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Q: 19th century artist I. S. MacDonald or J. S. MacDonald ( Answered,   1 Comment )
Question  
Subject: 19th century artist I. S. MacDonald or J. S. MacDonald
Category: Arts and Entertainment
Asked by: patty9431-ga
List Price: $5.00
Posted: 19 Nov 2002 08:49 PST
Expires: 19 Dec 2002 08:49 PST
Question ID: 110610
What can I find out about I. S. or J. S. MacDonald's oil paintings?

Request for Question Clarification by raa-ga on 19 Nov 2002 10:56 PST
Hi patty9431-ga,

I couldn't find anything on either of the two possibilities you
mentioned, viz. I.S. MacDonald or J.S. MacDonald. What I did find
however, were references on J.E.H. MacDonald, or James Edward Hervey
MacDonald. He was an English-born Canadian artist who not only
indulged in oil painting but also mastered, to quote an article from
the University of Toronto Press journal, "what he considered other,
equal arts - design, lettering, layout, and the so-called crafts".
Just a few facts about him: one of the "Group of Seven" (a group of
Canadian artists who interacted with each other), was an occasional
poet and largely painted Canadian wilderness and landscapes.

If this is what you were looking for, I can go ahead and post this as
an answer.

Regards.

References:

[1]. "A Word to Us All",
http://www.utpjournals.com/product/utq/671/us108.html
[2]. J.E.H. MacDonald, http://www.mcmichael.com/macdonal.htm
[3]. "Fine Art of James Edward Hervey MacDonald",
http://www.groupofsevenart.com/Macdonald/Macdonald_intro.html
[4]. James Edward Hervey MacDonald,
http://schwinger.harvard.edu/~terning/bios/MacDonaldJ.html
[5]. "Group of Seven and their Contemporaries",
http://www.mcmichael.com/group.htm


Search Strategy:

1. ://www.google.com/search?q=j.e.h%20macdonald%20oil%20painting
2. ://www.google.com/search?q=macdonald%20oil%20painter
Answer  
Subject: Re: 19th century artist I. S. MacDonald or J. S. MacDonald
Answered By: kutsavi-ga on 19 Nov 2002 12:36 PST
 
Hi patty9431, and apologies to researcher Raa, as well, who was
following the trail, but R.E.H. MacDonald was active about 20 or 30
years later than J. S. MacDonald.

From the National Library of Australia, there is a collection of his
papers available.  On the page listing the contents is the following
biography:

“James Stuart MacDonald was born in Melbourne on 28 March 1878. He was
educated at Kew High School and Hawthorn Grammar School and then
studied at the National Gallery of Victoria Art School. In 1898 he
went overseas and studied and exhibited paintings in London and Paris
for several years. In 1904 he married Maud Keller and they lived in
New York until 1910, when they returned to Australia.

In 1914 MacDonald joined the 5th Infantry Battalion of the AIF. He was
severely wounded at Gallipoli but continued to serve in clerical
duties until his discharge in April 1919. He studied the art of
camouflage and was also a commissioned war artist during 1918. His
first book The art of Frederick McCubbin, was published in 1916. After
the War he gave up painting and began writing art criticism regularly
for Art in Australia and the Melbourne Herald.

In October 1928 MacDonald was appointed Director and Secretary of the
National Art Gallery of New South Wales. He remained in the position
until 1936 and was then appointed Director of the National Gallery of
Victoria. He had strained relations with the Trustees, particularly
the Chairman, Sir Keith Murdoch, who resented his ferocious attacks on
contemporary art and the 1939 Herald exhibition of French and English
painting. In 1940 the Trustees recommended against his reappointment
and he was effectively dismissed in 1941.

In his retirement MacDonald resumed his work as an art critic for the
Age and served on the Commonwealth Art Advisory Board. During this
time he was also active with the Australian and New Zealand Art
Galleries and Museum Association. He died in Melbourne on 12 November
1952.

In addition to his work on McCubbin, MacDonald published books on
Penleigh Boyd (1920), George Lambert, David Davies, and Australian
landscape painters (1927). A collection of his writings, Australian
painting desiderata, was published posthumously in 1958.”
____________________________________

While practicing the art of camouflage painting, MacDonald was joined
by another well-known Australian painter, Will Longstaff:

“In 1918, [Artist Will Longstaff] was trained in camouflage work in
London with Frank Crozier, J. S. MacDonald and James Scott, and he was
subsequently appointed as an Official War Artist working as officer in
charge of camouflage for the 2nd Division AIF in France.”(From the web
site for the Australian War Memorial
http://www.awm.gov.au/aboutus/artist_profiles/longstaff.htm )
____________________________________

Here is a lithographed Self Portrait of MacDonald from the Kozminsky
Galleries in Melbourne, Australia; sadly it’s not a painting:
http://www.kozminsky.com.au/galleries/catalogue/5.htm
_____________________________________

As is stated in the biography, MacDonald quit painting at the end of
WWI, and in fact apparently only served in that official capacity
during 1918.  It is very difficult to find any examples of his actual
paintings from the war, or even before.  In fact, I have to admit that
I came up empty handed.  (My feeble excuse:  when I first found
information on J. S. MacDonald, there appeared to be tons of
references to him.)  I tried looking at the Australian War Memorial,
thinking that they might have some of his work on exhibition, but
found nothing there.  In addition to trying every combination of terms
I could think of to call up a painting by the man, I further searched
abebooks.com, the Advanced Book Exchange, (a used and rare book
search).  They had about 23 listings of MacDonald’s first book, here’s
an example:

McCUBBIN, F
The Art Of Frederick McCubbin...with essay by James Macdonald and some
remarks on Australian art by the artist
Melbourne, Lothian, 1916pp104, 45 plates in col. & b/w tipped-in,
tissue guards; folio, cloth gilt (a little faded). Scattered foxing,
some tissue guards creased; but very good A beautiful book in better
condition than usual. One of 1000 copies, fully signed
Bookseller Inventory #35426
Price: US$ 646.59
http://dogbert.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=43109310

So, my apologies for hitting the answer key so swiftly, but here is at
least some good biographical material on the man, and one sample of
his work, albeit that sample isn’t of his painting.  Please let me
know if this answer is acceptable.  If it is not, perhaps another
researcher can take a stab at finding a painting or two by Mr.
MacDonald ;-)
____________________________________
Comments  
Subject: Re: 19th century artist I. S. MacDonald or J. S. MacDonald
From: playhosea-ga on 19 Nov 2002 09:30 PST
 
Do you know the title of any of his/her paintings? Would you happen to
know any specific dates?

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