Prints by Canadian artist David Blackwood at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
Blackwood (1941-2022) was born and raised in Newfoundland. This retrospective exhibit features more than eighty of his prints and drawings. Most of the prints are etchings. In a couple of cases, a series of prints shows the development of a finished piece. The images are very much Newfoundland and Labrador with sailing ships and large icebergs playing a big role. There are lots of people in boats!
below: “Passing Under the Rostellan”, 2013, etching and aquaprint. The final copies had a reddish sky.
below: “Wedding on Deer Island”, 2020, etching, aquatint & watercolour.
below: “The Flora Nickerson in the Labrador Sea”. The Flora S. Nickerson was a schooner owned by the Blackwood family. David Blackwood’s father and grandfather were mariners as were many other ancestors. This boat appears in many of Blackwood’s prints – a boat that he sailed on many times as a child.
below: “The Great Peace of Brian and Martin Winsor”, 1985
below: If you look closely at the bottom portion of the above image, I think that you get a better look at the two Winsor men (and their rifles)…..
below: …But if you check the details at the top of the print, you find a small empty boat – presumably belonging to the men. There is certainly a story being told here!
This fascinating exhibit is still on (as I type this) and will continue until 26 July 2026.
as I walk Toronto 