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William Walker Alexander

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Canadian artist, 1870-1948)

William Walker Alexander
Born(1870-08-09)August 9, 1870
Toronto, Ontario
DiedApril 3, 1948(1948-04-03) (aged 77) 1948-04-03
Toronto, Canada
EducationCentral School of Design Ontario College of Art, Toronto; Studio of G. A. Reid; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins (1880s)
Known forprintmaker and bookplate maker
SpouseMabel Inness

William Walker Alexander (August  09, 1870 – April   03, 1948), who signed his work W. W. Alexander, was a printmaker and bookplate maker.

Biography

Alexander was born in Toronto and educated at the Central School of Design (the Ontario College of Art), Toronto. He began an apprenticeship at the age of 16 in the engraving studio of his older brother, John Alexander, then worked in the studio of G. A. Reid in Toronto and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts with Thomas Eakins (1880s). In Philadelphia, he worked in a Banknote engraving company.

When he returned to Toronto, he worked for his brother's firm, Alexander and Cable Lithographing Company in Toronto, becoming head of the art department. His specialty was etchings, engravings and bookplates. He designed and engraved over 40 bookplates, each distinguished by an artistic suggestion on his part about the character of the owner of the books, and 30 etchings and aquatints by 1939. Besides his prints and bookplates, he was an authority on crests and armorial bearings and made these for patrons. He also engraved Memorial tablets in brass and cast iron for churches and public buildings. His watercolours often resulted from trips with the Toronto Canoe Club. In 1904 with Robert Holmes, he sketched in Algonquin Park in a canoe, being among the first of the Toronto artists to discover and sketch in the Park.

He exhibited his work at the Ontario Society of Artists in Toronto at the Art Association of Montreal and at the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1912, 1918, 1922, and 1924. His aquatint Bridge at Twilight (Art Gallery of Ontario) was shown at the 1924 British Empire Exhibition.

He was one of the founders of the Toronto Art Students' League in 1886 and assisted in the lithographing of the Toronto Art League Calendars. He also helped found the Society of Graphic Art (1906) and served as its President (1908-1909). He was a member of the Mahlstick Club, founded in 1899, and the Arts and Letters Club (1908). With W.J. Thomson, John Wesley Cotton, T.G. Greene, and Charles Macdonald Manly, he played a leading role in the establishment of the Canadian Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers in 1916. He was a member of the American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers which honoured him in 1939 by an article in the in Society's year book.

His engravings are in the collections of the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, both in Toronto, the Burnaby Art Gallery, and the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, Massachusetts. His bookplates are also in the Thomas Murray Bookplates Collection at the University of British Columbia Library.

Awards

  • Bronze medal, British and Colonial Exhibition (1907) for design, London England;
  • First prize, 1936 for best lithographed bookplate, Bookplate Association International, Los Angeles;

References

  1. "Artists". app.pch.gc.ca. Government of Canada. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  2. ^ Arts & Letters Club Monthly Letter, May 1948. Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
  3. ^ Bradfield, Helen (1970). Art Gallery of Ontario. The Canadian Collection. Toronto: McGraw-Hill. p. 83. ISBN 0070925046. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  4. ^ Sidney H. Howard, William W. Alexander, A Canadian Engraver, American Society of Bookplate Collectors and Designers, 17, 1939, pp.15-22, Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
  5. >Obituary, Canadian Artist Won Wide Fame with Engravings, Toronto Globe & Mail, April 6, 1946. Artist's file, Edward P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
  6. Tovell 1996, p. 77.
  7. ^ biographical Data for the Art Museum of Toronto filled out by the artist, 1912. Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
  8. ^ W. W. Alexander". A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
  9. McMann, Evelyn (1981). Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Toronto: University of Toronto Press. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  10. Canadian section of fine arts : catalogue / British Empire Exhibition, London, 1924, nos. 1. Ottawa. 1924. Retrieved 26 November 2024.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  11. ^ Jefferys, C.W. (2017). ""Reminiscences of Old Litho. Life". (unpublished holograph ms. relating to period 1885–1890). From the From "The Old Litho Life" to "Never a Day without a Line" / De l'atelier de lithographie traditionnel à celui où il ne se passe " pas un jour sans un trait " by Robert Stacey". National Gallery of Canada Journal. 8 (June): 99–134. doi:10.3138/ngcr.8.005. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  12. Pearl McCarthy, Toronto Globe and Mail, Aug. 12, 1944, Artist’s file, E.P. Taylor Library & Archives, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
  13. "Collection". www.gallery.ca. National Gallery of Canada. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  14. "Collection". collections.burnabyartgallery.ca. Burnaby Art Gallery. Retrieved 3 December 2024.
  15. "Collection of bookplates". www.americanantiquarian.org. AAS, Worcester, Mass. Retrieved 7 December 2024.
  16. "Collection". open.library.ubc.ca. University of British Columbia Library Rare Books and Special Collections. Thomas Murray Bookplates Collection. Howard Binder. BP MUR CAN P A4499c. Retrieved 4 December 2024.

Further reading

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