Don Jarvis Red bird variation, 1979 Ink & Watercolour 30" x 22"

Don Jarvis (Donald Alvin Jarvis)

1923-2001

Don Jarvis was born in Vancouver, B.C., and was interested in drawing at an early age. An aspiring cartoonist as a teenager, he entered the Vancouver School of Art in 1941 and studied under B.C. Binning, Jack Shadbolt and others. After one year, he interrupted his studies but returned to the Vancouver School of Art in 1946 and completed his course two years later. When Jarvis graduated, he was awarded the Emily Carr Scholarship. At the suggestion of Lawren Harris, he travelled to  New York City where he studied under abstract expressionist Hans Hofmann.

At about the time of his return to Vancouver in 1950, a one man show of his oils, watercolours and drawings was held at the Vancouver Art Gallery and the University of British-Columbia. During one of these exhibitions, the National Gallery of Canada acquired two of his canvases. In 1951, he became Painting and Drawing Instructor at the Vancouver Art School and was later named Head of the department, a position he held until his retirement in 1986.

From 1955, Jarvis held many one-man shows, notably at the Vancouver Art Gallery (1955), the Victoria Art Gallery (1955) and the New Design Gallery in Vancouver (1958,1962). He also participated at various exhibitions including the Canadian Biennials (1955, 1957, 1959, 1961, 1963), the International Engraving and Drawing Exhibition in Lugano, Switzerland (1956), the Inter-American Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art, Mexico (1958) and others.

In 1961, Jarvis received a Canada Council Senior Arts Fellowship and the following year, he was named Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy. He was later elected  a member of the Royal Canadian Academy (1967). He died of heart disease at the age of 77.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, ON)
- Agnes Etherington Art Centre (Kingston, ON)
- Beaverbrook Art Gallery (Fredericton, NB)
- Museum London (London, ON)
- Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
- Winnipeg Art Gallery (Winnipeg, MN)
- Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (Victoria, BC)
- Art Gallery of Nova Scotia (Halifax, NS)
- Simon Fraser Gallery (Burnaby, BC)
- The Robert McLaughlin Gallery (Oshawa, ON)
- Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery (Owen Sound, ON)
- Maltwood Art Museum and Gallery (Victoria, BC)
- Concordia University (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Canadian Group of Painters
- British Columbia Society of Artists
- Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy (1962)
- Royal Canadian Academy (1967)