Born: Etobicoke, Ontario, July 21, 1921

Died: Sharbot Lake, Ontario, January 5, 2006

Jean Townsend - Approaching Storm - Oil on Paper

Study:

• Art Gallery of Ontario (1929-38) - studied with Arthur Lismer and Yvonne McKague Hausser, and Doris McCarthy
• Ontario College of Art (1938-43)- studied with Franklin Carmichael, John Alfsen, Rowley Murphy, Emmanuel & Gustav Hahn, J.W. Beatty, and George Pepper
• Instituto Allende, San Miguel, Mexico (1959)
• Post-graduate studies with Nicholas Hornyansky, Guillermo Silva, J.W.G. MacDonald, Ghitta Caiserman, Alfred Pinsky, Harold Goodman, Charles Comfort, Will Ogilvie, and Leonhard Osterle
  

Awards:

• 1938-42: Four Year Scholarship to attend the Ontario College of Art
• 1942: Governor-General's Medal

Represented in Public Collections (Selection):

• Montreal Museum of Fine Art
• Lord Beaverbrock Museum, Frederickton
• National Library of Canada, Ottawa
• Art Gallery of Hamilton
• Art Gallery of Peterborough
• Art Gallery of Lindsay
• Agnes Etherington Gallery, Queen's University, Kingston
• North York Public Library
  
• Thomas Fisher Rare Book Collection, University of Toronto Library
• University of Waterloo Library
• Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library

Represented in Private Collections (Selection):

• Hugh Kenner, Baltimore
• Senator Michael Yeats, Dublin
• Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal
• Guitar Academy, Toronto
• Marshall McLuhan, Toronto
• Corning Glass, Toronto

Commissions (Selection):

• Queen Anne's Lace (3 complete editions), Vincent Price
• 1972: Wind Among the Reeds (portfolio of prints), Upstairs Gallery
• 1977: Blue Jean Series (portfolio of prints), Galerie Internationale, Ribe, Denmark
• 1983: Tales of Heritage II (portfolio & book collaboration with Saul Field and Hedi Bouraoui), York University & Government of Canada
• International Year of Youth (poster), Government of Canada

Publications:

• 1974: Mosaic Magazine, University of Manitoba (illustrations of W.B. Yeats's poems)
• 1974: Yeats and Theater (cover)
• 1982: Celtic Twilight, W.B. Yeats, Colin Smythe publication, England (colour cover and pen and ink illustrations)
• 1986: Tales of Heritage II, York University - (portfolio, cover, and illustrations; collaboration with Saul Field and Hedi Bouraoui)
• 1988: Journal of Modern Literature (cover portrait of W.B. Yeats)
• 1994: Yeats's Ireland, Author Dr. David Pierce, Yale University (prints, drawings, paintings, sculpture inspired by Yeats's poetry)

One Person Shows (Selection):

• 1952: Canadian Repertory Theater, Ottawa
• 1959, 60, 61, 62: Upstairs Gallery, Toronto
• 1971, 72: Irish Studies Conference, St. Michael's College, University of Toronto
• 1972: Gallery Pascal, Toronto
• 1972: Temple Anshe Shalom, Hamilton
• 1975: North York Public Library, circulated show
• 1977: Sisler Gallery, Toronto
• 1978: Lindsay Art Gallery (Artists with their Work)
• 1986: St. Lawrence Centre, Jane Mallet Theatre, Retrospective of Lovers, Toronto
• 1993: Emma Ciotti Gallery, Iroquois Falls, Toward Awakening
• 2001: Toronto Heliconian Club, Retrospective

Two Person Shows with Saul Field (Selection):

• 1963: Prints International, Toronto
• 1964: Mansfield Gallery, Montreal
• 1967: Chatelaine Pavilion, Expo '67, Montreal
• 1967: Gallery 1640, Montreal
• 1968: West End Gallery, Montreal
• 1972: Invitational Show, Print Club, Philadelphia
• 1975: Canadian Irish Studies Conference, University of Winnipeg
• 1975: American Irish Studies Conference, Stonehill College, Massachusetts
• 1977: Galerie International, Ribe, Denmark
• 1978-80: Gracie Square Art Show, New York (Invitational)
• 1979: La Chasse Galerie, Toronto
• 1979: Peterborough Art Gallery
• 1979: Creative Movement Studio, New York
• 1980: Emory and Henry College, Virginia
• 1982: Oxford Printmaker's Cooperative, Oxford, England
• 1982: Juxtaposition of Joyce and Yeats. Canada House (Auspices of Canadian Embassy), London England. Toured:
  • Oxford University
  • University of Lancaster
  • University of Leeds
  • Sligo Festival, Ireland
  • Dublin, Ireland
  • Lyric Theatre, London
• 1985: Tales of Heritage, National Library of Canada, Ottawa
• 1985 & 1989: Toronto Heliconian Club
• 1986: Tales of Heritage II, exhibition and book launch. Toured NWT Canada, and Canadian embassies in London, Cairo, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, New Delhi, Dublin, Brazil, Madrid, Prague, and Paris
• 1986: Seville Spain,. Canadian Embassy in Spain exhibited Tales of Heritage II in 25 Spanish cities
• 1986: BMW Art Gallery, Frankfurt, Germany

Group Shows (Selection):

• 1943-5: Ontario Society of Artist, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• 1959: Canadian Women Painters, CNE Art Gallery, Toronto
• 1961: Art Gallery of Ontario, Art Through the Ages
• 1963: Five Canadians, Harriet Crane Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 1964-5: Canadian Society of Graphic Art, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
• 1965-6: Canadian Painters - Etchers and Engravers, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
• 1966: Canadian Society of Graphic Art, Willistead Art Gallery, Windsor
• 1967: Montreal Museum of Fine Art, Expo '67
• 1967: Canadian Painters - Etchers and Engravers, Habitat, Expo '67
• 1968: Agnes Etherington Gallery, Kingston
• 1969: Walter Engel Gallery, The Expressive Figure, Toronto
• 1969: Merton Gallery, Toronto
• 1970: Oshawa Art Gallery
• 1970: Artist's Choice Show, CNE Art Gallery, Toronto
• 1970: Printmakers of Canada, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto
• 1976: Sisler Gallery, Toronto
• 1977: Artist's Greetings, Memorial University, St. John's
• 1979: Pioneers in the Collagraph Print Wenniger Gallery, Boston
• 1978: Japan-Canada Printmakers, Japanese Cultural Centre, Toronto
• 1983: Print Biennale (Invitational) Varna, Bulgaria
• 1984-5 Ontario Society of Artists, Ontario - Alberta (toured)

Other:

• 1958-66: Co-owner and director of The Upstairs Gallery, 10 Castle Knock, Toronto
• 1963: Co-developed, with Saul Field, Compotina method for non-toxic printmaking
• 1965-72: Executive Member, Canadian Society of Painters - Etchers and Engravers, Toronto
• 1966-70: Executive Member, Canadian Society of Graphic Art, Toronto
• 1971: Became Member of the Toronto Heliconian Club
• 1974: Associate Fellow, York University, Calumet College, Toronto
• 1974-80: Teaching Fellow, York University, Calumet College, Toronto
• 1977-90: Vice President and Founding Member, Ontario College of Art Alumni Association, Toronto
• 1979: Became a Member of the Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto
• 1979-82: Executive Member, Ontario Society of Artists, Toronto
• 1987: Listed in Who's Who in American Art
• 1988: Became a Member of the Arts and Letters Club, Toronto

Documentary Films:

• 1988: Subject with Saul Field in Of the Heart and Mind: The Lives and Work of Jean Townsend and Saul Field. A film by Kathy Nicholaichuk, Brilliant Films, Toronto (shown several times on CBC)
• 2001: Subject in Trees and Lovers, A Portrait of Jean Townsend. A film by Miguel Rocha (shown several times on BRAVO)

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