LeMoine FitzGerald
| LeMoine FitzGerald | |
|---|---|
FitzGerald, photographed by M.O. Hammond in 1930.
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| Born |
Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald March 17, 1890 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Died | August 7, 1956 (aged 66) Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Known for | Painting |
Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald (March 17, 1890 – August 7, 1956) was a Canadian artist and art educator. He was the only member of the Group of Seven to be based in western Canada.
His landscapes and still lifes were drawn from his immediate surroundings—the view of the back lane outside his house; a potted plant on the windowsill. His style grew more spare and abstract over his career. His body work includes painting in oil and watercolour, drawing, printmaking and sculpture.
L. L. FitzGerald was born in Winnipeg on March 17, 1890, to Lionel Henry FitzGerald and Belle (Hicks) FitzGerald.
His father, L. H. FitzGerald, was of Irish descent, born in the West Indies and raised in Quebec. He was employed as a bank messenger and sometimes dealt in real estate.
His mother's family had left Devonshire for Canada, eventually settling on a farm in the Pembina Hills near Snowflake, Manitoba. As a boy, FitzGerald spent the summer vacation months on his grandmother's farm where he and his older brother were free to explore the woods and prairies.
FitzGerald left school at 14, with a Grade Eight education. This was not unusual at that time for families who did not expect to send their child to university. He worked first as an office boy, then was employed as a clerk for various businesses. He found it was not how he wanted to spend his life.
After leaving school I worked in a wholesale drug office and finding the job not quite satisfying I felt the first real urge to draw so I got some drawing paper, a pencil and eraser and started work. I had liked the drawing period at school and had learned a little of how to begin working, meagre as it was. One of the first efforts, out of doors, was the drawing of a large elm tree and I remember a friend and I making great preparations and walking a long distance to find a subject that appealed to us. I think, perhaps the walk into the country held as much fascination for us as the work.
In his spare time, FitzGerald began to draw and paint regularly. He used John Ruskin's Elements of Drawing (1857) as a guide for his self-directed study. He signed up for a winter of evening classes at the A. S. Kesthelyi School of Fine Art. He remarked in later years that 'I am still wondering how it was possible to find out so much in so short a time.'
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