The Art Gallery of Windsor is thrilled to be showing a collection of a renowned Canadian abstract artist’s paintings beginning on January 12th. The Optimism of Colour is a retrospective of William Perehudoff’s work, from his early beginnings to his renowned work in abstraction.
Over 60 paintings have been put together from public and private collections in Canada, the U.S. and Europe, from his early landscape paintings of downtown Saskatoon in the 1940’s, to the beginnings of his abstract work a decade later, up to his latest works completed in the 1990’s at the age of 82.
Born in Langham, Saskatchewan in 1919, Perehudoff dropped out of school after Grade 4, but continued his education in art in Colorado, New York and taught at the University of Saskatchewan. During the early years, he farmed in the summer and painted in the winter. As a labourer at Intercontinental Packers in Saskatoon, he was commissioned to paint murals for the meat-packing plant cafeteria walls, which are now on display at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon. By the 1960’s, he was considered one of Canada’s foremost abstract painters. He is noted for large scale abstracts that strip a painting down to its core, with vivid colours and intensity. Spending most of his life in Saskatchewan, his love of the Canadian prairies is evident in his work.
The Canada-wide tour of a collection of William Perehudoff’s paintings will be on display at the Windsor Art Gallery from January 12 to May 31, 2012. Admission to the AGW is free on Wednesdays. Brochure printing is available.
