From the Author
Many thanks to my research assistant, Kristin Stoesz, to Amy Furness at the AGO library and archive, and to my editor, Rick Archbold. For many exhilarating discussions of Jack Chambers’s art, I would like to thank Ihor Holubizky, Andy Patton, Ross Woodman, and the students with whom I explored Chambers’s art in a graduate seminar at the University of Toronto in 2009.
From the Art Canada Institute
This online art book was made possible thanks to the generosity of its Title Sponsor, Rosamond Ivey, and the Lead Sponsor, BMO Financial Group, as well as the Online Art Book Sponsors for the 2013–14 Season: The Hal Jackman Foundation; Aimia; Gluskin Sheff + Associates Inc.; The McLean Foundation; TD Bank Group; Partners in Art; and Rosenthal Zaretsky Niman & Co., LLP.
Thanks also to the Art Canada Institute Founding Patrons: Sara and Michael Angel, Jalynn H. Bennett, The Butterfield Family Foundation, David and Vivian Campbell, Albert E. Cummings, Kiki and Ian Delaney, The Fleck Family, Roger and Kevin Garland, Michelle Koerner and Kevin Doyle, Phil Lind, Sarah and Tom Milroy, Charles Pachter, Gerald Sheff and Shanitha Kachan, Sandra L. Simpson, and Robin and David Young; as well as its Founding Partner Patrons: The Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation and Partners in Art.
The ACI gratefully acknowledges the support and assistance of the Art Gallery of Ontario with this project, in particular Jim Shedden, Manager of Publishing, and Matthew Teitelbaum, the Michael and Sonja Koerner Director, and CEO.
The Art Canada Institute gratefully acknowledges the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Art Commons for History of Art Education and Training (CACHET) for their contribution toward the translation of this online art book.
Image Sources
Every effort has been made to secure permissions for all copyrighted material. The Art Canada Institute will gladly correct any errors or omissions.
Credits for Banner Images
Biography: Photo of Jack Chambers. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Courtesy of Chris Lowry. Photographer Unknown.
Key Works: Jack Chambers, The Hart of London, 1968–70. (See below for details.)
Significance & Critical Issues: Jack Chambers in his studio in the late 1960s, photographed by Michael Ondaatje. (See below for details.)
Style & Technique: Jack Chambers, Victoria Hospital, 1969–70. (See below for details.)
Sources & Resources: Chambers during a 1972 photographing expedition in the countryside outside London, Ontario. Jack Chambers fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Where to See: Jack Chambers, photographed by Michael Ondaatje. (See below for details.)
Credits for Works by Jack Chambers
Circle, 1968–69. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Jack Chambers Estate.
4 Gerard, 1966. Museum London. Jack Chambers Estate.
401 Towards London No. 1, 1968–69. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of Norcen Energy Resources Limited, 1986 (86/47). Jack Chambers Estate.
The Hart of London, 1968–70. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Indian Drawing No. 12, 1975. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007 (2007/87). Jack Chambers Estate.
Lake Huron No. 1, 1970–71. Museum London. Jack Chambers Estate.
Lunch, 1969 (unfinished). Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007 (2007 /80). Jack Chambers Estate.
McGilvary County, 1962. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007 (2007/77). Jack Chambers Estate.
Mosaic, 1964–66. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Olga and Mary Visiting, 1964–65. Museum London, Art Fund purchase, 1965. Jack Chambers Estate.
Photographic studies for 401 Towards London No. 2, 1968 (unfinished), and 401 Towards London No. 1, 1968–69. Art Gallery of Ontario.
Plus Nine, 1966. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased 1968 (67/25). Jack Chambers Estate.
Portrait of Marion and Ross Woodman, 1961. Collection of Marion and Ross Woodman. Jack Chambers Estate.
Regatta No. 1, 1968. Museum London, gift of the Women’s Committee, 1968. Jack Chambers Estate.
Regatta No. 5, 1968–69. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, gift of the Estate of Jack Chambers, 2007 (2007/693). Jack Chambers Estate.
Three Pages in Time, 1966. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, purchased with the assistance of the Judith Rachel Harris Foundation and Ethel Harris, 2007 (2007/78). Jack Chambers Estate.
Victoria Hospital, 1969–70. Private collection, Toronto. Jack Chambers Estate.
Credits for Photographs and Works by Other Artists
Chambers’s mother, Beatrice (née McIntyre), and his father, Frank R. Chambers. Jack Chambers fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photographer unknown.
The Escuela Central de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid. Photographer unknown.
The 401 Towards London: Median, 1992, by Sheila Ayearst. Courtesy of Sheila Ayearst.
Installation view of Jack Chambers: A Retrospective, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, November 7–December 6, 1970. Photographer unknown.
Installation view of Jack Chambers: The light from the darkness, silver paintings and film work at Museum London, January 15– April 3, 2011. (left to right:The Hart of London, 1968–70; Renaissance Still-Life, 1966, National Gallery of Canada; Peaches, 1966, Art Gallery of Hamilton). Photograph by Ihor Holubizky.
Jack Chambers in front of his painting Lunch. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photographer unknown.
Jack Chambers in his studio in the late 1960s, photographed by Michael Ondaatje. Art Gallery of Ontario / Michael Ondaatje.
Jack Chambers painting, photographed by Michael Ondaatje. Art Gallery of Ontario / Michael Ondaatje.
Jack Chambers, photographed by Michael Ondaatje. Art Gallery of Ontario / Michael Ondaatje.
Jack Chambers’s manuscript [1]. Jack Chambers fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photograph by Sara Angel.
Jack Chambers’s manuscript [2]. Jack Chambers fonds, E.P. Taylor Research Library and Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto. Photograph by Sara Angel.
Kim Ondaatje, Jack Chambers, and Tony Urquhart at the second National Conference of CARFAC, 1973. Photographer unknown.
Art Canada Institute
Massey College, University of Toronto
4 Devonshire Place
Toronto, ON M5S 2E1
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Cheetham, Mark A. (Mark Arthur), 1954- author
Jack Chambers : life & work / by Mark A. Cheetham.
Includes bibliographical references.
Contents: Biography — Key works — Significance & critical issues — Style & technique — Where to see — Notes — Glossary — Sources & resources — About the author — Credits.
Electronic monograph.
ISBN 978-0-9921483-2-4 (pdf).—ISBN 978-0-9921483-4-8 (epub)
1. Chambers, Jack, 1931-1978. 2. Chambers, Jack, 1931-1978—Criticism and interpretation. 3. Painters—Canada—Biography. I. Art Canada Institute, issuing body II. Title.
![Art Canada Institute, Jack Chambers, Jack Chambers’s manuscript [1]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/art-books_5_jack-chamberss-manuscript-1-contextual.jpg)
![Art Canada Institute, Jack Chambers, Jack Chambers’s manuscript [2]](/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/art-books_5_jack-chamberss-manuscript-2-contextual.jpg)
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