Additional Images

Provenance:

Roberts Gallery, Toronto, ON;
Nancy Dillow (née Robertson), Toronto, ON;
The Estate of Nancy Dillow, Toronto, ON

Literature:

Zemans, Joyce. Jock Macdonald: The Inner Landscape: A Retrospective = Jock Macdonald: Le Paysage intérieur: Rétrospective. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1981, illustrated p. 176.

Exhibited:

Jock MacDonald: The Inner Landscape, A Retrospective Exhibition, Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Gallery of Windsor, The Edmonton Art Gallery, The Winnipeg Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery, 1981-82. cat. no. 92.

Note:

The 1950s was a period of transformation for Jock Macdonald, as he moved away from automatic paintings in watercolour and into pure abstract canvases of Lucite 44 and oil. This transition in style and medium was largely influenced by his association with the Painters Eleven, formed in 1953. A meeting with artist Jean Dubuffet, after accepting a fellowship to study in France from the Royal Society of Canada for the 1954/55 academic year, also had a deep effect on his practice. Dubuffet, who Macdonald greatly admired, encouraged him to move away from watercolour painting and experiment with oils. Ancient Plans Prevail was created in 1955, during this time of intense evolution in the artist’s practice.

Ancient Plans Prevail comes from the collection of Nancy Dillow. Dillow worked at the Art Gallery of Ontario, before serving as the Director of the Norman Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina in 1967, and was the first chief curator of the Winnipeg Art Gallery in 1979. After her retirement in 1984, Dillow became one of the original volunteers with the Textile Museum of Canada, a job she held for the next 26 years.

This work was exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in 1981 and is illustrated in the accompanying publication by art curator and historian Joyce Zemans.