Arthur Fortescue McKay, best known as Art McKay (September 11, 1926 – August 3, 2000) was a
Canadian painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
and a member of The
Regina Five
Regina Five is the name given to five abstract painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton, Ted Godwin, and Ronald Bloore, who displayed their works in the 1961 National Gallery of Canada's exhibition "Five Painters from Regina".
W ...
. Many of his works are modernist abstractions.
Early life and education
McKay was born in Nipawin, Saskatchewan. His father was Joseph Fortescue McKay, a son of Angus McKay whose own grandfather was the younger John Richards McKay and whose grandmother was Harriet Ballenden. This and other ancestry would qualify McKay as an Anglo-Métis artist in Saskatchewan and in Canada. His mother, Georgina Agnes Newnham, was a daughter of another historical figure in Saskatchewan, the Anglican Bishop of Saskatchewan, Jervois Newnham.
From an early age, McKay drew landscape. His training in art began at the Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now the
Alberta University of the Arts) in
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...
(1946–1948), and later at the
Académie de la Grande Chaumière in
Paris (1949–1950),
Columbia University in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
(1956–1957), and The
Barnes Foundation in
Merion
Merion Station, also known as Merion, is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. It borders Philadelphia to its west and is one of the communities that make up the Philadelphia Main Line. Merion Station is part of Lower Me ...
,
Pennsylvania (1956–1957).
Career
In 1952, McKay joined the staff of the Regina Art School (today
University of Regina).
[J. Russell Harper. ]
Painting in Canada: A History
'. University of Toronto Press; 1977. . p. 352ff. From 1951 to 1956, he was a lecturer in art at the University of Saskatchewan.
[Barry Lord. ]
The history of painting in Canada: toward a people's art
'. NC Press; 1974. . pp. 209–210 While there, McKay helped organize a series of
Emma Lake Artists' Workshops The Emma Lake Artists' Workshops are affiliated with the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. Summer art classes were originally taught by Augustus Kenderdine at Murray Point, Saskatchewan, Murray Point on Emma Lake (Saskatchewan), Emma Lake in ...
in rural Saskatchewan.
[Lora Senechal Carney. ]
Canadian Painters in a Modern World, 1925–1955: Writings and Reconsiderations
'. McGill-Queen's University Press; 2017. . p. 254ff. He became an associate professor in art there between 1956 and 1974, and director from 1964 to 1967. In 1978, he was an associate professor of art at the University of Regina.
McKay received national and international attention as one of the painting group the
Regina Five
Regina Five is the name given to five abstract painters, Kenneth Lochhead, Arthur McKay, Douglas Morton, Ted Godwin, and Ronald Bloore, who displayed their works in the 1961 National Gallery of Canada's exhibition "Five Painters from Regina".
W ...
.
Canadian Library Journal
'. Vols. 29–30. Canadian Library Association.; 1972. p. 201. The group's paintings were exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada in 1961 in a show titled "Five Painters from Regina".
[James M. Pitsula. ]
New World Dawning: The Sixties at Regina Campus
'. University of Regina Press; 2008. . p. 46ff. He was influenced in the 1960s by
Barnett Newman
Barnett Newman (January 29, 1905 – July 4, 1970) was an American artist. He has been critically regarded as one of the major figures of abstract expressionism, and one of the foremost color field painters. His paintings explore the sense o ...
,
["Arthur MacKay"](_blank)
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''. whom he,
Ron Bloore
Ronald Langley Bloore, D.Litt LL.D FRSC (May 29, 1925 – September 4, 2009) was a Canadian abstract artist and teacher. He was a member of the Regina Five.
Education
Born in Brampton, Ontario, Bloore received a B.A. in art and archaeolo ...
, and
Roy Kiyooka invited to the Emma Lake Artists' Workshop as guest artist in 1959.
A Companion to American Art
'. Wiley; 30 January 2015. . p. 302ff.
McKay's best known works are his scraped enamel circular and rectangular "mandalas", in which he uses relaxing, contemplative imagery to depict ideas related to
Zen Buddhism. McKay was included in
Clement Greenberg's 1964 "
Post-Painterly Abstraction" exhibition.
In the 1970s, he continued to paint abstractions but also reintroduced the landscape in his work.
In 1997, the
MacKenzie Art Gallery
The MacKenzie Art Gallery (MAG; french: Musee d’art MacKenzie) is an art museum located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. The museum occupies the multipurpose T. C. Douglas Building, situated at the edge of the Wascana Centre. The building hol ...
mounted a national travelling exhibition, "Arthur F. McKay: A Critical Retrospective". At the exhibition opening, McKay said: "If I had known I was that good, I would have painted more."
His work is in many collections, both public and private, such as the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
McKay died on August 3, 2000, in
Squamish, British Columbia
Squamish (; Squamish language, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim: Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, ; 2016 census population 19,512) is a community and a district municipality in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, located at th ...
, at the age of 73.
References
Bibliography
*
*
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKay, Arthur
1926 births
2000 deaths
Artists from Saskatchewan
People from Nipawin, Saskatchewan
Alumni of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière
20th-century Canadian painters
Canadian male painters
20th-century Canadian male artists
Canadian abstract artists