Sources & Resources

Writings

Town was a gifted writer. He contributed regular cultural commentary for the Canadian press and polemical pieces on contemporary art, and he spoke about his own art when he gave interviews. But he disliked theorizing and agreed with his preferred critic, Harold Rosenberg, that “art should not be supported by words.” Below is a selected list of his most revealing writings, book publications, and interviews, in chronological order.

 

Invitation to the exhibition Painters Eleven, Roberts Gallery, Toronto, 1955.
Includes a statement by Town.

Painters Eleven. Toronto: Roberts Gallery, 1957. Exhibition catalogue.
Includes a statement and essay by Town.

Introduction to Painters Eleven with Ten Distinguished Artists from Quebec. Toronto: Park Gallery, 1958. Exhibition catalogue.

“Toronto’s Beauty Enthralls Painter.” Toronto Telegram, November 16, 1960.

Kilbourn, Elizabeth. “Eighteen Print Makers.” Canadian Art 18, no. 2 (March/April 1961): 110–11.
Includes Town’s description of the full range of his printmaking processes.

“An Afternoon with Harold Town.” Interview by Jerrold Morris and John Richmond. Imperial Oil Review, October 1962.
Town discusses the definition of art, contemporary art movements, criteria for good painting, and the fallacy of romantic inspiration.

Layton, Irving, ed. Love Where the Nights Are Long: An Anthology of Canadian Poems. With illustrations by Harold Town. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1962.

Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox. Enigmas.Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1964.
Town’s preface to these elusive drawings is an all-too-explicit diatribe against everything that angered or irritated him in Canadian politics and culture at the time.

Town, Harold. “The Art Boom That Was a Trifle Flat-Chested—Not a Complete Bust.” In Canadian Art Today, edited by William Townsend, 36–44. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1970.
Town’s article follows one by curator Dennis Reid, “Notes on the Toronto Painting Scene, 1959–69,” which dismisses Town’s work, beginning a long animosity between the two; Town counters with an artist’s perspective on the Toronto art scene.

Town, Harold.Silent Stars, Sound Stars, Film Stars.Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1971.

“Sinews of an Ideal Critic.” Globe and Mail, May 5, 1973.
Town’s discussion of contemporary art critics, including Harold Rosenberg and Clement Greenberg.

Town, Harold.Albert Franck: Keeper of the Lanes.Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1974.
An homage to the Toronto painter whom Town considered an important mentor.

“From the CN Pinnacle to an AGO Exhibit, Harold Town Muses on Professionalism, Quackery.” Globe and Mail, May 3, 1975.
A typical example of Town’s cultural commentary.

Town, Harold, and David P. Silcox.Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1977.
This became one of the year’s bestsellers; Town’s text is noteworthy for its close reading of the meanings and methods of Thomson’s paintings and as a manifesto of Town’s own vision of art.

 

 

Film

The CBC archives holds Town film footage, but it is not readily accessible.

Christopher Chapman. Pyramid of Roses. Christopher Chapman Ltd. & Chartres Film, 1982. 35mm film, 10 minutes.
A film about Town’s Vale Variations.

 

 

Critical Interpretations

Town’s work during his lifetime elicited continual scrutiny, critical attention, and debate. His reputation is still being revised as his work generates renewed interest and new scholarship. In Town’s lifetime, debate became sharply polarized between supporters who had extensive exposure to his work and hostile critics and curators who were attuned to rival aesthetic frames of reference or were alienated by his intemperate manner. Interesting responses to his work can be found in the catalogues noted in the exhibitions list above. Even among favourably disposed critics there are wide disagreements as to which of his late series have merit. Further study is required to better understand the sources, implications, and potential meanings in Town’s varied, multi-layered, and complex body of work.

 

Burnett, David. Town. Toronto: Art Gallery of Ontario, 1986.
This extensively illustrated book-length exhibition catalogue was prepared for the definitive Town retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario. As curator, David Burnett held extensive discussions with the artist about his techniques, ideas, and development and had access to a great proportion of his existing works. Burnett’s goal was to reflect “through its changes and constants, its internal contrasts and external responses, and its innovations and criticisms, the integrity of [Town’s] artistic production.” He provides a detailed analysis of representative examples from Town’s most important series of works, bringing out the underlying constants and concerns that emerge. The catalogue has a full exhibition history and bibliography on the artist to 1986, four years before his death.

Fulford, Robert. Harold Town: Drawings. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1969.
An extensive collection of Town’s drawings with commentary by an influential critic who knew him well.

Nowell, Iris. Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2010.
A lively account of Painters Eleven and the careers of its members. The section on Town has excellent illustrations and is particularly rich in telling anecdote, by a writer who was Town’s close companion for many years.

 

 

Further Reading

In addition to the sources already noted, readers will find the following titles useful.

Burnett, David. Town: Works on Paper, 1952–1987. London, U.K.: Canada House Cultural Centre Gallery, 1987. Exhibition catalogue.

Dault, Gary Michael. “Harold Town.” Canadian Art, Spring 1986, 45–53.

———. Harold Town: The Snap Paintings. Toronto: Christopher Cutts Gallery, 2011. Exhibition catalogue.

Hale, Barrie. Introduction to Toronto Painting: 1953–1965. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1972. Exhibition catalogue.

———. Out of the Park: Modernist Painting in Toronto, 1950–1980. Provincial Essays, vol. 2. Toronto: Phacops Publishing Society, 1985.

Leclerc, Denise. The Crisis of Abstraction in Canada: The 1950s. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1992.

Murray, Joan. Confessions of a Curator. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1996.

Nasgaard, Roald. Abstract Painting in Canada. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2007. 

Nowell, Iris. Hot Breakfast for Sparrows: My Life with Harold Town. Toronto: Stoddart, 1992.

Town, Harold, Robert Fulford, and David P. Silcox. Magnificent Decade: The Art of Harold Town, 1955–1965. Toronto: Moore Gallery, 1997. Exhibition catalogue.

Town, Harold, and Kenneth Saltmarche. Indications: Harold Town 1944–1975; Paintings, Collage, Drawings, Prints, Sculpture. Preface by Ted Fraser. Windsor: Art Gallery of Windsor, 1975.

Townsend, William, ed. Canadian Art Today. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1970.