William Ronald

William Ronald was a volcanic catalyst for modernist art in Canada. Studying under Jock Macdonald at the Ontario College of Art, Ronald worked at Simpson's department store in Toronto, where in 1953 he organized the exhibition "Abstracts at Home," which led directly to the formation of Painters Eleven.

Ronald moved to New York in 1955, becoming a star painter for the legendary Samuel M. Kootz Gallery alongside Willem de Kooning and Hans Hofmann. His dynamic, thickly painted central-core abstractions challenged Canadian conservatism, and he later hosted CBC's spirited national arts program The Assembled Arts.