Walter Yarwood

Walter Yarwood (1917-1996) was a member of Painters Eleven, a renowned group of Canadian abstract artists active between 1953 and 1960. Yarwood created powerful abstract expressionist paintings and commercial work through the 1950s before turning to sculpture in the early 1960s. He worked in welded steel, cast aluminum, bronze, iron, brass, wood and found objects. In 1980, he returned to painting.

Yarwood studied at the Western Technical School in Toronto before working as a commercial artist during which time he shared studio space with Canadian abstract artists Ronald York Wilson, and fellow Painters Eleven members Oscar Cahen and Jack Bush. In the 1970s, Yarwood was an instructor at Humber College.
 
Painters Eleven was Toronto’s answer to the New York school of abstract expressionism holding its first exhibition in February 1954 at Roberts Gallery. This group was a major force in establishing modern art in Canada and are still a major influence in the Canadian art market. Their art is now a prized and prominent feature in many private, corporate and public collections throughout Canada. 
 
Yarwood was also a member of the Ontario Society of Artists, the Art Directors Club of Toronto and the Canadian Group of Painters, and he was an associate of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. His artworks are held in many private, corporate and public collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Agnes Etherington Art Centre and Museum London.