Ronald Bloore

1925–2009

Ronald Bloore (1925–2009) was a Canadian artist known for his abstraction as well as an educator with an extensive career in teaching.

Born in Brampton Ontario, Bloore studied Art and Archaeology at the University of Toronto (1949), the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University (1949-1951); and the Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri (1953).

Bloore taught at Washington University from 1951 to 1954, before leaving to study at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London (1955-1957). He was an instructor in art and archaeology at the Regina Campus of the University of Saskatchewan from 1958 to 1966.

In 1958, Bloore was appointed Director of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina. During his tenure, Bloore developed notable exhibitions that highlighted Canadian contemporary art, including the 1961 exhibition of five Regina painters: Lochhead, Art McKay, Ted Godwin, Doug Morton, Bloore himself and an architect, Clifford Wiens. The exhibition travelled to the National Gallery, Ottawa, as Five Painters from Regina, bringing these artists to national attention. This group developed into the Regina Five, of which Bloore was a founding member. Bloore stayed with the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery for seven years before settling in Toronto. Bloore became a Professor in the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Fine Arts at York University from 1966 to 1990, while continuing to practice painting.

In 1962, Bloore received a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship Grant that allowed him to travel and work abroad in Greece, Turkey, and Egypt. Bloore was influenced by architectural forms in these countries, particularly those of ancient history. Upon returning to Canada, Bloore destroyed his work from this period, renouncing colour and developing strict stylistic guidelines. He followed constructed abstraction in limited colours and shapes: white, blue, red, stars, circles, arches, and triangles. This aesthetic choice was based on Bloore’s interest in how these symbols are deeply embedded in the history of art. Bloore painted low-relief works in variations of black or white. As Bloore developed his practice, he would integrate hieroglyphic and pictographic forms within his paintings in the attempt to communicate essential truths of the human condition through symbols.

Bloore has exhibited his works in solo exhibitions at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba (1965) The Vancouver Art Gallery (1975), the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, (1992), The Moore Gallery, Toronto (2002), among others.

His work can be found in numerous collections including Musée d'art contemporain, Montréal, Québec, Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal, Québec, the Vancouver Art Gallery, British Columbia, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Manitoba, the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, and the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

Bloore received honorary doctorates from York University (1993) and the University of Regina (2001).

In 1993 Bloore became a member of the Order of Canada.

Artworks

Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)
Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)
Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)
Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)
Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)
Ronald Bloore
(1925)
(2009)