Lot 32
Josef (Yosef) Gertrudis Drenters, O.S.A., R.C.A. (1929-1983)
Additional Images
Provenance:
Private Collection, Ontario
Note:
Born in 1929 in Belgium, Yosef Drenters emigrated to Canada in 1951 and eventually settled in Ontario. At the age of 29, he purchased the Rockwood Academy, a Quaker boarding school for boys established in 1850, located just east of Guelph. Rockwood had fallen into a state of disrepair, so Drenters and his brother Andreas (also a sculptor represented in this auction) spent the next twenty years painstakingly renovating the property and transforming it into the home and studio that exists today. According to a close family member, many notable Canadian artists, including A.Y. Jackson, Yousuf Karsh, A.J. Casson, Gerald Gladstone and Harold Town frequented Drenters’ studio, several of whom became close friends of the artist.
A noteworthy career highlight for Drenters occurred in 1966 when Queen Elizabeth II commissioned him to create a monumental work for the Ontario Pavilion at Expo ‘67 in Montreal. His sculpture, “Pioneer Family,” was one of two sculptures selected for the honour, the other being Michael Snow’s “Walking Woman.”
Drenters received a Canada Council grant in 1961, was the subject of a CBC documentary film, and was accepted as a member of the Ontario Society of Artists before his untimely death at the age of 54. His sculptures remain in the collections of prominent institutions including the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston; Art Gallery of Windsor; Edmonton Art Gallery; Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington; Princeton Art Museum, New Jersey and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
Rockwood Academy
Rockwood Academy
Hirschhorn Collection
CONDITION DETAILS
This lot shows wear commensurate with age, otherwise in good condition.
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