Wilson, R. York, 1907-1984 : York Wilson was born in Toronto on December 6, 1907. From 1922 to 1924, he studied at the Central Technical School, Toronto, with Peter Haworth and Alfred Howell. Following two years of formal education in art, Wilson began his professional career as a commercial artist at Brigden's in Toronto, where he joined fellow artists Charles Comfort, André Lapine, Will Ogilvie and Fred Finlay. He later joined Sampson-Mathews where he worked with Frank Carmichael, A.J. Casson and Joseph Gauthier.
In the early 1940s Wilson opened his own art studio in Toronto, sharing a building with Walter Yarwood and Jack Bush. He exhibited with the Canadian Group of Painters and held a two-man show with Jack Bush in 1944. A turning point in the artist's career came in 1949-1950, during a six month trip to Mexico. Upon his return to Canada, Wilson gave up commercial art in order to pursue a full time painting career. During the 1950s, Wilson gradually abandoned the figurative style, characteristic of his early works, in favour of an abstract approach. In later years Wilson would experiment with geometric styles.
Roy Thomson commissioned Wilson's first public mural in 1940. It was not until 1955, with the completion of a mural for John Parkin's Salvation Army building, however, that Wilson's reputation as a muralist began to develop. From 1955 to 1970, York Wilson completed important mural projects for Imperial Oil, Central Hospital (Toronto), the O'Keefe Centre and Carleton University.
Created a full member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in 1948, Wilson was also a member of the Ontario Society of Artists (1942) and the Canadian Group of Painters. In 1961, York Wilson was invited by the French government to mount a one-man exhibition in a Paris gallery of his choosing and in 1981 he was commissioned to paint a self-portrait for the Uffizzi Gallery in Florence.
During his lifetime, York Wilson participated in over 73 major solo shows and more than 450 group exhibitions for such institutions as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (1947), Excelsior, Mexico (1949), the National Gallery of Canada (Canadian Biennials - 1957, 1961 and 1963), the Bienal do Museo de Arte Moderna Sao Paolo (1963), Musée Galleria, Paris (1963), the Palacio Bellas Artes, Mexico (1969), the Birla Museum, India (1970), the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (1978), and the College Park Gallery, Toronto (Moore Gallery Memorial - 1984). His works can be found in major museums and galleries across Canada, around the world, as well as in many private and corporate collections.
York Wilson married Lela May Miller in 1933. He died in 1984 at the age of 76. York and Lela Wilson fonds. Wilson, Lela. "York Wilson: his life and work, 1907-1984". Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1997.
Wilson, Lela, 1910- : Lela May Miller was born in Thornhill, Ontario, in 1910. She first met York Wilson in 1925. The couple were married eight years later, in 1933. Lela Wilson actively supported York Wilson's career and accompanied him on all of his painting trips and travels abroad, spending time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Paris, France, the Canary Islands and Asia. Following York Wilson's death in 1984, Lela Wilson worked tirelessly to promote her husband's artistic reputation in Canada, and she published a biography in 1997. In addition to her work as an art dealer and agent, Lela Wilson was also active in charitable and fundraising activities for a number of hospitals and performing arts organizations. In 1997 Lela Wilson established the York Wilson Endowment Fund. Administered by the Canada Council, the fund enables art museums and public galleries to purchase original works by living, contemporary Canadian artists and sculptors.
Lela Wilson married former Auditor-General and accountant Maxwell Henderson in 1994. Their life together ended with Henderson's death two years later. York and Lela Wilson fonds. Wilson, Lela. "York Wilson: his life and work, 1907-1984". Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1997.
