B C Binning
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Bertram Charles Binning (10 February 1909 in
Medicine Hat Medicine Hat is a city in Southern Alberta, southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff, Alberta, R ...
,
Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
– 16 March 1976 in
Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...
,
British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...
), known as B. C. Binning, was best known for his drawings until 1946 when he first exhibited his witty semi-abstract paintings.


Career

In 1949, when he was teaching at the Vancouver School of Art (today's
Emily Carr University of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...
), he was invited by Fred Lasserre, the first director of the School of Architecture at
The University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada. With an annual research budget of $893million, UBC funds 9,992 projects annually in various fields o ...
(U.B.C.) to come and teach art to the architecture students. Binning, from a family of architects, believed that art, architecture and life were intimately connected. Binning invited
Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most ...
, one of the leading architects in the
Modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...
movement in California, to lecture in Vancouver in 1949 and 1953. He and his culturally aware wife Jessie (Wyllie) Binning (1906–2007) provided many opportunities in their home for artists, writers and architects to socialize. Bert and Jessie Binning fostered close ties with the most recognized figures in art in Vancouver. They were friends with Lawren S. Harris and his wife, artist Bess Harris. Those in his academic circle of intimates from art school were Gordon A. Smith and his wife Marion Smith, Orville Fisher, Fred Amess,
John Koerner "Spider" John Koerner (August 31, 1938 – May 18, 2024) was an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as a guitarist and vocalist in the blues trio Koerner, Ray & Glover, with Dave "Snaker" Ray, Dave Ray and Tony Glover ...
, Jack Shadbolt and his wife Doris Shadbolt, Lionel Thomas, and also Bruno Bobak and his wife Molly Lamb Bobak. It was an exciting time in the world art scene too. The oppressive constraints of Victorian attitudes toward art and architecture had been thrown off. In Europe and the United States, Modernist architecture and "futuristic" urban and regional design were taking hold and Binning wanted to introduce them to British Columbia. In Binning's personal artistic practice he revealed his lifestyle. Known as an excellent draughtsman, he recorded his experiences in intricate line drawings: a detailed remembrance of an unusual hotel room, studies of peaceful-looking female figures, or an architectural drawing of a street in Vancouver. The drawings exude humour and love: a friend cutting a dog's hair or a picnic view from a high perch. Innovative and intelligent, his hospitality to students, colleagues and world figures alike made him a well-loved professor. The paintings, internationally recognized and exhibited regularly, are composed and formal yet saturated with his leisurely weekends sailing the B.C. Coast with his wife. The nautical themes and the layered, regal, simple, ship forms portray a unique architectural style. The celebratory touches are often primary colours. The expanses of painted shapes are purely those of the coast he knew best. Binning's monumental accomplishments on the scene of Vancouver's art and architecture placed the city on the cultural map internationally. In 1946, he helped to found the Art in Living Group, which in 1949 had a major show, ''Design for Living'', at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 1954, works by Binning, along with those of
Paul-Émile Borduas Paul-Émile Borduas (November 1, 1905 – February 22, 1960) was a Québécois artist known for his abstract paintings. He was the leader of the avant-garde Automatiste movement and the chief author of the Refus Global manifesto of 1948. B ...
, and Jean-Paul Riopelle represented Canada at the
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
. His visits to Japan and personality made him an important figure in the negotiations for the Nitobe Garden at U.B.C. He founded and presided over the U.B.C. Festival of the Contemporary Arts, a mold-breaking yearly avant-garde celebration spanning the decade of the 1960s in Vancouver, at the peak of which
Marshall McLuhan Herbert Marshall McLuhan (, ; July 21, 1911 – December 31, 1980) was a Canadian philosopher whose work is among the cornerstones of the study of media studies, media theory. Raised in Winnipeg, McLuhan studied at the University of Manitoba a ...
spoke in 1964. Eventually he helped found the Department of Fine Arts at UBC and headed it. He presented many papers internationally; was on advisory boards; received innumerable grants, awards, fellowships, one-person shows and
retrospective A retrospective (from Latin ', "look back"), generally, is a look back at events that took place, or works that were produced, in the past. As a noun, ''retrospective'' has specific meanings in software development, popular culture, and the arts. ...
exhibitions. He became an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1971. He retired in 1974. He died in 1976. In 1997, the
Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the , was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined Decorative arts, crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., ...
-influenced Binning Residence Binning designed for himself in 1941 in
West Vancouver West Vancouver is a district municipality in the province of British Columbia, Canada. A member municipality of the Metro Vancouver Regional District, West Vancouver is situated on the north shore of Burrard Inlet to the northwest of the city ...
was declared a
National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada () are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being of national historic significance. Parks C ...
. His widow, Jessie, surviving him by three decades, had lived and managed his legacy there until then. When Jessie died in 2007 at the age of 101, the ownership and management of the house transferred to TLC The Land Conservancy of British Columbia. In 2013 TLC ran into financial difficulties and attempted to sell the house. After a protracted legal battle, TLC was ordered by the Supreme Court of British Columbia to return the house to the Estate of Jessie Binning. In 2015, the house was purchased by Jesse Saniuk, a local philanthropist and president of Four Sails Realty Inc. The house is currently being restored by its owner. Binning's work continues to be shown regularly in Metro Vancouver - lately at the
Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fr ...
,
Burnaby Art Gallery The Burnaby Art Gallery (abbreviated as BAG) is an art museum in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. The museum is located on the northern periphery of Deer Lake Park, situated off of Deer Lake Avenue. The museum occupies Fairacres Mansion, designa ...
and West Vancouver Museum; and is part of The Artists4Kids Trust.


Education

Binning started his studies in 1927 at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts (shortly to become the Vancouver School of Art) under
Frederick Varley Frederick Horsman Varley (January 2, 1881 – September 8, 1969) was a member of the Canadian Group of Seven. Career Early life Varley was born in Sheffield, England, in 1881, the son of Lucy (Barstow) and Samuel James Smith Varley the 7th. He ...
and later taught at the school. In 1938–39, he took a year's leave of his teaching duties to study in London, England under Mark Gertler,
Bernard Meninsky Bernard Meninsky (25 July 1891 – 12 February 1950) was a British painter of figures and landscapes in oils, watercolour and gouache, a draughtsman and a teacher.. Biography Early life and education Meninsky was born in Konotop, modern-day Ukr ...
and, most significantly,
Henry Moore Henry Spencer Moore (30 July 1898 – 31 August 1986) was an English artist. He is best known for his semi-abstract art, abstract monumental Bronze sculpture, bronze sculptures which are located around the world as public works of art. Moore ...
. Upon his return to North America, he spent a brief period studying in New York at the
Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school in the American Fine Arts Society in Manhattan, New York City. The Arts Students League is known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may study f ...
.


Selected commissions

* 1952: painted murals, O'Brien Advertising Centre, Vancouver * 1952/53: interior architectural composition, B.C. Electric (Dal Grauer Substation, Vancouver) * 1956: mosaic wall tile and facade colour scheme, B.C. Electric Building, Vancouver * 1958: mosaic mural, Imperial Bank of Commerce, Vancouver * 1963: colour design of Port Mann Bridge over Fraser River, B.C.


Selected collections

*
Art Gallery of Ontario The Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO; ) is an art museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located on Dundas Street, Dundas Street West in the Grange Park (neighbourhood), Grange Park neighbourhood of downtown Toronto, the museum complex takes up of phys ...
, Toronto * Dalhousie University Art Gallery, Halifax *
Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in a building designed by architect Peter Cardew which opened in 1995 ...
, University of British Columbia *
National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's National museums of Canada, national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the List of large ...
, Ottawa *
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (), abbreviated as MNBAQ, is an art museum in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The museum is located in National Battlefields Park and is a complex of four buildings. Three of them were purpose-built for ...
, Québec *
Robert McLaughlin Gallery The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is a public art gallery in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest public art gallery in the Regional Municipality of Durham, of which Oshawa is a part. The gallery houses a significant collection of Canadian conte ...
, Oshawa * University of Lethbridge Art Gallery *
Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fr ...
* West Vancouver Museum


References


Bibliography

* * * * *


External links


Binning, Bertram Charles
entry i
The Canadian Encyclopedia


(January 13 to April 29, 2007)

* ttps://www.cca.qc.ca/en/archives/217882/bc-binning-fonds Finding aid for the B.C. Binning fonds
Canadian Centre for Architecture The Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA; ) is a Architecture museum, museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1920, rue Baile (1920, Baile Street), between rue Fort (Fort Street) and rue Saint-Ma ...

digitized items

B. C. Binning, Lethbridge College Buchanan Art Collection

West Vancouver

artists4kids


* ttp://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/the_exhibitions/exhibit_bc_binning.html 2007 B.C. Binning exhibition at Vancouver Art Gallery {{DEFAULTSORT:Binning, B. C. 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters 1909 births 1976 deaths Canadian abstract artists 20th-century Canadian male artists