Lot 46
WILLIAM RONALD, R.C.A.
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Toronto (gift of the artist)
Note:
The thick impasto of No Exit allows the viewer no way round. The crevasses and divots of William Ronald’s handiwork form a Martian-like terrain. Paint engulfs the entirety of the surface, spilling over the edges in magenta, violet, black, and pearl (note a hint of red ochre). The composition is edgy and stirring. In addition to his work as an artist, William Ronald was also a display designer for the Robert Simpson Company. Looking to enhance and update the Simpson Company displays, Ronald encouraged the management team to show abstract paintings alongside furniture. Contacting those artists he knew – including Oscar Cahén, Jack Bush, Alexandra Luke, Ray Mead, Tom Hodgson and Kazuo Nakamura – Ronald placed the works on display in October 1953. Realizing the opportunities that lay ahead, these newly solidified comrades formed the Painters Eleven, inviting Jock Macdonald, Walter Yarwood, Harold Town and Hortense Gordon to join their throes.
Addressed to the original owner on reverse.