Although Bertram Brooker wasn't as well
known as some great artists, like Emily Carr, he was just as good.
Bertram Brooker was born in Crydon,
England on March 31st, 1888. He then immigrated to Portage La
Prairie in 1905 with his parents. At the age of 17, he worked in the
kitchens and in the time keepers office of the Grand Trunk Pacific
Railway. He then managed a movie theatre in Neepawa and also did some newspaper
work in Portage and Winnipeg. In 1921, he moved to Toronto and became a freelance journalist and got
into advertising. In 1923, Brooker joined the Arts and Letters Club, where he met Lawren
Harris and other members from "The Group of Seven". He
admired them for "Liberating young artists from the stuffy
tradition of strict realism". In 1927, Bertram Brooker became the first artist in Canada to exhibit
abstract art.
Brooker often talked to Harris about the spirituality of Art and was
inspired by the writings of Russian Artist Wassily Kandinsky, whose
book, "Concerning the Spiritual in Art" proposed music as a
model for the artist seeking to express his inner soul.
Bertram Brookers' style of art was mainly abstract but he did
realistic works too. For medium, he used oil, water color, pencil,
ink, and print. When he would draw abstract, he would paint his
experiences derived from music. He'd replicate color, volume, and
rhythm into his artwork to create color, interprations of music and
sound, with lines circling across the page and jumping out at you.
(Oil
on Canvas)
Some of his better known wors of abstract are "Sounds
Assembling" (Oil on canvas, 112.3 cm x 91.7 cm) and "Alleluiah"
(Oil on canvas) Both of these paintings were derived from listening to
music.
Not only was Brooker a good artist, but he was an acknowledged writer
as well. He wrote such books as "Think of the Earth"(1936),
"Tangled Miracle"(1936) and "The Robber"(1949)
His book, "Think of the Earth" won Governor Generals Award
for the best fiction. He wrote a total of nine books as well as texts on advertising and
writing.
Bertram Brooker died in Toronto, Ontario, March 21st, 1955.
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