Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutZurich Citizens News, 1973-11-01, Page 6PAGE 6 ZURICH CITIZENS NEWS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1973 Puinti '` {' of amous artist to be shown (by Ron Shaw) Thursday and Friday, Nov- ember 15 and 16, the residents of the Huron County will have one of its too few opportunities to view the work of painter Jack McLaren O.S.A. when the lad- ies auxiliary of Alexandra Mar- ine and General Hospital in God, erich sponsor a showing of some 60 of his paintings at North Street United Church, Those 60 pieces of work will represent only a sampling of Mr. McLaren's paintings. Born at Edinburgh Scotland in 1895 he began painting at an early age and, with the except- ion of 20 years between 1930 and 1950 when he painted little, his work has maintained a steady pace. Since 1950 Mr. McLaren estimates he has completed one painting every two days for a total of approx- imately 4100 completed works. Mr. McLaren came to Can- ada in 1905 and took up resid- ence in West Toronto where he later graduated from Humber- side Collegiate. In 1912 he returned to his nat- ive Scotland and studied at the Edinburgh College of Art coming back to Canada in 1914 in time to volunteer for the Princess Pats regiment with the Canadian Army and sail back to Europe and World War One. When that regiment went into action in France Jack McLaren found himself attached to the snipers to draw maps and on com- pletion of his first tour in the trenches he was assigned to organize concert patties and entertainment for the men in the reserve area. Mr. McLaren's entertainment company met with such success that -they were soon assigned to providing entertainment on a full time basis and soon combin- • ed with the "Dumbells" to work on divisional shows. After the war the "Dumbells" played coast to coast in Can- ada as well as in several Amer- ican cities and eventually found itself on broadway. "The Dumbells were to cont- inue to be a theatrical success across North America for anoth- er 10 years but in 1922 Jack McLaren turned his back on theatre and went into business at Toronto. He opened the McLaren Advertising Agency on the same day and in the same city as an- other Jack McLaren opened a similar agency. The second McLaren went into advertising work for newspapers while our McLaren involved himself with the direct mail and public rel- ations branch of the business. "It was really quite a coin- cidence, " Jack recalls, "and we were forever getting each other's telephone calls; With four artists in his stable and a staff of sales people Jack McLaren met with considerable success in the highly competit- ive field of advertising until his retirement in 1954. His agency handled the Birks Jewellers account, C.C.M. , London Life and Imperial Tob- acco as well and many other smaller accounts and did spec- ialty work in the form of book- lets and posters. This field of endeavor act- ually began many years earlier. "The first drawing I ever sold went to the Star Weekly for an advertisment, " he recalls, "It was a sketch of a fellow in a boat, with his bare feet propp- ed up against the gunwales of a row boat and a fishing line tied around each big toe, read- ing a copy of the Star Weekly. It was entitled the "Perfect Angler. " During his years in the advert- ising trade Jack McLaren's car- eer took an interesting turn and one which he now sees as being a break into a truly indiv- idual medium. "I was always interested in caricatures, " he explains, "and published a series on our Canad- ian fathers of confederation entitled "Our Great Ones' which was printed from linolium cuts." "I did "Our Great Ones" be- cause I was interested in develop ing something historical and Ryerson Press published the ser- ies of prominent Canadians in this way." "I think now I may have been on to something original, he observes, "and I should have done it." The'Great Ones' series even- tually found its way to Canadian Embassies around the world and to the Canadian delegation off- ices at the United Nations. In New York the great photographer Joseph Karsh saw the work and was taken by it As a result, at the invitation of Mr. Karsh, Mr. McLaren travelled to Ottawa to be photo- graphed at Karsh's studio there and sketch the photographer. "I spent two days with hint at the time, " he recalls. "I think he saw a great artistic similarily in my very black and white cuts and his style of photography." Following the visit to Ottawa the Maclean Magazine comp- any published a story written by Jack McLaren about having your portrain done by the great Karsh. "I recall sitting in his waiting room the morning I arrived, " Jack explains, "and finally being told Mr. Karsh' could see me now." "I went into the studio and sat down but there was no one in the room. After I waited a few moments Karsh made his entrance down a long flight of sweeping stairs which led from a balcony above.the studio to the main floor. What an entrance! " "I have always been painting, he recalls. "Even when I was at the front with the Princess Pats I had paints in my haversack." Painting was always my fav- ourite but maybe I took a wrong turn, perhaps I should have stayed with the linoleum cuts, " he suggests. "My work was pub- lished in Esquire and several large British and German graphics magazines and I was on my way." At this time however, Jack McLaren was a close associate of the Group of Seven and per- haps that association had much to do with keeping Ms mind on that first love.. . painting. For seven years he lunched reg ularly, as a member of the Toronto Arts and Letters Club, with the seven famous Canadian painters and from such close contact is in a position to make some interesting observations of Canada's most renowned paint- ers. "There were really only three individuals in the group, " he feels "Jackson, Harris and Dali. test were really just imit- ators, " "Jackson was the man with the drive and thirst. The others had jobs but he was the compl- ete artist and he had some pretty thin times." "There were times, " Jack recalls, "when you could buy a Jackson painting for $15. It was like that until the dealers got hold of them and now the81" x 11" paintings on board, which went for $15, are selling for 56. 000 or more." What is the difference bet- ween the painting then and now: "The difference is in prom- otion by the dealers, " Mr. 0 r i McLaren admits, "they're the same paintings." Mr. McLaren places much of the credit for the Group of Sev'- en's genius with Tom Thompson "The group of seven, , through Thompson's relation - (Continued on page 13) USED PEWRIT (ion good worki g condition) SMITH -CORONA, ROYAL, UNDERWOOD REMI NGTON frill psi 7,Htnt see Hien - L:O appr'el.ate from $39.95 to $119.'5 idea! for office use - or for students!! nlanl©PN cw,7%. i\JGWO 236-4672 Zurich