Quebec

About Quebec

This semi-abstract expressionist oil painting captures the Quebec City skyline.

As a young painter, he made an impressive debut as the youngest official war artist travelling with the Canadian Forces during the Second World War. Later, Bruno Bobak became a much-celebrated artist in his home province of New Brunswick, and his artwork also found a home in the National Gallery of Canada.
His oeuvre was diverse—he was equally adept at drawing, painting, printmaking, murals and sculpture. His subject matter—war art, still lifes and landscapes but his real preoccupation was to ‘depict the human body and soul.’ This oil painting in a semi-abstract style captures a view of Quebec City—the dark skyline of buildings set against a bank of clouds, and in the foreground, the St. Lawrence River. The colour palette is moody—expressive brushstrokes in dark chartreuse and black for the buildings, the water a mix of slate gray, golden yellow and aquamarine blue. The sky is a dynamic melange of bright turquoise, yellow and gray. Flashes of orange add visual energy. His visual language focused on colour, line and composition—all evident in this compelling painting.

“As an artist, Bruno Bobak’s creative work defined a unique and sometimes difficult to contextualize vision within the historical currents of Canadian art. He has created a body of work of his time and place, telling stories that are both universal as well as personal. He has been heralded as a humanist and as an expressionist, but above all as a remarkable artist."
Donald Andrus, Artist and Curator

Bruno Bobak (1923 – 2012) was born in Poland, and in 1925, his family moved to Toronto. There, he attended Central Tech School and focused on art studies. He also studied art with Arthur Lismer at the Art Gallery of Toronto. At age 20, he enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces and won first prize for a watercolour he created for an army art exhibition. He was then offered a job as an official war artist. That opportunity opened a door for the young artist whose work was then exhibited in galleries in Canada, the US and overseas. He taught at the Vancouver School of Art (1947-57) and was the artist in residence at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton (1960-61), and the director of the Art Centre there until his retirement in 1987.
His work was featured in a major exhibition called "Humanism," which toured the Atlantic provinces in 1971. Altogether, he had more than 80 solo exhibitions. He became a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1973. Bobak won numerous awards and prizes, including the Order of Canada for his unique and lasting contributions to Canadian Art. His work is part of major public gallery collections across Canada, among them the National Gallery of Canada and the Canadian War Museum. Bruno Bobak’s paintings can also be found in many prestigious corporate and private collections.