08/30/2024

William Forrestall’s Poetic Still Lifes

William Forrestall’s family art heritage underpins his poetic still life works, on exhibit beginning this weekend at   in Toronto.  (Above: Four Flowers in Blue, 23×31″)

Box O, Box O: Egg tempera on gessoed panel, 32×34, 2011

He is the son of renowned east coast artist Tom Forrestall.  The father’s art is classified as magic realism,  “an imprecise term used to describe the work of a coterie of east-coast Canadian painters who emerged after the Second World War, including Alex Colville and Christopher Pratt,” the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia notes.

William Forrestall has developed a unique perspective, says Paul Robinson, Director of  Kinsman Robinson.

William’s compositional and spacial relationships possess a poetic care and balance that one sees comparably in the still lifes by the Italian painter, Giorgio Morandi.  I believe that William’s artistic aim is to gently lead the viewer into his world of mysterious objects in a way which makes them worthy of careful consideration.

The exhibition opens Saturday (April 14) and runs through April 28, 2012.

More on William Forrestall, here.


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3 thoughts on “William Forrestall’s Poetic Still Lifes

  1. i like the feel of architecture
    but not so sure of the flowers.
    they have posture but i find they interrupt
    with the beauty of the simplicity.

    i love the last one you feature.
    a city in ruins on the mantlepiece!

    1. Hi Michelle – That’s such an interesting comment, because I think a lot of people will also be “not so sure of the flowers.” Nevertheless, it’s a very compelling combination, and I agree with you about the architecture. I like the feel of the paintings and the colors, too.

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