Ron Langley Bloore
Ron Bloore (1925-2009) - Biography
Born in Brampton, Ontario, Ron Bloore received a B.A. in art and archaeology from the University of Toronto in 1949. From 1949 to 1951, he studied art history and archaeology at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. In 1953, he received a M.A. in art and archaeology from Washington University in St. Louis. From 1951 to 1954, he was also an Instructor in art and archaeology at Washington University. From 1955 to 1957, he studied at the Courtauld Institute of Art at the University of London. After completing his studies at the University of London, Bloore returned to Canada, and held a position as an instructor in art and archaeology at the University of Toronto from 1957 to 1958.
In 1958, Bloore was appointed director of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan. The gallery had opened five years earlier as part of Regina College. Bloore stayed there seven years before returning to Toronto. An active advanced-art scene had already begun to develop in the city, made unique by the Emma Lake Workshops. These workshops had been initiated in 1955 by Kenneth Lochhead, director of the art school at Regina College...
[In 1961], Bloore organized an exhibition at the Norman Mackenzie to show the work of five Regina painters Lochhead, Art McKay, Ted Godwin, Doug Morton, and himself and an architect, Clifford Wiens. This exhibition, minus Wiens's contributions, was circulated by the National Gallery as “Five Painters from Regina.” It brought these artists to national attention and showed that, in awareness and quality, their work was as challenging as that being done anywhere in the country. Bloore would eventually settle back in Toronto, where he taught as a Professor in the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Fine Arts at York University from 1966 to 1990.
Selected Exhibitions:
1962 - Five Painters from Regina, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton, ON
1965 - Ronald Bloore, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba
1975 - Ronald Bloore, Sixteen Years, 1958-74, Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, ON, London Art Gallery, London, ON, Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, ON, Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal, Quebec, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, The Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK
1991 - Ronald Bloore: Not Without Design, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina, SK, Art Gallery of Hamilton, Hamilton ON, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Glenbow Museum, Calgary, AB
1993 - The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950's, Musée du Quebec, Quebec City, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ON, Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina SK, Glenbow Museum, Calgary AB, Art Gallery of Hamilton, ON.
2009 - A Tribute to Ronald Bloore, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto ON
Selected Awards:
In 1993, Bloore was made a Member of the Order of Canada for being a most accomplished abstract painter and educator, he has strongly influenced visual arts, particularly in Western Canada. In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Artist Specialization: Bloore set rigorous parameters within which to work: a surely constructed abstraction limited in colour - white, blue, red, but above all, white and using with it a simple range of geometric forms. Many of his paintings comprise only linear forms; others include stars, circles, arches, or triangles, forms he has described as “symbol-like elements,” not because he proposes specific meaning by them but because they are forms deeply embedded in the history of art. In structural terms, he has been greatly influenced by architectural forms, particularly those of ancient civilizations, whose currency has never been devalued. -David Burnett, National Gallery of Canada, 1990
