Roberts Gallery Blog

RFM McINNIS FEATURE

There are very few artists, or Canadians for that matter, that have experienced and taken in all that Canada has to offer more than RFM McInnis. Robert was born in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1942. As a young adult he spent time in Ottawa, Vancouver, and Toronto. Robert was then drawn to the Prairies, which he felt “appealed to [his] sensitibilies and temperament like no other place.” He then spent years in Calgary and Edmonton painting the calm, wide open skies, and the grain elevators. With a few years of living in different locations in Quebec during the “Prairie” years of his life, he asked himself a very simple question: “where have I not lived yet?” Winnipeg seemed like the best answer to that question. Robert and his wife Françoise found an unoccupied three unit apartment on the Eastern end of Palliser’s Triangle. This was “McInnis Studio” for 11 years. As they approached their 70s, downsizing seemed in order so they found a bungalow in Saint Boniface. Robert and Françoise currently live in Montreal, Quebec.

While Robert has painted and been inspired by the Great Canadian landscape that he has seen throughout his life, he has always considered himself a “Painter of the Figure.” In each of the many cities Robert has lived in he would have models come to his studio where he would capture the beauty and character of the people of Canada.