Graham Coughtry
Graham Coughtry (1931–1999) was a figurative abstract painter born in Saint-Lambert, Quebec. He learned to paint at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts School and attended the Ontario College of Art between 1949 and 1953. He is best known for his semi-abstract figurative paintings.
Coughtry originally worked as a graphic designer for CBC TV before becoming a painter. As a student, he had traveled to France where he encountered the work of Pierre Bonnard and Alberto Giacometti, later influenced by their styles. Coughtry’s first exhibition was with Michael Snow in 1955 at Hart House at the University of Toronto. His first solo exhibition was held one year later at the Isaacs Gallery, where he would continue to exhibit throughout his career. Coughtry is recognized as a part of the “Isaacs group,” a select collective of innovative artists from Toronto’s contemporary art scene that also featured Michael Snow, Dennis Burton, Joyce Wieland, Gordon Rayner, and John Meredith. Coughtry’s work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. In 1957, his painting Night Interior was shown at the Second Biennial of Canadian Art. He later represented Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1960, along with artists Edmund Alleyn, Jean-Paul Lemieux, Frances Loring, and Albert Dumouchel.
Coughtry’s artistic production was not limited to painting however, as he completed several public art commissions including a wall design for Beth David Synagogue, produced in collaboration with architect Irving Grossman and finished in 1959; a substantial mural at the Toronto Pearson International Airport executed in 1962; and a bronze figurative sculpture entitled The Tritons in 1964 to commemorate the construction of the Yorkdale Plaza in Toronto.