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Curatorial Talk

Abstraction and Realism: The Versatile Genius of Bertram Brooker

Bertram Brooker was a painter, graphic designer, art critic, writer, musician, and advertising executive. He gained notoriety on the Toronto cultural scene for his 1927 exhibition of his “world and spirit” paintings at the Arts and Letters Club. This exhibition is considered to be the first show of abstract art in Canada. After meeting Winnipeg artist Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald in 1929, Brooker underwent a period of transition during which he combined elements of abstraction and representation to achieve what he called a “plus quality over traditional realism.” Art historian Michael Parke-Taylor, who curated the exhibition, will take us through Brooker’s career as he toggled between abstract and figurative strategies to serve an overarching belief that the fusion of art and life, responding to mystical consciousness, would foster a global spiritual and cultural revolution.

Speaker: Michael Parke-Taylor

      Date & Time

      Sunday, February 25
      at 2 pm

      Price

      Registration Required. Free with Gallery admission. Donations are welcome.

      Location

      McMichael Canadian Art Collection
      10365 Islington Ave,
      Kleinburg, ON L0J 1C0 

      Bertram Brooker: When We Awake!