Alex Colville
Source: Wikipedia: Alex Colville
Art • Historical Archive • 🇨🇦 Canada • 1 views

Alex Colville 🇨🇦

Alex Colville (Known as "David Alexander Colville")
Master Magic Realist Painter, War Artist, Designer of 1967 Centennial Coins
Born 24 August 1920 🇨🇦 Toronto, Canada
Passed Away 16 July 2013 Wolfville, Canada
Lifespan 92 years old
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"Anxiety is the fundamental condition of modern existence; my paintings seek to construct a moment of complete and timeless order against chaos."

Archival Overview

Iconic Canadian magic realist painter whose iconic compositions Horse and Train, To Prince Edward Island, and 1967 Centennial coins defined Canadian visual culture.

Biographical Record

David Alexander Colville was one of Canada's most universally recognized visual artists. Serving as an official Canadian war artist during World War II, Colville witnessed the horrors of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, an experience that instilled in him a lifelong commitment to precision, moral vigilance, and order.

Living in Sackville and Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Colville constructed his paintings through rigorous geometric ratios, building surfaces with tiny stippled dots of acrylic resin. Masterpieces such as Horse and Train (1954) and To Prince Edward Island (1965) crackle with psychological tension. In 1967, he designed Canada's celebrated Centennial wildlife coin series.

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial
Willow Bank Cemetery
Wolfville, Canada
GPS: 45.0900, -64.3600
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