RONALD, William (William Ronald Smith)
1926-1998
Born in Stratford, Ontario, son of William Stanley and Lillian May (Plant) Smith, his family moved to Fergus, Ontario, where his father was a market gardener. Until his late teens Ronald lived in small towns and attended high school in Fergus and later Brampton. From the age of twelve he wanted to become a painter. He was also interested in boxing and boxed in events at school. He read Ring magazine and spent hours copying pictures of boxers to improve his drawing skills. His younger brother, John Meredith Smith, had ambitions too of becoming a painter. In high school Ronald was encouraged to follow a career in art by his teacher, Myrtle Strait. He worked part-time (1944-46) at A.V. Roe in Malton, Ontario. In 1947 after finishing high school (in Brampton where his parents moved during the war) he enrolled in the Ontario College of Art. There he studied three years under Will Ogilvie, Carl Schaefer, J.W.G. MacDonald, George Pepper, John Alfsen, Rowley Murphy, Harley Parker and others. After his third year he left the College discouraged by the disapproval of several instructors for his work. But one teacher, J.W.G. (Jock) MacDonald, who had done his first abstract painting in 1933, saw in Ronald a creative talent, and encouraged him to return to the College. Ronald went back to complete his final year in 1951 graduating with First Class Honours and winning an IODE Scholarship Award. Later he worked for the Brampton Conservator as a cartoonist. He entered water colours in the world wide competition by Hallmark in 1952 and won the Hallmark Art Award. He found his next employment with the Robert Simpson Company, Toronto (1952), where he worked as a display designer. In his free hours he continued with his own painting exploring facets of abstraction. His casein, duco, oils and water colours were attracting attention. He exhibited with the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour, Ontario Society of Artists, The Canadian Group of Painters, The Royal Canadian Academy, and in shows at the C.N.E. and with other groups including those at the Art Gallery of Toronto. During these exhibitions he encountered other abstract artists Ray Mead and Tom Hodgson. Toronto had fewer galleries then, and fewer places willing to show abstract work. This situation prompted Ronald to make suggestions to his bosses in Simpson’s display department, to show abstract paintings with furniture to enhance the display and give it an up-to-dateness. Management quickly agreed, as they were aware of the trends in New York. So Ronald went ahead with the organization of the display. He contacted those artists he knew – Oscar Cahén, Jack Bush, Alexandra Luke, Kazuo Nakamura, Ray Mead and Tom Hodgson. Once the display was organized, with furniture and paintings together, it went on view to the public in October of 1953 with full-page advertising in the dailies. Following the show the seven artists realized that better opportunities lay in store for them if they exhibited together. Since they didn’t want to be referred to as another Group of Seven, they decided to form a larger group. Ronald invited his old teacher Jock Macdonald, Cahén invited both Harold Town and Walter Yarwood, Mead asked Hortense Gordon and they finally numbered eleven. To galvanize the group further, Alexandra Luke hosted a meeting in her Oshawa studio to form Painters Eleven. In February of 1954 they held their first group show at Roberts Gallery, Jack Bush’s dealer. Bush was the only one with a dealer. The largest crowd in the history of the gallery showed up at the opening. Financial rewards happened later for them. Ronald became an instructor in painting for several centres. To increase his potential both as teacher and painter he attended the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Arts several times (1952) (1954) (once later). In 1954 he painted “In Dawn The Heart”, a painting which shows a Hofmann influence. It was exhibited in the Painters Eleven show at Roberts (1955) and later Hart House (1955) and was subsequently purchased by the Art Gallery of Toronto. Ronald moved to New York in 1955 and in 1956 the Art Gallery of Toronto entered “In Dawn The Heart”, on his behalf, in the International Guggenheim Competition for Canada and it won the award. As he became known in New York art circles he was able to arrange an invitation for Painters Eleven to show with American Abstract Artists in their annual exhibition in 1956 at the Riverdale Museum. His style and personality attracted the interest of Countess Ingeborg de Beausac, a wealthy Manhattan collector who introduced him to Samuel Kootz of the small but prestigious Kootz Gallery in New York. In April of 1957 he held his first solo show there and signed a contract with Kootz. For the next six years he exhibited with Kootz and enjoyed great success. A change in vogue to Pop Art, which Ronald could not relate to, left him with too small an audience to continue making a decent living. Kootz wanted him to change styles but Ronald felt he should make his own decisions regarding what he should paint. He had his last show at Kootz Gallery in December, 1963, around which time a sharp exchange of words occurred between Ronald and Kootz. They parted by mutual agreement. Sometime afterwards Kootz closed his gallery and retired and Ronald made plans to leave the city. At this point he had been working nine years continuously with an average of one show in the U.S. and one in Canada each year. He went looking for a quieter place to live and work. He found it in Kingston, a small village near Princeton, New Jersey. He settled down to paint with plans to exhibit in Toronto. After a number of months of work in his new surroundings, he held a Toronto showing which received several bad reviews. Depressed about everything, he abandoned painting, closed his U.S. studio and returned to Canada. In 1965 with his wife Helen and daughter Suzanne he arrived back in Toronto. He was further plagued with depression resulting from his withdrawal of continual overdosing of prescribed drugs for nervousness and overtiredness. He moved into the Anglican rectory (St. Andrew-by-the-Lake) in Toronto where Rev. Paul Hopkins, rectory minister, helped him out of his deep depression assisted by his wife, Helen, who remained by his side. While living at the rectory Ronald decided to repaint the grubby walls of the chapel. He further decided to paint an abstract mural described sometime later by David Ralston and Hugo McPherson in a 1966 issue of Canadian Art as follows, “It is painted in oils, and it flows around the room in a one-hundred-foot undulating path along three walls and the ceiling, turning into itself so as to create an endless river of joyous colour. The painting spills over radiators, mouldings and fixtures, and is definitely on the wall with no illusion of visual depth or volume intended. . . . Colour in this painting is important as structure. The relationship of colours is crisp and exhilarating. Ronald uses his colours, for the most part, directly from the tube and has used six basic colours plus black and white in this mural. . . . The symbolistic content of the mural is worth mentioning. Around the room, the artist has placed symbols such as St. Andrew’s Cross, the Holy Trinity, and large optical patterns representing the seven days of the creation and various other more direct references to religious tradition. In the mural itself there are two Maltese crosses. The entire mural, since it turns in on itself, could be seen as representing a constant and necessary rebirth or resurrection of religion in a modern context. The total effect of the mural is one of overflowing joy.” When Father Hopkins died the chapel fell into disuse. Later it was a summer refuge for old age outpatients of a health centre. In 1966 Ronald was offered a programme on the arts, by CBC television producer, John Kennedy. He accepted and became host of “The Umbrella” run on Sunday afternoons. The programme which had its share of controversey lasted two seasons and had a viewing audience of 1.2 million. Afterwards Ronald turned to painting once more. Some of his flowing lineal murals were attracting attention. In 1967 Fred Lebensold, architect for the National Art Centre in Ottawa, was looking for an artist who could tackle a large scale colourful mural. He thought of Ronald. Unannounced he dropped into Ronald’s Toronto studio to invite him to submit a proposal for a mural. Ronald came up with one of his flowing lineal compositions measuring 44 x 60 feet (later entitled “Tribute to Robert F. Kennedy” chosen by Ronald to honour R.F.K. in the way a writer dedicates a book to a friend). The three-story mural is influenced by both landscape and music. It’s made up of 96 one inch chipboard panels (a material chosen because it won’t warp). Each panel measures 8 by 4 feet. He painted each panel in his Toronto warehouse studio, using his 1/25th scale maquette as a guide. Neil Sharkey, specialist in installation worked out problems of attaching the mural panels to the N.A.C. walls. The initial “R” of Ronald’s apprentice, Rob Kirkpatrick, appears alongside Ronald’s “R” in the final work completed in 1969. The mural is widely admired by public and planners alike because of the difficult area the artist had to work with (two of the three walls are set at a 60-degree angle). Kay Kritzwiser noted the mural as follows: “Ronald’s big beautiful mural lilts across three walls of a hexagon, like bars of music. Its long scarves of color float out at one from various unexpected vistas in the Centre’s complex. Like music, like landscape horizons, the undulating channels of color are strongly expressionistic.” While continuing with his painting career Ronald returned to broadcasting and hosted “Theme & Variations” in-depth interviews and music, CBC (1968); “As It Happens” six hours straight, interviews with people making the news, CBC (1969-72); “Free For All”, public access programme, CITY-TV, (1972-74, 1977). In 1975 Joan Murray, director of the McLaughlin Gallery and Kathryn Reid Woods organized the exhibition “Ronald: 25 years” which featured 16 of Ronald’s paintings done between the years 1949 and 1962 including a catalogue text by writer and artist’s friend Barry Callaghan. The show toured eight galleries across Canada. In 1977 Ronald began his small abstracts which he exhibited at the Morris Gallery and noted by James Purdie in the Globe & Mail as follows, “The works are only 20 inches square. Ronald’s achievement is that they lose nothing in the reduction. They would be effective on a six-or eight-foot scale, but no more so than they are now.” In 1981 he started print-making and planned a series in this medium. His “prime ministers” project, planned over several years, is his version of portraits of 16 of Canada’s prime ministers. Each of the portraits differs in size and technique, to suit the personality and reputation of the subject politician. The portraits were first shown at the Art Gallery of Ontario, May 1, 1984, officially opened by Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau the exhibition then went on tour across Canada. Christina Sabat of The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton) noted the PM’s portraits as follows: “. . . The project took seven years to complete including historical research – facts and anecdotes on the personal and public lives of the prime ministers which would provide the sense of each man and his times. Such information he gathered from friends, Colin MacLeod, a CBC executive, and Prof. John Saywell. Interpretation of and personal feelings about each PM rather than physical likenesses provided the basis for the 16 paintings. Not conventional portraits in any sense, the works are allegorical, abstract interpretations that reflect very much William Ronald’s heyday style of the ‘SOs.” During his career Ronald has done hundreds of paintings, a few of the principal ones are: “Bright Vision” (1953), Robt. McL. Gal., Oshawa; “Slow Movement” (1953), Robt. McL. Gal.; “A Nearness and A Clearness” (c. 1955), NGC, Ott.; “Incendio” (1956), NGC; “Zoroaster” (1957), R.B. Baker, NYC (as listed 1961); “Central Black” (1957), Robt. McL. Gal.; “J’accuse” (1957), Robt. McL. Gal; “Gypsy” (1959), Dr. & Mrs. Sydney L. Wax, Thornhill, Ont.; “Exodus II” (1959), AGO, Tor.; “Barbara’s first tantrick” (1969), CC. Art Bank, Ott.; “Homage to Jock MacDonald” (1971), the artist; “Brandon: The Bleeding Hearts” (1972), Barry Callaghan, Tor.; “Network” (1983), the artist. His solo shows include: Hart House, U of T, Tor. (1954); Greenwich Gal., Tor. (1957); Kootz Gal., NYC (1957) (58) (59) (60) (62) (63) (63 2nd show); Laing Gal., Tor. (1960); Isaacs Gal. Tor. (1963); Princeton Univ. Mus., N.J. (1963); Douglass College, Rutgers Univ., N.B., N.J. (1963); David Mirvish Gal., Tor. (1970); Tom Thompson Memorial Gal., Owen Sound (1971); Brandon, Man. (1972); Robt. McL. Gal., Oshawa (1975); Morris Gal., Tor. (1975) (77) (78) (79) (80); Musée d’Art Contemporain, Mtl. (1975); Rodman Hall Arts Centre, St. Catharines (1975); Beaverbrook Art Gal., Fred., N.B. (1975); Confed. Centre Art Gal. & Mus., Charlott’n, PEI, (1975); Edmonton Art Gal., Edn. (1975); Burnaby Art Gal., Burnaby, B.C. (1976); Art Gal. Windsor, Ont. (1976); Gustafssen Gal., Brampton (1976); Brampton Pub. Lib. & Art Gal., Bramalea, Ont. (1976); Dominion Corinth Gal., Ott. (1978); Quart & King Gal., Tor. (1981); Lynwood Art Centre, Simcoe, Ont. (1983); Gal. Dresdnere, Tor. (1983); Robt. Vanderleelie Gal., Edn. (1984); AGO, Tor. (1984 – The Prime Ministers); Moore Gal., Ham., Ont. (1984); Montreal Gallery of Contemporary Arts, Mtl. (1985) and others. He is represented in over seventy public collections and museums including: Burnaby Art Gal., B.C.; Univ. B.C., Van.; Art Gal. Hamilton, Ont.; Rodman Hall Art Centre, St. Catharines, Ont.; Windsor Art Mus., Windsor, Ont.; AGO, Tor.; Tor. Dom. Bank, Tor.; York University, Tor.; Mt. Sinai Hospital, Tor.; Robt. McL. Gal., Oshawa; AEAC, Queen’s Univ., Kingston, Ont.; NGC, Ott., Ont.; NAC, Ott.; CC Art Bank, Ott.; CC Col., Ott.; MMFA, Mtl.; Conf. Art Gal., Charlott’n PEI; Brooklyn Mus., N.Y.; Solomon R. Guggenheim Mus., NYC; Mus. Mod. Art, NYC; David Rockefeller, NYC.; Nelson A. Rockefeller, NYC; Whitney Mus. of Art, NYC; Hudson River Museum, Yonkers, NY; Albright-Knox Art Gal., Buffalo, NY; Hirshhorn Mus. Smithsonian Inst., Wash., DC; Princeton Univ. Mus., N.J.; Gallery of Modern Art Wash., DC; and universities, museums and private collections in New York and many other states in the US; public and private collections throughout Canada. His honours and awards include: I.O.D.E. Scholarship, Canada (1951); Hallmark Art Award, NYC (1952); Canadian Amateur Hockey Assoc. Art Scholarship (1954); National Award, Canadian Section, International Guggenheim Awards (1956); 2nd Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Painting, NGC, Ott. (1957); Canada Council Senior Arts Award (1977); A.R.C.A. (1975). He lives in Toronto with his family and has a downtown studio on Mowat Avenue near Exhibition Park.
Colin S. MacDonald
A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker
National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada