Ronald Langley Bloore, D.Litt LL.D FRSC (May 29, 1925 – September 4, 2009) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th ...

ist and teacher. He was 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 ...

Education

Born in

Brampton Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#Lower-tier municipalities, lower-tier municipalit ...

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 ...

, Bloore received a B.A. in art and archaeology from 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 ...

in 1949. From 1949 to 1951, he studied art history and archaeology at the

New York University Institute of Fine Arts The Institute of Fine Arts (IFA) of New York University is dedicated to graduate teaching and advanced research in the history of art, archaeology and the conservation and technology of works of art. It offers Master of Arts and Doctor of Philoso ...

. In 1953, he received a M.A. in art and archaeology from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. From 1951 to 1954, he was also an instructor in art and archaeology at Washington University. From 1955 to 1957, he studied at the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. It is among the most prestigious specialist coll ...

at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

Career

After completing his studies at the

, Bloore returned to Canada, and held a position as an instructor in art and archaeology at the

from 1957 to 1958. Moving to

Regina, Saskatchewan Regina () is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. The city is the second-largest in the province, after Saskatoon, and is a commercial centre for southern Saskatchewan. As of the 2021 C ...

, he was director at the Norman Mackenzie Gallery (today`s

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 holds e ...

) of Regina College and an instructor in art and archaeology at the Regina Campus of the

University of Saskatchewan A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

from 1958 to 1966. While there, Bloore exhibited with Ken Lochhead, Art McKay,

Ted Godwin Edward W. (Ted) Godwin, D.F.A. (August 13, 1933 – January 3, 2013) was the youngest member of the Regina Five, a group of five artists ( Ken Lochhead, Art McKay, Ron Bloore and Douglas Morton) all based in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1961 when ...

and Doug Morton in 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 ...

's ''Five Painters from Regina'' show in 1961. The

, as it came to be called, lasted only a short time. Their work was more geometrically ordered than the painters in Toronto in

Painters Eleven Painters Eleven (also known as Painters 11 or P11) was a group of abstract artists active in Canada between 1953 and 1960. They are associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement. History Since the 1920s, artists in English Canada had been h ...

. But Bloore quarreled with McKay over "his" use of the circle and by 1964, however, the group had split up. Settling back in Toronto, he was director of art and a professor in the Faculty of Arts and Faculty of Fine Arts at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

from 1966 to 1990. In his work, he concentrated on a white-on-white technique. which built on one of his own paintings of 1960, combined with his knowledge of non-Western cultures. In 1965 and 1966, he created ''Whote on White'', a mural for the entranceway of the

Confederation Centre Art Gallery The Confederation Centre Art Gallery (CCAG; french: Musée d’art du Centre de la Confédération) is an art museum that forms a part of the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. The art museum pavilion f ...

in Charlottetown, installed in 1967. It consists of layers of white oil paint in different shades, finishes and surfaces, and was conserved and re-installed in 2019. Bloore was also a writer, and brought the career of folk artist Jan Gerrit Wyers to critical attention, among other subjects.

Honours and awards

In 1967, Bloore was awarded the Centennial Medal and the Jubilee Medal. In 1972, he received the

Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award is a monetary award given since 1971 by the Canada Council for the Arts to Canadian artists judged to be outstanding in their mid-careers. Since 2005, the award is given to one recipient in each of the followi ...

. In 1993, he was made 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 ...

for being a "most accomplished abstract painter and educator, he has strongly influenced visual arts, particularly in Western Canada". In 1993, he also was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Letters Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

degree from

and in 2001 an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

degree from the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the University of Saskatchew ...

. In 2007, he was made a Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

The Bloore Studio
is the painter's web site with hundreds of pages of images and texts. * University of Regina Archives and Special Collections, Ron Bloore Fonds: https://www.uregina.ca/library/services/archives/collections/art-architecture/bloore.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Bloore, Ron 1925 births 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 21st-century Canadian painters 2009 deaths Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada Members of the Order of Canada People from Brampton Washington University in St. Louis alumni Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Artists from Regina, Saskatchewan Artists from Ontario New York University Institute of Fine Arts alumni Academic staff of the University of Saskatchewan Academic staff of York University Canadian muralists Canadian abstract artists