From Realism to Abstraction: The Art of J. B. Taylor

by Adriana Davies

Overview

J. B. (Jack) Taylor (1917-1970) was an important figure in the history of Banff and western Canada’s artistic community. Inspired by the locale, Taylor spent his career striving to depict the idea of the mountain, moving over time from traditional representations of nature to an intuitive perception of the essential elements of landscape - rock, water, and sky. Always, he sought to capture his ideas through the development of a new visual language. He applied this new vernacular to a range of studies encompassing portraiture through to other landscapes. Filled with images of his work and photographs of his life as an artist and teacher in western Canada, this book is the first to focus completely on J.B. Taylor, his importance to the western Canadian and Banff artistic communities, and his role in the transition from traditional, eastern, North American and European landscape ideals and technique to a more abstract representation and the formation of a new aesthetic of the wilderness based on the mountains of the West.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781552387481
Publisher:	University of Calgary Press
Publication date:	02/18/2014
Series:	Art in Profile: Canadian Art and Architecture , #11
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	186
File size:	69 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Adriana A. Davies is a well-known researcher, writer, editor, and poet. She was the Executive Director of the Alberta Museums Association for thirteen years and founding Executive Director of the Heritage Community Foundation. In 2010, she was invested in the Order of Canada for contributions to heritage.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. A Biographical Sketch

3. Mountain Pictures: The Sublime Period (1947 to 1961)
About the Landscape Tradition
Formative Influences on Taylor
The Sublime Mountains

4. Mountain Pictures: The Abstract Period (1962 to 1970)
Evolution of His Later Style and Vision
Mountain Abstractions

5. Non–Mountain Pictures
Landscapes
The Italian Pictures
The Portraits

6. Significance and Contribution

7. Conclusion

J.B. Taylor Select Bibliography
J.B. Taylor Chronology
J.B. Taylor, 1917–1970: Selected Exhibitions
Notes
Index