Bertram Richard Brooker (March 31, 1888 – March 21, 1955) was a Canadian abstract painter.Joan Murray.
Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century
'. Dundurn; November 1999. . p. 40-41. A self-taught polymath (the first in Canadian art), in addition to being a visual artist, Brooker was a

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

-winning novelist, as well as a poet, screenwriter, playwright, essayist, copywriter, graphic designer, and advertising executive. A key part of the art community in Toronto, he is considered one of its "most gifted first responders".

Early life

Brooker was born in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in South London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a Districts of England, local government district of Greater London; it is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater Lond ...

, England, to Richard Brooker and Mary Ann (Skinner) Brooker. In 1905, when he was seventeen, he moved to

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. In 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Highway (exactly ...

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

along with his family.J. Russell Harper.
Painting in Canada: A History
'. University of Toronto Press; 1977. . p. 323–. There was a booming economy and a huge influx of immigrants from England and elsewhere in Europe wanting to better their lives. In

, Brooker worked with his father at the

Grand Trunk Pacific Railway The Grand Trunk Pacific Railway was a historic Canadian transcontinental railway running from Fort William, Ontario (now Thunder Bay) to Prince Rupert, British Columbia, a Pacific coast port. East of Winnipeg the line continued as the National ...

in a menial capacity. He attended night school and was, as a result, given clerical work at the railway.

Career

After moving to Neepawa, a small town northeast of

Brandon, Manitoba Brandon () is the second-largest city in the province of Manitoba, Canada. It is located in the southwestern corner of the province on the banks of the Assiniboine River, approximately west of the provincial capital, Winnipeg, and east of the ...

, in 1912, he and his brother, Cecil, rented a movie theatre. From 1911 to 1914, Brooker was active in local theatre productions in

Portage Portage or portaging ( CA: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a '' ...

and Neepawa. He directed a play called ''Much Ado About Something'' at the Portage Opera House, and he seems to have acted in a number of local productions. Brooker's success at writing for films and local theatre inspired him to pursue journalism and newspaper layout design in Neepawa and then back in Portage la Prairie. In 1913 he married Mary Aurilla ("Rill") Porter, whom he had met when both were members of the St. Mary's Anglican choir in Portage. In 1914 he became editor of the ''Portage Review'', a local newspaper. In 1915 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Engineers in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. After the war he worked for ''

The Winnipeg Tribune ''The Winnipeg Tribune'' was a metropolitan daily newspaper serving Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada from January 28, 1890, to August 27, 1980. The paper was founded by R.L. Richardson and D.L. McIntyre who acquired the press and premises of the old ' ...

'', The Morning Leader which became '' The Regina Leader-Post'' in 1930 and The Manitoba Free Press ('' The Winnipeg Free Press'' in 1931). He moved to

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, in 1921 to become the business manager of ''Marketing and Business Management'' magazine. In 1923, he became Promotion Manager for ''The Globe''. In 1924 he purchased the business magazine from W.A. Lydiatt to become the editor and publisher of Marketing and Business Management. Brooker served as the magazine's editor and publisher from 1924 until 1926. In Dec. 1927 he joined A. McKim Ltd. Advertising Agency. In 1930 he was appointed Chief of Markets and Research Department at J.J. Gibbons Limited Advertising Agency but he resigned from J.J. Gibbons in October 1940 and began to work in 1940 at MacLaren Advertising Co. where he stayed for the remainder of his career. In 1923, as "Richard Surrey", he published his first book, ''Subconscious Selling: An Application of Autosuggestion to the Problems of Salesmanship''. In his social life he sought out like-minded persons with a passion for art and music. The Brookers' modest Glenview Avenue house in the middle-class neighbourhood of Lawrence Park became a meeting place for creative individuals, including the conductor Ernest MacMillan and the artists Charles Comfort, Paraskeva Clark, and Kathleen Munn. In 1936, Brooker's novel '' Think of the Earth'' (1936) became the first work to win the

for Fiction, although very few copies were sold.

Artwork

Around 1922 to 1924 Brooker began working on a series of non-objective paintings inspired by a profoundly mystical experience during a visit to the Presbyterian church in Dwight at the Lake of Bays in Ontario around 1921. This mystical experience reinforced his spiritualism and motivated him to attempt to render the mystical in art. Brooker began painting in an abstract style, and in 1927 held his first exhibition, sponsored by his friends Lawren Harris and

Arthur Lismer Arthur Lismer, LL.D. (27 June 1885 – 23 March 1969) was an English-Canadian painter, member of the Group of Seven and educator. He is known primarily as a landscape painter and for his paintings of ships in dazzle camouflage. Early life ...

Lawren Harris.
In the Ward: His Urban Poetry and Paintings
'. Exile Editions, Ltd.; 2007. . p. 85–. at the Arts and Letters Club in Toronto. He was one of the first Canadians to paint in this style, although Kathleen Munn Henrietta Shore and Lowrie Warrener also made abstract paintings in advance of 1927, but these were not presented in solo exhibitions before Brooker. Brooker's first set of abstracts, from 1922 to 1924, and later works such as ''Ascending Forms'', c.1929, appear to be inspired by the

Vorticist Vorticism was a London-based Modernism, modernist art movement formed in 1914 by the writer and artist Wyndham Lewis. The movement was partially inspired by Cubism and was introduced to the public by means of the publication of the Vorticist mani ...

paintings of

Wyndham Lewis Percy Wyndham Lewis (18 November 1882 – 7 March 1957) was a British writer, painter and critic. He was a co-founder of the Vorticist movement in art and edited ''Blast (British magazine), Blast'', the literary magazine of the Vorticists. His ...

(1882–1957), David Bomberg (1890–1957), William Roberts (1895–1980), and Helen Saunders (1885–1963). The art of this group, particularly that of Lewis, used abstraction in sharp-edged lines to denote movement in a violent, slashing way. Brooker's first abstracts are influenced by the English group's use of precisely defined geometrical forms in aggressive contortions and highly saturated hues. Although Brooker imitated Vorticist and

Futurist Futurists (also known as futurologists, prospectivists, foresight practitioners and horizon scanners) are people whose specialty or interest is futures studies or futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities ...

forms, he was by no means a proponent of the politics of those movements. After meeting Winnipeg-born painter and printmaker,

Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald L.L. D. also known as L. L. FitzGerald (March 17, 1890 – August 5, 1956) was a Canadians, Canadian artist and art educator. He was the only member of the Group of Seven (artists), Group of Seven based in western Canada. ...

, in 1929, Brooker undertook a major stylistic change, in accordance with his new friend's practice, and began to mingle

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

and abstract elements in his work. Although he sometimes returned to pure abstraction and sometimes ventured into paintings that were essentially representational, much of his work from 1930 until the end of his life was a playful mixture of these two modes. The conjoining of two styles became characteristic of his work after 1930. In 1931 Brooker was embroiled in a controversy about nudity in art when a painting of his was removed from the Ontario Society of Artists 59th Annual Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now

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 ...

) exhibition because it contained nudity. Brooker later wrote the essay "Nudes and Prudes" in 1931 as a rebuke. It was published in "Open House", edited by William Arthur Deacon and Wilfred Reeves (Ottawa: Graphic, 1931).

Memberships

He was elected a member of the Ontario Society of Artists. He was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and belonged as well to the Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour.

Legacy

In 1972, the

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 ...

held ''Bertram Brooker: A Retrospective Exhibition'', which travelled nationally. In 2024 the McMichael Canadian Art Collection organized a

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. ...

curated by Michael Parke-Taylor, titled "Bertram Brooker: When We Awake!"

Brooker Bibliography

*''Subconscious Selling'' (1923) *''Layout Technique in Advertising'' (1929), writing as Richard W. Surrey *''Copy Technique in Advertising'' (1930), writing as Richard W. Surrey *''Yearbook of the Arts in Canada'', (1929–30, 1936) edited by Brooker *''Elijah'' (1929), drawings published November 1929 *''Think of the Earth'' (1936) *''The Tangled Miracle'' (1936), writing as Huxley Herne *''The Robber: A Tale of the Time of the Herods'' (New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1949; Published in Canada by Collins, 1949) *''Sounds Assembling: The Poetry of Bertram Brooker'' (1980) Source:

References

External links

*
"Bertram Richard Brooker"
''The Canadian Encyclopedia''.
Bertram Brooker holdings at the University of Manitoba archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooker, Bertram 1888 births 1955 deaths Canadian economics writers Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian painters Canadian male painters English emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada British economics writers English male journalists Journalists from Manitoba 20th-century English painters English male painters English modern painters Painters from the London Borough of Croydon People from Croydon Writers from Manitoba People from Portage la Prairie Governor General's Award–winning fiction writers English male novelists 20th-century English novelists 20th-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers 20th-century English male artists 20th-century Canadian male artists