The first collection of the writings of artist Lionel Lemoine FitzGerald
Artist and educator Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (1890–1956) was the only member of the Group of Seven, the iconic collective of Canadian landscape painters, who was based in Western Canada. Some Magnetic Force is the first collection to gather the surviving writings by the Winnipeg artist. Spanning from 1930 to 1954, the texts gathered here begin during the mature period of his artistic development at age forty and conclude with personal reflections late in life on the nature of art and his career.
Michael Parke-Taylor has uncovered and chronologically organized FitzGerald’s letters, diary, lectures, and reports to show how FitzGerald understood the development of his practice, communicated the philosophy of art to his art students, confronted challenges in his career, and presented his spiritual aspirations, views about the natural world, and private desires. These writings also elucidate the material and reputational realities of artistic production in places beyond the period’s dominant Canadian art centers of Toronto, Montreal, and Ottawa.
Including illustrations of his work and an introduction and notes that contextualize FitzGerald’s biography and social circles, Some Magnetic Force provides remarkable insights into the influences, interests, and innovations of the Group of Seven’s prairie artist.
SOME MAGNETIC FORCE
Some Magnetic Force: Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald Writings
Edited by Michael Parke-Taylor
Series: Text/Context: Writings by Canadian Artists
“Some Magnetic Force is a sound and important book. Although Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald’s writings have been quoted in publications on the artist, the full richness of the artist’s writings has never been published and available to the general public. This is especially true of his substantial travel diary and his teaching notes from the Winnipeg School of Art. His diary is crucial for understanding the breadth of FitzGerald’s familiarity with the work of international artists in particular, while his teaching notes lay out the issues and concerns that drove FitzGerald when he was attempting to convey his aesthetic and philosophical concerns as they pertained to the visual arts.” —Brian Foss, Carleton University
The e-book version of this title will be available in Winter 2024.
| Introduction “Eternal Wonders Surround Us”: The Prairie Experience of L.L. FitzGerald |
Michael Parke-Taylor | xvi |
| Editorial Note on Source Materials | xxxi | |
| I. Correspondence | 1 | |
| Letters to Bertram Brooker, 1930–37 | 2 | |
| Letter to Peter Haworth, 1955 | 14 | |
| Letters to H.O. McCurry, 1932–41 | 17 | |
| Letters to Irene Heywood, 1941–43 | 27 | |
| Letters to Robert Ayre, 1934–49 | 65 | |
| Letter to Canadian Art, 1953 | 97 | |
| II. Travel Diary, 1930 | 100 | |
| III. Winnipeg School of Art Lectures and Miscellaneous Notes on Art, 1933–35 | 151 | |
| IV. Reports to the Board of Directors: Winnipeg School of Art, 1930–44 | 167 | |
| V. John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship Application, 1940 | 176 | |
| VI. Report on a Little Journey Around the Art World of Vancouver, 1944 | 181 | |
| VII. “Painters on the Prairie,” Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Midwest Network, December 1, 1954 | 188 | |
Michael Parke-Taylor is an art historian and curator based in Toronto.
