John Wentworth Russell | Ingram Gallery



JOHN WENTWORTH RUSSELL R.C.A.

(1879-1959)

 



•

Woman Reading (1900) 20.5 x 13.75 ink & wash on card


John Russell is a cosmopolite, in art as well as in life. He was born near Hamilton, Ontario, received his first training at the Hamilton Art School but has lived most of his time abroad. But before going to Europe he joined the Art Students’ League in New York and there he soon became a demonstrator in drawing. Towards Paris, however, seemed to be his natural trend; and like Blair Bruce, another Hamilton youth who had proceeded him and had won distinction, he crossed over and took a studio in the Latin quarter.

Fine Arts in Canada by Newton MacTavish
1925, MacMillan Company of Canada Ltd
JOHN RUSSELL Chapter XVIII | Page 116




•

Self-Portrait 24 x 17 oil on paper board






•

Sunlit Forest 16 x 20 oil on canvas board








John Wentworth Russell was born in Binbrook, Ontario, in 1879. He studied art in Hamilton, New York and Paris, where he lived for many years before he returned to Toronto to establish a studio and art school. He was disdainful of the emerging work of the Group of Seven, but was a widely respected painter of landscapes, plein air and portraiture. His expansive body of work ranged from official portraits of Prime Minister Wilfred Laurier to illustrations for Vogue magazine. His 1927 exhibition of languid nudes in Toronto caused a scandal, and helped to smash attendance records at the Canadian National Exhibition.

––House of Commons, Canada


 
24 Hazelton Avenue Toronto Canada T.416.929.2220