Manly MacDonald, Painter of old Ontario
Manly MacDonald, 1889-1971.
"He is not one of the school which finds most inspiration in the rugged bleakness of the north country. Charm of colour is one of his assets, combined with competent technique and ability to catch an essentially Canadian flavour." Colin S. MacDonald, A Dictionary of Canadian Artists.
Lauded by his admirers as a skilled and sensitive “Interpreter of Old Ontario,” an artist who followed the traditional path over innovation and current trend, Manly Edward MacDonald still came in for his share of artistic controversy over his long and productive career.
Born in 1889 in Point Anne, Ontario, in the Belleville area, young Manly showed artistic talent by the age of three. By his teenage years, he was off to the prestigious Albright School of Art in Buffalo, N.Y. and later to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. No small expense was this for a farming and fishing family.
In 1914, Manly returned to Canada and attended the Ontario College of Art. By now he’d developed the fluid semi-Impressionistic style that would become his hallmark. Weekend au plein air ramblings took him across rural Ontario. No end of subjects there: old mills, rushing streams, tumble-down fences, and grazing cattle.
Manly MacDonald, ‘Unionville Church in Winter’. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1944, lower right. MacDonald’s paintings of rural Ontario scenes often included rushing streams, old mills, tumble-down fences, and/or grazing cattle.
A Royal Canadian Artist scholarship in 1917 took him to the battlefields of Europe. A second fellowship followed his return to Canada when he was commissioned to commemorate women at war. MacDonald’s “Land Girls Hoeing” captured the efforts of “farmerettes” hoeing the fields in the Niagara Region of Ontario. The painting now hangs in the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Manly MacDonald, ‘Land Girls Hoeing’. Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1919, lower right.
MacDonald’s growing artistic presence saw him elected to the Ontario School of Artists (OSA) in 1918 and to the prestigious position of Associate Member of the Royal Canadian Academy (RCA) in 1920.
But controversy was on the horizon. By the mid-1920’s, a gust of northern wind was ruffling the Canadian art scene. The Group of Seven, all rugged lines and vibrant tones were the darlings of the art world. The old guard which included “soft” Impressionists like Manly MacDonald registered their disapproval, complaining publicly that they had been “shunted aside.”
Out of favour in Canada it seems, but held in high regard in Europe. Over the coming decades Manly MacDonald exhibited at the Wembley Exhibition and the British Empire Exhibition in London, England; at London’s Tate Gallery as well as his alma mater the Albright in the U.S. He was invited to participate at the World’s Fair of 1939 in New York City, and the 1944 World’s Fair in Rio de Janeiro.
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MacDonald’s “Spring Willows” featured at Miller & Miller’s Canadiana, Pottery & Folk Art Sale on Saturday February 8, dates, says art expert and evaluator John Sewell, to the late 1940s. Sewell names it “typical” in subject matter and technique for the artist.
MacDonald’s “Spring Willows” is up for auction at Miller & Miller’s Canadiana, Pottery & Folk Art sale on Saturday February 8, 2020. It is estimated at $3500-5000.
“Spring Willows” captures nature reawakening after the slumber of an Ontario winter. Using soft Impressionist brushstrokes in subtle tones of blues, greens and browns, the image is subdued, even mysterious as the stream eddies along. What secrets are hidden around the bend?
The focus willows, delicate bare and all spidery hold promise too of blossom as spring proceeds.
The watcher’s eye is drawn too to the subtle images of man’s world behind the willows—a barn and out-building. Man is surely there but nature holds court in the foreground.
Sewell calls “Spring Willows” a “strong work,” with the artist eschewing a treatment of light so typical of his winter scenes. Mystery and subtlety predominate in this Ontario scene.
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Artistic controversy continued to brew at home for MacDonald. By the late 1940’s, into the early 1950’s, with abstraction now in high favour, and the forming of renegade groups such as the Painters 11, the die was cast.
In 1951, to protest the OSA’s lack of support for artistic realism, Manly MacDonald resigned from the OSA. He cited OSA’s “creeping modernism” as the reason. Fellow OSA members Kenneth Forbes and Marion Long joined the public protest.
Incensed at MacDonald’s public protest, the OSA struck the artist’s name from their rolls. (A perusal of the current OSA site and its tribute to deceased members finds Manly MacDonald’s name missing.)
The popularity of MacDonald’s painting seems not to have suffered from his protest and he continued to be recognized for his work. But his selection to paint the Toronto skyline as a gift to the visiting Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip in 1959 would unwittingly embroil the mild-mannered MacDonald in another controversy.
MacDonald’s high profile honour sent the abstractionists into a tizzy. Vocal members of the OSA, still stung from MacDonald’s desertion, as well as the radical Painters 11 lambasted the selection. “Too traditional,” and bound to be “an insult to Her Majesty,” were cited as the reasons for the protest.
Firing back at his detractors, MacDonald defended his painterly efforts as “sane,” and “one that the Queen would understand.” When all dust had settled from the abstract vs realist controversy, two MacDonald paintings would hang in the Queen’s collection.
MacDonald disapproved of the abstract, modernist style of the Painters 11. Here we compare two landscape works; on the left, an ‘abstract’ oil painting by Jack Bush of the Painters 11, and on the right, a ‘realist’ oil painting by Manly MacDonald.
Supplementing his artist’s income with teaching stints at OCA, Manly MacDonald’s work continued to sell to a legion of admirers across Canada, the U.S and England.
The artist’s daughter Sally MacDonald notes that over his career, her father could not bring himself to increase the modest prices of his work sold. “He could never bring himself to charge especially teachers and doctors much because he had too much respect for them.”
As he had done in the early days of his career, Manley MacDonald continued to sketch and paint out of doors into his final artistic years. He passed away in 1971. It is estimated that MacDonald painted over 2000 works.
A number of tributes came Manly MacDonald’s way after this death. In 2010, eastern Ontario writer Charles Beale published his biography, Manly MacDonald, Interpreter of Old Ontario.
Through the generous donation of Parrott Foundation, the Belleville Public Library opened their John M. Parrott Art Gallery. The artistic space would be the permanent home of a number of Manly MacDonald works. Presently the Gallery houses 110 paintings.
MacDonald’s work is included in the collections of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, the National Gallery of Canada, The Canadian War Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario.
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Manly MacDonald’s paintings continue to sell well in art galleries and art auction houses across Canada. Appraiser John Sewell calls him a “Blue Chip artist” whose works hold their own in a volatile art market, even escalating in value. Sewell notes that MacDonald’s work is often a “first up” teaser at art auctions, promising more of the same high quality Canadian art to come.
Item Estimate: $3500-5000
Lot Number: 510
Auction Details: Canadiana, Pottery & Folk Art, February 8th, 2020. 9 am.
Live Auction Location: 59 Webster St. New Hamburg, Ontario. N3A 1W8
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