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PostWar & Contemporary
3463* WILLIAM RONALD(1926 Ontario 1998)
Belly Button. 1996.
Acrylic on canvas.
Signed and dated lower right: RONALD‘96,
as well as titled, signed and dated on the
reverse: „BELLY BUTTON“ RONALD 96.
With stamps of the artist on the reverse.
183 x 366 cm (two parts).
Provenance:
- Atelier of the artist.
- Former Gallery Chateau Park, Niagara
Falls.
The Canadian artist William Ronald is
famous for his Abstract Expressionist
work from the mid-20th century. After
studying art at Ontario College of Art, in
1954 he founded “Painters Eleven”, the
first Canadian group for Abstract Art, with
the hope of meeting further proponents
of this art. Slightly frustrated by the lack of
response, William Ronald decided to move
to New York in 1955. There he shared
a studio with Frank Stella, exponent of
analytic painting. In 1957 he was taken up
by the Samuel Kootz gallery, where he had
his first solo show in the same year. William
Ronald’s early work is characterised by a
lively, almost aggressive style, of centred
and horizontal lines on very large format
canvases.
In 1965 he returned to Canada, where
in 1967 he was commissioned to create