    
Foreword Curator's Statement List of Works Works by L. L. FitzGerald Works by Colleagues and Students Photographs and Archival Documents A FitzGerald Chronology More links... Back to Main FitzGerald Page
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 Professor Baker: This exhibition pays tribute to FitzGerald's importance within Manitoba and his contribution to the development of Manitoban art. Beginning in 1924, he was a teacher at the Winnipeg School of Art (the predecessor institution to the University of Manitoba School Art), and he became principal of the School in 1929. To further his artistic training FitzGerald studied at the Art Students League in New York in the 1920s. But before his involvement with the Group of Seven artists brought him recognition, FitzGerald struggled as a commercial artist. Featured in the exhibition will be examples of his commercial work, including First World War memorials and magazine cover illustrations he produced for the Hudson's Bay Company's The Beaver, and automotive magazines such as Motor in Canada. FitzGerald's early aspirations to be a fine artist were encouraged and nurtured by the friendships he made with local artists and art supporters. Close friends such as the German born Fritz Brandtner, the notable Canadian artist and writer Bertram Brooker, and Robert Ayre, a pioneering art critic who was also the editor of Canadian Art -- all at one time Winnipeggers -- promoted his art and helped to make his reputation in eastern Canada. The letters of correspondence in the show reveal these friendships and his good relations with members of the Group of Seven such as Lawren Harris that helped FitzGerald gain recognition for his art across Canada. By the 1950s FitzGerald's artistic significance was established and a large retrospective exhibition was in the planning stages to honour his life's work. When he died in 1956 his death announcement was broadcast across Canada. Locally his place as an important Canadian artist and the special contribution he had made to the promotion and development of art in Manitoba had already been acknowledged through an honorary degree awarded by The University of Manitoba in 1952. (Contact Marilyn Baker at bakermc@cc.umanitoba.ca.) Gallery One One One, School of Art, Main Floor, FitzGerald Building, University of Manitoba Fort Garry campus, Winnipeg, MB, CANADA R3T 2N2 TEL:204 474-9322 FAX:474-7605 For information please contact Robert Epp eppr@ms.umanitoba.ca |