Albert Franck Explained

Albert Franck
Birth Name:Albert Jacques Franck
Birth Date:2 April 1899
Birth Place:Middelburg, Zeeland
Death Place:Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Nationality:Dutch-born Canadian
Spouse:Florence Vale
Training:self-trained
Known For:Painter

Albert Jacques Franck (2 April 1899 – 28 February 1973) was a Canadian artist. He is known for his realistic paintings[1] of Toronto winter scenes,[2] dilapidated neighbourhoods[3] [4] and back lanes.[5] [6] [7] His detailed paintings provide a historical record of conditions in some of Toronto's once less affluent neighbourhoods.[8] [9]

Early life

Franck was born at Middelburg, the Netherlands.[10] As a young man he was a champion swimmer.[11] He moved to Canada in 1926, making his living as a swimming instructor and by working in factories He later worked in an art gallery and sold picture frames.

Career

Franck opened a studio in his small home on Gerrard Street in Toronto. He began by hanging some of his paintings in a local restaurant,[5] and in this way his work became locally known. In the 1950s he and his wife, artist Florence Vale,[12] developed the studio into a gathering place for the arts community. They hosted and supported the work of many young local artists,[13] [14] particularly those participating in the emerging Toronto abstract art scene, including Joyce Wieland[15] and Kazuo Nakamura.[16] Franck and Vale later moved to a larger home, which also served as their studio and gallery, on Hazelton Street[17] as part of a general migration of the art community to the Yorkville area during the 1960s.[18]

Franck's first exhibition was presented at York University in 1963.[19] In 1973, he held an exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Franck also participated in a number of group exhibitions.

Franck's paintings are in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario,[20] the Museum London,[21] the National Exhibition Centre in St. Catharines,[22] the New Brunswick Museum,[23] and McMaster University Art Gallery.[24]

He was an Associate member of the Royal Canadian Academy (1961-1970), and a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1958), the Canadian Society of Watercolour Painters, and the Canadian Society of Graphic Artists.[25]

Fellow artist Harold Town, a close friend,[26] wrote two books celebrating Franck's art.[27]

Franck also taught art in a local high school[28] and played the cello.[29] He and his wife sent small pieces of their art as greeting cards to friends and relatives, and some of these have survived.[30]

Franck died in Toronto on February 28, 1973. A street in the St. Lawrence Neighbourhood of Toronto is named for him.[31]

References

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Commentator. 7 - 8. 1963. 24.
  2. Book: Tony Ruprecht. Toronto's Many Faces. 14 December 2010. Dundurn. 978-1-4597-1804-3. 122–.
  3. Book: Nancy Byrtus. Mark Fram. Michael McClelland. East/West: A Guide to Where People Live in Downtown Toronto. 27 September 2013. Coach House Books. 978-1-77056-043-7. 144–.
  4. Book: Robert C. Thomsen. Nanette Hale. Canadian Environments: Essays in Culture, Politics, and History. 2005. Peter Lang. 978-90-5201-295-7. 309–.
  5. [John Lorinc]
  6. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/albert-jacques-franck/ "Albert Jacques Franck"
  7. Book: Bill Casselman. Casselmania: more wacky Canadian words & sayings. registration. 1 August 1996. Little, Brown Canada. 978-0-316-13314-2. 86.
  8. Book: Leonard Brooks. Oil painting ... traditional and new. 1974. Galahad Books. 978-0-88365-128-5. 110.
  9. Book: Marjorie Harris. Toronto, the City of Neighbourhoods. 1 January 1984. McClelland and Stewart. 978-0-7710-3988-1. 12.
  10. Book: Oliver Arpad Istvan Botar. A Bauhausler in Canada: Andor Weininger in the '50s. 2009. Gallery One One One. 978-0-921500-98-8. 220.
  11. Book: . John Virtue. Leonard and Reva Brooks: Artists in Exile in San Miguel de Allende. 25 October 2001. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. 978-0-7735-6983-6. 30–.
  12. Book: Natalie Luckyj. Florence Vale. Agnes Etherington Art Centre. Metamorphosis: memories, dreams and reflections : the work of Florence Vale. 1980. Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Queen's University. 9780889110151 .
  13. Book: Roald Nasgaard. Abstract Painting in Canada. 2008. Douglas & McIntyre. 978-1-55365-394-3. 92–.
  14. Book: Maria Meindl. Outside the Box: The Life and Legacy of Writer Mona Gould, the Grandmother I Thought I Knew. 18 August 2011. MQUP. 978-0-7735-8638-3. 128–.
  15. Book: Balkind, Alvin. Robert Bringhurst. Visions: contemporary art in Canada. 1983. Douglas & McIntyre, Limited. 978-0-88894-392-7. 83.
  16. Book: . Dennis R. Reid. A concise history of Canadian painting. 1988. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-540664-1. 253.
  17. Book: John Lorinc. Michael McClelland. Ellen Scheinberg. Tatum Taylor. The Ward: The Life and Loss of Toronto's First Immigrant Neighbourhood. 23 June 2015. Coach House Books. 978-1-55245-311-7. 251–.
  18. Book: Stuart Henderson. Making the Scene: Yorkville and Hip Toronto in the Sixties. 30 April 2011. University of Toronto Press. 978-1-4426-6199-8. 56–.
  19. Book: Michiel Horn. York University: The Way Must Be Tried. 11 December 2008. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. 978-0-7735-7724-4. 34–.
  20. https://www.ago.net/collection-x-toronto-imagined "Toronto Imagined: The City in Words and Images"
  21. Book: Lela Wilson. Sandra Dyck. York Wilson: His Life and Work, 1907-1984. 3 February 1998. MQUP. 978-0-7735-9606-1. 217–.
  22. Book: Jon Caulfield. City Form and Everyday Life: Toronto's Gentrification and Critical Social Practice. 1994. University of Toronto Press. 978-0-8020-7448-5. 121–.
  23. Book: New Brunswick Museum. Museum Memo. 1969. 34.
  24. Book: McMaster University. Art Gallery. Kim Gibson Ness. The art collection of McMaster University: European, Canadian and American paintings, prints, drawings and sculpture. 1987. McMaster University Press. 978-0-920603-06-2. 229.
  25. Book: Bradfield . Helen . Art Gallery of Ontario: the Canadian Collection Collection . 1970 . McGraw Hill . Toronto . 0070925046. 118037 . 2021-03-01.
  26. Book: Arts/Canada. 1975. Society for Art Publications.. 48.
  27. Book: Loren R. Lerner. Mary F. Williamson. Art and architecture in Canada: a bibliography and guide to the literature to 1981. 1 January 1991. University of Toronto Press. 978-0-8020-5856-0. 575–.
  28. Book: Iris Nowell. P11, Painters Eleven: The Wild Ones of Canadian Art. 2011. Douglas & McIntyre. 978-1-55365-590-9. 300–.
  29. Book: Iris Nowell. Joyce Wieland: A Life in Art. registration. 2001. ECW Press. 978-1-55022-476-4. 83–.
  30. https://www.thestar.com/life/homes/2009/07/18/scene_doesnt_dwarf_this_plaques_appeal.html "Scene doesn't dwarf this plaque's appeal"
  31. News: A street by any other name is just as sweet . Toronto Star . Bob . Aaron . August 1, 2009.

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