‘Mountain Meadow’ Oil-on-Board by George H. G. Swinton (1960)

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Impasto flourishes describe the rugged peaks of Alberta’s Rockies in thick, palpable strokes of oil, in this compact 1960 mountainscape … Read more Impasto flourishes describe the rugged peaks of Alberta’s Rockies in thick, palpable strokes of oil, in this compact 1960 mountainscape by Canadian painter GEORGE H.G. SWINTON (1917–2002). The heavy pigment catches the fiery reddish orange, not of any geographical phenomena, but rather the warm light of the rising sun, as if its glow were permanently cast upon the rock. Center stage, between the summits, a serene counterpoint emerges in the form of a secluded meadow, painted in a mossy, velvety green that presents as soft and welcoming. Overhead, high-contrast shades of orange and turquoise evoke the fleeting drama of sunrise.

GEORGE HENRY GORDON SWINTON (1917–2002) was a Canadian painter and historian, and a pioneering writer and collector of Inuit art. His 1965 book Eskimo Sculpture was a seminal work of its time, offering an early and thorough examination of the topic. Subsequent books provided more detail and represented a nearly exhaustive visual documentation of the subject, while also chronicling its evolution from traditional, magical artifacts to those created for the commercial market. A gifted artist in his own right, with over thirty one-man shows to his credit, including a 1958 exhibition at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Swinton’s landscapes, in watercolor and oil, reveal his love for the Canadian prairie. Today, his art hangs in the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Winnipeg Art Gallery, among others.

Born in Vienna under the name Georg Heinz Schwitzer, Swinton’s initial studies focused first on agriculture and then economics and political science. After the 1938 Anschluß (the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany), he emigrated with his family via the UK to Canada, arriving in 1939. He served for five years in the Canadian Army with the Intelligence Corps, becoming a citizen in 1944. He completed a B.A. in economics and political science at McGill University in Montreal in 1946. He took courses at the Montreal School of Art and Design and the Art Students’ League in New York City, but never finished his formal fine arts training.

Swinton was Curator of the Saskatoon Art Center from 1947 to 1949, an instructor at Smith College in Massachusetts from 1950 to 1953, and Artist-in-Residence at Queen’s University in Ontario from 1953 to 1954. That fall, he joined the faculty of the School of Art at the University of Manitoba, a position that he held for two decades. He first traveled north for the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1957; his experiences there became the basis for his books on Inuit sculpture. From 1974 to 1981, he was a professor of Canadian Studies at Ottawa’s Carleton University, and his final academic position was an adjunct professorship in that school’s Art History department.

Swinton was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy and the Order of Canada. He was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Manitoba in 1987. In 1992, he received the 125th Anniversary of Canadian Confederation Medal and, in 2002, a Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal.

Swinton died from complications of congestive heart failure in Winnipeg in 2002. See less