Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, British Columbia

Note:

Art historian Michael Parke-Taylor writes that “drawing was ultimately the foundation for all of FitzGerald’s art, no matter what medium he chose. Even a study could assume as much importance for him as a finished work of art.”

Abstraction began appearing in the artist’s work by 1950, which in FitzGerald’s own words, “offered the tempting opportunity to seize the almost incommunicable essence of the world—the forces of order that were manifested on a more mundane (visual) level in the petals of a flower or the spirals of a shell.”

Even when working on non-objective works, FitzGerald often enjoyed working en plein air, using nature as a muse rather than as a reference point: “I am now using this accumulated knowledge [of natural forms] in some paintings of an abstract nature where I can give more reign [sic] to the imagination freed from the insistence of objects seen, using colors and shapes without reference to natural forms. It calls for a very fine balance throughout the picture requiring many preliminary drawings and color schemes, before beginning the final design.”