Robert Genn
Robert Douglas Genn (May 15, 1936 – May 27, 2014) was a well-known Canadian artist, who has gained recognition for his style, which is in the tradition of Canadian landscape painting.[1][2]
Life and work
Robert Genn was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada to an English mother and Scottish father.
He identified with, and has been compared to the 1920s Canadian Group of Seven.[3] In 1961, he met Lawren Harris who was a neighbour in Point Grey, Vancouver.[4] Genn had problems with painting skies, and Harris's advice was to turn the picture upside-down: "Paint down from the trees to the clouds at the bottom of the picture to get the perspective right."[4] Genn said this was "valuable advice", which enabled him "to control the gradation, and work up into the trees in a more abstract manner."[4]
He ran the Painter's Keys web site, a worldwide artists' community, with his staff and volunteers. The web site sends out an erudite[1] free twice-weekly newsletter, which is sent to 135,000 artists in over 100 countries,[5] and claims the largest collection of art quotes online with over 5,382 authors quoted.[6] His "Ten Commandments of Art Pricing" on his web site (reprinted on About.com) advise starting cheaply, raising prices slowly, keeping them the same for all purchasers and pricing by size.[7]
In 2005, Genn campaigned against the Chinese website, arch-world.com, which was selling thousands of high-resolution images of around 2,800 artists' work illegally, without permission.[4][8] After failing to gain support from the Canadian government or the African embassy in Ottawa,[4] Genn used his web site to enlist subscribers' support to email objections to the arch-world, resulting within days in over 1,000 online complaints from artists, dealers and politicians[8] to the company and governments.[5] This stimulated a diplomatic protest letter to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, Trading and Law Department from the Canadian Embassy in Beijing.[5] Genn credited the campaign with the subsequent removal of images by 800 Canadian artists from arch-world,[4] although many works were reinstated on arch-world soon after.[8]
Genn has been a member of the Board of Directors at Emily Carr College of Art & Design.[3]
Genn announced in his Twice-Weekly Letter of 25 October 2013 that he had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.[9] He died at his Surrey, British Columbia home at 10:20 am on 27 May 2014 according to his daughter Sara Genn in the Twice-Weekly Letter of 30 May 2014.[10][11]
Books
Genn has written three books. In Praise of Painting (2012) is an illustrated autobiography of his early years. The Dreamway (1987) is an account of a meeting with a spiritual seer. The Painter's Keys (2000) is a handbook for painters based on one of his creativity seminars.
Representation and collections
As of 2007, 155 works have auction sales.[12] His work is represented by 12 galleries in Canada.[13] Solo shows include Jenkins Showler Gallery, White Rock; West End Gallery, Edmonton; Hambleton Galleries, Kelowna, The Art Emporium, Vancouver;[3] and Canada House Gallery, Banff, AB.[14] He is one of the 60 elected senior members (SFCA) of the Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA).[2]
His work is in corporate and public collections, including Air Canada, Bank Of Montreal, Canadian General Insurance, Canadian Airlines, Canadian Utilities, The Churchill Corporation, Expo '86, Esso Resources, First City - California II, Highfield Oil & Gas, Molson Brewery Ltd., Montreal Trust, Shell Resources, University of Alberta, Westgate Chevrolet,[3] Glenbow Museum and Government of Belgium.[14]
References
- 1 2 "Painting using cues from nature", About.com. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
- 1 2 "Robert Genn, SFCA", Federation of Canadian Artists. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
- 1 2 3 4 "Robert Genn" Jenkins Showler gallery. Retrieved 14 February 2007 A fuller list of collections is on this site.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 Brennan, Brian. "Homage - Robert Genn", Galleries West, 1999. Retrieved 14 September 2009.
- 1 2 3 "Chinese firm 'steals' art by painters here", The Vancouver Sun, 29 December 2005. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
- ↑ "Resource of art quotations", robertgenn.com. Retrieved 14 February 2007
- ↑ Boddy-Evans, Marion. "The Ten Commandments of Art Pricing", About.com. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
- 1 2 3 Whyte, Murray. "Chinese site rips off art", Toronto Star, 9 December 2005. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
- ↑ "The bomb". Clicks.robertgenn.com. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
- ↑ "Robert Genn (May 15, 1936 - May 27, 2014)". Clicks.robertgenn.com. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
- ↑ Alex Browne (2014-05-29). "Noted Canadian landscape artist Robert Genn passes". BCLocalNews.com. Retrieved 2014-06-05.
- ↑ "Genn, Robert (1936)", artprice.com. Retrieved 14 February 2007
- ↑ "Robert's work is represented by:", robertgenn.com. Retrieved 14 February 2007
- 1 2 "Robert Genn SFCA", Canada House Gallery. Retrieved 14 February 2007.
