Object Record
Images
Metadata
Artist |
Barry, Frank |
Title |
"And we are here as on a darkling plain-" |
Accession # |
000.1.161 |
Object Type |
painting |
Date |
1994 |
Medium |
acrylic |
Support |
canvas |
Dimensions |
H-75.5 W-125 cm |
Description |
This elaborate work is made up of multiple layered canvases. The picturesque summer landscape is opened up to reveal a darker, more brooding scene. Barry joined the RAF in World War Two and it was while on a troopship to India, in 1944, that he met and fell in love with his future wife, Patricia, a decoder with the FANYS. They were married in the northern Indian city of Simla in 1945. This work can be interpreted as a statement about the nature of war in its capacity for both destruction - and in the case of Barry's own life - rebirth. After immigrating to Canada in 1963, Frank taught art at Northmount High School in Montreal and obtained his M.F. A. from Concordia University, where he went on to teach for many years. During this time he was part of the thriving Quebec art scene and explored new forms, such as Op Art and Abstractionism. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and has works in many public and private collections including the National Gallery of Canada. After retiring from Concordia in 1984, Frank moved to Mississauga where he became a member of the Ontario Society of Artists as well as a lifelong member of both the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Colour and Form Society. He also served as a director of the Art Gallery of Mississauga and the Mississauga Arts council. Frank Barry passed away in July 2013 at 100 years old. |