Douglas Haynes

Douglas Haynes
Born Douglas Hector Haynes
1936
Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
Died 2016
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Nationality Canadian
Education Provincial Institute of Technology and Art, Calgary, Canada; Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands
Known for painting
Notable work 'Split-Diamond' series;"Promise to Dusk"; "To Morning Light"; The Toledo Series
Movement abstract art, modernism, cubism
Patron(s) City of Edmonton, National Gallery of Canada

Douglas Hector Haynes (January 1, 1936 – February 2016) was a Canadian abstract artist and teacher.

Biography

Haynes was born and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan, as he says, "on the very edge of that small city, being raised to both admire the beautiful, wide-open spaces, but also seeing a hint of terror in them."[1]

He studied at Alberta's Provincial Institute of Technology and Art (now the Alberta College of Art and Design) with Marion Nicoll, Ronald Spickett, and Illingworth Kerr, from 1954-1958, and the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, Netherlands in 1960-1961. Haynes first became known for prints and painted constructions using burlap, string and other materials (1963–69).[2]

Clement Greenberg wrote approvingly of Haynes' art in 1963: "In Douglas Haynes' touched-up prints I was even more surprised to see the lay-out of Adolph Gottlieb's Burst paintings unabashedly present.... This lay-out was handled, all the same, with a certain felicity, so that I had to conclude that Haynes had added something of his own to the idea by reducing it in size."[3] Speaking of Greenberg in 2006, Haynes remembered "how he didn’t particularly like my Toledo paintings when he first saw them in the studio, but how he told me I was artistically right on when he caught the finished show at the Edmonton Art Gallery."[1]

In 1970 Haynes visited New York City, renewing an interest in the work of Adolph Gottlieb and Robert Motherwell, and shifting his attention to painting. A professor at the University of Alberta from 1970–95, Haynes mentored generations of local and Canadian visual artists. Elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1974, Haynes was chairman of the Dept of Art and Design at U of A (1976–80), and ultimately held the title of Professor Emeritus.[2] In 1976, and again in 1988, Douglas Haynes was an Emma Lake Artists' Workshops artist leader, alongside such artists as Toni Onley, Andre Fauteux, Otto Rogers, and Joseph Drapell, among many others.

Douglas Haynes exhibited in many group shows including: The Fifth and Sixth Biennial of Canadian Painting: National Gallery of Canada 1963, 1965; The Canadian Canvas: Time Life Touring Exhibition, 1975; Certain Traditions: Painting and Sculpture of Canada and Great Britain, 1978; Abstraction x 4: Canada House, London England; Bonn, West Germany; Paris, France, 1985; and The Development of Abstract Painting in Canada: Calgary, Alberta, 1993.[4] Two monumental paintings by Haynes (titled Promise to Dusk and To Morning Light) adorn either side of the staircase leading to council chambers in Edmonton's City Hall.[1] A group of 13 large paintings in the Art Gallery of Alberta's collection, known as The Toledo Series, was inspired by paintings El Greco made for the Sacristy of the Cathedral of Toledo, Spain,[5]

In 2005, Haynes was the subject an episode[6] of the nationally-broadcast art documentary series "Landscape As Muse",[7] and is featured in Roald Nasgaard's 2008 book, "Abstract Painting in Canada." According to Nasgaard, "In 1975 Haynes turned overtly to using colour. In 1977 he met Jack Bush during the latter's retrospective show at the Edmonton Art Gallery, an encounter that set into motion a series of experiments, using some of Bush's devices, in "an attempt to get the colour to spread." The outcome was the Split-Diamond series, which signalled his maturity as a painter."[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Groundbreaking artist Douglas Haynes left enormous mark in Edmonton," Edmonton Journal, February 16, 2016
  2. 1 2 The Canadian Encyclopedia
  3. ↑ Clement Greenberg, "Painting and Sculpture in Prairie Canada Today" The Collected Essays and Criticism, Volume 4
  4. ↑ Douglas Haynes, About the Artist
  5. ↑ Art Gallery of Alberta, "Douglas Haynes: The Toledo Series"
  6. ↑ 291 FIlm Company, "Landscape As Muse"
  7. ↑ Saskatchewan NAC
  8. ↑ Roald Nasgaard, "Abstract Painting in Canada", Douglas & McIntyre, 2008

External links

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