"He had a totally engaged and insightful enthusiasm for all the details of making and experiencing art,” recalls Art Green, fellow professor emeritus. “Tony got just as involved in discussing and analyzing the decisions that went into his students’ work as he would have been with his own. In this way, he modelled for them the real work of an artist in a direct and understandable way — and for me, the real work of a teacher."
When he joined Waterloo, Urquhart was one of the founding members of the Department of Fine Arts. During more than three decades at Waterloo, he taught drawing, painting, and printmaking, was department chair on three occasions, and was instrumental in the creation of the Master of Fine Arts graduate program and its cornerstone Keith and Win Shantz International Research Scholarship.
Jane Buyers, professor emerita and a former department colleague, recounts: “Tony and I had offices next door to each other, and of course many times he passed by my open door on his way to teach a class. He always wore a dark blue lab coat over his regular clothes, and he usually had papers jauntily tucked under his arm for the class. I was always struck by the look of pure delight on his face and the spring in his step as though there was nothing in the world that was more exciting to him at that moment than teaching this class. It always amazed me – here is a person who has taught legions of students over many, many years, and he is as eager and excited as though he was off to teach his very first class.”
“I gave a ‘teaching talk’ as part of my job interview back in 1996 and we spent some time analyzing a famous painting,” says Joan Coutu, professor of visual culture and art history. “Tony was so enthusiastic he almost fell off his chair as he waved his arms around mimicking lines of sight, symmetry, and other parts of the composition. That made me think, this might be a good place to work.”
Urquhart was born in 1934 in Niagara Falls, Ontario. His long and remarkable career began while earning his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the State University of New York, Buffalo, when he became known in the Toronto art scene as one of the first Canadian Abstract Expressionists. By 1960 he was the first artist-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario, where he continued as both a teacher and director of the McIntosh Art Gallery. During this time, he founded Canadian Artists Representation (CARFAC) which established a fee structure for the exhibition of works by artists in museums and galleries – making Canada the first to formalize artists’ copyrights and fees.
While he began his career as a painter, and later became known for his 'box' sculptures, Urquhart also filled his life and "idea books" with daily sketches, plans and thoughts. He was also involved in the Canadian literary scene, particularly with his wife — the novelist Jane Urquhart — and illustrated various books.
Three Vanishing Points. 1999-2000, oil and collage on gessoed board, 51.1 x 152.7 cm “He was ecstatic as he talked about a painting that had three paths and thus three vanishing points,” says Prof Joan Coutu, “the result is a painting that takes us on a deep journey into memory and the subconscious.”
His distinguished career in Canadian art earned numerous honours and awards, including the Order of Canada in 1995. He was the recipient of the 2009 Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts, and the CARFAC Outstanding Contribution Award. In 2016, he was given an Honorary Doctorate by Carleton University. Urquhart’s artwork can be found in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the Victoria and Albert Museum in London; the Hirshhorn Collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; the Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris and the Museo Civico in Lugano, Switzerland.
“His art and his students are his legacy,” says Coutu. “Yet, for those of us who had the privilege to know him, beyond the students, the paintings, the drawings, the prints, and the boxes, there is also the image of Tony: almost always smiling, and with his glasses hanging around his neck so he can take a closer look.”
Read the obituary for Tony Urquhart. Read the Department of Fine Arts’ remembrance. Watch a portrait of Tony Urquhart’s art.
Written with contributions from Joan Coutu, Jean Stevenson, and Elizabeth Rogers.
PHOTOS CREDITS: Top and bottom photos, courtesy of the Department of Fine Arts. Middle two photos of Tony Urquhart in 1972 and 1990, courtesy of University of Waterloo Library. Special Collections & Archives. Central photographic negative collection.