Alex Colville in 1945

Yesterday, upon coming upon the notice in the NY Times of Alex Colville’s recent passing, I realized that Canada lost a giant of the art world.  Colville’s brand of realism conveyed mystery and left much to the viewer. His striking composition “Horse and Train” is a perfect example of this.   Its uneasy turbulence is illuminated by Colville’s explanation that his inspiration derived from a line in a Roy Campbell poem:  “Against a regiment I oppose a brain/ And a dark horse against an armoured train.”  Thus, did the Toronto-born and Nova Scotia-raised Colville movingly represent the struggle and strength of the individual against the mainstream.  Fantastic!

That and several of his other works are below.

Horse and Train (1954)

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Ocean Limited (1962)

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Soldier and Girl at Station (1953)

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To Prince Edward Island (1965)

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Embarkation (1994)