Roly Fenwick (1932-2026)
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Roly Fenwick at the age of 94. Known for his lush paintings of the Bruce Peninsula, Roly had a deep connection to the landscape that he referred to as his “ancestral bloodroots”. He was not interested in merely representing the landscape, rather revealed an inner life source, exposing a natural rhythm often overlooked.
Since 1997 we have been honoured to represent Roly Fenwick and enjoyed 13 solo exhibitions together and countless group shows. Both Roly and his family were close friends of the gallery. We looked forward to visiting his “bloodroots” at their cottage at Big Bay several times. Many of the images for his finished paintings started there as watercolours and then he painted his oils in London. Roly was a humble man with a great sense of humour. He will be greatly missed by his many admirers across Canada.
What sustained his seven decade career was his intense devotion to the Canadian landscape and specifically the landscape of the Georgian Bay region. “My focus is where the Niagara Escarpment meets Georgian Bay, a place where I am haunted by ancestral bloodroots, a source of energy and wonder”. From his deep experience with this specific geography were born paintings that attempt to trace the spirit of the land. Frozen grasses, ancient mucky swamps, sweeping vistas of rolling fields, stoic trees and lush forest interiors were Fenwick’s inspiration. His paintings were not nostalgic or sought the sublime, rather their rawness urge us to think about the mighty force of nature for which we are all connected to.
“Born homesick with a natural tendency to internalize, I eventually realized that my world was a landscape to go deep into to see if I could get out. A blank canvas became a personal field to do battle with stimulations, experiences, connections and to record the passion. This negotiating with nature has become a visual collection of “internal places”; places I keep after leaving, places of necessary memories and places that fit the skin. There to make the call it has been a refuge from the self-conscious and a process of survival.” Roly Fenwick, May 2013
Roly Fenwick “The Second Self”, Collection Museum London
Born in Owen Sound, ON in 1932, Roly Fenwick was first taught art at the local public school by the niece of Tom Thomson and in the church basement by Thomson’s older brother. He studied under Alex Colville and Lawren P. Harris at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB between 1950-1953 along with fellow students Christopher and Mary Pratt. In 1956 he moved to Toronto where he was the Art Director for Simpson’s/Sears catalogue.
In 1968 Tony Urquhart was seeking professors for the University of Western Ontario’s visual arts department and hired Fenwick to be a painting & drawing professor. Fenwick remained at UWO until he retired in 1989, teaching countless students. Fellow professors in the faculty included Paterson Ewen and Duncan de Kergommeaux. Since retiring, Fenwick maintained a steady studio practice in London, ON and at his cottage in Big Bay, ON.
Fenwick received his first retrospective in 1978 at the London Regional Art Gallery, which focused on his realist, surrealist work that he was making at that time. Again in 2001, Museum London organized a retrospective of his landscapes, which travelled to the Tom Thomson Art Gallery in Owen Sound, ON. Most recently in 2023 the Tom Thomson Art Gallery curated a career retrospective combining his landscape and figurative paintings.
Roly Fenwick’s paintings are in the permanent public collections of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owens Art Gallery, McIntosh Gallery and Museum London including countless corporate and private collections.