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Biography JACK BEDER ( 1910 - 1987 ) Born in Poland, he immigrated to Montreal in 1926. He was known for his Montreal street scenes and 1930's Montreal cafés, but also painted landscapes,still-lifes, gardens, and portraits/figures. He worked in all media: oils, acrylics, gouaches, watercolours, pastels, drawings and prints ( serigraphs, linoprints, monotypes and monoprints ). He also produced sculpture in wood, limestone, marble, serpentine, plaster and liquitex/cardboard. He painted in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia. His work has been exhibited all over Canada, including Montreal, Halifax, Fredericton, Charlottetown, Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, St. Catharines, London, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria, as well as the United States ( 1939 New York World's Fair and other cities ). Many of his works are in private collections in Canada, the United States and England. He is also represented in the permanent collections of National Gallery of Canada, National Portrait Gallery, Museum London, London, Ontario (formerly the London Regional Art & Historical Museums); Concordia University, Montreal; Quebec Museum, Quebec City; Jasper - Yellowhead Museum, Jasper, Alberta; Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, New Brunswick; Donald Berman Maimonides Geriatric Centre, Montreal; Mount Sinai Hospital, Montreal; and corporate collections such as IBM, Shell Canada ( Calgary ), Royal Bank of Canada and Power Corporation of Canada. Quotes "Montrealer Jack Beder was, and arguably still is, an artist's artist" ... "the small Montreal buildings that are often Beder's subject matter of choice come through with a force that is both architectural and broodingly meditative." Henry Lehmann, The Gazette, Nov. 4, 2006, on exhibition at West End Gallery, Westmount (Montreal). "For some reason, Jack Beder remains perhaps the least appreciated of the gifted Montreal artists who reached their artistic maturity in the 1930s"... "his ravishing portraits of Montreal..." Henry Lehmann, The Gazette, Feb.28, 2004, on the exhibition "Jack Beder: City Lights" at Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal. " in terms of art, Jack Beder (1910-1987) might well be Montreal's best kept secret". The Gazette, Nov.1, 1997, on exhibition at Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal. "Dominating the show is the work of Jack Beder (1910-1987), an artist much praised in the '30s but nearly lost from view in the fray of today's hyper, trendy art world" ... "In this lineup, Beder's work shines forth with a strength and poetry..." "He is obviously a major painter of his time." The Gazette, Aug. 1992, on the exhibition "Homage to Montreal" and “Jack Beder's Montreal: the 1930s" at Dominion Gallery, Montreal. |