Don Jarvis (1923–2001) was a Canadian abstract painter.

Career

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in 1923, Don Jarvis took up drawing at an early age. An aspiring cartoonist as a teenager, Jarvis enrolled at the Vancouver School of Art in 1941 and was encouraged by his teachers,

B.C. Binning Bertram Charles Binning (10 February 1909 in Medicine Hat, Alberta – 16 March 1976 in Vancouver, British Columbia), popularly known as B. C. Binning, was best known for his drawings until 1946 when he first exhibited his witty s ...

and

Jack Shadbolt Jack Leonard Shadbolt, (February 4, 1909 November 22, 1998) was a Canadian painter. Early life Born in Shoeburyness, England, Shadbolt came to Canada with his parents in April 1911. He was raised in Victoria, British Columbia. He studied at t ...

to pursue fine art. He left after a year, but returned in 1946 and completed the course in 1948. When he graduated in 1948, Jarvis won a

scholarship A scholarship is a form of financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, diversity and inclusion, athletic skill, and financial need. Scholarsh ...

. At the suggestion of Lawren Harris, he traveled to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to study under the abstract

expressionist Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

Hans Hofmann Hans Hofmann (March 21, 1880 – February 17, 1966) was a German-born American painter, renowned as both an artist and teacher. His career spanned two generations and two continents, and is considered to have both preceded and influenced Abstrac ...

. His time in New York produced his acclaimed, newly rediscovered collection of ''New York Drawings''. Jarvis returned to

in 1949 and became a drawing and painting instructor at the Vancouver School of Art in 1951, in 1961 becoming head of the department. He remained there for 36 years. He is known for his lyrical abstractions, and especially for his ''Encounter'' and ''Rain Forest'' series of the 1960s and 1970s. Jarvis began exhibiting in the annual B.C. Artists exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1946, and each year after that until 1958, as well as in 1960, 1963, and 1965. He was given solo exhibitions at the Vancouver Gallery in 1949, the

Art Gallery of Greater Victoria The Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (AGGV) is an art museum located in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Situated in Rockland, Victoria, the museum occupies a building complex; made up of the Spencer Mansion, and the Exhibition Galleries. The ...

, the Edmonton Art Gallery, and Simon Fraser University Gallery and participated in many group exhibitions His work is represented in the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery and elsewhere. In 1961, he received a Canada Council Select Arts Fellowship and he was made a member 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 ...

in 1967. He was also a member of the Canadian Group of Painters and the British Columbia Group of Artists. In 1999,he said:

"I see the painter as an instrument, a function, a conduit of the essential unity. My work is metaphor, never simile. I make no distinction between subject and object, inner and outer, maker and viewer. I am continually surprised by what arises on the canvas or the paper. I am not a 'creator'. How can one create what is already there? I am mist, trees, rain, sun brush, canvas, weather, season, figure."

Personal life

Jarvis died of heart disease on March 22, 2001 in

Sechelt, British Columbia Sechelt (, Shishalh language chat'lich) is a district municipality located on the lower Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Approximately 50 km northwest of Vancouver, it is accessible from mainland British Columbia by a 40-minute ferry tr ...

, leaving his wife, Gladys, their two sons, Graham and Roy, and grandchildren, Jennifer and Scott and one of the most varied Canadian art collections.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jarvis, Donald Artists from Vancouver Modern painters 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters Canadian people of British descent Canadian people of French descent 1923 births 2001 deaths Emily Carr University of Art and Design alumni Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Canadian art educators Canadian expatriates in the United States Canadian abstract artists 20th-century Canadian male artists