Jack Chambers

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Jack Chambers, painter (b at London, Ont 25 Mar 1931; d there 13 Apr 1978). After studying at a technical school in his home town, Chambers spent the years 1953-61 in Europe travelling and studying at the San Fernando Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid. He returned to London in 1961. Chambers's paintings through the 1960s contained dreamlike images, combining his immediate personal experience and memory.

In 1969, the year he was diagnosed as having leukemia, he published the essay he called "Perceptual Realism," developed on a range of philosophical and theological sources, in particular from the French existential phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty. From this date a striking change took place in his art. The visionary character of his work through the 1960s gave way to an intense and precise representation of reality. Throughout Chambers's artistic life, his work was developed around subjects of great importance to him: his family, his home, the city of London and the surrounding landscape. He expressed a notion of regionalism not based on a nostalgic and sentimental restrictiveness but on a celebration of the reality of living and working in a particular place. He also worked as a filmmaker, producing 8 films between 1964 and 1970.

Jack Chambers' artworks are represented in many Canadian public collections, including those of the NATIONAL GALLERY OF CANADA, the ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO, MUSÉE D'ART CONTEMPORAIN DE MONTRÉAL, MUSÉE DES BEAUX ARTS DE MONTRÉAL and the VANCOUVER ART GALLERY. In 1970, the exhibition Jack Chambers Retrospective was mounted by the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2011, Jack Chambers: Light from the darkness, silver paintings and film work was presented by Museum London.

In 1967, following a dispute with the National Gallery of Canada over reproduction rights, he founded Canadian Artists Representation (CAR) to try to establish fee scales for reproduction rights and rental fees for works in public exhibitions. Under his presidency (1967-75) CAR became a national organization with local bodies across the country.

Author DAVID BURNETT


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Jack Chambers
See images of paintings by renowned Canadian artist Jack Chambers. From c4gallery.com.

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