Arthur John Ensor (2 January 1905 – 18 January 1995) was a British-Canadian painter and industrial designer.

Early life

Ensor was born in

Llanishen Llanishen (Welsh Llanisien ''llan'' church + ''Isien'' Saint Isan) is a district and community in the north of Cardiff, Wales. Its population as of the 2011 census was 17,417. Llanishen is the home of the former HMRC tax offices, the talles ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 2 January 1905. His parents moved to Canada when he was a child but he returned to Europe to study art, first in Florence at the

Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze ("academy of fine arts of Florence") is an instructional art academy in Florence, in Tuscany, in central Italy. It was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici in 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. ...

and then in London at the Polytechnic School of Art before he graduated with a Diploma in Mural Painting and Art History from the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

. After graduation, Ensor worked for the

Empire Marketing Board The Empire Marketing Board was formed in May 1926 by the Colonial Secretary Leo Amery to promote intra-Empire trade and to persuade consumers to 'Buy Empire'. It was established as a substitute for tariff reform and protectionist legislation and ...

before, in 1935, taking a post as an Industrial Designer for the Plastics Division of

Imperial Chemical Industries Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was a British chemical company. It was, for much of its history, the largest manufacturer in Britain. It was formed by the merger of four leading British chemical companies in 1926. Its headquarters were at M ...

World War Two

At the start of World War Two Ensor contacted the

War Artists' Advisory Committee The War Artists Advisory Committee (WAAC), was a British government agency established within the Ministry of Information at the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 and headed by Sir Kenneth Clark. Its aim was to compile a comprehensive artist ...

, WAAC, and he was eventually offered a short contract to record industrial scenes in the United Kingdom. By this time Ensor had already enlisted in the British Army and arrangements were made for him to produce four paintings in August 1942 before undertaking a drawing commission at the

Vickers Armstrong Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, wi ...

Aircraft Assembly Works, where

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...

bombers were being built. Ensor submitted these pictures to WAAC in November 1942 and this led to a further commission at the John Summers & Sons steel plant which Ensor completed while on leave from the Army. During the war Ensor also recorded scenes of troop training, of oil drilling and of anti-aircraft and coastal defences.

Later life

Ensor returned to Canada in 1947 where he established the Ensor Industrial Design Association and became a member of the

Royal Canadian Academy of Art The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (RCA) is a Canadian arts-related organization that was founded in 1880. History 1880 to 1890 The title of Royal Canadian Academy of Arts was received from Queen Victoria on 16 July 1880. The Governor General ...

. In 1967, His painting, ''Summer Stores'', was selected as the design for a 50 Cent Centennial

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

postage stamp. In the 1970s, he produced a series of watercolour paintings and coloured pencil sketches of the

Royal Military College of Canada '') , established = 1876 , type = Military academy , chancellor = Anita Anand ('' la, ex officio, label=none'' as Defence Minister) , principal = Harry Kowal , head_label ...

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

. These paintings, which are currently in the Beaverbrook Collection of War Art at the

Canadian War Museum The Canadian War Museum (french: link=no, Musée canadien de la guerre; CWM) is a national museum on the country's military history in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The museum serves as both an educational facility on Canadian military history, in a ...

include scenes of officer cadets in various activities: *''Land Survey Crew'' *''Measuring Flow Resistance To A Solution Of Calcium Carbonate'' *''Calibrating Radar Waves, Electrical Engineering Department'' *''Football'' *''Map Making with Stereo Viewer'' as well as architectural paintings of ''Massey Library'', ''Sawyer building'', ''Officer's mess'' and ''Fort Fredrick''. Ensor's watercolour of RMC office cadets at the Halloween Ball, ''Halloween Ball, Royal Military College, Kingston'', is in the collection of Library and Archives Canada.
''Halloween Ball, Royal Military College, Kingston'' Arthur John Ensor died in

Saanich, British Columbia Saanich ( ) is a district municipality on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, within the Greater Victoria area. The population was 117,735 at the 2021 census, making it the most populous municipality in the Capital Regional District and V ...

on 18 January 1995. His work is represented in major museums and public galleries throughout Canada.

References

External links

Works by Ensor
in the

Imperial War Museum Imperial War Museums (IWM) is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. Founded as the Imperial War Museum in 1917, the museum was intended to record the civil and military ...

collection {{DEFAULTSORT:Ensor, Arthur John 1905 births 1995 deaths 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Alumni of the Royal College of Art Landscape artists Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Modern painters Artists from Cardiff British emigrants to Canada World War II artists 20th-century Canadian male artists