Gordon MacNamara

1910–2006

Gordon MacNamara (1910–2006) was a lawyer and self-taught expressionist painter from Toronto. Working mainly in watercolours on paper, MacNamara was a frequent traveler and painted landscapes of countries such as Mexico and Jamaica.

A practicing lawyer from 1937 to 1942, MacNamara was educated at Upper Canada College and the University of Toronto before attending Osgoode Hall Law School. From 1942 to 1946, he served in the Canadian Army. After the conclusion of the Second World War, McNamara began to focus on his painting. In 1949, he travelled to New Mexico and Jamaica where he made watercolour paintings of the landscape while taking on a minimal amount of legal work. By 1954, MacNamara resigned from the bar and focused on pursuing his art full time.

The Studio Building, the living, working, and meeting place of the Group of Seven and other influential Canadian artists built by Lawren Harris and Dr. James McCallum, was purchased for $20,000 by MacNamara in 1948. For the rest of his life, MacNamara was committed to preserving the historical integrity of the building.

MacNamara’s work has been featured in exhibitions across Canada and is held in significant museum collections at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, and the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, among others.