews I’ve since heard, Colville seems like he would have been a much more agreeable lunch guest than Margaret Atwood.

  19. Hey, Black Mamba, your father’s criticism is fair comment. Not everyone is going to either like or appreciate Colville’s work. The viewer brings a lot to an artist’s painting, their experience, their perceptions, their biases, their sorrows, IOW, all the baggage they carry, and filter that piece of art through them.
    Another word that epitomizes Colville’s work — and one of the reasons I’m drawn to his paintings — is “menacing.” There’s always an implied back story leading to the “and what happens next?” moment. His paintings often seem to be “the middle segment” of the story.

  20. A phenomenal artist who captured reality on canvas which always told a story – RIP Canadian son.

  21. It’s very trendy to dismiss Colville. It is simply the thing to do among the cognoscenti, much the way that economists today snort in derision at Laffer, even as they admit in the same breath that his ideas are pretty much correct.
    Meanwhile, artists who charge $12 million for a stuffed shark in a tank are looked upon with awe. Who the art community considers to be relevant should be considered utterly irrelevant.

  24. Well said batb. I agree with your comment and also with Black Mamba’s comment. I always thought that Colville’s painting of the Canadian troops walking along the road said a lot about their trials and it haunted me. But, I would not hang one of his works on my wall, as I find his paintings stark.
    However, he was a great artist whether you like him or not, and may he rest in peace.
    I also agree that I would have preferred having breakfast with him rather than Margaret Atwood any day.

  25. Oh and another thing. The Colville painting Kate chose for this thread is very appropriate and expresses a lot of feeling.

  26. Alex Colville is one of my favourite artists, from the school of “artists with real talent”.
    We have a lovely book of illustrations of his work, I like to peruse it occasionally because it just feels good.

  27. Alex Colville was a fine gentleman and a great artist. One of the very few to add to the visual vocabulary. He was also a rock-solid conservative. I am very sorry that he has died; but after a long and productive life.

  28. Hi Jon – I grew up there as well – and his kids grew up with my sisters. Brilliant artist. And I suspect the father of the commenter above was a little jealous…
    Alec had a talent and ability to compose and represent matched by few.

  29. Been Around The Block – again we’re on the same page.
    His composition always left questions – what happened before or what was to happen after? Often with a sense of foreboding. A horse running down a railway track…

  30. RIP, Mr. Colville. Sadly, I was pretty much unaware of his existence until now, but it’s obvious the man had a gift.
    Regarding Black Mamba’s comment (about her father), I have heard the same thing said sneeringly of Robert Bateman. The fact that he is able to make a handsome living selling beautifully-executed wildlife pictures greatly rankles those who produce unsaleable abstract art while sucking on the government teat.

  31. I respect Black Mamba’s opinion — art is very subjective and not everyone is into the same cup of tea. I agree with batb that you always feel like you’ve arrived in the middle of the story with Coville’s work, and it takes a bit of study to figure out exactly where, what came before, and what is coming. Which is a lot more fun that an overpriced canvas with a few stripes painted on it.

  32. ‘fun than’ – begging your pardon, but I was just nailed by my iPhone’s autocorrect again. Sodding annoying feature.

  33. I’ve found that most of the artists who criticize Colville,Bateman,and Danby, realists, couldn’t draw “the pirate” to save their critical lives.
    I’ve heard SO many “artists” condemn the above mentioned as “mere illustrators”,while THEY produce works I wouldn’t put up in my outhouse.
    Go to any art show in B.C and ask one of the exhibitors their opinion of Colville,it’s usually a polite sneer at best,while the same person will rave on for minutes about the genius of Robert Mapplethorpe.
    Yes,art appreciation is subjective, but talent still shows up,and lack of same does also.
    RIP,Mr.Colville,thank you for all your works.

  34. Colville was more than an artist – he was the honorary colonel of 415 Squadron in recognition of his wartime contributions. Alas, those were not the same years that I served on the same squadron so I did not get to meet him.
    I’m a “realist” too and have little time for abstract paintings so I appreciate his work.
    Ad Metam, Colonel Colville
    P.S. That’s the motto of 415 Squadron

  36. Oh, I don’t think my father would have had any trouble deciding to have lunch with Alex Colville rather than Margaret Atwood. That seems like a no-brainer.

  37. BTW, I’ve been informed that he did think Colville was “a good craftsman”. So “hack” might have been harsh.
    He loathed Maritime boosterism. I suspect that was part of it.

  38. Also, and I know noone’s reading this thread anymore, I’ve been looking at Colville’s work and a lot of it surprises me. The technical accomplishment is undeniable and the themes are far more interesting than I would have assumed. Also, mother dearest informs me that my father may indeed have said “third-rate”, but he didn’t say “hack”. She says this even though I was quoting her here minutes after talking to her. I have to remember not to trust that woman. It rarely pays off.
    As I say, Maritime boosterism. It was his cryptonite.

  40. His son was a friend of my brothers way back when , when they lived in Sackville N.B.

  42. I was still reading the thread. I admit my first thought on reading your initial comment was “oh yeah, well what do you think of him?” so I appreciate the follow-ups.

  44. Thanks, Kate, for this thread!
    I’ve always admired Colville’s work, for its mystery, compositional brilliance, clean and spare simplicity and just because it really appeals to me. I would not put Robert Bateman’s art in the same league as that of Colville and Pratt. I find Bateman’s paintings cold. Art is subjective, like literature and music.

  45. Thanks Kate for posting that painting; one of his best I think. After looking at that and others by Coleville with my son, we had a conversation about art. He likes Coleville and I do as well but I wonder about the straight lines and the Sim-like simplicity of some of it.
    What is art? Is art worth anything? What makes a work of art something you want to look at? In a realistic painting does the sky and the water have to be perfect to be good art? Why does the group of seven art still appeal even though the sky is usually abstract? Unanswerable questions….

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