David Lloyd Blackwood (November 7, 1941 – July 2, 2022) was a Canadian artist known chiefly for his
intaglio prints, often depicting dramatic historical scenes of
Newfoundland outport
An outport is the term given for a small coastal community in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador other than the chief port of St. John's. Originally, the term was used for coastal communities on the island of Newfoundland, ...
life and industry, such as
shipwreck
A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...
s,
seal hunting
Seal hunting, or sealing, is the personal or commercial hunting of seals. Seal hunting is currently practiced in ten countries: United States (above the Arctic Circle in Alaska), Canada, Namibia, Denmark (in self-governing Greenland only), Ice ...
,
iceberg
An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...
encounters and
resettlement. He also created paintings, drawings and
woodcut
Woodcut is a relief printing technique in printmaking. An artist carves an image into the surface of a block of wood—typically with gouges—leaving the printing parts level with the surface while removing the non-printing parts. Areas that ...
s.
Early life
Blackwood was born in
Wesleyville
Wesleyville is a borough in Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,229 at the 2020 census, down from 3,341 in 2010. It is part of the Erie Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Geography
Wesleyville is located at (42.137056, ...
,
Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
, on November 7, 1941.
His family was involved in
seafaring
Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea."
It involves topics a ...
, which guided the artwork he later made.
He opened his first art studio in 1956, and was awarded a scholarship three years later to study at the
Ontario College of Art
Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...
.
After graduating in 1963, he remained in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, where he became Art Master at
Trinity College School
Trinity College School (TCS) is a co-educational, independent boarding and day school located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. TCS was founded on May 1, 1865, more than two years before Canadian Confederation. It includes a Senior School ...
in
Port Hope.
Career
Blackwood's artwork was exhibited at the National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...
by the time he was 23 years old. He worked on a series of fifty etchings titled ''The Lost Party'', depicting a provincial sealing disaster in 1914, throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s. This became one of the most extensive series of thematically-related prints in Canadian history. He was also involved in establishing an art gallery at Erindale College (a campus of the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
). It was consequently called The Blackwood Gallery when it was inaugurated in 1992. He ultimately had 90 solo exhibitions and two major retrospective exhibitions. His art was displayed internationally at Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history.
The original cast ...
as part of the Royal Collection
The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world.
Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...
, the National Gallery of Australia
The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in th ...
, and at the Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...
in Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
.
Blackwood was the focus of a 1976 documentary film, '' Blackwood'', which was produced by the National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; french: Office national du film du Canada (ONF)) is Canada's public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary f ...
. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Academy Award together with the other nominations for best documentary short film. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are annou ...
, and earned ten international film awards. His work was covered in ''The Art of David Blackwood'', published by William Gough in 1988.[ It was also the subject of three other key publications: ''The Wake of the Great Sealers'' (1973),] ''David Blackwood: Master Printmaker'' (2001, also by Gough), and ''Black Ice: David Blackwood Prints of Newfoundland'' (2011). In 2003, he became the first practicing artist to be named Honorary Chairman of the Art Gallery of Ontario
The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; french: Musée des beaux-arts de l'Ontario) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The museum is located in the Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, on Dundas Street West between McCaul and Beve ...
, which maintains a Blackwood Research Centre and a major collection of his work. His collection of prints titled ''Black Ice'' went on national tour from 2011 to 2012.
Personal life and death
Blackwood was married to Anita until his death. He resided in Port Hope throughout his later years while keeping a studio in Wesleyville, Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
. He was hospitalized for two years during the mid-2010s due to a life-threatening illness.
Blackwood died on July 2, 2022, at his home in Port Hope. He was 80, and suffered from an unspecified long illness prior to his death.
Awards and honours
Blackwood was an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
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 ...
. He was granted an honorary Doctor of Letters by Memorial University of Newfoundland
Memorial University of Newfoundland, also known as Memorial University or MUN (), is a public university in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, based in St. John's, with satellite campuses in Corner Brook, elsewhere in Newfoundland and ...
and an honorary Doctor of Laws by the University of Calgary
The University of Calgary (U of C or UCalgary) is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The University of Calgary started in 1944 as the Calgary branch of the University of Alberta, founded in 1908, prior to being ins ...
in 1992.[ He was appointed a member of the ]Order of Canada
The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit.
To coincide with the ...
in April 1993 and invested ten months later in February of the following year. He later received the Order of Ontario
The Order of Ontario () is the most prestigious official honour in the Canadian province of Ontario. Instituted in 1986 by Lieutenant Governor Lincoln Alexander, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier David Peterson, the civilian order is adm ...
in 2002. Blackwood was the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (french: link=no, Médaille du jubilé d'or de la Reine Elizabeth II) or the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2002 to mark the 50th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
(2002) and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal
The Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (french: Médaille du jubilé de diamant de la reine Elizabeth II) or The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal was a commemorative medal created in 2012 to mark the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's ...
(2012). A street in Sarnia, Ontario, David Blackwood Drive, is named in his honour.
References
External links
*
Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador Permanent Collection: David Blackwood
* ttp://nfb.ca/film/blackwood/ Watch the documentary ''Blackwood'' at NFB.ca
David Blackwood Print Gallery and Dealer
Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwood, David
1941 births
2022 deaths
20th-century Canadian printmakers
21st-century printmakers
Artists from Newfoundland and Labrador
Members of the Order of Canada
Members of the Order of Ontario
Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts
OCAD University alumni
People from Newfoundland (island)
University of Toronto people