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Who Is Andre Bieler?
By Robert Amos
NOTE:
This exhibit at the Winchester is no longer running, however they still display a collection of Bieler's work online.
Winchester Galleries
1545 Fort Street
Victoria, British Columbia
592-2777
I met him while I was a student at Queen¹s University in Kingston, Ontario.
Bieler (1896-1989) was the founder of the Art Centre there and was the grand
old man of Kingston¹s art world. Had he spent his career in Toronto or
Montreal he¹d be more famous, but even so his place is well established in
Canadian art history. A show at the Winchester Gallery (1545 Fort
Street in Victoria, 592-2777) offered us all the chance to share the inspiration
his art provides.
Sketch for Gatineau Madonna, 1939, charcoal, 7x10
Image courtesy of the
Winchester Galleries
Bieler was the child of a Swiss family, and nephew of a famous Swiss painter
Ernest Bieler. He came to Canada as a child, but World War One drew him back
to Europe. Certainly life - and death - in the trenches at Passchendale, and
a searing dose of poison gas, shaped his outlook. After the war he studied
art in Woodstock, New York and began his life¹s work.
Bieler discovered a way of life on the shores and islands of the St.
Lawrence River which continued in an unbroken tradition with the past.
Threshing grain and chopping wood went on as they always had; dog carts and
out-door bake ovens provided engrossing subject matter for the young artist.
Unlike the Group of Seven, who made a Canadian myth of the unpopulated
wilderness, Bieler¹s focus was people and their relationship to the land.
He was in good company. A. Y. Jackson, Edwin Holgate and Jori Smith were
among the artists who also found inspiration on the North Shore and the Ile
D¹Orleans. Ethnologist Marius Barbeau was in the region at that time,
preserving the rocking chairs and ceintures fleches that Bieler loved to
draw.
Gunter Heinrich of the Winchester Gallery has made every effort to bring us
work from that early period, including many of the small and forceful
sketches Bieler made on the spot, drawing incisive lines in his little
sketch book and adding massive shading with the side of a charcoal stick.
The paintings from this period have become part of the great galleries of
this country.
Bieler¹s career had only just begun. In 1936 he was invited to teach in
Kingston and soon found himself at the centre of a political movement which
put art and artists on the national agenda. The Kingston Conference of 1941,
which he essentially hosted, led in years to come to the foundation of the
Canada Council and much else.
In addition to teaching and lecturing in Ontario, Quebec and Banff, Bieler¹s
core commitment was to creating. With hands as knobbly as a lump of ginger,
he relentless realized his vision in ever more modern styles. Inspired by
Cezanne, he delved into the form of things. Like Raoul Dufy, Bieler loved to
lay down apparently random patches of colour and then draw over this
agitated ground with a sure line of ink. Locally, we have seen Colin Graham
engage with the landscape using this same approach, resolving the
conflicting aspirations of abstraction and representation.
Always, Bieler¹s subject was people. He painted the street life of Europe,
the carnivals of Mexico and the time-worn faces of settlers in the Ontario
bush. Toward the end of his life, he once again took out his documentary
sketchbooks from the early days and depicted the old ways of life on the St.
Lawrence in fresh new colours.
>Church and Totem, Skeena, 1955, acrylic and ink, 9x12
Image courtesy of the
Winchester Galleries
The gallery has a video tape produced by Bieler¹s grandson. A collage of old
film clips, interviews with the artist, and modern-day visits to the sites
and subjects of Bieler¹s work, it presents a vivid meeting with the artist.
I recommend that you spend an hour at the gallery and watch it. Through this
tape, I feel I had a meeting with this inspiring man.
Bieler¹s memory is clear, the experiences of his life are engrossing, and
his marvelous voice - still bearing the scars of those gas attacks - is
entirely engaging. He is sure in his pronouncements and reveals the creative
mind in an old-fashioned way, without irony or doubt.
I find Bieler¹s art work to be inspiring in the best way. "Observe, study,
sketch," he seems to say. "But don¹t be held back by someone else¹s ideas of
realism. Find subject matter which involves you, treat it with respect but
express it with every means at your command. Play with the materials, revel
in the subject, let it all speak to you. "
I left the gallery with his example before me and went out to paint
immediately. Many of the art shows I see are cynical in relation to their
subject, or simply present a dazzling display of empty technique. Bieler is
a humanist who lived the life, did the work and left a record of his joy and
adventure.
Winchester Galleries is to be commended for bringing these selections from the
estate of Andre Bieler to the public. They were gathered from Bieler¹s
children - never an easy task for a gallery owner - and it is easy to see
they have been carefully selected. Winchester is locally-based but is, in
fact, a gallery of national significance. For the convenience of buyers all
over the country they maintain a web site and, while we have room to
illustrate only two of Bieler¹s works, by visiting
www.winchestergalleriesltd.com/
you can view the entire exhibition.
Copyright © 2002 Robert Amos
Robert Amos is an artist and art writer who lives in Victoria, B. C.. He can be contacted by
e-mail
and you can view his paintings at
www.robertamos.com