Joseph Plaskett (12 July 1918 – 21 September 2014) was a Canadian painter.

Biography

Plaskett was born in

New Westminster, British Columbia New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada, and a member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District. It was founded by Major-General Richard Moody as the capita ...

in 1918. He initially studied history, and taught school for six years but in 1944, became interested in art. He studied at

Emily Carr University of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

and the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

, where his teacher was

A.Y. Jackson Alexander Young Jackson LL. D. (October 3, 1882April 5, 1974) was a Canadian painter and a founding member of the Group of Seven. Jackson made a significant contribution to the development of art in Canada, and was instrumental in bringing toget ...

. In 1945, he joined the B. C. Society of Artists. In 1946, having been awarded the first

Emily Carr Emily Carr (or M. Emily Carr as she sometimes signed her work) (December 13, 1871 – March 2, 1945) was a Canadian artist and writer who was inspired by the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast. One of the painters in Canada to ado ...

Scholarship for study in the U.S. by

Lawren Harris Lawren Stewart Harris LL. D. (October 23, 1885 – January 29, 1970) was a Canadian painter, best known as a leading member of the Group of Seven. He played a key role as a catalyst in Canadian art and as a visionary in Canadian landscape art. ...

, he studied at the San Francisco School of Art. Afterwards, he taught at the Winnipeg School of Art where he was made director (1947-1949) In summers, he studied in New York and once, with

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 ...

Provincetown Provincetown is a New England town located at the extreme tip of Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, in the United States. A small coastal resort town with a year-round population of 3,664 as of the 2020 United States Census, Provincet ...

in 1947. From 1949 to 1951, in Paris, he studied with

Fernand Léger Joseph Fernand Henri Léger (; February 4, 1881 – August 17, 1955) was a French painting, painter, sculpture, sculptor, and film director, filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of cubism (known as "tubism") which he gradually ...

. He then studied at the

Slade School The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

, London (1951-1952) with a bursary awarded by the

British Arts Council The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

. He took etching and engraving with

Stanley William Hayter Stanley William Hayter (27 December 1901 – 4 May 1988) was an English painter and printmaker associated in the 1930s with surrealism and from 1940 onward with abstract expressionism. Regarded as one of the most significant printmakers of ...

in Paris in 1953 with the aid of a Canadian Government Overseas Scholarship, and opened a studio there in 1957. In Paris, Plaskett, having renounced abstraction, painted still lifes in oils and did pastels that ''Vancouver Sun'' art critic Michael Scott described as “romanticized impressionism”. He was appointed to 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 2000. 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 ...

. He was also a member of the

Canadian Group of Painters The Canadian Group of Painters (CGP) was a collective of 28 painters from across Canada who came together as a group in 1933. Formation The Canadian Group of Painters succeeded the disbanded Group of Seven, whose paintings of the Canadian wilde ...

. In 2000, he moved to Suffolk, England. In 2004, he founded the Joseph Plaskett Foundation which awards scholarships to Canadian artists. Plaskett said,

"In my long career I have been a recipient of many awards.... These revolutionized my development. These awards all came from my country. I am paying my dues."

He died on 21 September 2014 at the age of 96.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Joe Plaskett Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Plaskett, Joseph 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters Artists from British Columbia 2014 deaths 1918 births Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts 20th-century Canadian male artists 21st-century Canadian male artists Officers of the Order of Canada