A Life in Color and Form
Born in Montreal, Canada, John Fox was a multifaceted artist whose creative practice spanned painting, sculpture, collage, watercolor, and drawing. His artistic journey was marked by a rhythmic movement between different modes of expression. In his early years, his work focused on representation, a period that saw him study at the School of Art and Design at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts under Goodridge Roberts. This education provided him with a foundational understanding of how color could be utilized to structure a composition.
His career took him to the Slade School of Fine Arts in London, where he studied from 1952 to 1953. During this time, he traveled extensively, including trips to Venice, a city that would hold a profound significance for his work. Fox's professional life was also deeply rooted in education; he taught at the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts and later served as a professor and Department Chair at Concordia University.
Evolution of Style and Subject
The trajectory of Fox's oeuvre is characterized by significant stylistic shifts. From the late 1950s until 1972, his work often centered on interiors, nudes, and landscapes. This representational phase gave way to a period of Lyrical abstraction between 1972 and 1986, during which he worked on large canvases using diverse techniques such as sponges, knives, and even a spray gun to create rich, textured surfaces. His abstract works often incorporated collage elements and a variety of marks.
In the later stages of his life, beginning in 1987, Fox returned to representational painting, a style that was reconfigured by his extensive experience with abstraction. His work is held in numerous prestigious collections, including:
