artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
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http://www.thestar.com/article/259935
artist site has image of study of Lightfoot portrait: http://www.kendanbyart.com/drawings/...ot_sf_1987.htm and finished work with notations: http://www.kendanbyart.com/portraits...ot_1986-88.htm A huge artistic loss and also for the environmental causes he stood for. An avid canoeist, he died far too young but was enjoying life and nature in beautiful North Ontario. TheStar.com | News | Painter Ken Danby dies at 67 Painter Ken Danby dies at 67 Sep 24, 2007 04:31 PM Lee-Anne Goodman THE CANADIAN PRESS Ken Danby, recognized as one of the world’s foremost realist artists and best-known in Canada for his iconic hockey painting, At The Crease, has died at the age of 67 while canoeing in Algonquin Park. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Danby’s vast portfolio includes everything from portraits of famous Canadians to athletes in mid-play and landscape paintings so crystalline that at first glance they resemble photographs. “He’s been called a national icon and that’s basically what he was,” Ken McGee, manager of the Danby Studio in Guelph, said today. The prolific artist was said to have known from a young age that he wanted to paint, and enrolled in the Ontario College of Art in 1958. Danby’s first one-man show in 1964 sold out, an occurrence that would become commonplace as his work proved popular with private, corporate and museum collectors. When asked to identify his favourite work, the prolific Danby frequently replied: “My next one.” His 1972 painting of a masked hockey goalie hunched in the crease is considered by many to be a Canadian national symbol and is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a portrait of legendary netminder Ken Dryden. Lacing Up, another hockey painting of someone tying his skates in a locker room, is almost equally iconic. On his website, Danby recalled an encounter about At The Crease. “One day, a woman complimented me on my painting At the Crease, which she referred to as ‘that painting you did of the goalie, Ken Dryden,”’ he recalled. “She said that she had long had a print of it in her home and really enjoyed it. I thanked her, but also explained that, ‘It isn’t an image of Ken Dryden.’ “Looking puzzled, she replied, ‘Yes it is.’ I responded, ’No it isn’t.’ After a long pause, she loudly exclaimed, ’Yes it is!’ I quickly apologized, with the sudden realization that she was right. It’s really whomever one wants it to be.” The goalie painting is Danby’s most successful but there’s a lot more to his portfolio, McGee said. “It’s a worldwide image now. Over the years we have sold literally hundreds of thousands of those images — anybody who knows hockey knows that image and therefore knows Ken Danby,” he said. “But his reputation seemed to be, from the public point of view, that of a sports artist and he was certainly much, much, much more than that. His works ranged from sports images and panoramic landscapes to huge oils and figurative works and just some stunning works. Particularly in the last few years, his work has expanded both in size and imagery.” In the 1980s, Danby prepared a series of watercolours on the Americas Cup and the Canadian athletes at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. He also served on the governing board of the Canada Council and as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Gallery of Canada. McGee said that Danby, who continued to paint avidly, was on the lookout for new inspiration while canoeing with his wife, Gillian, in Ontario’s pristine Algonquin Park on Sunday. “He died gathering information for more paintings,” said McGee, who remembered his friend as “amenable, friendly, approachable, kind and generous.” Danby was also touched by admirers of his work. “When my painting, Acapulco, was first exhibited, I happened to be in the gallery one day and observed a gentleman standing in front of it for the longest time, seemingly lost in thought,” he once recalled. “Suddenly and quite unconsciously, I’m sure, he concluded his absorption by rising up on tip-toes, as if by doing so he just might be able to see behind the diving board. What a compliment!” Danby was a big supporter of the arts, and frequently railed against the lack of arts education in the public school system. “The arts are just as important as math and science in education, and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives,” he said. “Art is a necessity. Art is an absolutely essential part of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a species, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts.” In 1975, Danby was elected a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He was also a recipient of the Jessie Dow Prize, the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canada, the City of Sault Ste. Marie’s Award of Merit and both the Queen’s Silver and Golden Jubilee Medals. In 2001, he was vested in both the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada. Ontario provincial police say Danby collapsed while canoeing on North Tea Lake. He was transported by air ambulance to North Bay General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He leaves his wife and three sons. |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
To quote Gordon Lightfoot--"Beautiful." What a talent, and what a loss. May he rest in peace.
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Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
Truly a tremendous loss. The biography channel (Canadian) featured Ken today and there were segments with Gordon speaking of his friend and their days spent at the Yorkville coffee houses. There was even mention of Gord in the 'Two Tones' and a B&W still of Gord & Terry Wheelan. Gord's music was used as a soundtrack in places.
Anyone who has not seen Ken's artwork should check out his remarkable talent. Sad... Yuri |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
I always thought his portrait of Gord looked more like a photograph than a painting. Tremendous talent, sad loss.
Bru |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
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he was huge inspiration of mine when it came to the photorealism style, airbrush technique
always loved the coffee table collection (with the yellow pancho print on cover) Lacing Up is the one we picked some 30 odd years ago to have framed in family room close up study of select works of he or Bateman always boggled my mind unfortunate |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
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This painting of "Algonquin" is beautiful. He painted it as a trbute to one of the artists in the Canadian "Group of Seven" who's mysterious death while out in a canoe in Algonquin Park has remained unsolved. Ken Danby was a "Group of One" Canadian artist who also died while canoeing in Algonquin Park. A place that both artists (and all of the Group of Seven) loved. It's sadly eerie that Ken would paint this picture and 10 years later die there himself.
'Algonquin (in homage to Tom Thomson)' 1997, oil on canvas 30 x 50 in. (76.2 x 127 cm) Signed and dated lower right Growing up in Northern Ontario provided me with a strong affinity for the natural environment that was so eloquently responded to by Tom Thomson and his colleagues. As a teenager I'd go off into the bush, set up my easel and canvas and try to imitate their work. (I recall that in my naivety, I didn't anticipate the foolishness of trying to paint a large canvas and then carry it, still wet, through dense bush, with branches scratching both it and me and a plague of black flies in my face.) The concept for this painting grew out of a number of forays into Algonquin over the years. Friends of ours, Kim and Marilyn Smith, own and operate 'Camp Tanamakoon' on Cache Lake (which is almost 'next door' to Canoe Lake, where Thomson died). They kindly assisted me with my need to explore my ideas from out on the lake and provided their expert canoeist to pose repeatedly for me. Kim's also an authority on Thomson and pointed out to me that his canoe was painted a gun-metal blue. From its conception, I intended 'Algonquin' to be a subtle tribute to Tom Thomson. But I also wanted it to be a response to the natural beauty that so typifies the grandeur of Ontario's first provincial park. |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
Char, that is stunning! D'you happen to know if there is a book of his paintings ?
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Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
Char do you know what exactly happened? Was he was canoing by himself? Did he die of natural causes or was it an accident?
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Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
I was always amazed at how his paintings looked to me more like real photo's. He definitely had a great gift. A very SAD loss...:(
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Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
I'm sorry to say I was unaware of him other than the Lightfoot stuff (and particularly since I've owned a copy of At The Crease for years.. (just because I liked it so much immediately the first time I saw it))..
“The arts are just as important as math and science in education, and just as important as any other endeavour in our lives,” he said. “Art is a necessity. Art is an absolutely essential part of our enlightenment process. We cannot, as a species, as a civilized society, regard ourselves as being enlightened without the arts.” Amen my friend.. |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
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RM, the In the Crease classic so inspired me to make my first go at photo realism also that of a goalie (Caesar Maniago when he was on the North Stars:) - never got into airbrushing condolences to the family |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
as stated in my first post with the news article:
"Ontario provincial police say Danby collapsed while canoeing on North Tea Lake. He was transported by air ambulance to North Bay General Hospital where he was pronounced dead." At the website is a condolence book and info regarding purchasing prinnts etc. Amazon etc. probably would have copies of the book as well as EBay possibly. If you are interested in the Tom Thompson story about his death read this: It's been a compelling mystery since it happened with no real answer.. http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-68-754-...of_seven/clip7 and http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-70-2310..._tragedies/twt (read the "Did You Know section) his artwork: http://www.groupofsevenart.com/Thoms...son_intro.html |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
JJ - thanks for that.
Char - you too. Cheers Bru |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
Sis -- Tell me it isn't true -- A mystery with no answer?
Argh!! And here I'm still working on the riddle from that gal on 8th Avenue! |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
no REAL answer Bro...
I'm telling mum.. ;) |
Danby Portrait of Lightfoot on view
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It is on view at a gallery west of Toronto at the University of Guelph.
http://news.therecord.com/arts/article/258598 - whole article about other pieces. Pertinent portion of article: The importance of light in Danby's art is illustrated in the oil portrait of Gordon Lightfoot, who he befriended in Yorkville in the 1960s. The portrait is backlit, which puts the white suit Lightfoot is wearing in heightened relief. It's notable for the prominence of Lightfoot's hands, which wrote the songs and played the guitars. Danby gives his model a bemused, slightly askew smile, which bespeaks a modesty Lightfoot has never lost. Both Danby and Lightfoot retained their small-town values which found expression through their art. Finally, there's something eerily prescient about the portrait. Although completed in 1988, it seems to anticipate Lightfoot's brush with death in 2002. I know this sounds absurd. But to me this is a portrait of a man who has gone to edge of the abyss and backed away before it was too late. I know this is revisionist in the extreme from the vantage point of hindsight. But, this interpretation not only explains the evocative, halo-like backlighting behind Lightfoot's head, but the curious smile -- the smile of a man who has stared down death. |
Re: Danby Portrait of Lightfoot on view
Gallery showcases DANBY art:
http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/548599 NEW GALLERY SHOWS TheStar.com Danby show delivers easygoing, iconic images Dec 06, 2008 04:30 AM Peter Goddard These days it's reasonable to think that little media attention might be paid to a Ken Danby show at the conservative Odon Wagner gallery – especially from critics interested in what's new and cutting edge. The goalie image in Danby's signature painting, At The Crease – it wasn't Ken Dryden, the artist always insisted – turns up on sports memorabilia websites more than art sites. So, does being this out-of-fashion mean something new? With that question in mind I knew I had to attend a recent reception for "The Graphic Works of Ken Danby." Two other factors took me to the Wagner Gallery at 172 Davenport Rd., where the show continues until Dec. 20 (and where there'll be a show of Danby paintings next fall). "Graphic Works" is the first show for the painter/printmaker since his unexpected death, at age 67, in fall 2007 while on a canoeing trip in Algonquin Park with his wife, Gillian, and some friends. Secondly, it brings together all the prints he made up until about 2004, according to gallery-owner Wagner, who represents the Danby estate. The list goes back to the early '70s and the earliest of the artist's multicolour silkscreen prints. Walking past so many familiar images – The Dreamer (1972), a remarkably chaste nude (which may explain why it's so popular with Canadians); and The Goalie (1972) – felt unpressured in a homey sort of way. It was like listening to Gordon Lightfoot's Complete Greatest Hits, remembering where and when you first heard each song, while not getting lost in nostalgia. Listening in on the other gallery-goers around me, I discovered I wasn't alone in this. One retired music teacher remembered waiting in a lineup outside Walter Moos Gallery in the '70s, then representing Danby, to buy a print of The Dreamer for about $200. These prints now go for between $4,000 and $7,100. Other people shared stories about meeting Danby. "You know, he was so much better looking than anyone he ever painted," said one woman. Those who knew him personally remembered his fussiness with getting the right tonal results in his prints, and how he'd tug at his eyebrows while deciding whether or not the result was to his liking. It's not difficult to understand the continuing appeal of Danby's work, something likely to increase in the near future. While never mawkish, his pieces don't bring with them all the heavy-going conceptual layering surrounding work by Christopher Pratt or Alex Colville. Danby's appeal comes easily, but it's an ease that came about from intense artistic concentration sustained by extraordinary patience. The Messiah, with a bullet Viktor Mitic is as proud of his technique as Ken Danby was of his. Only in the case of the 35-year-old Toronto artist, the technique we're talking about involves firearms. Hole Jesus, on display in a group show at Trias Gallery (80 Spadina Ave., suite 403) until Dec. 18, is a decidedly rudimentary painting of Christ that's suggestive of early medieval folk portraits. It includes a halo in gold leaf circling the Christ figure's head. Tradition ends there, though. The boldly delineated outline of both head and body was fashioned by a fusillade of exactly positioned 22-calibre bullet holes. The close-up detail work, Mitic explains, required the use of a handgun. For the broader strokes, "I used a semi-automatic M14 rifle," he adds. Art-making is often the result of violence. It may mean the artist spilling his or her blood. It may mean the artist wilfully suffering physical deprivation. Provocative art with religious connotations, such as Hole Jesus, can be found to do violence to people's beliefs. Piss Christ by American photographer Andres Serrano, showing a plastic crucifix submerged allegedly in the artist's urine, was condemned worldwide when it appeared in 1989. The Holy Virgin Mary, in which British artist Chris Ofili used elephant dung as a compositional material for a work shown in 1999 at the Brooklyn Museum of Art during the "Sensations" exhibit, resulted in a lawsuit threat from then-New York mayor Rudy Giuliani. Yet there wasn't a peep of dismay when Hole Jesus was part of an October art show at St. James Cathedral in Toronto. "They wanted to call it Untitled," says Mitic, who sees himself as more of an abstract painter using traditional materials. "I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings." He claims he's not seeking attention with all this art-making gunplay, which requires trips to Buffalo to use a gun range. Most of the attention he's received to date has been for his remarkably accurate aim. In Hole Jesus, for example, the figure's eyes are both indented at the centre by bullets, one for the right eye, two for the left. Gunpowder burns add an aged effect. The artist's accurate shooting was honed during an obligatory yearlong stint at age 18 in the army of the former Yugoslavia, where he grew up. He says his decision to apply his hotshot talents to his art came after a well-known Torontonian told him his work "wasn't penetrating enough." Peter Goddard is a freelance Toronto writer. He can be reached at peter_g1@sympatico.ca http://www.kendanbyart.com/ |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
http://www.moffatdunlap.ca/ap.asp?th...de=list&page=1
His home is for sale. What a stunning property. |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
I fully agree with the late Mr. Danby. Far too many schools here in America concentrate their funds on things like sports, which is allright for some, but not every child has the potential to be a jock nor do many have the desire or passion for such a thing. Myself, I think such money SHOULD be spent on things such as the fine arts in all it's forms, whether it be for music, acting, singing, or in the field of the creative arts. Those are the things that stimullate a childs brain far more than having them rattled by playing football. And as for Mr. Danby's paintings of Gordon, they take my breath away, they're so life like. The man will most definately be missed by art lovers.
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Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
interesting tt, in the mid 70s, the funding to replace our highschool football gear (rickety, leathery helmets and styrofoam-like shoulder pads, etc) ceased...so my final year, it was rugger scrums and all that...too much male intemacy for me...anyhow, i hear ya...with the apparent shift to the arts at that time, atleast i got a new trombone in music class...i think we're back to cuts in arts funding...it's cyclical i suppose
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if i lived in that main house, either the spiral staircase or my scotch collection would have to go...they wouldn't mix |
Re: artist Ken Danby has died-he painted portrait of Lightfoot
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Ken Danby art - studies of Lightfoot - SOLD
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Re: Ken Danby art - studies of Lightfoot - SOLD
That second picture is nice, although inaccurate.............
There's no capo on the guitar. :) Melissa |
Re: Ken Danby art - studies of Lightfoot - SOLD
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But Danby was a photorealism artist so instead of using models posing he would take a photo and work from it. I'm sure he would have enjoyed painting a capo. Since Gord has mentioned several times about his capo regrets, I imagine he didn't want to be immiortalized with one on Good question for you insiders to ask! Hey, on original version of Did She Mention My Name he played with no capo in G At some point before his GG1 medley he moved it up to A, eh? ;) I don't really like the Gord "man from glad" portrait My top three Danby's are probably the smoker in the yellow raincoat, the goalie and the hockey skate. They might as well be photographs! |
Re: Ken Danby art - studies of Lightfoot - SOLD
Btw, I clicked on the link but could find any info about the selling price
Anyone know other tunes Gord played without a capo? It looks like he's playing an A sus here??? |
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