Dornacilla Drysdale
Dornacilla Drysdale[1][2]was an abstract artist who emerged in the late 40s and early 50s out of the Yale School of Art along with painter Philip J.A.F, Aziz, architect Victor Christ-Janer, and others. Having studied under George Ernst Fosbery, Franklin Brownell, Fred Varley, Franklin Carmichael, Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York[3].
Personal Life
Dornacilla Drysdale, the daughter of Charles Wales Drysdale[4][5] a leading geologist from Yale with the Canadian Geological Survey was born in Rossland, British Columbia on a summer expedition. She is also the granddaughter of William Drysdale[6] a prominent Montreal publisher. She returned to Ottawa where she grew up and attended school.
Early Career
In the late 1930's she attended began teaching in Ontario. In Ottawa, she had studied life drawing under George Ernst Fosbery[7] and painting with Franklin Brownell. She was a member of the Women's Art Association and began exhibiting with them. She then began to study under Fred Varley a member of the Group of Seven. In Toronto at The Grange she studied under Franklin Carmichael who was impressed with her skills and she was invited to paint with the Group of Seven out in the landscapes they were capturing.
Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York Influence.
In 1943 Dornacilla Drysdale attended Yale University School of Fine Arts at a critical juncture in art history. Two instructors had a significant impact on her work and nurtured the development of her style Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York both instructors at the time at Yale. Whenever she speaks about her teachers, Drysdale always mentions the importance of these teachers who encouraged her to develop her own style. Zallinger, well known for illustrations that bring dinosaurs to life, spent more than four and a half years painting The Age of Reptiles[8], one of the world's largest, most scientifically accurate natural history murals. It was during the same years that Dornacilla Drysdale studied with him at Yale. Lewis York, one of the leaders in the Tempera Revival Movement, began teaching at Yale in 1933 (Cronin)[9]. York's students included artists such as Saul Levine, Andrew Petryn and Robert Vickrey (whose work appeared on the covers of Time magazine). Yale had been one of the first centres of this interest in tempera painting, a technique employed by many realist painters in the United States Dornacilla Drysdale studied composition, tempera painting and oil painting with Lewis York. During these years, York, while experimenting with both Cubist and Abstract painting techniques, encouraged Drysdale to do the same. Recognizing her talent for this compositional language, York nurtured her independent direction that became a unique style of painting and composition. World War II and the rise of Nazism had a radical impact on this art tradition. During the war years, Josef Albers was invited to Yale as a visiting critic and appointed Head of the Department of Graphic Design in 1950. Albers, a Bauhaus designer, brought change to Yale's Department of Fine Arts.
Wheeler and Exhibitions
After Yale, she continued to actively participate in artistic events in New Haven and New York such as the Atelier, and took a position teaching art at Wheeler, Providence, where she spent time helping students learn to paint and create art one of her more promising students was Gloria Vanderbilt. There she taught four days a week spending one full day devoted to creating and exploring her art, while her husband, J. E. L. Peck was teaching at Brown. Dornacilla during her time at Yale took commissions and began exhibiting in New York, New Haven, Provincetown and Boston. Her oil paint Topology which was exhibited at the Boston Society of Independent Arts was purchased by the Fogg Museum of Art[10] in Cambridge. Fruition which was exhibited in the Audubon Show[11] in New York, won honourable mention. Her Cement Process when it was exhibited in the National Academy Gallery in New York was written up in Art Magazine. In her solo show at the Contemporary Art Gallery which opens February 28, 1951, The Evening Bulletin[12] commenting that the show "constituted an impressive group...." After exhibiting in the Providence Art Club Frank Pemberton, featured Faith in his article calling it an extremely forceful impressionistic representation of a church.
The painting Faith, in 1995 was purchased, at an estate sale by the Aaron Galleries of Chicago, the painting was in a North Carolina collection that included Hans Hoffman and other Non-objective painters. These works indicate a level of recognition that had been achieved during her early career in the Eastern Seaboard. This painting sold during her solo exhibition at the Contemporary Artists Gallery, Inc. in Providence, before leaving North America in 1951.
Seventy Year Career
Dornacilla Drysdale's seventy-year career is a story of the development of her compositional technique beginning with traditional still life and landscape compositions in Ontario through Cubism to the development of a unique vocabulary of spatial organization. During her travels with her husband, she continued to create new works and evolve her style and exhibited and sell her work. The subject matter of her abstract paints were taken from the science, industry and the landscapes she travelled through in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe.
1. "Dornacilla Drysdale Archives". Aaron Galleries. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
2. ^ "Dornacilla Drysdale | artnet". http://www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
3. ^ "Lewis E. YORK (XX) - Biography, life, background and work by Artprice". Artprice.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
4. ^ Government of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada (2002-07-01). "Geology and ore deposits of Rossland, British Columbia / by Charles Wales Drysdale.: M46/77E-PDF - Government of Canada Publications - Canada.ca". publications.gc.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
5. ^ "Mount Drysdale", Wikipedia, 2019-03-18, retrieved 2019-07-08
6. ^ W. Drysdale & Company (1890). William Drysdale & Co's catalogue of rare books chiefly Canadiana and Americana [microform]. Canadiana.org. Montreal : W. Drysdale.
7. ^ "Ernest Fosbery". http://www.galerie-q.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
8. ^ "The Age of Reptiles Mural | Exhibits : Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History". peabody.yale.edu. 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
9. ^ "Milk and eggs: the American revival of tempera painting, 1930-1950". Choice Reviews Online. 40 (02): 40–0709-40-0709. 2002-10-01. doi:10.5860/choice.40-0709. ISSN 0009-4978.
10. ^ Harvard. "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Topology". http://www.harvardartmuseums.org. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
11. ^ "Audubon Annual: an overflow exhibition at the academy". New York Times. December 14, 1947.
12. ^ "Art: war photos shown; Dornacilla Drysdale Exhibition Paintings". Evening Bulletin, Provincetown. February 28, 1951.
Read MorePersonal Life
Dornacilla Drysdale, the daughter of Charles Wales Drysdale[4][5] a leading geologist from Yale with the Canadian Geological Survey was born in Rossland, British Columbia on a summer expedition. She is also the granddaughter of William Drysdale[6] a prominent Montreal publisher. She returned to Ottawa where she grew up and attended school.
Early Career
In the late 1930's she attended began teaching in Ontario. In Ottawa, she had studied life drawing under George Ernst Fosbery[7] and painting with Franklin Brownell. She was a member of the Women's Art Association and began exhibiting with them. She then began to study under Fred Varley a member of the Group of Seven. In Toronto at The Grange she studied under Franklin Carmichael who was impressed with her skills and she was invited to paint with the Group of Seven out in the landscapes they were capturing.
Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York Influence.
In 1943 Dornacilla Drysdale attended Yale University School of Fine Arts at a critical juncture in art history. Two instructors had a significant impact on her work and nurtured the development of her style Rudolph Zallinger and Lewis York both instructors at the time at Yale. Whenever she speaks about her teachers, Drysdale always mentions the importance of these teachers who encouraged her to develop her own style. Zallinger, well known for illustrations that bring dinosaurs to life, spent more than four and a half years painting The Age of Reptiles[8], one of the world's largest, most scientifically accurate natural history murals. It was during the same years that Dornacilla Drysdale studied with him at Yale. Lewis York, one of the leaders in the Tempera Revival Movement, began teaching at Yale in 1933 (Cronin)[9]. York's students included artists such as Saul Levine, Andrew Petryn and Robert Vickrey (whose work appeared on the covers of Time magazine). Yale had been one of the first centres of this interest in tempera painting, a technique employed by many realist painters in the United States Dornacilla Drysdale studied composition, tempera painting and oil painting with Lewis York. During these years, York, while experimenting with both Cubist and Abstract painting techniques, encouraged Drysdale to do the same. Recognizing her talent for this compositional language, York nurtured her independent direction that became a unique style of painting and composition. World War II and the rise of Nazism had a radical impact on this art tradition. During the war years, Josef Albers was invited to Yale as a visiting critic and appointed Head of the Department of Graphic Design in 1950. Albers, a Bauhaus designer, brought change to Yale's Department of Fine Arts.
Wheeler and Exhibitions
After Yale, she continued to actively participate in artistic events in New Haven and New York such as the Atelier, and took a position teaching art at Wheeler, Providence, where she spent time helping students learn to paint and create art one of her more promising students was Gloria Vanderbilt. There she taught four days a week spending one full day devoted to creating and exploring her art, while her husband, J. E. L. Peck was teaching at Brown. Dornacilla during her time at Yale took commissions and began exhibiting in New York, New Haven, Provincetown and Boston. Her oil paint Topology which was exhibited at the Boston Society of Independent Arts was purchased by the Fogg Museum of Art[10] in Cambridge. Fruition which was exhibited in the Audubon Show[11] in New York, won honourable mention. Her Cement Process when it was exhibited in the National Academy Gallery in New York was written up in Art Magazine. In her solo show at the Contemporary Art Gallery which opens February 28, 1951, The Evening Bulletin[12] commenting that the show "constituted an impressive group...." After exhibiting in the Providence Art Club Frank Pemberton, featured Faith in his article calling it an extremely forceful impressionistic representation of a church.
The painting Faith, in 1995 was purchased, at an estate sale by the Aaron Galleries of Chicago, the painting was in a North Carolina collection that included Hans Hoffman and other Non-objective painters. These works indicate a level of recognition that had been achieved during her early career in the Eastern Seaboard. This painting sold during her solo exhibition at the Contemporary Artists Gallery, Inc. in Providence, before leaving North America in 1951.
Seventy Year Career
Dornacilla Drysdale's seventy-year career is a story of the development of her compositional technique beginning with traditional still life and landscape compositions in Ontario through Cubism to the development of a unique vocabulary of spatial organization. During her travels with her husband, she continued to create new works and evolve her style and exhibited and sell her work. The subject matter of her abstract paints were taken from the science, industry and the landscapes she travelled through in Africa, Asia, Australia and Europe.
1. "Dornacilla Drysdale Archives". Aaron Galleries. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
2. ^ "Dornacilla Drysdale | artnet". http://www.artnet.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
3. ^ "Lewis E. YORK (XX) - Biography, life, background and work by Artprice". Artprice.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
4. ^ Government of Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada (2002-07-01). "Geology and ore deposits of Rossland, British Columbia / by Charles Wales Drysdale.: M46/77E-PDF - Government of Canada Publications - Canada.ca". publications.gc.ca. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
5. ^ "Mount Drysdale", Wikipedia, 2019-03-18, retrieved 2019-07-08
6. ^ W. Drysdale & Company (1890). William Drysdale & Co's catalogue of rare books chiefly Canadiana and Americana [microform]. Canadiana.org. Montreal : W. Drysdale.
7. ^ "Ernest Fosbery". http://www.galerie-q.com. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
8. ^ "The Age of Reptiles Mural | Exhibits : Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History". peabody.yale.edu. 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
9. ^ "Milk and eggs: the American revival of tempera painting, 1930-1950". Choice Reviews Online. 40 (02): 40–0709-40-0709. 2002-10-01. doi:10.5860/choice.40-0709. ISSN 0009-4978.
10. ^ Harvard. "From the Harvard Art Museums' collections Topology". http://www.harvardartmuseums.org. Retrieved 2019-07-08.
11. ^ "Audubon Annual: an overflow exhibition at the academy". New York Times. December 14, 1947.
12. ^ "Art: war photos shown; Dornacilla Drysdale Exhibition Paintings". Evening Bulletin, Provincetown. February 28, 1951.
