Jock MacdonaldLife & Work

“Jock Macdonald’s career as an artist took him from design and illustration to landscape painting and, from the early 1930s onward, to a lifelong search for expression through abstraction. At the base of that search was his belief that design and art—even abstract art—must be rooted in the natural world.”

– Joyce Zemans

While based in Vancouver, Macdonald made a powerful connection with the spectacular and rugged scenery of British Columbia. His spiritual identification with nature and his determination to capture the experience of the landscape in paint set him on a quest that shaped his art for the rest of his life. Underpinning his exploration was the belief that design and art must be rooted in the natural world. In 1957, just three years before Macdonald’s death, Toronto art critic Robert Fulford proclaimed the artist “the best young abstract or non-objective painter in Canada, even though 61 years old.”

Copyright Information

Banner image: Jock Macdonald, Departing Day, 1936 (dated 1935) (verso of Indian Church, Friendly Cove). Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with assistance from Wintario, 1979 (79/60.2).