Gerald Squires

Gerald Squires was a Canadian painter, printmaker, and sculptor noted for his expressive figurative work, religious themes, and landscapes rooted in Newfoundland and Labrador culture. His career spanned decades of teaching, commissions, and studio practice that connected him with institutions and figures across Canada and internationally. Squires's work engages with spiritual iconography, maritime settings, and a raw materiality linked to both European modernism and North American art scenes.

Early life and education

Squires was born in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador and raised amid the fishing communities of the province, where seasonal ties to Fisheries and Oceans Canada-era coastal life influenced his sensibility; he later trained at Memorial University of Newfoundland and the Ontario College of Art. He pursued further studies and residencies in London at the Royal Academy of Arts and in New York at the New York Studio School, learning alongside artists affiliated with the New York School, the Toronto art scene, and the networks around Painters Eleven. Early contacts included instructors and contemporaries tied to Lawren Harris, Arthur Lismer, and figures present in the Group of Seven legacy through exhibitions and pedagogical links. During formative years he encountered curators and directors from the National Gallery of Canada, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Newfoundland Museum (now The Rooms).

Artistic career

Squires's professional career combined studio practice, public commissions, and teaching; he worked in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, maintained connections with Toronto, Ontario, and spent time in London, England and New York City, New York. He accepted commissions for ecclesiastical clients and collaborated with institutions such as The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Newfoundland and Labrador, and cultural festivals like the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival and regional biennials. His network included writers, musicians, and cultural figures from the Canadian literary scene and performers associated with CBC programming. Squires participated in artist residencies and exchanges that linked him to the Canada Council for the Arts and provincial arts councils, and his practice intersected with sculptors and printmakers connected to Halifax, Nova Scotia and Montreal, Quebec studios.

Major works and style

Squires produced a body of work encompassing oil paintings, pastels, woodcuts, lithographs, and sculptural pieces depicting maritime landscapes, religious tableaux, and portraiture of figures drawn from Newfoundland and Labrador society. Major series reflect influence from Caravaggio, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Francis Bacon through chiaroscuro and expressive distortion, while evoking echoes of Emily Carr, Alex Colville, and Jean Paul Riopelle in Canadian contexts. His altarpieces and icon-like paintings engage with traditions visible in the holdings of the National Gallery of Canada and religious commissions in parishes across Newfoundland and Labrador. Critics have compared his texture and palette to work by Lucian Freud, Willem de Kooning, and European expressionists exhibited at the Tate Gallery and the Museum of Modern Art.

Exhibitions and recognition

Squires exhibited widely in solo and group shows at venues including the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and galleries in Toronto, Vancouver, Halifax, London (Royal Academy), and New York City (Studio School exhibitions). He received recognition from arts organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts, provincial arts boards, and ecclesiastical patrons; retrospectives of his work were organized with curators affiliated with the National Gallery of Canada and regional curatorial teams at The Rooms. His work entered public and private collections alongside pieces by Tom Thomson, Jean-Paul Riopelle, and Norval Morrisseau, and he participated in symposia and panels with historians from Memorial University of Newfoundland and curators from the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Personal life and legacy

Squires lived and worked in Holyrood, Newfoundland and Labrador and remained a figure in provincial cultural life, mentoring younger artists and collaborating with community organizations, churches, and arts festivals. His legacy is preserved in museum holdings, parish commissions, and archives maintained by institutions such as Memorial University of Newfoundland and The Rooms Provincial Archives. Scholars and critics have situated his work in dialogues with Canadian modernism, maritime cultural studies at Memorial University, and national narratives curated by the National Gallery of Canada. Squires's influence continues through exhibitions, publications by regional art historians, and the presence of his work in collections that include regional galleries, university holdings, and national institutions.

Category:Canadian painters Category:Canadian sculptors Category:People from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador