William Ronald

Born William Ronald Smith, William Ronald (1926-1998) is known for the crucial role he played in establishing the influential Canadian abstract expressionist art group Painters Eleven, exhibiting with them in Toronto from 1953 - 1955, and New York in 1956.

Ronald graduated from the Ontario College of Art in 1951 and then went directly to New York City to study for six months with Abstract Expressionist Hans Hofmann. Upon returning to Toronto, he worked as a display artist for the Robert Simpson Co. department store. While there, he persuaded management to pair abstract paintings with furniture displays in a show called Abstracts at Home. 

Ronald moved back to NYC and eventually became an American citizen. He shared a studio with Frank Stella and joined the stable of artists at Manhattan's Kootz Gallery. He was accepted by critics and collectors and enjoyed a period of success. Eventually, Ronald returned to Toronto and continued with his career that included work for CBC, CTV and CityTV as the host of a variety show. He continued to paint through the 1970s, '80s and '90s, moving to Montreal and then to Barrie, Ontario where he maintained an active studio.

Ronald won the International Guggenheim Awards, Canadian Section in 1956, and was part of the National Gallery of Canada’s Second Biennial of Canadian Painting in 1957.  In 1977, he was awarded a Canada Councils senior arts award to pursue his Prime Ministers project. He gained some notoriety for his portrait series of Canadian Prime Ministers, abstracted portrayals of heads of government opened by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Toronto. The exhibition toured Canada. These works are in the permanent collection of the Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery in Kitchener, Ontario.

Flamboyant with a love for the dramatic, Ronald loved to paint in public, frequently hiring strippers and showgirls to dance around him as he painted. He continued to work until his death in 1998 when he suffered a heart attack while painting. He lived long enough to name the work Heart Attack and succumbed a few days later.