Caven Atkins
Caven Atkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | Ernest Caven Atkins 1907 London,Ontario |
| Died | December 22, 2000(aged 92–93) Birmingham, Michigan,U.S.A. |
| Education | Meyer Both Commercial Art School, Chicago (1924); Winnipeg School of Art (1925-1928) withLionel LeMoine FitzGerald |
| Spouse | May Pepper |
Caven Atkins(1907 – 2000) was a Canadian figurative and landscape painter.
Early years
[edit]Born inLondon, Ontario,Caven Atkins was raised in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. From 1925 to 1928 he studied withLionel LeMoine FitzGeraldat the Winnipeg School of Art.[1][2]After graduation, Atkins worked atBrigden'scommercial art firm, where he metBertram BrookerandCharles Comfort.Atkins later became friends withFritz Brandtner,who introduced him toGerman expressionism.[1][2]
Career
[edit]From 1930 to 1934, he was an instructor at the Winnipeg School of Art. He taught painting atQueen’s Universitysummer school in 1943 and at theOntario College of Artin 1945. Other teaching positions he held included the appointments at theUniversity of Toronto,Central Technical Schooland elsewhere.[3]While teaching at the Ontario College of Art in 1945, he wrote an article forCanadian Artmagazine on using different media.[4][1]
Atkins was not selected to be an official war artist, but he was determined to be in the war effort. He recorded day and night scenes of the activity in the Toronto Shipbuilding Company in a painting and 24 drawings he made in 1942. These he donated to theNational Gallery of Canadain 1951 (they subsequently became part of the war art collection prior to their transfer to theCanadian War Museumin 1971), where they were acknowledged because of their home front subject matter.[5]
Like many artists, Atkins found employment in the immediate post-war period difficult to find. In 1945, he moved toBirmingham, Michiganwhere he worked as an illustrator and designer for theFord Motor Companyuntil he retired. Atkins never returned to live in Canada.[5]He died in Birmingham, Michigan December 22, 2000 at the age of 93.
Selected exhibitions
[edit]Atkins had aretrospectiveof hiswatercoloursat Hart House (now part of the Art Museum of Toronto) in 1945.[6]In 1979, the Art Gallery of Windsor curated a survey by curator Ted Fraser, titledA Retrospective Exhibition of Selected Works by Caven Atkins Spanning Fifty Years of the Artist's Life.[7]In 1987, the Art Gallery of Windsor organized the circulating exhibitionCaven Atkins: the Winnipeg yearscurated by Ted Fraser.
Selected collections
[edit]His work is included in theNational Gallery of Canada,[8]the Canadian War Museum,[5]the Art Gallery of Algoma,[9]theArt Gallery of Ontario,[10]theArt Gallery of Windsor(56 works) theBeaverbrook Art Gallery,Fredericton[11]and theRemai Modern,Saskatoon.[12]
Memberships
[edit]Atkins belonged to the Manitoba Society of Artists,[9]theCanadian Group of Painters(1941-1943);Canadian Society of Graphic Art(1941-1943); and theCanadian Society of Painters in Water Colour(1943-1945) (he was president of the latter two societies). He also belonged to Ontario Association of Teachers of Art (1944-1945).[1]
References
[edit]- ^abcdMacDonald, Colin S. (1967).A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, vol. 1(First ed.). Ottawa: Canadian Paperbacks Publishing.Retrieved16 August2021.
- ^ab"Ernest Caven Atkins".www.fecklesscollection.ca.Feckless Collection.Retrieved15 August2021.
- ^Murray, Joan (1981).Canadian Artists of the Second World War.Oshawa: Robert McLaughlin Gallery. Archived fromthe originalon 18 August 2021.Retrieved17 August2021.
- ^Caven Atkins, "An Eye Cocked at Posterity". Canadian Art, April-May 1945, Volume 2, issue 4, pages 158-161, 168
- ^abcBrandon, Laura (2002)."Obituaries: Paul Goranson, Michael Forster & Caven Atkins: Canadian War Artists".Canadian Military History.11(4): 53–58.Retrieved18 August2021.
- ^"Contributors, Caven Atkins". Canadian Art, volume 2, issue 4, page 181
- ^"A Retrospective Exhibition of Selected Works by Caven Atkins Spanning Fifty Years of the Artist's Life".windsor.bibliocommons.com.Windsor Public Library. Archived fromthe originalon 18 August 2021.Retrieved17 August2021.
- ^"Caven Atkins".www.gallery.ca.National Gallery of Canada.Retrieved17 August2021.
- ^ab"Caven Atkins".www.artgalleryofalgoma.com.Art Gallery of Algoma.Retrieved17 August2021.
- ^Atkins, Caven."The Collection".ago.ca.Art Gallery of Ontario.Retrieved17 August2021.[permanent dead link]
- ^"Caven Atkins, Collection of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery".app.pch.gc.ca.Government of Canada.Retrieved17 August2021.
- ^"Collection".collections.remaimodern.org.Remai Modern, Saskatoon.Retrieved17 August2021.
Further reading
[edit]- Fraser, Ted (1979).A Retrospective Exhibition of Selected Works by Caven Atkins Spanning Fifty Years of the Artist's Life.Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor.Retrieved24 April2023.
- Fraser, Ted (1987).Caven Atkins: The Winnipeg years.Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor.Retrieved17 August2021.