Alex Colville

Alex Colville (born August 24, 1920, Toronto, Ontario, Canada—died July 16, 2013, Wolfville, Nova Scotia) was a Canadian painter whose detailed works depicted everyday subject matter and possessed a mysterious, mythic quality that belied psychological acuity. Though he worked during the heyday of the abstract art movement, Colville never deviated from his figurative style.

Upon graduating from Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick, Colville joined (1942) the Canadian army, serving (1944–45) in Europe as an official war artist during World War II. His wartime experiences inspired the subject matter of his earliest paintings. After the war ended, he returned (1946) to teach at his alma mater, but he later resigned (1963) to focus entirely on painting.

Colville first garnered attention in the 1950s with a series of gallery shows in New York City and later exhibited in Europe before receiving acclaim in Canada. Beginning with Nude and Dummy (1950), the subjects of his paintings were inspired by his home life, a quality that later earned him the moniker “painter laureate” of Canada. Known for his meticulous and time-consuming methods, he made numerous sketches and geometric renderings before beginning to paint. That process was exemplified in one of his best-known paintings, Horse and Train (1954), in which a dark horse, its face turned away from the viewer, gallops down railroad tracks toward an oncoming train. Colville’s other works include designs for special issues of Canadian coins commemorating the centenary of Confederation (1967) and for the Governor General’s Medal (1978).

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Colville received numerous awards and honours, including being named (1982) a Companion of the Order of Canada and receiving (2003) the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. Alex Colville: The Splendour of Order (1983) is a documentary that discusses his life and work.