Joseph Plaskett is considered to be one of Canada’s most talented and established painters. Born in 1918 in New Westminster, B.C., Plaskett studied art in Banff, San Francisco, New York, London and Paris. He had lived in Paris since 1951, and more recently in Suffolk, England. His chosen subjects portray intimate expressions of everyday life – interiors, still life, and portraits of friends and models. Since the 1940’s, Plaskett had over 65 solo and group exhibitions, with work in major public, private and corporate collections. http://www.bau-xi.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=24 “He painted who he was and he didn’t apologize for it,” says Tien Huang, Toronto director of Bau-Xi Galleries, which represents Plaskett’s work. “He painted what was in front of him. He had a wonderful sense of tradition but I would not isolate him as a traditionalist. He was working away from that, always exploring new things. He was still incredibly inventive even in his later years.” In 2004, the artist established the Joseph Plaskett Foundation Award, which annually provides a young Canadian painter with $25,000 to travel and study art in Europe for one year. “I created this award in emulation of what Emily Carr did for me in 1946,” Plaskett explained at the time of the prize’s launch. Plaskett was also greatly inspired by Europe; he lived in Paris for more than 30 years, and later Suffolk, England. In 2008, he said that he wanted his award to give emerging artists funds to visit Europe because it is “a continent that is a treasury of great art. Every young artist needs to enjoy and learn from its riches.” Plaskett continued painting well into his 90s. http://canadianart.ca/news/painter-award-founder-joseph-plaskett-dies-96/ undefined

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