Description
A life in art, told in prose as colorful as the paintings. Joseph Plaskett (1918–2014) was one of Canada’s most beloved painters, and A Speaking Likeness is his vivid memoir: the story of a boy from New Westminster, B.C. — a town with no private galleries — who talked his way into the twentieth-century art world and never left.
Early mentors Lawren Harris and Jock Macdonald helped him win the first Emily Carr scholarship, which carried him to the San Francisco School of Fine Art and then to New York to study under Hans Hofmann. He went on to succeed LeMoine FitzGerald as Principal of the Winnipeg School of Art and to teach at the Banff School of Fine Art — shaping Canadian art as surely as he painted it.
Charming, erudite, and full of wonderful encounters. The essential Plaskett — in words as well as pictures.
A Speaking Likeness is Joseph Plaskett’s vivid memoir — a prose “life in art” as colourful and vital as his finest paintings. The celebrated Canadian artist (1918–2014) begins with his early life in New Westminster, B.C., at a time when there were no private galleries, and traces his remarkable journey through the twentieth-century art world.
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nLawren Harris and Jock Macdonald were among his early mentors, helping him win the first Emily Carr scholarship — which took him to the San Francisco School of Fine Art and then to New York to study under Hans Hofmann. He went on to succeed Lemoine Fitzgerald as Principal of the Winnipeg School of Art and taught at the Banff School of Fine Art.
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nThroughout, Plaskett explores his journey into Abstractionism and onwards to the new figurative styles that embrace the sensuous and tactile, discussing his well-known paintings — his mirrors and shadows, his celebrated palette, and how “meaning” can be conveyed in colour. His Paris home at 2 rue Pecquay became a meeting place for Canadian artists abroad, and his memoir is packed with stories of Jack Yeats, Bill Reid, Jean Paul Lemieux, and Mavis Gallant. With an introduction by George Woodcock, 24 full-colour reproductions, and 80 black-and-white photographs, this lavishly produced volume is a treasure for art lovers.
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