Joseph Plaskett

Joseph "Joe" Plaskett (12 July 1918 – 21 September 2014) was a Canadian painter. He studied with many prominent Canadian painters like A.Y. Jackson, Jack Shadbolt, Lawren Harris and Jock Macdonald. Joe Plaskett was a pupil of Hans Hofmann in New York and Provincetown in 1947 and 1948.

Plaskett was born in New Westminster, British Columbia in 1918. In 1950, he arrived in Paris where he studied with Fernand Léger, and Jean Lombard, etching and engraving with Stanley William Hayter. He taught intermittently in Canada until 1957. After that date he settled in Paris where his studio became an informal salon for Canadian painters, writers, poets and filmmakers, interfacing with artists from other countries.

In the Spring of 2001, he received the Order of Canada for his excellence in the field of visual art. He was made a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.

Since the 1940s, he had over 65 solo and group exhibitions, with works in major public, private and corporate collections, including the National Gallery of Canada.

Plaskett studied art in Banff, San Francisco, New York, London and Paris. He lived in Paris from 1951 until shortly before his death when he moved to Suffolk, England. His chosen subjects were always intimate expressions of everyday life – interiors, still life, and portraits of friends and models.

In 2004, he set up The Joe Plaskett Foundation which makes an annual award to a Canadian artist to enable them to travel to Europe to grow and study. Mr. Plaskett said, "I created this award in emulation of what Emily Carr did for me in 1946. I would like young Canadian artists to enjoy the privileges I experienced more than a half century ago. Europe and, above all, France, have left me richer in knowledge and experience. Although things have changed a great deal since I first travelled and studied abroad, the lesson of Europe and it's past is always waiting for those ready to learn." The Joseph Plaskett Award (referred to often as simply The Plaskett) supports an outstanding Canadian graduate student or recent (last 12 months) MFA graduate in the discipline of painting to travel, make art, or study in Europe for one year.

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