Fritz Brandtner (Friedrich Wilhelm Brandtner)

1896-1969


Born in Danzig, Germany, he was taken from school and placed in the German army in 1915 and was sent to the Western Front where, during action, he was taken prisoner (1916) and spent the rest of the war in a French prisoner-of-war camp. After the war he returned to Germany where he became an assistant and student of August Pfuhle at the University of Danzig (1920-1928). Also during this period he survived hard economic times by selling merchandise, doing window dressing and designing commercial work. He travelled back to France, the Poland and Russia and returned to his home city to teach life classes for the Architectural Department of the University of Danzig (1924-1926). In the Danzig Civic Gallery he studied old masters and canvases of the modernists, Hofer, Beckman, Modigliani, Picasso, Grosz, Feininger and others and was influenced by the German Expressionists. He did experimental painting and gained a wide experience in fine and commercial art.

He arrived in Canada in 1928 an accomplished artist, and spent six years in Winnipeg. At first he painted walls of houses due to the scarcity of work. Later he was employed by Brigden’s as a commercial artist, designer and letterer, while he also did murals and stage sets for local firms and societies. He met and became a close friend of Lionel Lemoine Fitzgerald who was principal of the Winnipeg School of Art. At that time he also met fellow Canadian artists Philip Surrey and Bertram Brooker. Brandtner brought new ideas to Canada from his own influences of German Expressionism and modernism. Fitzgerald was one of the few people on the Winnipeg art scene with an open mind to the art of Brandtner. As their friendship grew, Fitzgerald helped Brandtner to bring his fiancée from Europe to Canada. Later he advised Brandtner that he would be better off working and showing his art in the more cosmopolitan atmosphere of Montreal. Winnipeg was still mainly traditional and Toronto’s focus was on the Group of Seven. Before Brandtner’s departure from Winnipeg he held a solo show of 150 of his works at the Winnipeg School of Art. Then with his wife he headed east in 1934 and settled in Montreal.

In Montreal he found work doing window display for the T. Eaton Company. Fitzgerald had introduced him to Robert Ayre who in turn introduced Brandtner  to many of the new Montreal artists including Jori Smith, André Bieler, Louis Muhlstock, Anne Savage and John Lyman. In 1936 the Canadian League Against War and Fascism sponsored an exhibition of Brandtner’s art which made statements against the pain and poverty, fascism and war. Amongst the viewers attending the show were Dr. Norman Bethune and Marian Scott. Bethune was the first Montrealer to purchase his work. The meeting of Bethune, Scott and Brandtner resulted in their founding of the Children’s Art Centre. Brandtner also brought art to the Children’s memorial Hospital and gave crippled children brighter lives and greater self reliance through recreational therapy. All along his career, Brandtner always had a strong sense of concern for different social issues.

In his own art he painted in oils, watercolours, graphic mediums, mixed mediums, encaustic and linoleum upon which he carved his subjects then painted them. In both figurative and abstract work, his subjects were varied and included landscapes, cityscapes, portraits and anti-war images, as well as still lifes. He was particularly anxious to promote the use of linoleum as a medium for mural decoration and produced both small and large panels. In this medium, he did decorations for the Bishop’s College; Bell telephone Co. of Canada; the Berkley Hotel, Mtl.;  C.N.R. Hotel in Vancouver; C.N.R. Station, Mtl.; Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Mtl.; the Province of Saskatchewan for the World’s Grain Exhibition in 1933; Place Ville Marie, Mtl.; map of Jasper National Park, Alberta, and many others.

During the Second World War, Brandtner produced a number of war industry drawings on location at the Canadian Vickers plant (1943), twenty of which were exhibited with another twenty by Louis Muhlstock on the same theme. But the key to Brandtner’s success in the best example is the underlying structure of their semi-abstract design. Over the next 20 years, Brandtner taught art in numerous community organizations and schools, and directed the University of New Brunswick’s summer art school for several years. Along with Pegi Nicol Macleod and Louis Muhlstock, he contributed illustrations to periodicals such as The Canadian Forum and New Frontier. He made numerous sketching and painting trips to the Gerogian Bay, Gaspé, Laurentians and Nova Scotia. He also gave many lectures and attended many conferences over the years. Furthermore, he held office in almost all of the societies he was affiliated with. He died in Montreal at the age of 73.

His awards include: Jessie Dow Prize for watercolour (1946) at the Art Association of Montreal; 1st Honourable Mention in the Painting and Graphic Art Section, 14th Olympiad, London, England (1948); Canada Council Visual Arts Award (1968). Other than his solo shows, he regularly exhibited at the Art Association of Montreal; at the Canadian Group of Painters Annual Exhibitions; at the Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolours Annual Exhibitions; at the Canadian Society of Graphic Arts Annual Exhibitions; A retrospective show was held at the Agnes Etherington Art Center (1982) and also travelled to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria (1982), the Art Gallery of Windsor (1982), the Art Gallery of Hamilton (1982) and the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (1983). The Kastel Gallery in Montreal also had a retrospective show in 1985. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was the last to hold a retrospective show of his work in 2003.

Collections:

- National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
- Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (Montreal, QC)
- Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec (Québec, QC)
- Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal (Montreal, QC)
- Musée d’Art de Joliette (Joliette, QC)
- Art Gallery of Hamilton (Hamilton, ON.)
- Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, ON)
- Art Gallery of Windsor (Windsor, ON)
- Edmonton Art Gallery (Edmonton, AB)
- Vancouver Art Gallery (Vancouver, BC)
- Hart house, University of Toronto (Toronto, ON)
- University of Guelph (Guelph, ON)
- University of New-Brunswick (St-Johns, NB.)
- Concordia University (Montreal. QC)
- Agnes Etherington Art Center (Kingston, ON)
- Department of External Affairs (Ottawa, ON)
- Firestone Art Collection (Ottawa, ON)
- Power Corporation of Canada (Montreal, QC)

Affiliations:

- Manitoba Society of Artist  (1931)
- Canadian Society of Painters in Water Colour  (1935-1957)
- Contemporary Art Society (1939-1940)
- Federation of Canadian Artists (1941)
- Canadian Group of Painters (1942)
- Fellow of the International Institute of Arts and Letters  (1960)
- Quebec Modern Group