Page 27 - Studio International - January 1965

Gallery going in Toronto

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a Herman show from Roland Browse and Delbanco.
Smaller galleries in the Bloor-Yonge area are plentiful.
You can pick your way through the snarled-up traffic.
past the boutiques and bespoke tailors. to the Tygesen.
the Sobot. the Gallery Pascal or Prints International.
which carry a commendable list of Canadian and
European names; or you can go prospecting in near a
dozen more that are pitching or striking camp behind
their modish fac;::ades. or waiting for greatness to thrust
itself upon them. Or you can find the new Design Centre.
across the road from the Morris and the Dresdnere. or
call at the Canadian Guild of Potters just north on
Avenue Road (which recently ended an exhibition of
Craftsmen Potters of London). Then. for a short subway
ride. there are the Albert White Galleries on Adelaide
Street or the Upstairs Gallery on Castleknock Road.
The one remaining larger gallery near the Bloor-Yonge
intersection is the Roberts. which celebrated its
centenary six years before it was taken over by S. L.
Wildridge in 1948. Like the Isaacs and the Dorothy
Cameron. the Roberts Gallery presents only Canadian
artists: a policy begun in 1957 when Jack Wildridge,
the present owner. took over on the death of his father.
His list is a long one. full of solid reputations established
mainly in Montreal, when that city's identification with
postwar Paris began to pay off. The Roberts. however.
seems more cautious than most in regard to the younger.
untried painter, and cannot be said to equate its
interests with those of the avant garde. Such names as
Goodridge Roberts. York Wilson. Edmund Alleyn.
Molly Bobak and Arthur Pellan. remind us that if we
have seen the Fifth Biennial the Roberts will hold few
surprises. though it may contain numerous satisfactions.
Finally the gallery goer takes a Bloor Street tramcar a
mile or so west to Markham Street. where Jack Pollock
runs his stylish premises with perhaps the best work of
the minor league. and where the David Mirvish Gallery
sweeps us into the big world of Clement Greenberg's
'post painterly abstraction.'
David Mirvish. the youngest Toronto dealer. opened
his gallery only a year ago. and with tycoon father 'Ed'
Mirvish in the background quickly staked his claim to
the one piece of territory still then undeveloped.
Canadian 'hard edge' is a genre which took root in the
Far West through the famous Emma Lake workshops in
Regina. that were led by people like Barnett Newman.
Clement Greenberg, Kenneth Noland and. last year.
Jules Olitski. The Mirvish Gallery has contracts with
both Olitski and Noland, and such other Americans as
Paul Feeley, Albert Stadler and Friedel Dzubas. as well
as Canadian hard edge celebrities like Kenneth
Loch head. who organizes Emma Lake. Douglas Morton.
Roy Kiyooka and Charles Robb. You can also find there
works by Louise Nevelson and Helen Frankenthaler.
and two Canadians: William Ronald and a sort of hip
version of Ingres. called Greg Curnoe. who is this
gallery's only figurative painter.
The gallery gave Charles Robb his first show in
Toronto last October. It was a significant event; for
Robb, who had already had a show at the Andre
Emmerich Gallery in New York. was unknown in
Toronto although it was here that he came to maturity.
His exhibition at Markham Street demonstrated that
the final exit to New York had been closed off. that the
day had at last arrived when no-one again would leave
Toronto because of its indifference, although he might
well do so to its applause. The growing pains are over.
This city is entered on a fat and prosperous maturity. ■
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