Katherine MacDonald

A lifelong passion for painting and portraiture is highlighted in this first solo exhibition of Katherine MacDonald’s work at the McMaster Museum. Organized by the McMaster Museum of Art.

Guest Writer: Tobi Bruce, Senior Curator / Historical Canadian Art, Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Katherine MacDonald grew up surrounded by paintings — the work of her father T.R. MacDonald and mother Rae Hendershot — but also the act of painting. It is a form of discipline that conditions every aspect of the painter’s life. MacDonald’s approach to her painting practice is anchored in her insistence on working exclusively from life. Primarily a painter of people, MacDonald consistently presents herself with new formal and pictorial challenges in order to extend the scope of her enterprise, working and reworking her compositions. Her commitment to working directly with models sets her apart in an increasingly mechanized and technologically-driven society, which shows in the work. There is a fundamental understanding of human form—the result of thousands of hours spent looking—and to produce paintings with a gravitational pull and presence that move beyond the confines of their frames. This exhibition, MacDonald’s first at the Museum, will include work from various periods of her production and a new project of smaller canvases, intended to encourage sustained consideration and reflection; in essence, it is nothing less than the artist asks of herself.

Katherine MacDonald was born in Hamilton. She studied at Mount Allison University in Sackville NB, McMaster University, and teaches at the Dundas Valley School of Art and Sheridan Institute in Oakville. MacDonald has been exhibiting since the mid-1970s, with solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Hamilton, 1984, the Carnegie Gallery, Dundas, in 1988 and 1994, and the Dofasco Gallery, Dundas, in 2002. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions in Southern Ontario, and is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the Art Gallery of Sudbury, the Hamilton Club and private collections in Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia.

List of Works in Exhibition:

Paintings, oil on canvas

Christie in her wedding dress 2001,
110 x 85 cm

Alana standing 2002-2003,
122 x 91 cm

Seated figure 2005, 71 x 71 cm

John 2007, 46 x 36 cm

Christie and Freud 2007, 122 x 91 cm

Self portrait with red doors and Iris Murdoch 2007-2008, 66.5 x 46 cm

Girl and hand 2009, 51.5 x 40 cm

Nora in grey, in the afternoon 2009, 66 x 46 cm

Figure in winter (in progress), 61.5 x 76.5 cm

Nora in red (in progress), 122 x 86.5 cm

Works on paper

Barb with drapery 2001, charcoal, 112 x 76 cm

Georgina with cane 2007, charcoal, 112 x 76 cm

Figure in chair 2007, charcoal and pastel, 112 x 76 cm

Paintings, oil on panel

Kathleen 2008, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Jermaine 2008, 40.5 x 30.5 cm

Alison 2008-10, 40.5 x 30.5 cm

Dave 2008-10, 40.5 x 35.5 cm

Casey 2008-10, 40.5 x 35.5 cm Nora 2009, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Standing figure in Chinese robe 2009, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Seated figure in Chinese robe 2009, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Standing figure in a blue robe 2009, 40.5 x 30.5 cm

Andrea 2009, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

The red sweater 2009, 40.5 x 30.5 cm

Angelique 2009, 40.5 x 30.5 cm

Andreas and Stephanie 2009, 40.5 x 50.8 cm

Joel and Emily 2009, 40.5 x 61 cm

Nora with the Hopper book 2010, 40.5 x 55.8 cm

John 2010, 40.5 x 40.5 cm

Related Links:

Dundas Valley School of Art