WINTER William
Born 1909 in Winnipeg.
Although known as a “post-war modernist” William spent a good part of his life as a commercial artist and illustrator.
From 1923 to 1929, he studied art under Group of Seven member Frank (later called Franz) H. Johnson and Lionel LeMoine Fitzgerald a Winnipegger renowned for his painting of the prairies. From 1930 to 1935 while continuing to study art, he worked as a commercial artist at Brigden’s in Winnipeg a branch of art producer Brigden’s in Toronto. He moved to Toronto in 1937. In 1942, he established Wookey, Winter, Bush an advertising company with partners Lesley Wookey and Jack Bush. Jack Bush was to become famous as an abstract artist and member of Painters Eleven. In this capacity, William did illustrations for Maclean’s Magazine and New World Illustrated among others. In the evenings he sketched and painted inner Toronto, in oil, acrylic, watercolour, pencil and coloured chalk, and engaged in conversations with its citizens. Paul Duval art critic and historian has commented that in this period it was common for artists to use “commercial art” to support their “fine art” activities. Eventually these evening activities became dominant and in 1955 he left his commercial art career.
Paul Duval has also stated that William’s “… most telling canvases were done during the 1940’s and early 1950’s when he painted penetrating studies of the inner city of Toronto. These capture the colour and conflict of downtown life …”. It is interesting that William’s most effective canvases, according to Duval, were done while he was still illustrating for magazines suggesting a cross fertilization between the two.
In the late 1950’s he did murals for the Canadian Pacific, a rail lounge car, The Robert S. McLaughlin Public Library in Oshawa, Standard & Steel Company, Children’s Aid Society in Toronto and Seagram’s Ltd. In the 1960’s he taught drawing and painting at the Ontario College of Art and the Artists Workshop also in Toronto.
In 1994 he moved to live with his daughter in England and died in 1996.
WORK:
ILLUSTRATOR:
PERIODICAL TEXT:
Content advertisement:
Star Weekly, 23 March 1946: Ad for Star Weekly: 10.
Maclean’s, 14 March 1959: Ad for Seagram’s V.O. Canadian Whiskey:33.
Content essay:
Maclean’s, 1 March 1951: “What TV Will Do To You”. Writ., Don Magill: 22, 23, 24.
Maclean’s, 4 July 1959: “How I came to burn Sir John A.”. Writ., Bruce Hutchison: 26.
Content memoir:
Maclean’s, 4 July 1959: “How I came to burn Sir John A.”. Writ., Bruce Hutchison: 26.
Content story:
Maclean’s, 1 November 1952: “Keep away from Laura”. Writ., Morley Callaghan: 12, 13.
Maclean’s, 15 February 1953: “The Forty-inch Panhandler”. Writ., Chenoweth Hall: 18-19.
Maclean’s, 15 January 1954: “My Adventures In Basic English”. Writ., Steve Laszkiewicz: 28.
Maclean’s, 15 June 1954: “Ever see a girl with a painted guitar?”. Writ., Muriel Spanier: 20, 21.
Maclean’s, “Who was the Woman of the Glove”. Writ., John Gray: 13, 13.
Content essay & Cover front (not related):
Maclean’s, 15 August 1953: “I’m The Invisible Man”. Writ., Stuart Trueman: 24.
Content story & Cover front (not related):
Maclean’s, 1, August 1947: “Why You Fight With Your …” Writ., George Kisker: 7.
Content cover:
| Maclean’s, …. | |||
| …, 1 June 1945.
…, 1 January 1948. |
…, 15 January 1953.
…, 15 March 1953. …, 1 December 1953. |
…, 1 January 1954.
…, 1 April 1954. …, 15 July 1954. …, 15 September 1954. |
…, 15 February 1958.
…, 15 January 1959. …, 14 March 1959. |
SOURCE:
Article book:
Fours Decades: The Canadian Group of Painters and their contemporaries, 1930-1970. Writ., Paul Duval. Clarke Irwin, 1972: 120, 128-129.
Internet:
koymangalleries.com/artist/William-winter/
GALLERY:
Maclean’s Magazine, 1 June 1945: Front cover.
Star Weekly, 23 March 1946: 10.
Maclean’s Magazine, 4 July 1959: 26.