Alex Colville: Return [Hardcover]

Tom Smart (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 18, 2004

Alex Colville was a Canadian war artist during World War II — and one of three painters admitted to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as it was being liberated. To express the unimaginable chaos, Colville sought order, which he found in an artistic style defined as "magic realism." In the shadow of September 11, and in the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, Colville's art resonates with a renewed urgency and potency. His work contains complexly coded images that help bring order, coherence, and closure to the disorder and chaos of trauma. Beginning with Embarkation (1994), Alex Colville: Return showcases his paintings and prints from the last 10 years. More than a stunning collection of work by one of Canada's premier artists, the book suggests that the creative process is a personal mode of witnessing and a powerful tool for healing.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Alex Colville: Return is a stunning tribute to the art of one of Canada146s most respected and influential artists. This beautiful new book showcases Alex Colville’s paintings and prints from the last ten years, and a perceptive text by curator Tom Smart places these pieces in the broad context of the artist’s entire œuvre. Colville was a Canadian war artist, sent to Europe to chronicle the events of the Second World War. He was one of three painters admitted to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp after it was liberated. In Alex Colville: Return, Tom Smart suggests that as an artist Colville continues to return artistically and metaphorically to the extraordinary horrors that he witnessed in Germany in 1945. Beginning with Colville’s formation as an artist and his early influences, especially the magic realist movement, Smart lays the foundation for an exploration of the individual works. He then traces the evolution of the artist’s contemporary work back to his early pieces, using the themes of ordering, doubling, longing and mortality that run through Colville’s art. These insights reveal the underlying complexities and depths of Coville’s astonishing and gripping vision. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Tom Smart is the Executive Director and CEO of the McMichael Canadian Collection, Kleinburg, Ontario, and the President of the McMichael Canadian Art Foundation. For seven years he was Director of Collections and Exhibitions at the Frick Art & Historical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he developed an ambitious international exhibition program, and at the same time, he was appointed a Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh. He served as Acting Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery from 1997 until 1999 and was Curator of the Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton from 1989 to 1997. Smart is the author of nine books and catalogues. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed Alex Colville: Return, which moved criticism of Colville’s works to a new intellectual level. His 1995 book The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light won the Atlantic Provinces Booksellers Association Booksellers Choice Award, the Studio Magazine Award of Merit, and the Printing Industries of America Award of Merit. It was included in Great Canadian Books of the Century. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre; First Edition, First Printing edition (May 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1550549820
• ISBN-13: 978-1550549829
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 11.1 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,196,160 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Does art require an explanation?, December 2, 2005

By 

J. Guild (Toronto,Canada) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alex Colville: Return (Hardcover)

I am a little surprised that this book has yet to receive a review here; since it was published over 2 years ago.I must admit,I almost passed on reviewing it,but here goes anyway.Maybe it will trigger reviews by others.
I have enjoyed Colville's work for many years and thought reading this book would give me an understanding of his work.Well,after all's said and done I don't think my understanding is any greater.I guess the old adage of "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" applies to me .
If you are not familiar with his art,the cover of this book is a good example.If you like and enjoy this picture ,you'll likely enjoy more of his work.It so happens that I grew up in Kentville,just a few miles from Wolfville,where Colville lived and did much of his work.I am very familiar with the landscape around Blomindon,St.Croix,Grand Pre,Minas Basin and its tides,marshes ,warves,mudflats,etc.These are so common to people living it the area that Colville's ability to take these things and create art is amazing.
I generally tend to like realism more than impressionist art and I liked the explanation of this being "Magic Realism".
I am reminded of Andrew Wyeth,Pratt,Hooper as I look at this art.While in New Mexico, several years ago, I remember the rolling brown hills dotted with small bright green ,ball shaped bushes,that were so often portrayed in the local art.The artists created scenes more real than real.This is similar to what Colville does.
So,I may not 'understand' what he is trying to convey in his art;but I know what I like,and I like his work.
Maybe it is true of a lot of things;the smell of a rose,the
sound of a foghorn,the cry of a gull,the Northern Lights,the stars in the sky;you can enjoy it without understanding why.