Peter Aspell (1918 – 2004)

A prominent western Canadian painter, muralist and educator, Peter Aspell (aka: Peter Noel Lawson Winterhalter Aspell) was born in and died in Vancouver, B.C. He taught at the Vancouver School of Art and the University of British Columbia, he is the subject of an article in the Encyclopedia of British Columbia” and his works are in several museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada.

His primary medium was oil paint. His subjects included portraits, self portraits, still life, figures, nudes, landscapes, fantasy, allegory*, mythology, social commentary and pure abstraction – color, shape, line and texture. His styles were Abstract Expressionism*, Art Brut*, Expressionism*, Primitivism*, Realism* and Surrealism*.The askART auction results have some good illustrations of his oeuvre.

He studied at the Vancouver School of Art [now Emily Carr University of Art and Design] (1937 – 1941) under Charles H. Scott and at the Ghent Academy, Belgium (c.1947). He also travelled to Europe on an Emily Carr Scholarship (1948 – 1949). (1)

Aspell taught at the Vancouver School of Art (1948 – 1970), the University of British Columbia (1965 – 1984), and at the Peter Aspell School of Art (1970 – 1978). He served with the Canadian Army in Europe during World War II.

He was a member of the British Columbia Society of Artists* (1950 – 1963) and the Canadian Group of Painters* (1957).

He exhibited with the Canadian Group of Painters* in 1947 and the British Columbia Society of Artists* in 1948. His work was included in the National Gallery of Canada Annual exhibition in 1953 and in the Third Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Art at National Gallery of Canada (and touring) in 1959.

His work was featured in the landmark exhibition “7 West Coast Painters” with Herbert Gilbert (1926 – 2005), Don Jarvis, John Korner, Jack Shadbolt, Gordon Smith and Takao Tanabe, which was shown at the University of B.C. Fine Arts Gallery, the National Gallery of Canada and 7 other museums in its 1959 cross country tour. Aspell’s work was also included in “Vancouver: Art and Artists 1931 – 1983" the 1983 inaugural exhibition for the new Vancouver Art Gallery. (2)

He was the subject of solo exhibitions held at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1946 and 1955; the Bundy Gallery, Waitsfield, Vermont in 1965; and at the West Vancouver Museum [Peter Aspell: Saints and Sinners, Mystics and Madness] and the Richmond Art Gallery (Richmond, B.C.) [Peter Aspell: The Mad Alchemist] in 2016.

His works have also been featured in solo and group exhibitions at prominent commercial galleries such as Bau-XI Gallery, Vancouver; Buschlen Mowatt Gallery, Vancouver; Monte Clarke Gallery, Vancouver; Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto; Gallery Moos, Toronto and New York; Wade Gallery, Los Angeles; Goldman-Kraft Gallery, Chicago; and Galerie 1900-2000, Paris.

According to the Canadian Heritage Information Network* and individual museum sources, his works are in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (B.C.), Burnaby Art Gallery (Burnaby, B.C.), Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (University of British Columbia, Vancouver), Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, Ontario), Simon Fraser University Gallery (Burnaby, B.C.), University of Lethbridge Art Gallery (Lethbridge, Alberta), Vancouver Art Gallery (B.C.), Winnipeg Art Gallery* (Manitoba) and the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa).

Aspell’s 7’ X 20’ oil on canvas mural titled Pond Magic, commissioned by Cineplex Odeon in 1987, is located (original location) at the Marina Market Place Cinemas, Los Angeles.

Footnotes:
(1) Please note: Peter Aspell’s name is on the Emily Carr University of Art and Design list of “Emily Award Recipients”; however, it does not specify the exact date of receipt only the date range 1940 – 1959. Winners since 2001 have the exact date of the award next to their name. The Emily Award is bestowed by the Board of Governors of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design to celebrate the outstanding achievements of a member of the University alumni whose endeavors in the arts, media and design fields have brought honor to the University. Source: Emily Carr University of Art and Design website. – M.D. Silverbrooke

(2) Please note: All artists mentioned in this biography, other than those with life-dates after their names, have askART records. Herbert Gilbert was a painter, printmaker and a prominent professor of Studio Art at the University of British Columbia. He retired as Professor Emeritus. His works are in the National Gallery of Canada and the Vancouver Art Gallery. Sources: “The University of British Columbia Alumni Directory 1992” (1992), compiled by the UBC Alumni Association; published by The University of British Columbia, Vancouver; the Canadian Heritage Information Network*; and his obituary published in the Vancouver Sun November 26, 2005 – M.D. Silverbrooke

Sources:
Abstract Painting in Canada” (2008), by Roald Nasgaard (see askART Publications)

A Modern Life: Art and Design in British Columbia, 1945 – 1960 (2004), by Ian Thom and Alan C. Elder; Vancouver Art Gallery and Arsenal Pulp Press, Vancouver, B.C.

Biographical Index of Artists in Canada (2003), by Evelyn de Rostaing McMann (see askART Publications)

The Collector's Dictionary of Canadian Artists at Auction (2001), by Anthony R. Westbridge and Diana L. Bodnar (see askART Publications)

Encyclopedia of British Columbia (2000), edited by Daniel Francis (see askART Publications)

A Dictionary of Canadian Artists A to F"5th edition (1997), by Colin S. MacDonald; Canadian Paperbacks Publishing Limited, Ottawa, Ontario

A to Z of Canadian Art: artists & art terms (1997), by Blake McKendry (see askART Publications)
“Great Work! An Overview of Contemporary British Columbia Artists” (1996), compiled by Melanie Gold (see askART Publications)

“A Checklist of Painters, c.1200 – 1994 Represented in the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute of Art, London” (1995), by Witt Library; Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, Chicago

Canadian Who’s Who – 1994 (1994), edited by Kieran Simpson; University of Toronto Press
“Art and Architecture in Canada” (1991), by Loren R. Lerner and Mary F. Williamson (see askART Publications)

Cineplex Odeon: The First Ten Years (1989), by David Burnett (see askART Publications) [Note: Aspell’s mural is also the book’s cover art]

Catalogue of the National Gallery of Canada Ottawa: Canadian Art Volume One A – F (1988), general editors Charles C. Hill and Pierre B. Landry; Published by the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Vancouver: Art and Artists 1931 – 1983 (1983), by Luke Rombout (see AskART Publications) – exhibition

Four Decades: The Canadian Group of Painters and their contemporaries – 1930 - 1970 (1972), by Paul Duval; Clarke, Irwin & Company Ltd., Toronto

The National Gallery of Canada: Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture, Volume III (1960), by R.H. Hubbard (see askART Publications)

The Third Biennial Exhibition of Canadian Art (1959), by National Gallery of Canada; Published by National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa – exhibition

British Columbia - a Centennial Anthology (1958), edited by Reginald E. Watters; McClelland and Stewart Ltd., Canada

Canadian Heritage Information Network*

Emily Carr University of Art and Design website

Burnaby Art Gallery website

* For more in-depth information about these terms and others, see AskART.com. Glossary http://www.askart.com/AskART/lists/Art_Definition.aspx

Written and contributed to askART by M.D. Silverbrooke.

Peter Aspell (1918 - 2004)

Born: 1918, Vancouver, British Columbia
Education: Vancouver School of Art, Vancouver, BC; Academie de Ghent, Belgium

Aspell taught art at the Vancouver School of Art from 1948 to 1970 and the Peter Aspell School of Art from 1970 - 1978.

Selected Solo Exhibitions:
2000-2007 Various art galleries in Vancouver and Toronto
1994-1999 Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1992 Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, BC
1991 Drabinsky Gallery, Toronto, ON
1990 Wade Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1990 Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, BC
1990 Goldman-Kraft Gallery, Chicago, IL
1989 Gallery Moos, Toronto, ON
1989 Heffel Gallery Limited, Vancouver, BC
1988 La Galerie de Poche, Paris, France
1988 Heffel Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1987 Gallery Moos, New York , NY
1987 Wade Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1987 Gallery Moos, Toronto, ON
1986 Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver, BC
1985 Gallery Mahalis, Montreal, PQ
1982-1985 Kenneth G. Heffel Fine Art Inc., Vancouver, BC
1977 Bau-xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC and Toronto
1965 Bundy Gallery, VT
1955 Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC

Selected Group Exhibitions:
2002 Toronto International Art Fair, Buschlen Mowatt Galleries
2001 Toronto International Art Fair, Buschlen Mowatt Galleries
1997-1999 Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, BC
1996 Triton International Art Fair, Monte Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Monte Clark Gallery, Vancouver, BC; Triton International Art Fair, Monte Clark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1988 International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA; Chicago International Art Exhibition, Chicago, IL
1987 International Contemporary Art Fair, Los Angeles, CA;Chicago International Art Exhibition, Chicago, IL
1968-58 Exhibits with North-West Artists Group
1965 Group of Eight Show, Traveling show in Canada

Selected Collections:
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, ON
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
Cineplex Odeon Commission, Marina Del Rey, CA
Imperial Oil Company Of Canada
Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC

Awards:
Emily Carr Scholarship, 1956
Canada Council Fellowship, 1965
Gold Medal Canadian Group Show, 1968
Emily Award, 2000

Source:
Information courtesy of David Chaperon.